Everyone – meet the DC39 (DC39? This is everyone…). His name is Gik, and he’s been helping us around the house the last few weeks.  Dyson did it again. You don’t buy a vacuum cleaner because of the way it looks. You just don’t. And yet.. it’s impossible – having this little monster in the house you can’t help but call it by a name. It just looks like something out of Star Trek (Yes, the 9yr old named him..), and we all love him just a le-e-etle bit.

Course, it helps that he’s good at his job… but honestly, the 10yr old never volunteers for vacuuming. Or rather, he didn’t. Until he saw Gik. And said “Can I do the floors for you?” on a scarily regular basis.

The big yellow rocket-y bit that looks like a nuclear reaction is about to occur? The bigger silver ball-thing? (oh, yes I’ve done my research. I know what they are. But don’t you tell me you call them anything else, I simply shan’t believe you) They all work. Really really well. The sucking action is seriously strong and… sucky. And the funky ball actually means an end to that irritating thing where you drag the vacuum behind you and then bounce back bungee-style as it gets caught on the table/chair/cupboard you’ve just gone past. The ball just keeps on rolling.

In fact, the 10yr old doesn’t have as much fun as he thinks he will when he moves from the wood flooring on to the thick carpet of the living room – he starts to push and stops. The suction is so strong, that tugging backwards is the only way he can get any dirt-sucking-action going on – but he’s happy, whistling tunelessly as he Dyson’s backwards (slowly) around the room.

I love that one of my favourite things from the uprights – the ability to carry all the ‘tools’ with you – has been fitted onto the DC39 with a new equipment clip thing that attaches to the hose, too. And I also love that all the parts are interchangeable, so you can have the long hose with the extender and a special head, or you can simply clip the trigger grip and the crevice cleaner (yes, okay, I DID write pointy tool first…). All seemingly small things, but something that makes you go “oooh!” in a good way when you want to do it and find you can. It’s the small stuff that makes the world go round – and it’s the small stuff that Dyson are good at remembering.

The Dyson HEPA filter always makes them a great choice for allergy sufferers like the husband, and he definitely noticed a difference of an evening when we stretch out on the living room floor with the french doors open to do some star gazing – the dog loves to stretch out in the same spot during the day, and my star watching is often accompanied by increasing amounts of huffing and snuffling as the husband acclimatises to Dog Zone. But if I’ve just whisked the Dyson over? NO sneezing. Win.

One thing I learned very fast though – be VERY careful when you empty the canister. For a small thing it holds a surprising amount, and when you hit the button to release the catch? The bottom drops away FAST.

I mean, instantly.

If you don’t have the entire canister sitting safely inside a bin, you (and the room around you) will swiftly be engulfed in a cloud of dust, and your toes will be covered in carpet-bits.

It’s not as space-saving as I would have expected either – it takes up more floor space than my upright, and you still need that upright height for the tall pole if you want to put it away without dismantling it into parts.

But for an avowed upright lover, I was surprised by how much I used Gik the Cylinder. I thought I’d review it, let the children use it if they wished, but would reach for my own upright as my vacuum of choice quite quickly – but no, even though I still prefer an upright (I just find the whole follow-me-around thing irritating – it’s like vacuuming with a toddler), I still really liked Gik, and shall miss him. He Did His Job. And really, what more can you ask of a cute robot vacuum cleaner?

The DC39 is a hair under £300 direct from Dyson, and comes complete with a freebie £60 accessories kit at the moment.