I know this is a controversial topic to discuss, but I've decided to finally get this off my chest.
This is going to be a review on my Dyson DC07 Animal.
I've told this story a few times before, but at the end of 2007, my dad purchased this vacuum from our local Target while the store was doing a sale on Dyson vacuums after Christmas. We used it as our daily driver for 5-6 years straight, and I thought it was a really good vacuum. But then, starting in the summer of 2013, my dad received these much cheaper bagless vacuums for free through Amazon Vine, namely a Hoover WindTunnel 2 Rewind Pet that same summer, and a Eureka AirSpeed Unlimited Rewind the following year. I began using those instead of the Dyson. In June of 2014, I lost the Dyson to my mom following my parents' divorce. Last month, I bought her a new Hoover Air Steerable vacuum as a Valentine's Day gift, and got the old Dyson back.
In all honesty, I really don't like this vacuum anymore. It's overpriced, overrated, over-engineered and under-performing. Here's why:
BRUSH BAR - It's decent; it has pretty stiff bristles, but not much agitation; you can barely hear it beating the carpet. It gets up surface dirt and pet hair with ease, but doesn't really dig deep into the carpet to get embedded dirt and grit out. I mean, it gets up quite a bit, but not all of it. Sometimes, with surface dirt, it can take 2 or 3 passes before it gets picked up. In addition, if you vacuum up cat litter, the brush bar flings it back at your feet.
Because of the shape of the brush bar, long hair gets tangled VERY easily. Fortunately, it's simple to untangle it: undo the 3 fasteners on the bottom using a coin, remove the soleplate and use scissors to cut the hair off. Replace the soleplate, tighten the fasteners and you're back in business. But after the next use, the brush bar will just tangle up again, and you'll have to go through this all over again. Why spend time cleaning up a machine that gets the house clean?
CLEANER HEAD - Due to the suction being at one side of the cleaner head, there's not much airflow to effectively clean carpets. Not to mention the head is gigantic, so it can't fit under most furniture. Also, the "automatic height adjustment" is quirky to use. Simply reclining the vacuum causes the head to be at an angle, where it won't pick up anything. You may have to put pressure on the head to get it to seal to the carpet and maximize performance.
USING ATTACHMENTS - This is a fairly complex procedure. To use the attachments, you have to detach the wand, pull out the hose which resides inside the wand, remove the wand from the hose, flip the wand around, slide the cap back and connect the handle end to the hose. THEN you can put whatever attachment you want on the end of the wand. Once you're done, remove the attachment, take the wand out, turn it BACK around, hold down the hose release button, slide the wand into the hose, all the way down, and click it back onto the vacuum. That's a lot of work just to use the attachments.
HOSE - The Dyson has a super-long hose, which is GREAT for cleaning stairs. With the vacuum off, it stretches to about 14 feet. But once you turn the vacuum on, the super-strong suction causes the hose to "pull back" during use; this results in you having to "fight" the hose while cleaning. In addition, the hose causes the vacuum to follow you around the hose while cleaning, especially on hard floors. But on carpets, the vacuum stays put.
ROOT CYCLONE TECHNOLOGY - It's pretty neat and is a big selling point of the vacuum. It has NEVER lost its extremely powerful suction in its entire life. However, the 7 inner cyclones collect a lot of fine dust, which then cause the vacuum to smell bad upon the next use, even after emptying the bin.
While the Dyson is a nice machine to use, the company itself has misleading advertising, for example:
CLUTCH - While this seems like a great idea on paper, it is poorly engineered. The clutch utilizes two "fixed" rubber belts that DO stretch out over time, just like conventional belts. The clutch features a belt protection system where if something gets caught in the brush bar, the vacuum will make a loud, and I mean, LOUD ratcheting noise which is the most obnoxious sound you'll ever hear. It's just so scary and unexpected.
Dyson says that the clutch is not designed to be replaced by the user. However, if you DO decide to replace it, it costs $30 to $40, and involves a degree in engineering (not really, just kind of a humorous exaggeration). It's a very complex procedure. The most difficult part of the whole operation is getting the brush bar back in, which is a massive pain in the butt, even after watching a video.
