Dyson Airblade AB 02, 110-120V, Die Cast Aluminum

Like most people, I wince when I see an electric hand dryer in a public restroom -I know that I will try to use it and end up with either damp hands or I'll walk away wiping my hands on my trousers. Well, I have used the Dyson Airblade dryer in four or five different restrooms scattered around the world and it really works!

You just put your hands in the slot; the air turns on (no heat needed) and strips the water off of your hands as you slowly raise them out of the unit. This is a revolution in electric hand dryers.

I wish every manager of a public bathroom would buy one or two of these. I would even be willing to give up having paper towels as a backup.

Hoover WindTunnel T-Series Rewind Upright Vacuum

I previously had a Hoover Windtunnel, it lasted two houses and over 9 years and it finally had enough of keeping up with our two children and 4 pets. So I went out to every website I could find with reviews on vacuum cleaners, including Amazon, and looked at everything from the Dyson, Kenmore, Dirt Devil, Hoover, and so many more. I promised myself that after I used my vacuum cleaner for 3 months I would help all those out there like me looking for a good review and let them know about my experience because the reviews were so helpful to me.

So after reading a bunch of reviews I was leaning towards a Dyson or a Kenmore Progressive. Well my friend had a Dirt Devil M140005 Vision Cyclonic 12 Amp Upright Vacuum Cleaner, a Kenmore Progressive Upright Vacuum, and a canister vacuum cleaner (forgot the brand) that she let me test out. Let's just say I hated all three, the Dirt Devil was a joke, the Kenmore was so heavy and a pain to use, the canister was a pain to use and none of them worked well with pet hair.

So then I went to a local store and looked at the Dyson DC 23 Motorhead and really considered paying over $400 for it. But then I looked down the aisle and there not too far down from it stood the Hoover UH70120 WindTunnel and it was only $100 so I decided to give the Hoover a try thinking if I wasn't satisfied I could take it back. I am so happy that I saved $300 and love how well my Hoover works. It sucks up pet hair off the furniture very well, I have hardwoods throughout my house and it picks up fur and dirt off the floor without blowing it around (the suction is great) and I only have 3 complaints but ya know for the price I can live with them. Complaint #1 I wish the powered hand tool stuck on a little bit better to the vacuum cleaner, if I am not careful to put it on correctly it falls off, so I need to be a little more careful, Complaint #2, empting out the canister can be a little bit dirty so I always do it outside and then it's fine, Complaint #3, I love the retractable cord, I just wish it were up a little higher instead of so low, it would just help keep it from going under the vacuum cleaner but, there is a little clip and if you clip the cord to the vacuum cleaner you don't have to worry about it going under the vacuum cleaner so problem solved.

So I say save your money instead of wasting it on a Dyson or a Kenmore for the price this vacuum cleaner is so worth it.

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Essick Air Products HDC12 Humidifier Wick Filter

• 1 PKG

These filters are not great by any means, but they do what they are supposed to do. Of course, we've found that it is very important to use the right bacteriostat with the filters. We bought some Sunbeam bacteriostat water treatment for humidifiers at our local Home Depot, and I swear that they just put purified water in the bottle! Once we started buying the Essick Air bacteriostat water treatment, our filters lasted much longer, and didn't get that musty/fishy smell to them.

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BestAir L15 Lasko Replacement Wick Filter

This ad makes it look like it fits the humidifier pictured, but the filter is for a 1155 the humidifier pictured is a 1115. Of course I didn't notice that until it arrived and it did not fit. You can cut it to make it work, but it is hard to cut and there is a lot of waste. Amazon really flubbed this one, so be careful!

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Envion 90TP220TBK1W Therapure 220M Air Purifier

I'm giving this a good honest review because of the high cost of the item. It's a decent size for a bedroom the fan is fairly quiet and it really works well. After the first day I checked the filter and was amazed at how dirty it was which means it is working as it should. The color choices are a nice added touch. Can't tell if the uv light is actually doing anything but it is on. The air is cleaner and the fan creates a nice breeze to circulate the air. Over all I am very pleased with this product.

