My Review of Dyson Ball Animal Vacuum

[kirbytradition7]

I spent Christmas and New Year's holidays with Mom in Fort Wayne, IN (I live in San Francisco, CA, now).

Whilst I was at Mom's home, I saw a new Dyson Ball Animal vacuum in her family room. Her home is a 1950s ranch home in a subdivision in Fort Wayne, with 3 bedrooms. This is a home with 2 big dogs and 5 cats (so there is a lot of loose fur).

I got to use it during the holidays. Here's my review of this vacuum.

The first time I used it was for a quick cleanup of the family room on Christmas Day, after one of the two dogs chewed up a large bone on the carpet.

The Dyson maneuvered very well on its ball; I could make sharp turns and zig-zag around table legs and under some of the furniture. It picked up all the bone fragments from the floor, plus a surprisingly huge amount of fur off the floor.
The canister was easy to remove and empty--just push on a red button at the top of the canister, and it flips open on the bottom to dump the dirt out.

The second time I used the Dyson was a few days after Christmas, for a more thorough vacuuming of the house. I started with one of the back bedrooms (there are 3 bedrooms), then the hallway, the dining room, and the family room, which are all carpeted.

Once again, the Dyson demonstrated amazing maneuverability and ease of operation, plus it picked up more dog and cat fur than I ever realized was there. It took 3 canister-fuls of fur (total) out of the carpets in all these rooms!

I did not use the hose or any of the attachments, since my main purpose was to vacuum the carpets all over the house.

My judgment of this vacuum:
1) It maneuvers quite agilely, due to the unique rolling ball, so it can turn sharp corners and zig-zag around obstacles.
2) It does very well, better than any vacuum I have used before it, in picking up dog and cat fur from carpets.

This vacuum would be too much vacuum for my small pet-free studio apartment in San Francisco, since I have no pets (so no fur); after all, it's designed for pet owners in houses.

What are your experiences with the Dyson Ball Animal vacuum? Please share!

 

[electroluxxxx]

I dont know about the Ball but the DC 14 has been a great cleaner to me, I just wish it had a little bit more airflow other than that no complaints James has done a great job inventing a good cleaner

 

[vintagehoover]

Hi Francis - glad to hear you had such a positive experience with the Dyson Animal!

The Animal model is especially well-suited to homes with pets, but in the case of the Ball range, the Animal differs from the others only in its colour scheme, and the fact that it includes include Dyson's unique Clean-Air Mini Turbinehead. Power, filtration and features are otherwise the same for all the Ball models.

For an apartment, the DC24 might be more suitable. Same performance, ease of use and maneuverability as a full-size, but in a lightweight, compact package!

Many thanks for sharing your impressions!

 

[ponchiko]

I'm thinking about getting a Dyson and am trying to decide between the regular DC25 and the DC25 Animal. Aesthetically speaking I prefer the purple Animal over the standard yellow, but I'm not sure if it's worth the extra money for color alone.

I know the DC25 Animal is specifically targeted to homes with pets, but I was wondering what specifically is different? I actually don't have pets but I have long hair and I must shed because I end up vacuuming a lot of it up. Would the Animal work well for human hair? LOL

I currently use a Kirby Heritage II

 

[shanonabc]

The only difference between the DC25 Silver Yellow and the DC25 Animal is the inclusion of the Mini Turbine head, There should be no discernible difference between these two models in regard to hair pick up...

And yes... Either model will pick up human hair fine

 

[vintagehoover]

Dyson engineers identified some crucial flaws in the design

- The inefficient ‘direct air’ design means that the impellor and brush can only run at speed when airflow is moving powerfully through the nozzle. As soon as the airflow is stifled – like when you touch the nozzle to a surface – the speed of the brush-bar can drop to a point where it’s almost useless
- The turbohead draws both air and debris through the impellor, risking damage to the impellor
- The crude impellor functions by channelling air through a narrow intake slot at the rear of the brush-bar housing. This severely limits the ability of the turbohead to pick up larger debris
- The design of the turbohead can make it fiddly to clean out the impellor and brush-bar if they become entangled with hair and fluff

 

[vintagehoover]

So they came up with a better solution: the Dyson Clean-Air

- Engineered to use a dual-duct, ‘clean-air’ set-up. If airflow through the nozzle is restricted when cleaning a dense fabric, it simply draws a little more through the turbine. Airflow automatically balances itself to suit usage, so the brush-bar will actually increase in speed rather than slowing down
- Debris does not pass through the turbine itself, so there’s no risk of damage to essential parts
- The intake at the rear of the brush-housing is larger, so it can pick up bulkier debris
- The brush-bar is easily extracted from the side Turbinehead with a coin, so that any entangled hair or thread can be removed

1) Main casing – transparent, so you can see if there’s a blockage
2) Brush-bar
3) Soleplate
4) Turbine unit with cogged belt
5) Sidepiece and turbine air-intake – mesh to keep turbine free of fluff
6) Brush-bar side-cap – unlocks with a coin for easy maintenance

 

[kenmore81]

I could go so many places with this thread but ill be seriou

Jack I want a DC24!!!I did have the honor of using the animal,and I do love the purple over the yellow but I dont think there is any other slim model/color is there? The one time I did get to use the Dyson Animal I used it on the stairs with the turbo brush and it did perform very well compared to the standard turbo heads. I do have a Dirt Devil and Hoover windtunnel mini turbo and they dont slow down as bad as the others but the debris still has to pass through the tubine causeing the blades to chip over time.

 

[blakaeg]

My DC24 does not work with the Dyson turbine head, I have tried this - the suction is not powerful enough to power the Dyson head, shame really.

I think it will work with traditional turbine head like the ones that are packaged with the Vax as one of their models have 130 air air and yet is sold with this turbobrush so it should work with the DC24 only if it will fit the pipe.

 

[schwinnapproved]

I've been curious about the "Ball" models. I have tried the DC25 at a local Sears but there wasn't much space to run it at the store and on top of that the sales person was following me around like a lost puppy! But for the few seconds I ran one, I certainly enjoyed it.

I've been told that the brushroll agitates the carpet very well on those models, I'd love to try one on actual house carpet and not a Sears 2'x3' test rug lol.

And for those Dyson turbine heads, their awesome! I have the older more bulky version of it. I use it constantly and always find new surprizes twirling in the bin of my DC07 when cleaning the furniture and stuff.