I'll see if my sis is willing to give you some feedback. She's had a Dyson Animal for several year's now and absolutely LOVES it. She makes her home with a 4 year girly daughter who loves to play with glitter and such messy stuff, a 6yr old sone who is forever taking things apart and making a mess, 3 cats, a dog and a husband who thinks house cleaning is womesn's work. She finally hired cleaning staff recently and they love using the Dyson as well. I'm sure she'd be willing to answer any questions you've got
Hi Olive
Even if your sister had only 50% of your inquisite mind, I would trust her more that 20 focus groups so YES!
My interest is very specific. It does not concern the overall system, which I know works. What I am interested in is the quality of the detailing, specifically the "known technologies" quarity and durability of the brushes, quality and durability of the connections, of switches etc. If your dear sister finds the time between all the activities and duties you mentioned, I would be glad to hear her comments on this.
HI Koen...
I'm Olive's sister, I'm not sure I can answer all your question but I'll try. As my sister said, I have a small zoo... 2-legged and 4. I have had this Dyson for nearly 5 years (Mother's Day 2004) and it has suffered many indignities in that time span. I have just turned it over to have a good look at the main brush head it has little to no degradation in the bristles themselves and despite the shredded hair ribbon and the 'My Little Pony' toy hair throttling the spinner it continues to spin freely. All of the other brushes look just as good and the connections still snap tightly together. The tubes are all fine. The removable dust bin is intrinsically easy and still fits properly and has no loosness to it. The upholstery thingy is a gift of gold and it has probably removed enough animal hair from my sofas to amply re-fur a pride of lions. The only thing that ever broke was one connection area after it took a trip down the stairs by itself (I say 'by itself' but it was actually assisted by a 4 y.o. boy who said he was; and I quote "playing with gravity"). I called Dyson and had the part in 2 days and, needing no other tool but my hands, replaced the part in under a minute. It's tougher than any vacuum I have ever used and I am pretty sure you can suck the whole cat up off the first floor when you are vacumming on the second floor.
OK that's the good news, here are the few things I don't like... The power switch is almost too easy to hit and I turn it on and off unintentionally. Switching it to the wand attachment takes a few times to get the hang of, when I first got it, I stared at it with my mouth open for a few minutes before I finally had to read the manual, but I also think this has changed in later generations of the machine. The last bit may be just me and my zoo but cleaning the filter out by banging it on the railing outside is probably not the optimal solutional, although effective. It does give you a glimpse as to how tough even the insides are, though. There may be a few people who have worked their machines harder but I bet I'm in the top 10%. I would recommend this machine to any one who asked. Hope this helps
Agree, great vacuum
The only major problem that has surfaced, it the extension wand tubing. The clear tubing with metal coils...now has a tear in it near the attachment nozzle. How it happened, clueless...only explanation I can think of is repeated bending into the attachment nozzle. So, since it was advertised as space age, I performed a space age repair using duct tape...problem solved....for now...must review warranty info.
This model, the attachment wand can be awkward to pull out, flip and attach brush or whatever. Newer model it's easier to perform.
Same problem with power button as Olive sis...but isn't an issue for me. Rarely happens.
4 years...seems like vacuum noise has increased somewhat...still quiet by vacuum standards.
I regularly clean innerds with soap & water. Over time fine dust can collect inside cyclone tube & filters and decrease suction power....from my experience at least.
Easy to knock down backwards if bumped into.
Brush attachment hairs starting to fray, including the little "side sweepers" on either end of the vaccum.
Like Olive said, can be confusing using to those that aren't mechanically inclined. Typical question "How do I do....?" "Where is the....?" "Why isn't it...?". Full tutorial needed for new users.
I can always use more suction power.
Overall, I personally am very happy with it. Certainlly beat out the competition for what I needed/wanted...still does! Gets regular use..before, I'd infrequently vacuum due to loud unweildly dusty Hoover (late 80's model).
Oh... Emptying the collection bin is best done outside. Dust can plume up and out from the garage bin/bag. Shaking and banging bin helps dislodge finer particles in cyclone tubing. You'd be surprise how much lodges up inside there...I rinse it out regularlly, filling, shaking and dumping out black water, repeating until it clears.
Sounds familiar
1. I also bang my filter out(non-Dyson vac).
2. I looked at the Dyson at Costco(USA) and couldn't
figure out how to release the wand.
3. Thanks Olive's sister
I remembered a post topic on Dyson(see link) that there were bad reviews. I was planning on getting a Dyson until I read all the post replies, now people are liking the Dyson....I'm so confused.
http://www.designaddict.com/design_addict/forums/index.cfm/fuseaction/th...
Get a Roomba
I had also contemplated a Dyson and then decided I hate vacuming and the housekeeper does a nominal job at best. It self docks and charges on its own. It departs its docking station at preset times and goes out and cleans 4 times a week with no input from me other then to empty the dust bin. It cleans for 2 hours at a time and I would dare say that no manual vac and the person operating it would vacum for eight hours a week. We have 6400 square feet, a combination of carpet, tile, and polished concrete, a Jack Russell Terrier (who sheds like crazy) and when sunlight plays across the concrete floor one never sees a dog hair. And the best part of all is we have it programmed to vacum when we are asleep or not at home. We've had it 3 years and other then replacing the battery last month it has been incredible.
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