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In my house, messes and "whoopsies" seem to happen in an instant.  Having an independent toddler like Riley means hearing her say "whoopsie", at least several times a day as she learns to perform various tasks all by herself.  I've had a dustbuster type or handheld vacuum for several years now to aid me in cleaning these small, occasional accidents, but have to admit that I've never been truly happy with it. The suction never seemed very powerful and I absolutely hated cleaning out the filter when I was done, which required me to pick out all of the clogged hair, dirt, bug parts, etc.  I had heard about Dyson's line of handheld vacuums, that all use cyclonic action in order to provide the greatest amount of suction, but had never actually tried one firsthand.  Luckily, Dyson allowed me to review the DC-31 Handheld Vacuum.  Is it all that it claims to be?  Keep reading to find out my thoughts and experiences!

When I first removed the Dyson DC-31 handheld vacuum from its box, the first two things I noticed was how lightweight this hand-vac was, weighing in at under 3 pounds, and how neat it looked!  I thought it looked like a futuristic space gun of some kind, which would definitely make cleaning seem a little bit more fun.

The Dyson DC-31 was ready to go right out of the box.  As you can see in the lower left picture, it came with a rechargeable battery pack (already attached), a crevice tool attachment, a combination tool attachment, charger assembly and instruction guide.  I decided to try out the combination tool attachment first and inserting this tool onto the end of the DC-31 was super easy, as shown in the lower right picture.  Align the notches and press until you hear a click, and you're ready to clean!

I really liked the combination tool, since the soft bristle brush could be extended, so as to use on delicate surfaces like painted baseboards and molding, or retracted so that there was merely a large vacuum end exposed.  Next, I needed to charge the battery for 3.5 hours so as to fully charge the Dyson DC-31.  

As you can see in the two pictures above, the battery pack simply attaches to the base of the handle of the vacuum and can be removed with just the press of a button.  The charger assembly is unique for the light on the charger alerts you to the status of the battery.  For instance, if the light is green, the battery is charging.

Once the light goes off, you know the battery is fully charged.  If the light starts blinking, then the battery is not charging due to a problem of some sort.

The Dyson DC-31 can clean for up to 10 minutes on one battery charge depending on which level of suction power you choose.  By pushing the 65 AW button, shown above, you can either select low suction of only 38 airwatts (giving you 10 minutes of cleaning power), or high suction (reducing your cleaning time to 6 minutes).  The high suction feature of 65 AW actually gives you a 70% suction power boost over using only the low suction option.

Also, because all Dyson vacuums utilize Root Cyclone technology, you can be sure that you will experience absolutely no loss of suction as you clean.

After charging the battery, I was ready to go and couldn't wait to get started to see what this handheld vacuum could do!  I started off using the low suction option and trying to vacuum the dirt, dust and pet hair off my baseboards with the combination tool attachment.  This task was a cinch for the DC-31 and I had dirt-free baseboards in no time flat!

Next, it was time to kick it up a notch to find out whether or not the high suction feature was really that much more powerful.  I always have a lot of dirt, loose leaves, pet hair and other grime that seems to accumulate around our back door from the constant foot traffic there.

The Dyson DC-31 was a beast on the highest speed!  It sucked up everything in its path several inches before I actually got the nozzle there.  I was very impressed at how well it cleaned and am very excited to now have this tool in my cleaning arsenal!

One thing I always hated about the dustbuster type handheld vacuum I currently have is cleaning it after the job is done.  That's why I was so pleased to find that Dyson has thought of everything with the DC-31.  You don't have to touch anything dirty when cleaning this handheld vacuum!  Simply push down on the red button located on the side of the vacuum and the bottom automatically pops open, dispensing everything you have collected right into the garbage.

You also don't have to worry about buying expensive bags or new filters, for the Dyson DC-31 uses a washable filter, which only needs to be cleaned once a month!  I am very pleased with the Dyson DC-31 and think that this is a terrific handheld vacuum which lives up to all of its claims.

If you have small children or live in a household where "whoopsies" happen on a regular basis, then I know you will be as thrilled as I am to have the Dyson DC-31 come to your rescue!

Disclosure:  I received the DC-31 Handheld Vacuum from Dyson in order to facilitate my review. No other compensation was received. This product review is based on my own personal experiences with this item and is completely honest and objective.