Dyson DC14 Animal Upright Cleaner

This is my second Dyson purchase from ebay - I needed a second vacuum cleaner for a house I am renting while the other vacuum stays at my real house. I was very happy with the first dyson (DC07 low reach) especially as I was comparing with a terrible el cheapo dirt devil that spat out dust instead of sucking it up. I didn't try any other brands first, but I believed most of the reviews that I read. I have had #1 for about four years now, but lost the low-reach floor tool in a move. Never really used it anyway - it was still too big to reach under the sofa and I used the stair wand tool to clean under the bed (hardwood floors). I decided to use it to clean up after some renovations, and the filter clogged up with construction dust, but a good wash every once in a while works wonders. From now on, I use the shopvac for things like that. I had a problem at first with the scary ratcheting noise when I changed to the carpet setting, but figured out if I was gentler in lowering the front of the vacuum with my foot, there was no problem.

I have called Dyson for help when something apparently broke on the vacuum and it wouldn't go back into the upright standing position. They were very helpful, and told me what to do and it fixed the problem. This seems to be a very sensible vacuum - and not easy to break (having said that, I did break my stair tool.

My new DC14 is being used in a house full of pale pink carpet (no accounting for taste) and is doing a good job. The carpet is still shedding, and my pets always shed, but dog and cat hair and carpet fluff is not a problem for the Dyson. I like being able to empty the canister instead of filling up bags and having to buy more - it makes me feel as though I am saving money and vacuuming more thoroughly - because I know I would not be very regular with changing the bags. I bought the animal version because it came with the carpet cleaning kit and all the tools - but again, I haven't used the low reach tool yet. The carpet cleaning stuff I tried on some stains and it didn't work very well.

One issue that I have read people complain about it the vacuum's weight - it is not light, but I manage. It is a bit of a pain in the ass to carry up and down the stairs, but the handles are well positioned for it, and I have no idea whether comparable brands are any lighter.

Anyway, the bottom line is that now I quite enjoy vacuuming whereas before Dyson I dreaded it, so to me it is a good vacuum and worth the money.

Only buy this if you want a clean & healthy home and save money. In my opinion, no other upright vacuum can clean as well as the Dyson. Excellent cleaning, customer service, no belts or bags, low maintenance, long power cord. Constant Airflow!

Take the time and read my review!!

Mr. Dyson says his vacuum never loses suction. He is absolutely right, but all vacuums don't ever lose suction. What makes the Dyson different then 99% of the others is it will never lose 100% of its airflow. Only a small amount of the dust in a Dyson gets to the hepa filter so it loses only a very slight amount of airflow. I think he would have been more correct if he had said his vacuum keeps 98% of the airflow. I think he said "suction" instead of "airflow" because most people don't know the difference.

The conventional bag vacuum, and now bagless ones, loses by far the majority, up to 98%, of their airflow. Why all the chatter about airflow and not suction? Suction doesn’t clean, airflow does. Let me explain.

Does a toilet plunger have suction? Yes. Could you use a toilet plunger to clean your carpet? No. Why? Because there is no airflow. As soon as you lift the toilet plunger off of the carpet any dirt that might have been caught in the suction would just fall back to the carpet. Still don’t believe me?

Take a regular drinking glass and put it on a table. Drop something very light into it like a piece of a mini marshmallow or a very small piece of paper. Put your mouth over the opening in the glass sealing it around your mouth and suck. You can suck so hard it feels like your lips are going to be ripped off of your face but the marshmallow or piece of paper will not move. Why? There is plenty of suction! The reason is because there is no airflow.

Without airflow there is no air movement to carry away the dirt in a carpet, or a marshmallow in a drinking glass. Suction has no air movement. In order to pick up dirt, a vacuum cleaner has to have air freely flowing in from the head or brush bar area through the porous paper bag or bagless dirt collector and freely out of the vacuum cleaner. The dirt that is picked up from the carpet from a bag vacuum cleaner is carried (actually pushed) by the air all the way through the vacuum cleaner to the inside walls or sides of the bag, where because of the small bag holes, it is stopped.

