I really want to tell you about my new Dyson DC-21 canister vacuum cleaner. It's a real gem, but first let me digress a bit.

Most weigh a ton and sound like a tornado
I grew up with vacuum cleaners that weighed a ton, had to be carefully steered around the furniture, and made sounds like a tornado. Also, the bags needed to be emptied frequently to ensure that the power of the vacuum would be maintained and so that the exhaust air wouldn't smell up the house. The one good thing about those old relics was that the bags were made of sturdy cloth that could be emptied and used over and over again.

I owned at least five vacuums over the last 15 years. Some lasted longer than others, but none of them really impressed me. It's not that they burned out, they just didn't perform the way I expected them to and I ended up giving the old ones away and buying the latest and greatest new thing on the market. These were not cheap machines. Over the years I paid anywhere from $300 to $450 for each because many of our family members have alergies.

There were Eurekas and Hoovers, canisters and uprights, ones with fancy attachments that promised to do everything well, ones that guaranteed excellent results on rugs, hardwood floors, and everyone else. Looking back, none kept their promise. I changed bags, I changed filters, I even changed the belts on the rug attachment when it broke. All did a so-so job and always seemed to leave the house with a smell that required airing out.

Dysons' look different, but.....
I had been an admirer of Dyson vacuums for some time. As an engineer, their design was impressive. They certainly were "different" from a visual perspective. However, looks can be deceiving. I remember going down to the local store and trying a number of them out on carpet, on bare floors, and even on furniture. They worked well, and it seemed they were, in fact, of a different breed.

The problem was that they were all uprights, and over the years I found that I really preferred a canister vacuum. The Dyson uprights had a hose that came up and out of the handle, but this seemed to me to be a poor compromise and I couldn't see dragging it backwards across my floors trying to avoid furniture along the way. I resigned myself to sub-standard vacum cleaners for the foreseeable future.

Then one day in a store, I saw something quite interesting. It had the coloring and lines of a Dyson vacuum, but instead of being an upright, it looked like a R2D2, the little droid right out of the Star Wars movies. This was a Dyson Model DC-21. It had two large wheels in back and whatever front wheel it had was hidden. The canister leaned backwards at an angle and the hose, in storage wrapped around two times and left the nozzle end secured up in the air. The power floor attachment hung off the back like an afterthought, but all in all, it was a tidy, compact unit.

I tried it out at the store and it seemed every much as good as the upright. It was powerful, quite, and thanks to the HEPA filter (which all Dyson's have) the exhaust air came out smelling actually cleaner than the air in the room. I was tempted to buy it right on the spot, but that $500 price tag stopped me.

So I decided to do a bit more research. I ended up saving $100 and making me feel that I had finally found the vacuum cleaner I have sought for years. The testimonials on the web were impressive:

• One woman related how her children actually argued who would use it to vacuum the hose. They liked its looks and the ease in which it could be dragged around the house.
• Another buyer was impressed on its never ending power and the fact that it didnít blow the dust around while cleaning the floor.
• Many buyers commented on the unit's style and ease of storage.
• One lady commented how easy it was to lift and move upstairs and downstairs as needed.
• Then I found the golden comment, i.e. the one that saved me "money." One commenter related how she had searched for deals on the Dyson canister vacuum (Model DC 21) and found that Target Stores were offering a 20% discount on all purchases.

I found the on-line coupon the Target Store website, ordered it on the on-line site, opted for pick-up at a local store location, and by that afternoon, I had the unit home.

Back at Home
True to the above claims, my son (a 19-year old college student) wanted to use it first. Imagine a college student asking to vacuum the house. This real-world testament alone made me feel confident that I had made a good decision. Unfortunately the novelty did not last long. He still has to vacuum his room though.

I've had the Dyson DC-21 for about a month now. It's still chugging away and doing a wonderful job. The other day I decided to take a look at the HEPA filter that Dyson recommends washing out every six months. It was simple to get to and there was dust on its surface that it had captured.

The bottom line is run, do not walk, to your nearest store (or website) and check out this vacuum. It will give you a new prospective on household appliances. Look for those sales or coupons too.