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Shark Lift-Around Pod Vacuum

I just received this item. I unpacked and used it on my fridge compressor. It seems to work well. My complaint is about the power brush. I was putting it away and the power brush was attached to the hose. As I put it down, it flipped down and hit the ground. A very minor fall, but the power brush broke apart into pieces. It looks like I might be able to put it back together, but who knows. There aren't any instructions on how to do that.

**UPDATE** I just wanted to add that both Amazon and the manufacturer were fantastic in dealing with this problem! After contacting Euro-Pro directly, they are going to send me a replacement power brush. So, I updated my rating to a 4 star.

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Austin Air HealthMate+ Jr. HM250

I bought this air purifier for my art studio because it advertised the ability to filter out VOC's and can absorb gases for chemically sensitive people. As a painter with a poorly-ventilated studio that is next to other artists' studios, I needed something that would clear the air of painting fumes. So far, the filter has worked great. The air that comes out of it is clean, and I find it is powerful, given it's size. Once I accidentally left it on over the weekend on the first setting (because you can't hear it when it is on low) and my studio smelled and felt very clean.

The downside is that it does not have a filter change indicator, leaving me clueless as to when the filters should be changed. I assume that if it is working in "dirtier" conditions than the next air filter, it would need changing more often than the stated filter change recommended in the manual. And be assured, the HEPA filter is expensive ($140) and needs to be changed yearly. The prefilters are cheaper ($10) and need to be changed more often.

On its higher setting, it is not a quiet machine, but it is not loud either. It makes an almost inaudible hum with a distinct noise like wind passing through a small space, but it does not bother me -in fact, I find it comforting. The noise is comparable to, if not less than, the Honeywell (I also own). The lesser two settings are very quiet.

The other trivia fact about it that I didn't know until purchasing it is that the clean air that comes out is directed at a 45 degree angle up and sideways from the vent. I am not sure why it was designed to be that way.

Bionaire Cool Mist Humidifier

I bought this unit from Costco. At very beginning, I'm little concerned about this product, because there are not a lot of reviews @ amazon. And the only review I found said very badly about this product. But after I used it for couple weeks, I'm positive to say this is a great product. There's no wet path on the floor after I used it at all. (Not like the other review said.) It's very easy to pour water in. It's also nice that you actually have options to adjust the humidity level.

Rabbit Air Washable AC Charcoal Filter

This filter is the one bad part of the system. I have not really noticed the bad smell, but the plastic piece came loose and much of the charcoal escaped. A poor construction on a otherwise good system.

Hamilton Beach 05910 TrueAir Cool Mist Humidifier Replacement Filter

We bought our humidifier two months ago and have already gone through two filters. Despite the fact that we change the water in our humidifier daily, the filter quickly start smelling very moldy. It also seem to disintegrate rather quickly.

I'm happy with the Hamilton Beach humidifier, but wish that the filters lasted a little longer.

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Hoover Portable Canister Vacuum

Purchased this Hoover 3 months ago. I currently have a Eureka Mighty Mite and decided that I wanted to have another lightweight canister vacuum for downstairs. I happened to come across the Hoover Bright Orange canister vacuum and thought it was so neat looking, and since it was a Hoover how could you go wrong.

Well the problems are as follows: suction fair at best; wand connecting to the head won't stay put it keeps coming apart no matter how hard you push the wand into the head; the bag since I wasn't getting any suction I checked the bag and found that though it was only half-filled, the bottom of the bag had disintegrated this happened twice. I'm not sure if this was due to its close proximity to the filter/motor, but I have never had a bag do this on any other vacuum cleaner I've owned.

Sorry to say, but it's a great looking vacuum, but that's the only thing going for it.

Definitely buy the Eureka Mighty Mite if you're looking for a vacuum for light cleanups.