Not only is the dirt stopped, because of the small holes in the bag, but the dirt stops-up or clogs-up the small holes causing the vacuum cleaner to lose its airflow. A vacuum cleaner has to use a porous bag in order to let out the air. Could you imagine what would happen if your vacuum cleaner had a plastic dirt bag? You’re right, nothing. Why? Because the air could not escape. With the air not escaping there is no airflow. See what I mean?

The motor is still turning and trying to blow air out the holes in the porous bag (or in a bagless vacuum through the air filters) but because the holes are clogged with dirt two things happen.

First, pressure builds up and forces the smaller dirt, dust, bacteria, germs, carpet mites and anything else small enough, through the holes so the air can escape. Congratulations! You have just moved all the filth from your carpet to the air in your house. Now breathe deeply. Smell that “vacuum smell”? Now you know what gives it its smell, filth.

Secondly, because all of the holes are clogged with this nasty stuff, the air flow is so restricted that only the lightest carpet

I originally wrote this review in Sept '06 when I first purchased my Dyson, it's now Jan 2,2008 and I have just purchased my second Dyson. I loved the first one so much that I decided to buy another for my dog kennel!! My sister borrowed mine one day and now she owns one too!! You cannot go wrong buying this vacuum cleaner. The suction is unbelievable. I have taken it to several friends' houses and it makes them sick to see how much the cannister gets filled even after they have just vacuumed with their vacuum cleaner, no matter what the brand, the Dyson beats them all. Quick thinking about it and just go buy one!

What I love about this vacuum....where do I begin... You can literally pull the expandable hose across a room stretching up to 17' and the vacuum cleaner does not even fall over! I was so amazed!! And its so easy to get spider webs from the ceiling with the long reach wand.
My original review is below:

This is the first upright vac I have had that will literally get to the edge of the wall or cabinet. Doesn't leave that 1" or so of unvacuumed strip like most vacs.

It weighs about 18lbs, but it glides across the floor so gracefully!! Its so easy to operate. And when you take it out of the box, its also very easy to put together. Its also the quietest running vac I have ever heard.

The cord is super long, I believe I read 35' which is probably more than twice as long as most vacs.

The best for last - SUCTION - This vacuum has power like you would not believe!! I had just vacuumed my house with my old Dirt Devil, thinking the carpet was clean!! You wouldn't believe how quickly I filled the cannister after just going through several rooms. I was about to die. All this time I thought my carpets were clean!! I have very bad allergies also and I'm anxious to see if this makes a difference. The cannister is very easy to dump and put back together. Nothing gets clogged in the filter either.

This vacuum cleaner makes house work fun because it is such a good feeling after you vacuum your entire house. I mean, you can feel the clean! The Mgr at Lowe's saw me buying the vac and told me he had the same one and how much fun it was to use. And it honestly is cause it works soooooo good. I vacuumed up an empty 13 gal garbage bag and thought it was a kleenex going in LOL then I saw it in the cannister and about died! It didn't even get choked!!

I think this model comes with a whole lot more attachments than the others. Whether you have indoor pets or not, I highly recommend this vacuum cleaner. If you have been thinking about getting one, don't hesitate any longer, just do it!

