(Hangs head in shame). Dad has a Kirby…not an Oreck. Any opinions on those?
I got a Dyson about 3 years ago - won’t go back to anything else ever. Yes, expensive - about $400 at Costco - but it outperforms the Oreck I had before so much it isn’t funny. I have two heavy shedding dogs, and one cat, so suction issues count.
Suck like anything - also made out of stainless lead. Not for a house with stairs.
Suck good or suck bad? He doesn’t have stairs. Also, he got a canister model. Fucking HATE the canister.
Suck good.
When our old vacuum died a couple years ago, I was in the throes of final clean-out of our house just before moving, and we simply couldn’t afford to get a Dyson at that point. I ended up finding a Bissell which I do love – the center part pops out and becomes a canister that can be slung over your shoulder for walk-around vacuuming or corners and baseboards, etc., and it does suck really well. But with two heavy-shedding dogs and a cat myself, the fact that my Bissell has three filters I have to clean regularly, one of which can’t be rinsed out but has to be carefully brushed clean (I guess I could buy a replacement, but I have no idea where), plus the fact that its dirt-gathering canister is too small for a vacuum of its size, makes it a real nuisance to empty and clean out afterwards.
But I did get stuff out of our carpets when I first got it like I simply couldn’t believe! I think that’s true of any new vacuum, as Ferret Herder pointed out.
Useless trivia point - my mother likes her Dyson and was also amused to see that it is the first vacuum cleaner she has had that the dog didn’t freak out about. (Of course, it could just be that she had a more than usually strange dog, but I somehow think that Sampiro tends to meet up with eccentric dogs too. ) 
About the clogging: I was confused too, but when the inventor is talking about how it doesn’t clog, he is talking about the filter not clogging, he’s not saying that the tubing never clogs. Of course it is going to clog occasionally especially if you vacuum up whole pencils like **Mtgman ** does. (I must admit I have vacuumed up a few things I never intended to. ) I have the Dyson Animal and just love it. It makes me feel so good to dump the dirt in the trash.
I’ve had my Dyson for three years now (Valentine’s gift – gotta love my husband) and I love it. I think when I vacuum the attic bedroom, it sucks dirt from the basement. I’ve never had any problems with it.
We are now eagerly awaiting the Dyson hand-vac and the Dyson shop-vac.
I’m just lukewarm on my Dyson. The brush makes an awful noise when it gets hung up on the pile of one of my area rugs. It’s “supposed” to make that noise when the brush gets tangled in something, I guess, but it will scare the crap out of the unsuspecting human. Also, the accessory handle is awkward to use. You have to pull the entire thing out, disconnect it, turn it around, and then reconnect it just to use an edger. I’m not sure if all models are like that so be sure you check out how your potential one works before buying. I think mine’s a DC14? It’s teal and purple. It does suck marvelously, though.
I was just at Circuit City an hour ago and saw vacuums, including Dyson models. But the one that looked like it had better quality than those was the a Bissell at $250, a hundred clams less than the cheaper model Dyson.
I have a Hoover twin turbo bagless (I think it’s called) that’s worked well for the last 6-years or so. If it craps out I’ll look into the 12 amp Bissell with its 15’ wide sweep.
Good luck!
I was most likely in the other thread, saying how much we like our Animal model. It’s still working like a charm after a couple of years. We have four cats, and every time we vacuum, it picks up enough hair to knit another cat. The only thing I’m not crazy about is the flexible hose. It’s pretty rigid, and it makes it hard to vacuum on top of shelves or other high places. But that can be got around. The cats are mainly terrified of it. They look like they’re so curious about what that big noisy thing is, but they can’t bear for it to get too close to them. My wife says she cracked up laughing the other day when one of the cats hissed at it.
Ditto. I have a golden retriever, and his hair gets wrapped around the brush all the time, and so the vacuum is making that horrible noise all the time, which means I should be cutting all the wrapped-up hair off the brush all the time, but I’m too lazy to do that. Also, i don’t like carrying the thing. If I use the handle I get worried that it’s going to snap out, and if I use the vacuum tube handle, I’m worried that it will snap out as well. It hasn’t, but the thought is always nagging me when I carry it. And the thing doesn’t pick up golden retriever hair nearly as well as I’d been led to believe.
Other things I don’t like: the attachments have trouble staying on the hose. They don’t “click” into place, so when I’m using the stair attachment and putting some good force behind it, the thing always gets loose. Also don’t like pulling it out, disconnecting, and reconnecting it, as mentioned above. So I’m happy to have the thing, but I have to say it’s not the ultimate vacuum.
I really like ours
Two dogs and two cats. Muddy driveway…
It’s the Dysan animal.
Outside of never needing to change bags, We like the suction hose to clean up in corners and stuff.
The hose suction really works. And it is easy. Best part of the vacuum IMHO. I don’t even bother with a shop vac (I’m adding an addition to our house so I know a little about having to clean up).
Some hair behind a toilet? Gone.
Stuff usually reserved for a shop vac is bingo bango. Pull out the hose and do a bit of real corner cleaning. Put it back and be on your way.no problem.
Simple and fast.
I was at Target today looking at the Animal and read the little description label that Target had placed on the item. It clearly stated: Great for picking up pet heir.
:dubious:
So if you know a cat who’s in line to be king…
Is it good for picking up Herr Kat, too?
There already is a Dyson hand-vac but it looks like a bizarre raygun from a bad SF movie.
Neat! Guess what I’m getting for a last-minute Mother’s Day gift! 
Kirby vacs are made of compressed dollars. Anyone who thinks a Dyson is expensive has never seen a Kirby. Think they sell for around $1600-1800 now. Oh, they’re also made of cubic heavy.
We’ve got a Kirby that has not seen use in two years since we got the Dyson Animal. What’s really weird about the Kirby is that it’s got so much suction that it would actually pull up the carpet, but it wasn’t all that good at actually picking up dirt. 
We were actually so unimpressed with its cleaning performance that we took it to the local Kirby dealer, who pronounced it to be in fine and proper working order.
I own a Dyson Sphere I bought at Galactus’s garage sale. It’s still in the crate, though, 'cause I’m having trouble getting a construction permit.