Dyson DC17 Animal Upright Cleaner

It's been six weeks and I wanted to be sure I still loved this vacuum before I wrote the review.
Let me set the stage. I live in a house in the high desert (read dust like talc) and two Maine Coon cats. I had done the research and was consistently disappointed on the Consumer Reports Best Buy (CRBB) vacuums because they did not stand up to my particular household environment. I decided to risk my money on a refurbished Dyson from a factory authorized dealer. (Critical - buy from someone whose reputation is on the line.) It was the best decision of my household career.
The Dyson Animal DC17 arrived in a box from the Dealer. Owner's Manual is pictoral rather than written, but still easily interpreted. I had vacuumed my livingroom with the CRBB vacuum to give the Animal a fair test. I made it across half of the 14 x 17 room and had to empty the cannister - enough hair and dust to build a Cocker Spaniel. Finished the room and had to empty the cannister again with the same result. Weekly vacuumings are the same; always a cannister of dirt and hair. The nap on my carpets are markedly raised and they feel different to walk on barefooted.
The machine does weigh 27 lbs. but the only time I notice is when I carry it from floor to floor. It rolls easily and without effort across carpets, wood floors and tile. The attachemnts are all self-contained on the machine, but there is a small brush that seems to get in the way of how I wrap the cord, so I just keep that one in the closet. It has an extra long cord, and I love that I can vacuum the entire living room and hallway without having to move the plug-in. The stairs attachment seems to function best if you keep it level on each step. (This will make more sense once you actually try it out.) The pictorial manual indicates a need to wash the internal HEPA filter every 6 months, but with my high-desert talc dust, I think I may have to clean it oftener.
This is a thinking person's vacuum. Suction loss is usually seconary to needing to empty the cannister, and brush the animal hair away from the air intake at the top of the cannister. The points in the machine where the airway can become obstructed (causing loss of suction) are clearly marked in the pictoral owner's manual; allowing you to fix it yourself. The machine also has an automatic cut-off if something wraps around the beater bar, so you can reset the beater bar and not have to replace the belts like my CRBB machines. The design team has thought of everything to keep this machine running.
Disappointed reviewers have complained about the weight and the complexity of the machine. All I can say is that a)it is advertised at 27 lbs and you'll only notice when you carry it, and b) sometimes, as an owner, you have to read the owner's manual.
I've had my animal for 6 weeks and I'd buy one again in a heartbeat Would you like me to build you a Cocker Spaniel?

I but my DC17 Animal about 5 months ago with some hesitation. After all $500 dollars for a vacume is alot of money. But I figured that I had spent that in the last 3 years just on cheap vacuums anyway and they did not do that great of a job but I did not realize until I got my Dyson how BAD of a job they really did. I got my dyson home and vacuumed my livingroom with my old vacuum and then did it with the Dyson and WOW I could not believe the amount of dirt and hair that my old vacumm left behind. I also took it over to my parents house and tested it against thier Kirby and there just was not comparing the two. The Dyson won hands down. My wife uses that carpet powder on the rugs and I could not believe how much of it was still in our carpets. I bet my floor is ten pounds lighter after the dyson got up what the old one did not. The filter system is amazing also. My old Vacuum had dust all over the outside of it from all the dust that had leaked out and the outside of the Dyson is spotless. If you have allergies you must have this Vacuum. The part I like the best is the hose. It is all self contained in the handle you just lift up a lever and it extends a whole 17 feet. I can leave the Dyson at the bottom of the stairs an go right up to the top and not miss a step. It also comes with a bunch of accessories. Like I said I have had it now for about 5 months and it has not lost suction once. It is also easy to empty. All you do is take the container over to the garbage can push a button and it is empty. It also automatically adjusts when you go from hardwood floor to carpet. No more bending over to turn the dial to adjust the hieght for hard surfaces to rugs. The only thing you have to watch out for is you need to make sure you do not go over something you do not want sucked up. This thing is powerful and if you go over it it going in. That leads me to the only thing I would change about the Dyson. It is so powerful that when you are using the hose it sometimes get stuck on what you are vacuuming ie. the couch. I would recomend that they put an air vent on the handle to control the suction for certain things. Like the ones they have on shop vacs. In my opinion it is well worth the money.

Ok I have had this vacum for almost a year now and It is still running like a champ. I have not had any problems at all. It has never clogged or lost its suction power. I have a dog and a cat that are constantly shedding and this Dyson gets the hair up in a jiffy with no problem. After a year now I say GO FOR IT!!!!!

I have 6 dogs, 3 cats, allergies and house full of carpet. Because of this, I needed a vacuum that can keep up with all the fur and dirt, help trap allergens and stand up to heavy, frequent use. I originally purchased a Dyson DC14 Animal and, while it was an excellent vac, the DC17 Animal is head a shoulders above it.

