Our In-Depth Review
Design
Canister vacuums, like the Dyson DC23 have a distinct advantage over upright models. The storage tank for the dust and the motor are on the ground. The hose that attaches to the wand and brush bar extend from the canister.
You don’t have to push the entire unit over and over as you clean the carpet. The weight of holding the wand and Turbinehead brush is incredibly light and easy to use.
A canister vacuum follows the user around kind of like a dog on a leach. When you vacuum the floor, you simply pull the canister along behind you. Another advantage the Dyson DC23 vacuum has is it’s unique design allows it to rest on stairs so you can clean the entire stairwell with ease.
The dust and debris is stored in a clear bagless chamber. This clear bin can store almost a half-gallon of dust, pet hair, or any other debris you suck up. It is easy to detach and empty this bin.
There is one circular filter on this Dyson model. It is built to last the life of the vacuum. The manufacturer recommends washing the HEPA filter every three months. One more nice feature is the push button retractable cord.
Dyson prides itself on providing vacuums with tremendous suction, and the DC23 definitely packs a powerful cleaning punch. The level three root cyclone not only sucks up microscopic dust, but it also doesn’t spit the dust back out. The air that comes out of the exhaust through the washable lifetime HEPA filter is incredibly dust free.
A canister vacuum like this Dyson DC23 is nice to use because it is light. The motor rolls around on the ground, and you don’t have to push around the entire unit to clean the floor.
The Turbinehead brush is attached to the end of a long wand. It does a great job cleaning the floor, no matter if it is carpeting or hard floors. No bending is necessary either when cleaning, because you can adjust the length of the wand.
Performance/Using The Dyson DC23 TurbineHead Vacuum
The suction on this model is very impressive. Using a kilopascal gauge, the Dyson DC23 has a suction level just over 25 kPa. This is very good considering the average range for a vacuums suction is around 20 kPa.
It cleans up carpeting and rugs nicely with the Turbinehead brush bar. Large and small particles are cleaned up with one pass.
Sometimes the suction can be a bit too much, but this vacuum is equipped with a suction release trigger by the handle.
If you are vacuuming up on a rug, and the rug gets lifted off the floor from the suction, just pull on the trigger to release the rug. Also, if you accidently suck up the curtains or a piece of clothing just simply give the trigger a pull.
One problem with this vacuum is transitioning from hard flooring to carpets or vice versa. You have to lift the Turbinehead brush up off the floor and turn the power off to adjust the setting.
Once you have the Turbinehead by your hands, you have to pull out the red circular tab to turn on the brush.
If you transition from carpeting to hard floors, you need to turn off the canister vacuum, lift up the Turbinehead, and then push in the red tab in order to shut the brush bar off.
If you don’t want to use the brush bar, there are three nice on board tools you can use. Snap off the Turbinehead brush, and clip it onto the back of the Dyson canister. Pick either the crevice tool, stair tool, brush tool, and get back to cleaning.
Performance on Carpets
Use the Dyson TurbineHead brush to get your carpeting immaculately clean. This specific tool is designed for medium to small pile carpets.
At the back of the brush bar are two small wheels and a swivel head. This allows you to roll around on the carpet smoothly as you clean. We recommend placing the canister at one edge of the room and then begin to vacuum.
As you make your way across the carpeted floor, the canister will follow behind you as you clean. Nothing will get in the way as you suck up any debris in your path.
The two rear wheels do roll around nicely, but you can’t turn on a dime with this vacuum. You can only turn at about a 45-degree angle at the best.
This means when you get to the edge of a room, you’ll have to back up a bit and then turn the Turbinehead brush bar gradually to make a wide ninety degree turn.
We dumped flour and powdered hot chocolate for a small particle test. This dust was cleaned up with only a few passes. Then we crushed up some Oreos for a larger particle test. This was also sucked up.
We had to lift up the head of the brush to get some of the bigger pieces under the vacuum. All the crushed Oreo pieces were cleaned up easily.
Performance on Rugs
We tested this vacuum on large area rugs, and entry rugs. The suction was almost too powerful. The Turbinehead brush was difficult to push across the rug at times because the suction power was lifting the rug up off the floor.
We had to use the trigger by the handle to release some of the suction power. This trigger is a nice feature so you don’t have to shut the vacuum down in order to release the rug from the powerful Turbinehead’s suction.
The transition from the rugs to the floors isn’t smooth though. You have to bend over or lift the end of the Turbinehead bush up and push in the red circular dial located by the base of the Turbinehead brush. This red dial isn’t easy either to push in or pull out.
Performance on Hard Floors
Once the Turbinehead is turned off, you can clean your hard floors easily with the Dyson DC23 Canister Vacuum. The canister rolls very nicely on the floor. It doesn’t matter if the debris is at the edge of the brush bar. The suction is powerful enough that whatever goes underneath the Turbinehead will get cleaned up nicely.
