What Makes Dirt Devil Vacuums So Popular?
Although there are many vacuum cleaners in today’s markets, there are few that are as popular as Dirt Devil. Maybe it’s their image branding, with the stark red vacuum bodies and white logos that stick in our minds. Or perhaps it’s the fact that brand has actually been around since 1905, making it over 112 years old today. Despite how many other popular brands, like Hoover, exist on the market, Dirt Devil has built up enough credit with its consumers to hold its own in today’s market.
It first began in a backyard garage in Cleveland, Ohio, where Phillip A. Geier started the P.A. Geier Company, crafting metal cleaners by hand. The company split into two divisions as it grew, one for making vacuums and one for making other household appliances like mixers and blenders. Shortly after, it then was bought by the Walter E. Schott Organization in 1953, who renamed it as Royal Appliance Manufacturing. The company changed leadership a few times before it finally released its first Dirt Devil vacuums in 1980. Its original packaging was labeled “Royal Dirt Devil”, but over time, they dropped the “Royal” and only “Dirt Devil” stuck.
What Made the Company Take Off?
When Phillip first started the original company, they build the first household vacuum with a patented Cyclone system, still known and trusted in modern Dirt Devil technology. In 1984, Royal launched the original Classic Red Dirt Devil Hand Vac. It featured a rotation brush for cleaning starts and furniture and an extendable hose for cleaning hard to reach spots. It quickly became the largest selling handheld vac in the U.S., moving more than 25 million units.
In 1996, Royal upgraded their handheld vac to introduce the Ultra Hand Vac that offered more suction and a built-in stretch hose and crevice tool. This model is still available to this day.
The Original Dirt Devil hand vac got a makeover and is now known as the Dirt Devil Classic Hand Vac in 2005. It features twice the power of the classic red hand vac, but this one comes with a HEPA filter, making it better for people with allergies and sensitivities to dust.
AccuCharge Technology
In 2008, Dirt Devil introduced a product line of cordless handheld vacuum cleaners featuring AccuCharge technology. The Dirt Devil AccuCharge technology reduces 70% energy consumption, in comparison to most cordless vacuum cleaners. It features the use of Nickel Cadmium batteries instead of traditional and hyped up lithium-ion ones. The AccuCharge technology not only boasts speedy charging times, but it monitors the battery’s juice levels as well.
A Wide Range of Vacuum Products
While the history of Dirt Devil is necessarily as rich or socially empowering like that of Bissell’s, the company is still known for its low- and mid-range priced appliances. Dirt Devil vacuums are made for multiple categories of cleaning. They currently offer lines of different uprights vac, stick vac, handheld vac, canister vac, cordless vacs, hard floor cleaners and carpet washers. Most of them come with a 1 or 2-year limited warranty. These products are available all around the world, being sold in France, Spain, Italy, Greece, Cypris, Malta, Portugal, Germany, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Russia and the Middle East.
Top Dirt Devil Vacuum Cleaners of 2018
- Dirt Devil Razor Pet Vacuum – A minimalist’s vacuum, this upright vacuum cleaner by Dirt Devil offers excellent and effective cleaning performance, even though it does not come with many design extras aside from basic attachments and accessories. That being said, it can clean any kind of a mess. It is lightweight and maneuverable, weighing under 12 pounds with a 12-inch wide cleaning path. This Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner effectively picks up pet hair and lots of other types of messes, like flour, fine dust, sawdust, kitty litter, and cereal. It doesn’t come with fancy headlights, a dirt sensor or indicators, but it does come with an extension wand attachment, upholstery tool, dusting brush and crevice tool, making it very useful for total house cleaning. You can get it on Amazon for $100.
- Dirt Devil Scorpion Quick Flip – Powerful suction in a small handheld, this Dirt Devil Scorpion is a lightweight and bagless model. It is versatile for cleaning at home, your office, workshop or car. It comes with an onboard crevice tool that flips down for cleaning hard to reach places and edges, hence the title, “Quick Flip.” It offers powerful suction and works best removing dirt and debris from bare floors and it features an easy to empty dust cup and a super comfortable handle. It’s light and can be held easily. Compact for easy storage, this Dirt Devil handheld can be used corded or cordless, and it comes with a 3-year warranty. Cord-free cleaning will give you up to 20 minutes of cleaning. You can buy this effective and inexpensive hand vac unit for just over $25 on Amazon.
- Dirt Devil Simpli Stik – This versatile vacuum is designed with a 3-in-1 construction that allows this lightweight stick vacuum to transform into a hand vacuum. It includes a crevice tool that further turns the hand vacuum into a superior edge-cleaning vacuum appliance for getting into small, hard to reach spaces. As a traditional stick vacuum, it’s small in size and weighs less than 4 pounds making it good for portability and moving around your house without tiring you out. It’s excellent for cleaning furniture, shelves, and automobile upholstery, but because it doesn’t have a brush roll, it doesn’t work that well on carpet flooring. It’s still great for total house cleaning if you have mostly hard floors, and you can buy it on Amazon for just under $30.
- Dirt Devil Dash SD40050 Canister – Not to be confused with the Dirt Devil Dash upright vacuum, this cyclonic, bagless canister vacuum uses Dirt Devil’s patented Cyclone system technology. The cyclonic system technology spins debris super-fast in a centrifuge to separate allergens and other air pollutants like dust, pollen, and dirt out of your clean breathing air. Its bagless design allows for strong suction, and it works on every type of flooring. One of the best things about this vacuum cleaner is that it features a quick rinse filter with HEPA filtration technology to capture the finest microns or dirt and allergens, cleaning the air while it vacuums. It also comes with a convenient 3-in-1 tool that serves as a crevice tool, lint roll and brush for detailed cleaning around furniture, crevices, and other non-floor spaces. You can buy this great vacuum for under $100, which is actually a fantastic deal for the price.
The Dirt Devil line of vacuum cleaner machines may not be the top tier of expensive, high-end vacuums, however, they serve the low- to middle- ranged markets very well, providing reliable vacuum cleaning appliances at affordable prices. They have something for every type of consumer, and more often than not, it’s good value for your money. Most of their products come with a fair warranty, last anywhere from 1 to 3 years, giving you enough time to really try the limits of your vacuum. With its long-standing popularity and good quality for its price, it’s fair to say that Dirt Devil and its vacuum cleaners are here to stay.
