By Jayne D'Arcy
CORDLESS STICK VACUUMS
I love vacuuming. It's OK, I have other interests. But dust bunnies? Not in my house. Ever. Except this week. This week I refrained from vacuuming in order to test drive these two stick vacuums, but then the Bosch, due on Friday, arrived four days later on Tuesday. I spent days not looking down.
Dyson V6 Absolute.
The Dyson DC59 Animal has been a favourite of mine since I tested it for this column in late 2014, and I was delighted to get my hands on the new model, the top-of-the-range Dyson V6 Absolute. Although after using it, I'm thinking that I prefer the old one.
The Bosch lasts a lot longer on its "Turbo" function than this Dyson does on "Max" (20 minutes versus seven minutes) and I may be fast, Dyson, but I need more than seven minutes to vacuum a room. The Bosch takes on edges and hard floors well, whereas the Dyson has two different heads, one for hard floors and one for carpets, and swapping them over is not convenient.
Bosch Athlet Runtime.
They're both bagless, and although the Dyson has a quick release switch to open the "gate" and let the dust out, I had to stick my fingers up there to clean it out. The Bosch is much easier to empty.
THE VERDICT
The winner is ... the Bosch banishes dust bunnies best.
DYSON V6 ABSOLUTE
RRP $899.99
This has a separate, luxurious velvet head to use on hard floors. It's so pretty that I'm reluctant to use it and can't really be bothered changing it. After a full charge I get seven minutes of vacuuming on the "Max" function, which isn't really enough time for a good clean of one room. No battery indicator, it just stops.
BOSCH ATHLET RUNTIME
RRP $699
The Bosch sucked up plenty of dirt in the room that I'd vacuumed with the Dyson first. Great "allfloor" head does a decent job on edges and it's also fine on hard floors. Having a battery indicator is excellent; you have some idea of how much charge is left before it needs a recharge.
CHECK THIS OUT
I spend a bit of time waiting for couriers (see above) but Harvey Norman has introduced scheduled delivery, delivering products on the same day within three-hour windows, for about $15 (or about $50 if it's the 7pm-10pm window). Except when I tried at 1pm, it decided that it could only deliver the next day.