Our In-Depth Review
Design
The Dirt Devil Vision Canister M082750 is a compact vacuum with smooth contours. This deep blue machine with black accents looks clean and sophisticated.
The vacuum is made mostly of thinner plastic, which allows it to be lightweight, but also resulting in some parts feeling flimsy.
The suction on the Vision canister is great for tackling most jobs on bare floors.
Because you have the option to attach tools at the handle or the end of the extension wand, the vacuum was easy to use on stairs, floor edges and upholstery. The variable speeds allows you to clean window treatments with a lighter suction.
Using the Vision on carpets was a disappointing experience. It was difficult to maneuver and felt rickety.
Considering that vacuum experts recommend canister vacuums for hard surface flooring, it is safe to say that the Vision doesn’t stretch to do carpets well.
The Vision is a bagless vacuum. Many bagless vacuums make a mess when you remove the dirt cup to dispose of its contents, but not the Vision.
The dirt cup remains enclosed until you press a button located on the top of the handle releasing the bottom and allowing the dirt to fall into the trash.
With all the great promises, we were disappointed to find this vacuum to be fairly average after testing. It had some features that we really liked and some that made us cringe.
If you are looking for a vacuum that does well on bare floors, is easy to transport and does well on furnishings, this could be a good tool to add to your cleaning arsenal…as long as you get it on sale.
However, if you want to clean carpets, are looking for something that will last for two or more years, or are an allergy or asthma sufferer, this is not the vacuum for you.
Performance: Using the Dirt Devil Vision Canister M082750
Using the Dirt Devil Vision Canister M082750 on hard surface flooring and furnishings was a nice experience. You just have to be willing to carry the canister around with you or drag it along behind.
Compared to other vacuums we have tested, it ranged in the middle of its ability to pick up debris. You will need to use the attachments in order to clean the edges along the outside of a room as the power nozzle was not effective in removing dirt from there.
Even though Dirt Devil made the vacuum’s height easy to adjust for quickly changing between carpets and hard surface flooring, we did not enjoy using this vacuum on carpets.
It took a lot of work to move the vacuum across the floor and we were disappointed with the vacuums ability to capture various particle sizes from the carpet.
Performance on Carpets
After you have adjusted the vacuum to the proper height, you will need to flip the power brush switch, located at the top of the D-shaped handle, to engage the motorized brush.
In turn, we tested how well the vacuum sucks up debris on various sized particles by using cheerios, rice, and flour. The vacuum does not move smoothly across carpet, but rather skips.
You really have to push the vacuum to get it moving. Also, the handle of the vacuum pivots side to side.
This makes trying to hold the vacuum steady for use on carpets very tiring on your wrists. The vacuum sucked up our fine particles (flour) with little effort.
When we did our medium particle test using rice, the vacuum left several grains behind spitting some rice in its wake and pushing others to the side or simply not sucking them up as it rolled right over top of them. Oddly enough, it did a better job cleaning up the cheerios we used for large particle testing.
Performance on Rugs
One of the features this vacuum offers is the ability to adjust the suction power for jobs such as carpets, curtains or upholstery.
However, even with the power adjustment, it didn’t preform well on light rugs bunching or pushing them rather than gliding across. On thicker rugs, it handles the same as on carpets.
Performance on Hard Floors
We began by adjusting the height level of the vacuum and turning the brush to the off position for this task. Performing the suction test by using the same debris as we did on the carpet, we found the Vision sorely lacking in its ability to handle our large particles (cheerios).
Even with the height adjustment set all the way up, there wasn’t enough clearance for the cheerios to clear the bottom of the power nozzle so they could be sucked up into the vacuum. Instead, it simply pushed the Cheerios around the room. It did a great job of sucking up the rice and flour.
Edge Cleaning
As with most vacuums, the Vision doesn’t get all of the dirt trapped in the corners or edges of the floor. However, the crevice tool does a great job of picking up whatever is left behind and is fairly easy to attach and use.
Filtration
We placed our particle scanner by the exhaust of the vacuum without the vacuum running, took a reading and then turned the vacuum on, and took a second reading. The particles per cubic foot doubled when the scanner read the air coming through the exhaust of the vacuum.
HEPA filters were designed to target smaller particles and pollutants and remove them from the air. Be aware that many vacuums with HEPA filters leak dirty air through gaps in their unsealed plastic dirt cups and and openings surrounding the HEPA filter itself.
While the Vision has a HEPA filter, it doesn’t have a sealed filtration system. This means that all the air traveling through the vacuum isn’t forced to go through the filter, but can find other paths to escape.
If allergies need to be taken into consideration when selecting a vacuum, it is best to find a sealed HEPA filtration system.
Attachments / Onboard Tools
The extension wand snaps into the handle and also connects at the motorized nozzle. Both connections can be released by pressing a button and pulling the pieces in opposite directions.
Sometimes, it didn’t release easily and seemed to get stuck. The wand extends to 10.5 inches and, combined with the 68 inch hose, reaching high or low was a cinch.