"LIFETIME" HEPA FILTER - A sticker on the vacuum has some pretty bold claims about this filter. While it is a lifetime filter, in that there's no NEED to replace it, it DOES fill up over time, and WILL need to be replaced, just like any other filter. Getting to this filter takes a flat-head screwdriver; a new filter costs $30.
"NO EXTRA COSTS" - Due to the cost of these replacement parts, the vacuum will end up costing MORE than the $400 to $500 you initially pay for it.
However, the vacuum isn't all that bad. Here are the things I DO like about the Dyson:
BUILD QUALITY - This machine feels SO much sturdier than the current Dyson Ball vacuums. However, the soleplate has a small crack on one side, but it doesn't affect performance. For an 11 year old vacuum, one that we used as our daily driver from 2007-2013, it has held up very well. Conversely, newer Dysons feel flimsier than this DC07, which is disappointing for such a pricey vacuum.
LIFETIME WASHABLE FILTER - This is very convenient; the pre-filter just needs to be washed every 6 months under cold water and left out to dry after 12 hours.
BIN EMPTYING - It's very easy to do, thanks to the release trigger on the top of the canister assembly.
ATTACHMENTS - Dyson engineers have designed excellent attachments for this vacuum. The brush and stair tools have twisting heads that allow for easier cleaning. The stair and crevice tools have airflow vents to allow for better pickup without sticking to delicate fabrics. The turbo brush uses a "clean-air" turbine design, where half of the airflow is drawn through the brush bar, while the other half is drawn through the turbine. This means that the turbine won't get damaged from debris, and if you're cleaning something like a very dense fabric, the brush bar speeds up rather than slowing down.
I once really liked Dyson. My opinion has now changed, due to mediocre carpet cleaning performance and misleading advertising.
So, was the Dyson worth $400? Kind of; it's built like a tank and has lasted for over 10 years. Looking back, I wish we had gotten a newer Dyson, such as the DC14 or DC17, but I think Target was out of them at the time. My vacuum, being from late 2007, was one of the last DC07s made.
So that's my review/rant on the Dyson DC07 Animal. The newer models may change my mind, but I have no desire to buy another Dyson at the moment. What do you think?
This is going to be a review on my Dyson DC07 Animal.
I've told this story a few times before, but at the end of 2007, my dad purchased this vacuum from our local Target while the store was doing a sale on Dyson vacuums after Christmas. We used it as our daily driver for 5-6 years straight, and I thought it was a really good vacuum. But then, starting in the summer of 2013, my dad received these much cheaper bagless vacuums for free through Amazon Vine, namely a Hoover WindTunnel 2 Rewind Pet that same summer, and a Eureka AirSpeed Unlimited Rewind the following year. I began using those instead of the Dyson. In June of 2014, I lost the Dyson to my mom following my parents' divorce. Last month, I bought her a new Hoover Air Steerable vacuum as a Valentine's Day gift, and got the old Dyson back.
In all honesty, I really don't like this vacuum anymore. It's overpriced, overrated, over-engineered and under-performing. Here's why:
BRUSH BAR - It's decent; it has pretty stiff bristles, but not much agitation; you can barely hear it beating the carpet. It gets up surface dirt and pet hair with ease, but doesn't really dig deep into the carpet to get embedded dirt and grit out. I mean, it gets up quite a bit, but not all of it. Sometimes, with surface dirt, it can take 2 or 3 passes before it gets picked up. In addition, if you vacuum up cat litter, the brush bar flings it back at your feet.
Because of the shape of the brush bar, long hair gets tangled VERY easily. Fortunately, it's simple to untangle it: undo the 3 fasteners on the bottom using a coin, remove the soleplate and use scissors to cut the hair off. Replace the soleplate, tighten the fasteners and you're back in business. But after the next use, the brush bar will just tangle up again, and you'll have to go through this all over again. Why spend time cleaning up a machine that gets the house clean?
CLEANER HEAD - Due to the suction being at one side of the cleaner head, there's not much airflow to effectively clean carpets. Not to mention the head is gigantic, so it can't fit under most furniture. Also, the "automatic height adjustment" is quirky to use. Simply reclining the vacuum causes the head to be at an angle, where it won't pick up anything. You may have to put pressure on the head to get it to seal to the carpet and maximize performance.
