Replacing an old Dyson handheld DC34 - any better alternatives out there?

itm2

The battery on our Dyson DC34 handheld is no longer holding enough charge for our staircase. We could simply replace the battery, but I was wondering if anyone could recommend anything significantly better, in terms of performance and/or battery life (the Dyson never lasted more than 6-8 minutes, even when it was new).
We bought a Gtech handheld a few years ago, but it was truly awful. I was hoping something new had emerged in the meantime which was worth considering?

Hasbeen

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itm2

Hasbeen said:

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£599? Ouch!

shinytop

They're having a laugh surely.  When did hoovers start costing £600?   
If anyone has any suggestions for a decent cordless (in the MSE tradition) I'd be interested. 

greyteam1959

Blimey are Dyson having a giraffe !!
We have just bought one of these.
Use it without the extension.
Brilliant piece of kit at a sensible price.
https://www.argos.co.uk/product/4162078
Just saved you £519.01.

flashg67

I've gone through a few brands in the past and always bitten the bullet and gone back to Dyson. I do begrudge the upfront price but found they perform and last well. If you can find the Dyson V10 animal, I can recommend it at 'only' £399..... 

Gunner276

Try contacting dyson on live chat. They used to have a scheme where if you currently had a dyson but wanted to upgrade they'd give you something like 25% off!

My MIL raves about her shark which I think are a bit cheaper.

Penguin_

I can second the Shark brand. Bought one in the sales last year & have been very impressed.

macman

New compatible battery on a DC34 is about £27 on Amazon. Wash the cyclone, clean out the head and brushroll and it'll probably be as good as new. It's rare for either the main or head motors to fail on these, unless horribly neglected.
Many of the compatible batteries are of a higher capacity than the original Dyson ones. I think the original one was only 1,500mAh: many of the compatibles are 2,000mAh or even 3,000 mAh, which would double the runtime.
Shark are fine until you need spares or have to get something fixed under warranty.

itm2

macman said:

New compatible battery on a DC34 is about £27 on Amazon. Wash the cyclone, clean out the head and brushroll and it'll probably be as good as new. It's rare for either the main or head motors to fail on these, unless horribly neglected.
Many of the compatible batteries are of a higher capacity than the original Dyson ones. I think the original one was only 1,500mAh: many of the compatibles are 2,000mAh or even 3,000 mAh, which would double the runtime.
Shark are fine until you need spares or have to get something fixed under warranty.

There's a huge selection of compatible batteries on Amazon, ranging from £23 to £46-ish. Hard to know which one to go for. I suspect that some of the cheaper ones may be suspect in terms of quality/safety, but that may also be true of the more expensive ones too. I suppose the logical approach would be to go for the one with the highest number of 5* reviews (and hope that most of the reviews aren't fake). Obviously the Dyson-branded option would be the safest, but at £65 (and with lower charge capacity) it seems like a bit of a rip-off.
The Shark looks nice, and extremely reasonably priced, but has a tiny dust container, and I think I'd find it quite annoying to have to empty it every 2 minutes, even if it's really easy to empty.