When we tossed flour on the floor, some of the debris stuck to the floor. We had to activate the brush to clean the floor completely. The large particles were cleaned up really well. We used Oreos again and they were all sucked up with one pass.
Edge Cleaning
You can always get right up into the edge of a carpet or hard floor with the crevice tool, but the Turbinehead brush works nicely. This tool works better from the side than head on.
The rotating brushes are much closer on the edge of the unit than the front of the DC23. The brush bar doesn’t turn easily though. You’ll have to make wider turns with this tool.
Filtration
The airborne particle scanner we use measures dust down to the size of 0.3 microns. We held the scanner right up to the exhaust of the Dyson DC23, and zero particles were emitted from this machine. The air coming out of this vacuum’s exhaust is cleaner than the air getting sucked in.
Attachments / Onboard Tools
The three additional tools are the crevice tool, the stair tool, and the brush tool. All the tools are stored inconspicuously right on the DC23 canister.
We looked in the box three or four times when we set up the vacuum for the tools. They are hidden really well on this crafty machine.
The three tools all snap on to the end of the wand, or you can even take the entire wand off and attach them directly to the hose. The wand extends over four feet.
Along with the hose, you have over nine feet of reach. This is very nice if you are cleaning up cobwebs that gather in the corners of a ceiling.
Ease of Use
There are several nice features on the Dyson DC23 TurbineHead Canister Vacuum that make it easy to operate and clean with.
Some of the highlights include the long reach wand, the easy to access attachments, and the unique design allowing it to sit on a staircase as you vacuum stairs.
Another nice feature is the push button retractable cord so the cord stored in the base of the vacuum.
Getting Started
There are no tools necessary for setting up your DC23 vacuum. When you get it out of the package, you have to snap in the hose, snap in the canister, attach the Turbinehead brush, and you’re ready to roll.
The on board tools are already attached to the vacuum.
Maneuverability
A canister vacuum is nice because all the weight of the vacuum is stored right on the floor. You don’t have to push this weight around. If you are more familiar with an upright vacuum, it will take some time to get used to a canister vacuum.
The adjustable wand, along with the Turbinehead brush bar is very light and easy to operate. When you want to lift the canister to take it down stairs or outside, there is a large handle right on top of the unit. The total weight is 19.5 pounds, so it isn’t really light to carry.
Ease of Use on Stairs
The Dyson DC23 Canister is configured to rest on the stairs as you vacuum.
This is such a nice feature for cleaning up a carpeted or hard wood staircase.
You will only have to lift the vacuum once or twice to clean the whole staircase.
The Turbinehead brush can get carpeted stairs completely clean, and you can easily switch attachments to get into every corner and overhang.
Use the crevice tool or the stair tool to get all the dirt up off the stairwell.
Noise
The vacuum’s noise was between 75 and 80 decibels. The noise is a little higher when the brush bar is spinning. This is pretty typical noise level for a vacuum. At this level, you have to talk in a louder than normal voice to be heard.
Maintenance
There are three different things you have to do to maintain this vacuum. First, empty the canister when it is full of dust. Second, wash out the HEPA filter every three months.
Finally, if you have someone with long hair, or a pet with longer hair, clean out this hair from the Turbinehead occasionally.
Emptying the Canister
The first step is detaching the canister from the base of the Dyson vacuum. Take the canister and hold it directly above a garbage can.
Press down on the red lever to release the bottom of the canister and the dust will drop directly down.
Value For Money
A canister vacuum is a nice option for any household. The Dyson DC23 Turbinehead Canister Bagless Vacuum is a powerful cleaning machine.
It does an excellent job on carpeting and stairs, but it doesn’t transition from carpet to hard floors smoothly. It rolls around on the floor nicely, sucks up all the dust and doesn’t emit any back into the air.
The Dyson DC23 Turbinehead is an expensive canister vacuum. It also does have a few design quirks that we didn’t like such as the button for the brush bar, but the bottom line is it does a fantastic job cleaning short or medium pile carpeting. The suction is incredible.
It can get under furniture because of the lower clearance. All the tools are stored right on board. The filtering system is top of the line. If you like canister vacuums, and want super clean carpets, this is the vacuum for you.
Final Vacuum Verdict
Many people are still worried about Dyson and if their claims are really true?
Do their vacuums really have suction that never decreases? The simple answer is yes they do and the Dyson DC23 is no exception.
This canister vacuum is designed to keep your carpets and hard floors dust free. You can also make sure your stairs and even your car stays spotless with the Dyson DC23 TurbineHead Canister.
Make sure to follow your instructions and wash the filter every three months so it stays operating effectively. Also, you might be surprised at how much dust a Dyson can suck up so make sure to empty that canister when there is too much dust in the Bagless Root Cyclone.
