Mommypants and I have been thinking of getting a Dyson Animal. Anyone have one of these, or any other Dyson model? Is it worth $500+?
We have one.
Best vacuum I’ve ever owned. I bought a refurb on eaby, because I thought the price was a bit steep.
Woot has the DC25 on sale today. Not sure how big a difference that is from the animal model, but it’s considerably cheaper.
If you have pets you need the animal model because that extra attachment thingy with the spinning brush head does all the hair removing stuff.
My parents have a Dyson Animal. It works fine. I just got myself a Kenmore Progressive for $350 (on sale now for $280) and I think it’s just as good. I went with the bag model because I am tired of dumping dog hair out of canisters. It comes with a tool called “Handi Mate Jr.” that is the same as the Dyson pet hair tool, only smaller and it fits on-board. The Dyson one does not (at least in my parents’ model).
The big difference between Dyson and other expensive vacuums, IMHO, is that Dyson says it’ll never lose suction. Other vacuums don’t make that claim. So you may get more of your money’s worth with the Dyson over time.
I have the regular Dyson and love it. I got it on eBay where it was cheaper (that was a few years ago).
We have a Dyson Animal and pets. Best vacuum we have ever had as well. But, I don’t find the the extra attachments work very well. Especially the spinning brush thing.
It’s got great suction, it doubles as a shop vac for us. It’s also very easy to empty. No screwing around with bags.
I have one. I like it, but I am not convinced it is worth $500. I paid less at BB&B with a 20% off coupon, and I am not sure it is even worth that.
It picks up great, but I am constantly taking it apart because my hair is long and it (the hair that I shed) gets wrapped around the beater bar. For some reason that causes the belt to slip, and when that happens it makes this totally awful noise that could wake the dead. For that reason I hate it.
Is it a nice vacuum that works well? Yes. Is it worth what they charge? I’m not totally convinced.
I’ve had my Dyson for more than five years - it’s utterly the best vacuum I’ve ever owned. Works great (great!), easy to use, very well engineered. In that time I’ve had two things break - the neck of one of the attachments broke, and the hose tore (was vacuuming up remnants of a home-improvement project, so stray nails, etc) - both times Dyson immediately sent out a replacement part, no charge, even after the vacuum was out of warranty. I like a company that stands behind their products like that - it shows how much they believe in them.
If it broke tomorrow, and I couldn’t finagle a replacement from their helpline, I would buy another without hesitation.
(And yes, the initial cost is high, but for me it’s been the only cost. Haven’t spent a penny on it since purchase.)
We have one at our lab, I think it’s a DC25. It works OK, but it seems overly complicated - lots of little knobs and latches to change configurations. Build quality seems comparable to any other major brand. Generally I appreciate high-end devices, but in this case I don’t see why it’s worth $400. It is lighter than the Eureka we have at home though.
I’ve had mine for about 5 years.
I love it and would recommend it to anyone. It was totally worth the price.
Prior to owning a Dyson, I was buying a cheap Eureka every 2 years or so. They would break and it would be more to fix than I paid for it initially. I got sick of it and got the Dyson Animal (20% off with coupon at BB&B).
The Dyson comes apart so easily and clogs/stuck stuff are/is easy to remove. You do have to maintain the filters to keep suction, but all I do is rinse them in the sink and air dry them. I would never buy another brand of vacuum again. It is not as light as an Oreck, but it is easier to use IMHO.
I have a Dyson (base model) and a German Shephard (obnoxious model) who dumps hair all over the place. I have a combination of hardwood floors with area rugs (downstairs) and carpeted floors (upstairs). The Dyson definitely lives up to the hype in terms of sheer suction power.
I grew tired of replacing $100-$200 vacuums every year. The price of the Dyson was steep but at this point it has paid for itself in not repairing/replacing vacuums.
I don’t suppose Henry or his siblings :- http://www.numatic.co.uk/products3.aspx?r=4&sr=1 are available in the USA? If they are then grab one quick. There are powerful, uncomplicated and long lasting. It’s notable that many “professionals”, such as office cleaners and builders use these machines. So they must be good. As for the price, a basic Henry comes in at under £100 ($150) in the UK. We have one at home and it’s the best machine we have ever had.
We have the Dyson Animal, and it’s fantastic. Probably the best vacuum I’ve ever used, apart from a commercial model designed for actual rug cleaning.
Love, love, love my Dyson Animal. Although the spinning brush attachment is useless, so any Dyson would probably work just as well. But with two dogs and two cats, we have a lot of pet hair to vacuum up and the Dyson is amazing for that.
Had one. It didn’t work. Sent it to the shop three times. Had it replaced it as a lemon. That one worked just as poorly. Physically threw it across the garage (its heavy) in frustration.
Now have a Meile.
We got a Dyson and we love it. It has… suction.
We got it a few years ago, refurb from Overstock.com. Going bagless was another perk for it, though I think bagless vacuums are a lot more common now.
I got mine from Woot.com–a lot less expensive. My only complaint is that it is a bit on the heavy side. (and I’m not!)
We had four dogs, and found the Dyson Animal overrated. It didn’t help that 3 of the dogs are/were Golden Retrievers. (The Boxer presumably wasn’t the issue.) There was always some plastic bit breaking someplace. I’ve been told the originals had more metal parts and were much more robust. The guy we took it to for repairs preferred other brands, and in fact, stopped selling Dyson because they broke down so often. A year ago, we looked at Miele’s and other high end vacuums. We settled on one that is simplicity itself, and haven’t had any problems at all. Of course, we only have 2 Goldens now, so maybe that helps. Unfortunately, I can’t remember the brand name.
I bought a Dyson something-or-other for Mrs Jim. She loves it. It does seem more effective. I don’t know if the extra cleaning is worth $500, but it makes the missus happy and that’s priceless 
Does anyone have a Dyson Ball? I lust after one just for the sheer awesome value of being able to vacuum anywhere. No kidding, watching the commercial for it means all conversation in the room must cease so I can drool over its superior vacuum capability.
I think my friends are considering taking up a collection to get me one just so they can have their television time uninterrupted once more.