Dyson vs Shark Navigator

Many years ago, my husband bought me a Dyson for my birthday/Mother's Day. Most women would probably cry and bitch that their husbands got them *gasp* an appliance for such a special occasion but I am not that kind of whiny bitch. For Valentine's Day yesterday, I got a 9:30 PM mumble, "Oh, by the way, Happy Valentine's Day." To which I replied, "Whatthefuckever, douche! I'm going to bed, don't join me." He played online poker and watched American Pickers. Twas a good holiday!

Anyway, I was thrilled with my DC07. It was an "older" model in that the Dyson Animal was just coming out, and the Dyson Ball was still in development. Sam bought it at Home Depot on his boss's credit card (with permission, of course) and paid it off over a couple weeks. I loved it. Seriously. We had the shittiest carpet. It had been there since we moved in in 2000 and who the hell knows when the hell it was actually installed. That Dyson sucked shit up from that disgusting, nasty carpet that I didn't even know could exist. The carpet still looked shitty and we shortly thereafter replaced it with something cheap but not so shitty. Of course, with two puking cats, a dog who just would not be housebroken, and a baby/toddler, the new carpet became pretty shitty. Especially after Sebastian's 45-pound pumpkin exploded on it one morning right after I left for the day.

We eventually replaced the carpet completely due to Sebastian's allergies. Sam installed laminate flooring throughout the entire house. And of course, I ruined that by dropping a barbell on the floor.

I found laminate flooring to be insanely difficult to keep clean. Probably because you could see any and all dirt/sand/cat hair/kitty litter. It's not like carpet, which hides pieces of whatever happens to fall on it. I tried eleventy billion different methods for keeping it clean. I had a dust mop for pushing all the crap into one spot, then I'd suck all that dirt up with the Dyson wand. That was a pain in the ass and more often than not, I just Dysoned the entire floor. But the Dyson was really quite cumbersome. I hated using it, so I didn't vacuum that often. As a result, my floor got gross and drove me nuts. I just couldn't get it clean enough. I would run the Dyson, then the Swiffer Wet Jet and it just wasn't clean.

So I got a Shark Vac Then Steam. (I also got a Shark handheld vac at the same time because my Dirt Devil Kone had long ago bit the dust. I absolutely hated that Kone. It was not easy to use, as it had no handle. Filters were a bitch to find, and shortly after I bought 9 of them from Dirt Devil's web site, the power button quit working. I gave the filters away and threw that brick in the trash.) The steam mop is decent. The vacuum part is weak. I would Dyson, then Shark vac, then steam. Total pain in the ass. The steam mop leaves streaks on the laminate but I can live with that. 

And this was still all too cumbersome. I wanted a different kind of floor cleaner for every day use. I decided I wanted a Rubbermaid Reveal Spray Mop but looked everywhere and couldn't find one. I ended up getting a Libman Freedom Spray Mop because that's all Target had in stock when I decided I wasn't hunting for the Reveal any longer. I haven't used it yet because I used the steam mop recently and haven't had any spot cleaning issues yet. But I will probably use it this weekend. 

I saw the Shark Navigator a few weeks ago at the store and thought I might like it, since I was living with other members of the Shark family. I wanted it, but I couldn't really justify buying it when I had a perfectly good Dyson. Then my mother-in-law's vacuum died. I knew she would like the Dyson, even a second-hand Dyson. I also knew that a new vacuum, even an inexpensive one, wasn't really in her budget, due to a lot of unforeseen expenses that had come up. Since I'd just gotten paid, I figured it was the perfect time to go ahead and buy the Shark. So I did, and I sent the Dyson up to my mother-in-law. And what a cluster that was. We had to take the damn thing apart and ship it in two boxes, otherwise it would have been over $65 to send via the post office (UPS and FedEx were much more expensive). We managed to get it down to about $30 (based on the web site calculator) and after I finally wrestled the boxes to the post office, it cost just under $40. So the calculator on USPS.com can bite my crank. 

