How would my life improve with a handheld hoover,

[Librashavinganotherbiscuit]

I am seriously tempted by a handheld hoover, I am sick of my car being covered in crumbs because I can't be bothered to lug out the hoover, my DS drops breakfast/lunch/supper all over the floor, it just looks like a handy gadget but apparently the ones that really work cost upwards of £80 so please tell me how much easier they make your cleaning up so I can justify it!

If you mean a rechargable then I have never got on with them, nothing like powerful enough for what I want but I do have a handheld mains.

I have this one www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0883650/Trail/searchtext%3EDIRT+DEVIL.htmand it lives behind the sofa always plugged in. In our house layout it is plugged where I can reach both the lounge an the kitchen without moving the plug so I just pick it up and it's ready to go. I do (obviously) need to change plug to do the rest of the house or the car though and it's main down side is how hot it gets.

I have the Dyson, which is powerful but the battery does not last long, typically I get 15mins of vac per charge.

Handy though, used it yesterday to get crumbs out of my coat pocket. Handy around the home for quick clean of small areas.

Deffo need rechargable or I would never use it in the car!

I am very tempted by the Dyson - does having to keep the trigger down annoy you nannynick?

Oh I love mine. I just have the basic black and decker model. There's a wet and dry one in argos for about £12 which might be worth a try.

It's really useful when you have a baby/toddler who doesn't so much eat biscuits as smear them liberally all over the carpet. I also use it for the stairs, curtains, sofas, beds etc and could see it would be good for a car too.

The battery only lasts 10 minutes, but it can be charged constantly the rest of the time so I just leave it plugged in on charge. 10 minutes is plenty.

The best part is DS can manage it himself and has been using it since he was 16 months old

I've got the dyson, my mum got it me for xmas 2 years ago and left the receipt in the bag and at the time I thought 'what a waste of money' and now having had it for a while I still once in a while ponder on why anyone would pay so much money for it.

No, due to the way you use a mini-vac, you don't keep the trigger pulled for more than perhaps a minute without then moving on to another part of the car. Little different when I do the carpet in my flat though even then when you get tired of holding the trigger in, you know it's time for a quick 15 second break.

The dyson is expensive... I had a dirt devil before it and I find the dyson is much better. It was a bit of an impulse buy.

For suction power I find the dyson better than the things I have used in the past. That suction power comes at a cost though... the price and the battery length. To help justify the cost you need to use if for the car and around the home.

I have a Black and Decker wet and dry one (think it cost about £25) and it's brilliant. We keep it for the breakfast cereal detritus. And sometimes I hoover the kids with it before letting them out of high chairs...

Toddlerama - are you me? That's exactly what I have and how I use it!

I've got the dyson.

I couldn't quite believe that I'd spent so much money on a dustbuster, but now I've got it, I absolutely could not be without it. the kids are 1 and 3, and we have carpets, not solid floors, so it gets used after every mealtime (even with a mat under the high chair). It also gets used in the kitchen, after cooking, after spillages (dry, not wet), even on the surfaces if they are really bad. For a quick spruce up of carpets if I can't be bothered to get the big hoover out (which is always), on the stairs, sofas... In the car, for catching wasps, spiders.... you name it, its fab!

Ok, now I'm embarrassed...

I have the Dyson too

It's brilliant

...plus the dyson looks quite cool, so DH isn't averse to giving it a quick squeeze!