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Honeywell 32005847-001 Installation Kit

I purchased this to go along with my whole house humidifier cause Honeywell doesn't give you all the stuff you need with the humidifier. However, read up on what is included and what is not. I bought a seperate humidistat because I thought I needed one but there is actually one in the humidifier package. Most modern furnaces don't need the separate transformer and sail switch that come in this kit. You can find the schematics online for your furnace if you don't have the manual it came with to wire to the 24v output on the control board in the furnace unit and not have to use the sail switch and 24v transformer. Hence, I'd recommend buying the water tubes and ducting at a hardware store. I would imagine that if I'd thought ahead far enough I could have found the 5" duct and hoses for around $20 or less and saved myself some money. My mistake is your lesson here I guess.

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SoleusAir 10,000 BTU Portable Air Conditioner

Pro's:

This unit definitely blows some cool air! It worked out of the box with me,

I bought it very affordable! $300 is a nice price for a unit like this!

It's very slim, and is tall, about the same size as a water cooler cabinet with those 7 gallon water jars on top, like you see in offices; is slimmer than most AC units!

It has wheels underneath

Comes with an expandable hose, exhaust and window adapter, and a window plate to place in the window, when opening it slightly.

Performs better than most wall ac units I've had.

Has a timer, and sleep built in.

Cons:

It is quite heavy (heavier than I would have imagined for such a small device)

It is noisy, not too noisy, but about as noisy as those 1980's wall ac units. Too noisy for me to be used in the bedroom!

It blows air only from the front small window, to get 10K btu, it needs to blow air quite hard through the small front exhaust. This is definitely not a unit you want pointing to yourself, unless you're having a heat stroke!

This unit's exhaust blades do not swing, even if the remote has the option. But you can manually set it to blow air to left/right/up/down about 30-40 degrees max.

The remote seems to be from a more advanced model,as not only the swing does not work, but the fan speed can only be set from 1 to 3, even if the remote has 4 settings; as well as the 'heat' function does not work!!

The different fan speed settings are not that much different. At speed 1 it's already blowing hard, and there's very little difference between each increasing step. In any case they account for less than 3dB in noise reduction when switching fan speed.

The unit has a top and bottom air intake. Only the top air intake has a filter. This makes me wonder why even bother putting a filter in, as on the bottom it's most likely to suck in dust (they only equipped the top part with a filter).

Unit came in a very weak box!

The unit does not automatically (and completely) shut down after the temperature is reached, but continues to blow on fan. I guess it's made to operate energy efficiently, however they should have built in a function that will stop the fan,and turn on the device as soon as the temperature goes up a degree or two.

-Box is made so you won't be able to RMA it!!!! They even put in a letter not to RMA it, but call for help... Risky stuff if the item ends up not working!!

Other thoughts:

It works fine as an office cooler, but is slightly too noisy for the bedroom.

Some functions on the remote don't work, and the fan is blowing quite hard. Other than that, I'd rate this unit to be between 9000-10000 btu like manufacturers specs.

I only hope this unit will last!

Edit:

Unit failed after 4th attempt to turn it on!

I plugged it in a 4000W generator, and the AC system broke!

Fan still works.

Use this in your AC power (wall) socket only, not in generators 4000W or below!

Sucks, because I bought it just for that purpose, to be a replacement unit of my central AC.

No return possible, no RMA, no box to return it with!

Instead I'm stuck with this $300 overweight fan!

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Dyson DC23 Animal Vacuum Cleaner

First, you need to understand that there are several models for the DC23 series. As of Oct 2010, there are the Turbohead, Animal and Motorhead. The canister for all 3 models are technically the same (minus the color). The differences between the 3 models are the accessories (e.g. length of hose, tools, handle, etc) that come with each, and how each machine can be stored away.

For a quick rundown of the differences, it is best to refer to dyson's online store and read the "Plus the following Accessories..." in the specifications tab.

This review is specifically for DC 23 ANIMAL (obviously), but most part of the review is applicable for all 3 models.

