The DC40 Origin upright is one of the cheaper options in Dyson’s product line – if you consider $400 “cheap”.
It features the same ball technology found in the newer models like the Dyson DC65 and Cinetic that make this one of the more maneuverable uprights right now despite the size.
One of the attractive features that you might find interesting is the weight.
Related: You can also find the best Dyson deals here to get the best price possible on various Dyson products.
Believe it or not, this upright weighs just 14.6 pounds – pretty light considering the size of this vacuum.
It also has a long hose and extension wand so you can use this to clean upholstery or stairs.
The hose, wand and cord combine for a total of 40 feet so this will cover a lot of ground.
It also comes with a crevice/brush combination tool plus stair tool that you can also use on upholstery.
Let’s find out how this upright performs.
To help guide you through this review I’ve created a table of contents section…
- Features at a glance
- Pros & Cons
- What to expect from this upright?
- Bare Floor Performance
- Carpet Performance
- Upholstery Performance
- Pet Hair Removal
- Attachments and Accessories
- Cord Length
- Filter Clean up
- Warranty
- Product Specifications
- See it in Action
- Customer Reviews
- Where can I buy this upright?
- To Wrap Up
Features at a glance
- This full sized upright weighs just 14.6 pounds
- Radial root cyclone technology keeps fine dust away to maintain performance even if the dirt bin is getting full
- Uses ball technology for steering
- 200 air watt suction power
- 5 year warranty
- 7 foot power cord – 40 foot overall reach
- Self-adjusting cleaner head
Pros
- Strong suction
- Ball technology gives still full sized upright very good maneuverability
- Long warranty – 5 years
- Great reach
- Decent performance on carpet and bare floor
Cons
- Despite being the one of the cheaper Dyson products it is still very expensive
- There are concerns about durability because of the quality of plastics used
- No HEPA filtration
- Did not perform up to par with cheaper priced vacuums
- Struggles with large debris on bare floor and fine debris on carpet
What to expect from Dyson DC40 Origin?
Despite all of heft and bulk that this vacuum possesses, it still maneuvers very well thanks to the ball system that Dyson has perfected.
This mechanism allows consumers to turn this machine on the dime.
Some folks who don’t have enough upper body strength would really appreciate this feature because they don’t have to tug and pull other uprights that don’t have a similar feature.
Powerful motor and suction
Power-wise, the DC40 packs a pretty good punch with 200 air watts on tap.
The question is however the strength of the brushroll as reviews in CNet say that it didn’t perform up to par compared with cheaper vacuums like the Electrolux Precision Brushroll.
Above the floor cleaning
This is more than a floor cleaner, when you remove the handle/telescopic wand you can attach tools like the crevice or brush tool to clean tables or upholstery.
Attach the stair tool and you’ll transform this upright into a stair cleaning tool. Unfortunately the 15 foot hose won’t be able to clean a really tall flight of stairs.
No HEPA filtration
Don’t expect any HEPA filtration from this machine and since this uses the older root radial cyclone technology, you’ll have to clean the filters more often.
Emptying the bin is straightforward, just push a button and the drop door at the bottom opens.
Make sure to place the bin over a plastic bag big enough to cover the whole opening so dust does not fly all over the place. Unfortunately stuff like hair may stick on the inner walls and filter so you may need to get your hands dirty.
Bare Floor Performance
Katie Pilkington from CNet put this machine to work. She tested how this machine performed cleaning cheerios, a combination of sawdust and sand and pet hair on hardwood. The results were mixed.
Will not do as well on large pieces of dirt
In terms of cleaning cheerios this machine did not perform well which means there is a lot of snowplowing.
This tells me that this machine will not do well picking up large pieces of dirt because there isn’t enough space at the bottom of the main cleaner head to fit large items of dirt hence the snowplow effect.
Katie said in her review that the “bottom plate of the brushwell is so low to the ground” which is the main reason why this machine performed badly on the large debris test.
For smaller stuff like saw dust, it performed remarkably better picking up 99 percent of the 2.5 ounces of sand and sawdust mixture on hardwood.
Carpet Performance
On the same CNet test, the results were also mixed.
In the cheerios test, it picked up 90% of the cheerios debris on mid pile carpet and 92% on low pile carpet, 73 percent of the fine sawdust and sand mixture on mid pile and 63% on low pile carpet.
This machine will struggle a little bit on finer debris on thinner pile carpet but that could also depend on the variety of carpet you’ll encounter but the results here are not very good as well in terms of real life outlook.
Upholstery Performance
This vacuum can clean upholstery. But it will not deep clean since it only relies on a crevice and brush tool to for the job.
It also comes with a stair tool that you can use on upholstery but it lacks a mini-motorized tool or the tangle free turbine tool that will clean embedded debris on upholstery.
