Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 Vacuum Review

I don’t know anyone who truly loves doing household chores. Sure, there have been times in my life when I’ve woken up on a sunny Sunday morning and been hit with a sudden urge to crank the tunes and clean, but those days are few and far between, and for the most part, chores are just something that must be done, whether you want to do them or not.

Whenever I do clean, I leave my area rugs and hardwood floors to the end. I do this for two reasons. First, it just makes sense to start at the top and work your way down. Second, I absolutely hate lugging my archaic and heavy vacuum cleaner out of the closet to clean my few area rugs. Needless to say, when I was asked to take the new Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 for a test drive, I was pretty excited.

I have been coveting a Dyson vacuum cleaner since I first saw Sir James Dyson talk about how his innovative product line makes easy work out of vacuuming on TV, and since the Multi Floor 2 is supposed to make easy work out of both carpets and hard floors, I was stoked. Here’s how it went.

Set up of the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2

As I would do for any review, when I received the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2, I opened the box and laid out all the components to see what I was working with. In the box, you get the Multi Floor 2 itself, as well as a combination tool, stair tool, multi-angle brush, and stiff bristle brush. You also get a quick assembly guide and operating manual.

Assembly looked easy enough. You were to simply click four components in to place, and voila, you’re good to go. However, that isn’t exactly how it went down for me. I happened to have a friend over when I received the Multi Floor 2, and it literally took her and I twenty minutes to figure out how to click the vacuum head to the actual machine. It took another twenty minutes for us to decipher the rest of the four steps, but once we had everything clicked in to place, we were ready to give the machine a go.

Testing the Self-Adjusting Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2

The biggest selling feature of the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 is the fact that it self-adjusts across carpets and hard floors, so you don’t need to change the cleaner head or use multiple tools. You simply press the power button and manoeuvre the machine across whatever flooring you have. Then its Radical Root Cyclone technology, which produces exceptional suction, does the rest of the work for you. I was a little sceptical that the same vacuum head could suck the dirt–and copious amounts of long blonde hair–equally from my hardwood floors, thick pile area rugs, and indoor and outdoor mats, but it did so with ease.

After I vacuumed my hardwood floors, I did the “white sock test,” which as anyone with hardwood floors can attest to, is a clear indicator of just how clean your floors are. My socks remained white as I slid across the floor ala Tom Cruise in Risky Business.

What I wasn’t entirely enthused about was the Multi Floor 2’s manoeuvrability. Dyson’s Ball Technology is supposed to provide “incredible manoeuvrability” but I didn’t find it to be all that incredible. True, it is much more agile than a standard upright vacuum, but I was expecting it to be a little more flexible when steering around furniture corners and hard to reach places.

Testing the Additional Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 Features

Once I had put the Dyson Multi Floor to work on my hardwood and carpets, I gave its additional add-ons a whirl. First up was the multi-angle brush, which I used to clean the top of my dining room ceiling fan. The instant release wand makes it easy to move from vacuuming the floors to high and hard to reach places, although working with the expandable hose does take some getting used to. That said, what was awesome was the fact that once you release the wand, all suction power gets diverted to it and away from the floor, which is not the case with my existing vacuum, which keeps suction on the floor while I’m trying to suck up last night’s popcorn kernels from my couch.

I then tried the combination tool to clean my baseboards and under my couch, and was surprised at the amount of dirt that accumulated in the canister. Again, getting used to manoeuvring the hose is a little tricky and you do need to keep one hand on the vacuum itself if you need more length, but that’s really not a deal breaker.

Emptying the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2

My favourite aspect of the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 was how easy it was to empty the clear bin canister. With a quick press of a button, the entire canister pops off of the vacuum, and then you just tote it over to your garbage bin, press the button again, the bottom opens up and all your sucked up dirt and grime falls out. Not needing to fuss with vacuum bags is a definite selling feature of the Dyson vacuums.

The verdict

Overall, I really liked the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 Vacuum. It comes with a very long cord, which for me meant that I could vacuum most of the surfaces in my 800-square-foot apartment without needing to plug it in to multiple outlets. I also loved the fact that it self-adjusts from hard floors to carpet without my needing to change the vacuum head, or replace it with another tool.

I was also very impressed with the length of the expandable hose. While I don’t have the need for all that length, I can see it coming in very handy for people with vaulted ceilings or large staircases. Also, as I mentioned, emptying the canister is ridiculously easy, which is a huge plus.

That said, I found that at 15.6 pounds, it wasn’t as light as I was hoping it to be. I also found that manoeuvrability wasn’t as agile as I had expected, and while the ball makes it much more nimble than a standard upright vacuum, it didn’t quite meet my high Dyson expectations. Last but not least, even my archaic vacuum has clips on the side to hold all its various attachments–the Multi-Floor does not, which I see to be a bit of an oversight in design. True, you can just keep the extra add-ons on a shelf or in a drawer, but having everything neatly clipped and tucked together would be ideal.

In a nutshell, the Dyson Ball Multi Floor 2 would be a great vacuum for most, but perhaps a little on the large side for those of us who live in small apartments where storage is at a premium.

Check out the complete range of Dyson products available at Best Buy.