Dyson DC28 Animal Upright Cleaner

This is a great vacuum cleaner. I was skeptical but got a refurbished one; looked brand new. The first time I used it, I emptied the canister 3 times on each rug. I was shocked because I didn't realize our old vacuum was missing so much dirt. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats and get a lot of hair and grit. This gets up the hair and fine grit beautifully.

I appreicate all the tools being onboard, making it easy to take care of the incidental things I run across. The only tools not onboard are the furniture and bare floor cleaning heads that attach to a wand and nice long hose- also on board. The small head has brushes and makes cleaning our cat tree and furniture a snap. It also has a very long power cord.

I particularly enjoy the bagless canister. It is so easy to empty. I notice no odor in the air when using the machine like I did with my old machine.

This is a powerful machine that does what it claims. This is the best vacuum I have ever owned. Our last one was an Oreck. If you are considering a new vacuum, do yourself a favor and get one of these top notch machines- you won't be sorry. No they didn't pay me to say this. I am just tired of buying things that don't work the way they should and want you to know- I am very pleased with this purchase.

Background - I live with three cats, a large dog and a man with long hair; my previous vacuum, a 15-year-old Fantom, died at the beginning of shedding season (may it rest in peace). The DC28 made short work of all the accumulated fur, as well as removing dirt I had not been aware of.

Pros - The suction is stronger than the monster Kirby I grew up with, which can make the vacuum difficult to maneuver on very short pile carpet. A previous owner installed indoor-outdoor berber in my kitchen; the Dyson actually sucked the carpet up from the floor before I manually adjusted the setting. I have noticed no change in suction between an empty dust cup and a full dust cup.

The dust cup is easy to remove, easy to empty, and easy to replace. I would recommend a ruler or something like it to get any fur/hair that creeps up above the max fill line, if you don't like getting your hands dirty. I garden, so a little dust on my fingers doesn't bother me.

Cons - It does not have good "edge" cleaning capability; I keep the crevice tool attached to the wand, ready to whip out for corners and that little 1/4" strip of pile right next to the baseboard.

The height of the beater bar prevents it from cleaning the toe-kick area under most kitchen cabinets, which was my major concern about this make/model. The turbo head attachment works well for this application; it would work better if it were on board the vacuum.

I would definitely recommend this vacuum to a friend.

I have a Katrina survivor cat that I adopted that can simply be described as a "hair machine." Minutes after vacuuming with my old vac, I'd still see "hair tumbleweeds" here and there. I knew I had to do something, so I ordered the Dyson. It arrived one day before I arrived at home, and my wife opened it and used it. "That new vacuum is amazing!," she said. I figured "amazing" meant "better than the old one." I took it into a carpeted room that she hadn't vacuumed yet, turned it on, and watched in amazement when after about 3 linear feet of movement produced a swirling hairball in the collector. At first I thought it must be residual hair from where she had used it earlier. This was NOT a section of the floor where I could even SEE any hair. The floor looked relatively clean when I started. So, I emptied the collector and started over. Same thing. Incredible! And not just hair, but dirt!

After about 3 weeks with this "Animal," I'm sold. Easy to empty, and every day it does it's thing -- never ceasing to amaze me. I use it daily, and the entire house smells cleaner than it did.

The attachments are nice -- I don't use the mini-turbine head, although I may later. The extension wand makes it easy to get under furniture with as little as 2" clearance (maybe even less). I have a kitchen island that weighs about 400 pounds that I used to have to move to clean underneath (it's on rollers). Now I just vacuum under it. The cool thing about the tools is that everything you need is on the vacuum... including the hose -- but unlike a lot of vacs (like my old Electrolux), you don't have to stop the vac, pull out a hose, attach it to the machine, and revert to upright later. The hose is already attached. You just pull the wand up, press a button, and you've got all you need to get under furniture. This part of the machine is truly a clever design.

This thing has tons of suction, too. Very impressive!

Here are the "cons" to the unit:
1) The hard plastic used on the collector seems like it might be easily broken -- although this hasn't happened yet. I'm not thinking "shatter" here, more like the latch might break. The jury's still out on this one.

2) The manual could have been better. I read. I don't appreciate the "diagram-only" approach to some of the instructions.

That's it, though... and the second one is minor.

Everything else is a "go" on this machine. Get one and you'll see what I mean.

Another thing... some of the reviews I've read complain about the "high pitched whine" or the color of the machine. The machine is pretty quiet. Much quieter than my old Electrolux, but it is A POWERFUL VACUUM and therefore will sound like a vacuum cleaner running! ;) And the color? Where do you keep this thing, in a display case? My advice? If you don't like the color, take it to a body shop and let 'em paint it for you -- but don't let the color cause you to miss what I consider to be one of the best deals going in the vacuum cleaner market.

I looked at a lot of vacuums before desiding on the dyson DC28 Animal. It works great on my carpets and floors. And on most surfaces it picks up every thing. But when we tried having the vacuum pick up cat hair from my sofa it left a lot. It did much better than my old Hoover did and any other vacuum has. But I need a vacuum that will pick up pet hair from my sofa. So til someone comes up with a vacuum that will pick up pet hair right I use the sticky rolls and toss them. I love my new dyson and I need to buy the Pet accessory package for it. Maybe that will do what I'm asking the vacuum to do now. The vacuum does come with tools but the tools that pick up fine pet hair may be in the special package I still need to order. That costs more. But Over all I got an Awesome deal on a great product. If you get this vacuum your getting a great product for a great. Plus you don't have to buy new filters or belts for it ever. It comes with a five year warranttee which is great. I paid several hundred less on ebay than I would have in a store near me. I read in other listings that people thought their new Dyson's were just as loud as their other vacuums. I disagree with that in my case. My new Dyson is much less noise. I like it a lot. My pets are not afraid and don't run in fear. Thats a big difference for my cat. People with or without pets will enjoy having this as their vacuum it works great!

I highly recommend this vacuum whether you have pets or not. I have 4 cats and this vacuum changed the color of my dark brown carpet in the kitchen and dining room back to dark brown! My $1000 vacuum that I had used for years was not getting all the hair up and I knew it and a friend recommended the Dyson Animal vacuum. Just amazed and shocked at how much filth I have to dump. The instructions are horrible, mostly pictures and I could not figure out how to pull the hose out to use an attachment. It also leaves a little "puff" or dust on the floor when you stop it. It is a heavy vacuum and creates quite a drag on your arm/shoulder and you can not get under a counter without using the attachment. Minor inconveniences compared to the quality of cleaning it provides.