Pet Hair Removal
The DC40 managed to perform better on carpet. It was able to pick up 100% of pet hair on mid pile and 90% on low pile. But it struggle cleaning long hair on carpet as strands of hair wrapped on the brush.
Remember that this does not come with any pet hair tool or a mini motorized brush that will make clean pet hair off upholstery or stairs so don’t buy this if you have a lot of pet hair.
Attachments and Accessories
It only comes with 2 cleaning tools – the crevice/brush combination tool and the stair tool.
Cord Length
Cord is around 24.7 feet long but it does not have a cord rewind feature.
Filter Clean up
Inside the DC40 are two filters – the first one is a pre-motor filter on top of the bin. A second filter is behind after the motor inside the ball housing that keeps allergens from seeping through and coming back out.
Have a look at this video to see how to clean them…
Both filters will last the lifetime of the vacuum. Make sure that it is dry before putting it back.
Warranty
All Dyson upright vacuums come with a full 5 year warranty.
Product Specifications
| Feature | |
| Attachments | Combination/brush tool Stair tool |
| Cord Length | 24.7 feet |
| Auto Cord Rewind |  |
| Motorized brush |  |
| Brush on/off switch | |
| Swivel | |
| Headlight | |
| Filter clogged indicator | |
| Full bin indicator | Dirt bin is transparent |
| Bagless | |
| Multi-surface | |
| Self propelled | |
| Net weight | 14.6 pounds |
| Shipping weight | 19.4 pounds |
| Hose length | 15.3 |
| Cleaning Path | 12" |
| Dirt capacity | 0.42 gallons |
| Filter type | Two washable filters - one located inside the dirt bin and another inside the ball |
| Power | 200 air watts |
| Voltage | 120 volts |
| Manufactured in | USA |
| Warranty | 5 years |
See it in Action
How to put this machine together…
Review from PurdueAV2003…
Customer Reviews
This is by no means the highest rated Dyson vacuum but it still got pretty good reviews. Reasons why consumers like this vacuum? First suction, based on suction power alone it is hard to beat a Dyson, this machine is rated at 200 air watts which is 20 more than the newest model the DC75 Cinetic.
This machine would have no problems picking up fine dirt on hardwood which the brush roll turned off however there was a consumer who complained that when you initially turn on the machine the motorized brush also turns on so it damages his hardwood and woven rugs.
Suction from the hose is strong and capable of picking up dirt well on upholstery
They also noticed that the crevice tool that came along with it is quite long. And if you combine it with the extension wand it can reach ceiling vents, again you cannot please everybody. There was person who didn’t like the extension wand saying it was too long.
When I look at this machine, the biggest concern for me and in some of the reviews here is the rear axles may not be durable enough to take a pounding – if this breaks the vacuum will not stand.
Maneuverability is another strong point because of the ball system.
However, agitation isn’t its strong point so don’t expect this to deep clean carpet. A silver lining would be that this vacuum wouldn’t be as hard to push carpet.
Here’s the video review from CNet…
According to Cnet, the weak agitation makes picking up fine debris on medium and low pile carpet suffers but it did well picking up larger debris like cheerios at least on carpet.
In terms of quality there are complaints with the quality of plastic, to be more specific, the hose.
Consumers mentioned that it was “stiff” and wouldn’t stretch all the way while others say that it just needed time to stretch.
With regards to pet hair, this machine may struggle cleaning up long strands of hair as will wrap around the beater bar.
Overall despite the complaints about quality, the weak beater bar and other minor issues, consumers where still pretty satisfied on how it performed inside their homes. At $300, it is still a significant investment to make.
Where can I buy this upright?
You can buy this uptight vacuum in Amazon for less than $400. And it’ll be eligible to their 2-day free shipping if you join Prime.
Amazon also sells extended warranties of up to 3 years if you want that extra peace of mind.
To Wrap Up
Despite being one of the cheaper Dyson uprights available right now, it would be hard for me to recommend this because it falls short on the most important task – cleaning.
This machine will struggle picking up larger debris on hardwood and fine debris on carpet. It also struggles with long synthetic hair but will do well cleaning up shorter pet hair.
Other options
If you are seriously considering this I’ll offer some alternatives.
The Shark Navigator Lift Away and the Bissell PowerGlide provides better value for money that this because you can separate the canister from the upright body and thus making it more mobile allowing you to use it on stairs or inside a car.
Plus the Shark and the Bissell will provide similar if not better cleaning performance both on carpet and hardwood. The latter would be around 50% cheaper but does have issues with the swivel steering.
However if you insist on buying a Dyson, this is one of the better options since it won’t cost as much as the Cinetic. But keep in mind the issues I mentioned earlier.
