How To Clean Dyson Handheld Dc59

Dyson claims its latest flagship cordless vacuum cleaner, the DC59 Animal, is every bit as powerful as a full-size model thanks to a new 350W, digital V6 motor. The DC59 Animal offers impressively powerful suction, a lightweight, bag-less design and includes a detachable wand that offers excellent versatility. However, you'll certainly pay a premium for its convenience.

The Dyson DC59 Animal mimics many design features of the company's full size barrel vacuum cleaners, but on a much smaller scale. The company claims the device uses 15 cyclones arranged across two tiers to increase airflow and therefore capture more particles when cleaning. The cyclones are mimicked on the top of the DC59 Animal in a glossy, chrome finish, with a removable filter sitting in the middle, and a bag-less, clear bin at the bottom.

The release to open the clear bin is positioned a little awkwardly in front of the handle, but can be emptied in two ways. Pushing down the red button once opens the bin base, while pressing it a second time allows you to release the bin from the main body. The canister doesn't hold a huge amount of dust, so you'll most likely be emptying it regularly, particularly if you use the DC59 Animal in between regular cleans.

The DC59 Animal is extremely simple to operate. Pull and hold the red trigger on the handle to immediately begin cleaning, then release it to stop. The trigger grip requires users to hold it down for the entire operation, but Dyson says this enhances battery life.

A "max" button on the back of the unit activates a boost mode, which increases suction for cleaning stubborn dirt or dust that may not be picked up in normal mode. The boost mode is denoted by a blue LED ring around the button that glows when active. It's significantly louder than the regular mode, but provides a noticeable boost in suction.

The real benefit of the Dyson DC59 Animal is its powerful suction and the versatility it offers thanks to the included tools. A large, motorised head designed to clean both hard and carpeted floors is the main attraction, but Dyson also bundles a smaller, mini motorised tool ideal for cleaning upholstery, along with a standard crevice tool, and a combination accessory tool that includes a brush. A regular DC59 model (sans Animal branding) drops the mini motorised tool and is $50 cheaper.

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The filter is housed at the top of the DC59 Animal and is easily removed.

The DC59's detachable wand supports all the included accessories but when removed essentially turns the device into a powerful and compact dust-buster. The tools can be attached directly to the unit without the wand. The mini motorised tool is a particular highlight, especially useful for cleaning a material lounge suite, or the interior of a car. Thankfully, attaching and releasing the tools is as easy as clicking the attachment button and sliding the tool on or off.

The DC59 Animal's large floor tool also offers impressive performance. It handles both hard floors and carpet with relative ease, and we found it generally comparable in suction power to a full sized barrel vacuum. The floor tool occasionally misses slightly larger objects, such as a small piece of scrunched up paper, but the boost mode usually picks up these without any issues.

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A "boost mode" increases suction, but at a cost of battery life.

Battery life has been improved from previous models, but the DC59 still only lasts for a maximum of 20 minutes with the standard crevice tool, or combination accessory tool attached. Both the large and mini motorised tools will give you a maximum of 17 minutes life, while activating boost mode reduces that battery life to just six minutes.

The battery life is certainly enough to clean the odd room when you don't want to pull out a full sized vacuum, but not to clean an entire home. The battery is charged via an included AC adapter and Dyson also includes a wall mount cradle that attaches to the adapter for charging when docked. It's a little odd that Dyson doesn't include wall-mounting screws to attach the cradle, but the cradle itself is handy and also has room to store the crevice and combination accessory tools.

The mini motorised tool has been designed to clean upholstery.

Aside from battery life, the other significant caveat is cost. At a retail price of $649 in Australia, the Dyson DC59 Animal is certainly not cheap. While the convenience and suction power it offers is certainly impressive, it's a significant investment for a vacuum that's purely been designed for quick in between cleans — not to a replace a full size, corded machine.