Not because I have a lot of extra money lying around, but because a top flight vac is imperative in this house, after much thought I traded my DC14 for the DC 17 a few months after it came out. The difference between the two is AMAZING. A lot of the problems that the DC14 was known for (clogging roller brush, less than stellar turbo brush, etc.) are a thing of the past. We looked at Oreck and a few other commercial/industrial grade vacs that cost into the four figures, and none of them were as good as the DC17.

PROS:

1. Unbelievable suction! I am always amazed at the crud my Dyson picks up. After I vacuum a room, my allergies know the difference. Never have I had a vac with pick-up power like this one.

2. Non clogging roller/brush bar - I used to have to flip my other vacs over, including the DC14 - to manually cut the hair and stuff off the brush every few times I used the vac. I have never had to do that with the 17. As an added bonus, the roller is encased in clear plastic, so you can see if it is getting dirty or if something is stuck.

3. Powerful attachments - because of the mega suction, the hose attachments work much better. Electric powered attachments are the best, but these are the best suction driven attachments I have seen yet.

4. Improved design and sharp looks

5. Included 5 year warranty - Dyson provides an included 5 year warranty, saving you the expense of purchasing a service contract somewhere.

6. No Bags! - And as much junk as this vac sucks up, it's a very good thing, you'd spend a fortune on bags otherwise.

7. Cleanable filter

8. Nice long hose and cord - you can clean for a long time before you have to unpplug to find a new outlet.

9. If you suck up something too big, it is easy to take the vac apart to get it out.

10. Ease of emptying, great for people with allergies. I do recommend emptying it outside if you can, though. The vac picks up a ton of very fine silt, some of which goes airborne as you empty. I solved this by either emptying into a plastic grocery store bag wrapped tightly around the bottom or taking it outside.

11. Very easy to operate, nothing complicated at all about it.

CONS:

1. It is a little heavy, but nothing extreme. The big handle on the top of the canister makes it easy to carry.

2. Price - of course it is expensive, but with this vac I firmy believe you are actually getting much more cleaning power than you are paying for.

#. Need to clean the inside or the canister - but this is a VERY minor thing, because it rarely needs done and is very easy to do. Sometimes you may need to open the canister and scrape the dirt off the top part where the little holes are. Takes less than a minute.

I would recommend this vac without hesitation to anyone; after owning it, I would never feel that my carpets are clean with anything else.

I was hesitant to spend so much on a vacuum but I am glad I did. It has turned out to be better than I was hoping. I had my whole house steam cleaned 3 days before I got this vacuum. After the steam clean I vacuumed with my old vacuum the entire downstairs. 2 day later I got in the dyson animal and was astonished to see how much it picked up. It was picking up fine dust it seemed like from the carpet. I was so impressed I vacuumed the whole house and found even more stuff in the carpet that was kind of disgusting to think that it was there and wasn't being picked up. We have a 7 month old who just started crawling and that is what made us decide to get this vacuum. I have since used all the attachments and think this vacuum is one of the most useful things I have purchased. I even have used it to vacuum out the cars with it. It works great for that!! No more spending 75 cents at the car wash. I can do it from home. I also used the brush to clean all the baseboards, no more dust. Also it was made easy by the long handle that detaches when you use the hose. This thing is great. Its so convenient to leave the vacuum at the base of the stairs and have the long hose reach all the way up the stairs.

If there was one thing I thought was weird, is that I have never used a vacuum that doesn't have a button you press with your foot to make the vacuum come down to start using. With this one, you have to just put your foot on the base and pull it towards you, then it starts the motors on the floor. Not bad, just different. No big deal. It saves time and energy.

I Love my new Dyson and would recommend it to anyone who has carpet.

Although they tend to be expensive, the Dyson vacuums are worth every penny! They really do what they claim - never lose suction and suck up more dirt than you'd ever want to see come out of your house!

I have the Dyson Ball, which is just as good as a self-propelled vacuum. I also have three dogs and two cats that shed quite a bit. After vacuuming just one room, I have to empty the dirt chamber because it picks up so much animal hair! It's simply the best thing out there for people with pets and allergies. Since we live in Florida, there is also a lot of fine sand in the house, which traditional vacuums can't get. It's a breeze for the Dyson - it's an "animal!"

I highly recommend this vacuum to everyone; it's well worth the expense. I called the company directly to see if there was any difference between models as far as picking up more animal hair, and they said all the motors are the same. This was a couple of years ago, so they may have turbo-charged them by now, so there is a difference. It's worth giving them a call to find out which model you'd like and which will work best for you.

Thank God for this vacuum cleaner! I use it on both my carpet and tile, and just the one machine does it all. The optional turbo head attachment is great for upholstery, while the low-reach floor attachment is great for under furniture. While I wish the hose was a little easier to detach from the vacuum, it's simply the most versatile and powerful set of accessories and attachments I've ever found.

If you're going to buy a Dyson, I'd recommending going all out and getting the best you can; it's worth it. I found that the best buy is at Bed, Bath & Beyond, using a 20% off coupon. They also have the optional attachments available either in-store or online; if you go into the store to place the online order, they will apply coupons and waive shipping charges (at least they did for me).

Do yourself a favor and buy a Dyson!