I used the Navigator for the first time today. I love it. It's awesome. And of course, it's purple and matches my other floor cleaning tools (except for my green Libman). My yellow Dyson stood out like a sore thumb, and Sam hadn't thought to buy me a purple one at the time. Home Depot probably only had yellow in stock anyway. Now they have a whole rainbow of Dysons. 

So let me compare the Dyson DC07 and the Shark Navigator in terms of the features I've paid attention to.

Attachments: 

The Dyson had 3 attachments (that I remember using) - a crevice tool, an upholstery thingy, and something with a brush. The Navigator also has three - a crevice tool, the brushy thing, and a pet hair attachment. There is no spot on the Navigator to stick the pet hair attachment, so I have to keep it up my ass in the cabinet until I need it. And since my handheld has a pet hair attachment, there's a bit of redundancy. I find the attachment for the Navigator a bit better to use on my bed, but only because my hand gets tired of holding the handheld for a king-size bed covered with two cats worth of shed.

Winner: Dyson

Power Cord:

The Dyson's cord is much longer. I can do just about my entire house from one plug in the bathroom. The only part of the house I cannot do is the spare room and front entrance. Well, I can do the front entrance if I use the wand for the farthest part. With the Navigator, I can only do about a third of the house. Now, you'd think this would be a win for the Dyson, but in all honesty, most of the time I didn't do the front entrance and the spare room because I didn't like stretching the wand and/or moving the plug. Since I'm forced to move the plug with the Navigator in order to do the whole living room, I don't have any excuse to neglect those areas. 

Winner: Navigator

Suction:

Dyson's claim to fame was that it would never lose suction. And I don't think it really ever did. There were times that I felt it wasn't picking up nearly as well as it should. Granted, I've used the Navigator once but holy shit! That little thing sucked up dirt even the Dyson left behind. And on the one area rug we have, that bitch takes you for a ride. You know how when you walk a big dog, it's really taking you for the walk? That's how the Navigator is on carpet. 

Winner: Navigator

Size:

As I said above, the Dyson is very cumbersome. I have a small house, packed full of shit. I have little nooks and crannies everywhere. Every time I vacuumed the bedroom, I'd bang into something, and I would knock the rubber bed frame thingy off. I would very frequently get the base of the Dyson stuck and then knock it out of whack trying to get it unstuck. No such problems with the Navigator. It fit under and around all but the smallest of spaces. 

Winner: Navigator

Maneuverability:

The Dyson, again, is large and heavy. The Navigator is smaller and lighter, by a great deal. I can easily pick it up one-handed without giving myself a hernia. It's easy to push and turn and doesn't make me feel like I'm doing a workout. Of course, I don't have a Dyson Ball to see how that compares, but that really wasn't the point of this blog. So don't comment on how fucking great the Ball is. This is comparing a specific model that is not the Ball! I'm looking at you, Amy.

Winner: Navigator

Hose:

This is where the Navigator tends to disappoint. The Dyson has a telescoping wand with a lot of reach. The Navigator has squat, really. The hose detaches. That's about it. It doesn't reach nearly as far as the Dyson's. I don't think the suction through the hose is quite as good either, but in all honesty, it's probably a draw in that respect. I used my Dyson's telescoping wand a lot. Like, every time I vacuumed. With the shorter hose on the Navigator, I find myself bending over or stretching more. I don't care for that.

Winner: Dyson

Price:

Obviously, the winner here is going to be the Navigator, at $150ish, compared to the Dyson at $350+ and I think, after using the Shark a grand total of one time, it's crazy to pay an additional $200+ for pretty much the same thing. Both vacuums are bagless and "will never" lose suction. Oh, the Navigator came with extra filters, whereas the Dyson's are washable. I wasn't paying much attention to the filter requirements for the Navigator. But it came with two extras.

Winner: Navigator

So if you're in the market for a new vacuum cleaner, I do highly recommend the Shark Navigator. I give it 4.5 out of 5 hair balls.