PRO:

powerful suck thru carpet

pick up animal hairs (cat) like magic

multiple intelligent designs that simplify the vacuuming job

comes with useful tools that can handle most home situations well

most parts can be cleaned easily with cold water

no non-durable parts

long power cable

not THAT noisy

good looking

very helpful customer representative from DYSON

CON:

takes an unexpectedly large amount of horizontal space to store it away despite the small canister (the way it stands in the product picture is the way it is supposed to be put away)

it is a dust magnet and can be difficult to clean up due to many small parts and gaps

may need a longer bit of time than average to fully utilize the machine

very small trash holding capacity

short hose length

very expensive for a vacuum cleaner

Bottom line (my personal opinion):

It does the job (vacuuming) really well. However, it makes me think that the cheapest model in the DC23 series (Turbohead) may suffice my everyday needs, as there are no big difference between the two on paper.

I am a techie yet it took me an unexpectedly long time to figure out what are all those many buttons and tools for. I think they may have 'over-engineered' it in certain area.

It takes a lot of space to store it in my tiny apartment. The Motorhead of the DC23 series that uses less storage space (due to the longer hose) but it is $100 on top of the already expensive $500 pricetag. Luckily, I can improvise and make it takes up less space but detaching certain parts but it also increases the 'setup' time needed for each use.

It's a keep.

Miele FJM Synthetic Vacuum Bags and Filters by Filtrete

I got tired of the overpriced Miele bags ( $5 each, to fill with dirt and throw away? really?) and looked for an alternative. The 3m bags are still more expensive than the cheapest knock off bag, but they are the best engineered. Miele's reincarnated FJM bag now features a clapper valve that is supposed to shut between vacuuming sessions. Problem is, once the bag starts to fill, the debris prevents the valve from closing. This allows the contents to spill out when the bag is removed. 3m continues to use the old slide up door that clicks into place when you remove the full bag. As far as operational performance, I can discern no appreciable difference.

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Blueair CleanAir Ball Replacement Filter 3 Pack

I have really used my CleanAir Ball Air cleaner by Blueair but was concerned that I couldn't find filters for it. After looking everywhere, even on the manufacturer's website, I found these and they are great. They last a long time, depending on how and where you use the purifier. These are a great price, convenient and since they come in a 3 pack, I will be set for a while. They are so easy to swap out and change. I am very happy.

Essick Air HD1407 Whole-House Humidifier

I purchased this last year and it worked fine once I figured it out. At first it would shut off after the first of the two tanks emptied. I thought it was broke. However, the trick is that it needs to be leveled out just right such that second tank can kick in after the first tank is empty. This took some experimenting with shims under the left side front wheel. It's an interesting design. The two tanks are offset such that the right side tank always empties first. But, if the unit is not leveled correctly the second tank will never drain. Actually, even if this is the case it will still "work", you'll just find you are constantly filling the first tank.

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Surround Air Multi-Tech Air Purifier

Has everything I want. cautionthey sent it in its own product box.

Comments: Fan pushes lots of air so its not that quiet. Great, large UV light but its so powerful that it glows through all sides still safe I think. Good at getting rid of chemical smells. Blue control light is bright but turns off quickly perhaps too quick for some. I've had good luck with most products from this company though they are a bit fragile.

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Commercial Air Purifier Cleaner Ozone Generator

Yes, other reviewer, ozone is dangerous. That's why all ozone generators clearly state multiple times that the product is not for use in occupied spaces. However, NOTHING beats ozone for getting rid of lingering odors. You use the thing in an enclosed space, then air it out. Odor gone.

This generator is well made. It makes a ton of ozone, enough to do a whole house. Just don't forget to install the ceramic plates with the screens that make the ozone before you use it the first time. The instructions are not very clear on this. I'm very happy with this item, especially for the price.

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BIONAIRE 711D - Air Purifier Filter

Got exactly what I needed. Had previously ordered from another company, shipping AND item were more expensive and delivery took longer than this seller's.

Except for a minor dent (which did NOT effect usage), I would have rated it 5 stars.