USING ATTACHMENTS - This is a fairly complex procedure. To use the attachments, you have to detach the wand, pull out the hose which resides inside the wand, remove the wand from the hose, flip the wand around, slide the cap back and connect the handle end to the hose. THEN you can put whatever attachment you want on the end of the wand. Once you're done, remove the attachment, take the wand out, turn it BACK around, hold down the hose release button, slide the wand into the hose, all the way down, and click it back onto the vacuum. That's a lot of work just to use the attachments.
HOSE - The Dyson has a super-long hose, which is GREAT for cleaning stairs. With the vacuum off, it stretches to about 14 feet. But once you turn the vacuum on, the super-strong suction causes the hose to "pull back" during use; this results in you having to "fight" the hose while cleaning. In addition, the hose causes the vacuum to follow you around the hose while cleaning, especially on hard floors. But on carpets, the vacuum stays put.
ROOT CYCLONE TECHNOLOGY - It's pretty neat and is a big selling point of the vacuum. It has NEVER lost its extremely powerful suction in its entire life. However, the 7 inner cyclones collect a lot of fine dust, which then cause the vacuum to smell bad upon the next use, even after emptying the bin.
While the Dyson is a nice machine to use, the company itself has misleading advertising, for example:
CLUTCH - While this seems like a great idea on paper, it is poorly engineered. The clutch utilizes two "fixed" rubber belts that DO stretch out over time, just like conventional belts. The clutch features a belt protection system where if something gets caught in the brush bar, the vacuum will make a loud, and I mean, LOUD ratcheting noise which is the most obnoxious sound you'll ever hear. It's just so scary and unexpected.
Dyson says that the clutch is not designed to be replaced by the user. However, if you DO decide to replace it, it costs $30 to $40, and involves a degree in engineering (not really, just kind of a humorous exaggeration). It's a very complex procedure. The most difficult part of the whole operation is getting the brush bar back in, which is a massive pain in the butt, even after watching a video.
"LIFETIME" HEPA FILTER - A sticker on the vacuum has some pretty bold claims about this filter. While it is a lifetime filter, in that there's no NEED to replace it, it DOES fill up over time, and WILL need to be replaced, just like any other filter. Getting to this filter takes a flat-head screwdriver; a new filter costs $30.
"NO EXTRA COSTS" - Due to the cost of these replacement parts, the vacuum will end up costing MORE than the $400 to $500 you initially pay for it.
However, the vacuum isn't all that bad. Here are the things I DO like about the Dyson:
BUILD QUALITY - This machine feels SO much sturdier than the current Dyson Ball vacuums. However, the soleplate has a small crack on one side, but it doesn't affect performance. For an 11 year old vacuum, one that we used as our daily driver from 2007-2013, it has held up very well. Conversely, newer Dysons feel flimsier than this DC07, which is disappointing for such a pricey vacuum.
LIFETIME WASHABLE FILTER - This is very convenient; the pre-filter just needs to be washed every 6 months under cold water and left out to dry after 12 hours.
BIN EMPTYING - It's very easy to do, thanks to the release trigger on the top of the canister assembly.
ATTACHMENTS - Dyson engineers have designed excellent attachments for this vacuum. The brush and stair tools have twisting heads that allow for easier cleaning. The stair and crevice tools have airflow vents to allow for better pickup without sticking to delicate fabrics. The turbo brush uses a "clean-air" turbine design, where half of the airflow is drawn through the brush bar, while the other half is drawn through the turbine. This means that the turbine won't get damaged from debris, and if you're cleaning something like a very dense fabric, the brush bar speeds up rather than slowing down.
I once really liked Dyson. My opinion has now changed, due to mediocre carpet cleaning performance and misleading advertising.
So, was the Dyson worth $400? Kind of; it's built like a tank and has lasted for over 10 years. Looking back, I wish we had gotten a newer Dyson, such as the DC14 or DC17, but I think Target was out of them at the time. My vacuum, being from late 2007, was one of the last DC07s made.
So that's my review/rant on the Dyson DC07 Animal. The newer models may change my mind, but I have no desire to buy another Dyson at the moment. What do you think?