The upholstery tool, crevice tool, and dust brush sit in a tool caddy that snaps onto the extension wand.
When testing, we had to ensure that all of the tools were firmly in the tool caddy before cleaning overhead. Otherwise, they would fall out. We felt this made the tool caddy’s location slightly inconvenient.
The upholstery tool measures 5.25 inches across and attaches to the handle or the extension wand. There is a 2.25 inch strip of lint brush like material across the top and bottom of the tool to ensure that nothing gets left behind. We were impressed with how easily it sucked up pet hair.
In like fashion, the crevice tool attaches to the handle and the wand. Measuring 7 inches long by 1 inch wide it did a excellent job of sucking up rice and flour from in-between baseboards and the floor.
Ease of Use
Cord management and Length
The cord is stored inside the canister of the vacuum and extends to 18ft. It recoils inside the canister by pressing a button located on the top of the canister.
Although the length considerably limits your ability to travel between rooms, if you are using the vacuum in a smaller area, the cord stays out of your way and the ability to rewind it with a tap of your foot is excellent. One downside we found was that it doesn’t always retract when it is supposed to. Sometimes it requires assistance.
Hose Management and Length
The 72 inch hose is molded and does not stretch. Until you get the hang of using the vacuum, the hose has the potential to get in your way while trying to use the hand tools or telescoping wand.
Floor Selection
The Vision was designed to easily change between vacuuming hard floors and carpets of various lengths. To adjust the height on this vacuum, you can easily press the foot lever located on the right, back side of the power novel to one of six levels.
You can also activate the brush by a switch located at the top of the handle. With no need to bend over, it was a breeze to go between hard floors and carpets with barely a pause for adjusting.
Getting Started
Setting this vacuum up for use couldn’t be easier, you don’t even need tools!
Upon removing it from the box, simply slide the hose into the canister and plug in the corresponding power plug, the extension wand will also need to be inserted into the handle and the power nozzle along with power plugs at each end. It is that simple, you are ready to start vacuuming.
Maneuverability
Most people find that using a canister vacuum can take some getting used to. For beginners, it is an adjustment learning to have the larger half of the vacuum trail along behind you. However, once you get used to it, there are some advantages to maneuvering this vacuum.
The head of the vacuum lays very low to the floor so it makes it easier to reach beneath furniture or low clearance areas. The vacuum is easy to guide across hard surface flooring. However, it is difficult to use on carpets and the canister doesn’t trail behind as evenly as it does on bare floors.
Ease of Use on Stairs
The compact shape and light weight of the canister are very conducive to the Vision’s performance on stairs. Simply pick up the canister by the handle and carry it with you as you clean.
The power nozzle is too large to efficiently clean the stairs, so whip out one of the attachments for this job.
Noise
Registering at a average of 104 decibels, this vacuum is loud and rather high-pitched in sound.
This could be a result of the the 12 AMP motor. Turning the power nozzle on had little to no effect on the decibel meter.
Maintenance
There is a pleated filter that sits inside a filter screen and slides down into the dirt container clipping in at the top. The pleated filter will will require replacement, you can purchase a new one for under $9.
The filter screen will need to be rinsed with water. Also, the exhaust filter, located on the back of the canister, will need to be changed periodically, these cost under $1 online.
If your model comes with a chamber filter, this must also be cleaned.
Emptying the Dirt Container
The dirt container for the Vision is located inside the canister. First, the hose and hose plug both have to be removed in order to access the container. Once this is done, you must press two release buttons and flip back the top of the canister. The dirt container lifts easily out.
One superior feature this vacuum boasts is that the dirt container is enclosed so nothing escapes while you are trying to remove it and get the container to the trash can.
Once you have the container over the trash can, simply press the dirt release button located on the top of the handle.
The bottom of the dirt canister drops open releasing most of the debris. There is still a good amount of stuff that gets stuck around the filter and requires you to pull it out by hand.
If you are a pet-owner, the pet-hair would be something that would often have to be removed by hand.
One word of caution is to be sure NOT to press the button until you have removed the dirt cup from the vacuum, it is easier to do than you think.
While testing the vacuum, we accidentally hit the button before we were in position over the garbage, which resulted in quite a mess.
While getting to the dirt canister involved more work than other models, we ware so impressed by how none of the debris escaped until we had it over the trash (assuming you don’t prematurely open the bottom) that we would gladly put the extra effort into it!
Value for your money
This vacuum is sold for around 170 USD when not on sale, we felt this was a lot to pay for an average vacuum that will need to be replaced in a few years and recommend either making sure you get it on sale or saving your money.
Final Vacuum Verdict
The Dirt Devil Vision Canister M082750 offers many great features and a fun design, but don’t be fooled into thinking that it will handle all of your cleaning needs well.
Dirt Devil put a lot of thought into offering things that should allow the vacuum to do it all, but many features fall short.
We recommend this vacuum for someone with 75% or more hard surface flooring in their home.
Keep in mind that the canister will follow along behind you so it could get entangled during your cleaning process by obstacles like furniture.