Dislike-Nothing-Love everything-With a Himalayan cat, we definitely have a problem w/shedding. This vac picks up the cat hair on1st pass-love the push button you use to empty the container-All hands free-Just hold it over a trash can, we use the one in the garage, and push the button, all comes dirt, dust, and cat hair! On the few time a little of the fur stuck I just shook the cannister or used a wooden rules and loosened it and out it comes. My brother and his wife who are very neat and keep their house very clean (opposite of me) loved mine so much they got one from e-bay. Were they surprised when they used the dyson for the 1st time. They have no pets and it is is just the 2 of them unless their kids or grandson is visiting. so what they thought were clean carpets, filled the dirt cannister. They just could not believe how much more dirt they picked up after using the DYson. They had just vacuumed 5 days before. Anyway whether you are very tidy person, a regular clean house person,or have a lived in look, like I do, or in need of MS Nicey and the Clean House cres (which at times I could use) the Dyson family of vac is for you. It makes a clean house cleaner, and a lived in one great to live in-allegeries down, dust down. Oh and did I mention, it was so quiet I thought it wasn't working. And some music on turned the vac on and couldn't here the vac running. And, it is so very light-When you first open the box do not think it is a piece of junk because it is light. My first though was this can't be any good, it doesn't weight anything, just another cheap piece of overprice plastic. Boy way I wrong-it is very sturdy, despite the light weight, and moves with a touch a the finger. It seem to be self-propelled-The accessories are great, cleans my microsuede oversize chair wonderfully, automatically switches carpet heights, and when switching to non=carpeted floors, it is wonderful-picks up all the little strings and crumbs a broom might miss. Also, great for cleaning blinds and the grills on the returns for the heating and a/c-One caution, use the brush, I used the crevice tool at first., and the suction was so strong, it sucked some of the little air freshener strips I had attached to the filter out. : ) That was too funny but did show how powerful the vac is.
I guess you can say both the really neat family and the not so "domestic goddess" family love their DYSON and will not ever use anything else. And any new products that come from Dyson, we will be interested in and believe the ads. glennmeri

This review was initially written in 2006.
Just wanted to update: It's May 2008 and still very happy with this Dyson.
Another update: March 2009 - the Dyson is still going strong...no service issues at all

For some reason, cat hair possibly being at least part of the culprit, I could never a vaccuum to work reliably for more than a year or two without all sorts of maintenance problems & decreasing effectiveness. The lastest one was a Panasonic. I always liked Panasonic products & this one had a good rating. But seems I was replacing belts (not an easy task) as fast as bags, and constantly stinking up the house with a burnt rubber smell. Suction was intermittent.

So, time for a new vac again. Saw the Dyson commercials, but was skeptical. This time I posted on one of the eBay boards to see if anyone had a vac they were actually happpy with & would recommend. Hand's down, the overwhelming majority were happy with their Dysons. Normally I don't spend more than $200-250 for a vac & the Dyson's are twice the cost. But even my husband was tired of constantly fixing vacs, and we figured we'd give it a try.

I usually make most of my purchases online that I can, but didn't want to purchase the Dyson online, as I was still a bit skeptical and wanted to be able to easily return it ASAP if I didn't like it. Plus, many of the ones I saw online were re-conditioned, and I wanted a new one with full warranty. Was a big sale at Target, & our only local store was sold out of every model I had considered & no rainchecks. Luckily found a special 3 day promotion at Bed Bath & Beyond, where you got a $100 gift card for later use when you bought the vac. Not as good as a $100 off, but figured at least could use the gift card for some household items down the road.

We purchased a Dyson DC14 Animal. This one has all the extra attachments. Just beware, you will see some lower priced, but then the attachments are not included & costs more overall if you want to buy them later. Got it home & I put it together (actually easier than most I've had). I will admit it is huge & very strange looking. I was concerned about the weight, because in a bi-level home I am always going up & down. Actually it isn't any heavier than my old vac, and because of the long hose, unlike with my old vac, I can keep the vac at the bottom of the steps & go the entire flight of stairs without juggling it mid-way. And is pushes easier than my old vac.

I was also concerned about having to empty a bagless vac. Had a bagless years ago & was quite a messy affair. The Dyson is very well designed & is much easier with less dust poofing out to empty than changing bag on my old Panasonic was. I just take the canister outside, hold it over a trash bag, hit one button & poof it's gone. Then you just snap the bottom back on & pop it back on the vac.

But was impressed me the most was all the stuff this thing is pulling out of my carpet. The first run with it, the canister filled up quickly, sucking unidentified "yuck" out of my carpet that evidently the old vac had been leaving behind. I am still getting used to how the attachments all work, (you definitely wanna read those instructions!) but I am getting the hang of it. I couldn't be more pleased with the current performance of my DC14 Animal. It's too early to say how reliable it will be in the long haul, but at least initially, I have to give my Dyson DC14 Animal a big "thumb's up" and would highly recommend.