Hellobee Boards

Love my dyson!!!!
Got the animal purple one (forget model I think d17?) 4+ years ago and it's still working well!

We have a Eureka Airspeed Gold and I think it is pretty comparable to the Dyson my parents have performance wise, but at a better price.

We really like ours. We have the animal purple one (with rollerball) and I am shocked how much it collects!

I also love my Dyson!!! The rollerball makes it soooo easy to maneuver! I do wish the pull out extension hose (for stairs, corners, etc.) was longer but it is truly worth the extra cost in my opinion. I had a nice allergen removing Hoover before and the Dyson is so much better!

we had the animal dyson, and it was really heavy. there are great lighter models now that i've used that work really great. but i really love my miele canister vac and prefer that!

My parents have a Dyson and love it, but when I just bought a new one last week I got a Hoover (partially on my Dad's recommendation). It's just such an expensive vacuum! FWIW, I've really like our new one- Hoover WindTunnel Air

My mom has a dyson animal & hates it so much she bough a cheaper Hoover at target one day & doesn't even take the dyson out anymore. I love my Hoover platinum!!!! Not super cheap, but less than a dyson. It's so light & doesn't make dust when I empty it. Also it came with this extra little vac with a shoulder strap the has a long hose & attachments, soooo much easier than the dyson attachments, those are a pain! I know a lot of ppl love theirs, I'm not a fan though.

Love my Dyson Animal!! Great for my asthma/allergies.

omg our Dyson is awesome. We had just vacuumed our rug when the Dyson entered our lives (found it cheap on Craigslist, brand new unopened box) and we immediately vacuumed again and the canister filled up like 1/4 way. EW.

Our Dyson is so powerful it tears up the carpet in our basement!! It's cheap carpet so thankfully we don't care.

@autumnlove: I think animal... it's purple with the roller ball.

No. It isn't worth it in my opinion. I have 2 cats and a big yellow Dyson "animal" vacuum (a few years old) and here is my 2 cents.

I previously owned some random old upright vacuum I got at a garage sale. It did OK, but with wedding gift card money I was gonna get a dyson and it was gonna change my cleaning "life". It hasn't.

Is it a great vacuum? Yes. Is it worth $500? No.

1) It's very heavy and cumbersome to carry up and down stairs. The logical handle you'd think to carry it by, the manual specifically says not to carry it by. With the layout of my house, i have to store it in the basement, so...
2) the cord wraps around the shaft in such a way that if you want to use the hose/tube part (for stairs, hard-to-reach areas, or whatever) you have to unwrap the entire cord first. Not convenient if you just wanted to vacuum up a quick little area, or vacuum out your car or something.
3) speaking of the hose part, the commercials all show how effortless and easy that is to use, how long it is, etc, and I don't find that to be the case at all. I'll be 5-stairs up, or crawling under the sofa, and the vacuum base will tip over because the hose won't stretch enough. Or if it doesn't tip over, it'll 'snap back' to me and run over my heels. So much for effortlessly reaching with the hose.
4) If you have long hair or a long haired pet, or if you sew and drop threads, you will (just like with other vacuums) spend a lot of time cutting your hairs and threads out of the vacuum brushes.
5) the canister comes apart too easily when you're dumping it--can lose it in your dumpster and have to climb in after it. Now that I know this I just make sure to hold on to it with both hands--one on the handle and one on the clear plastic part so I don't lose it.
6) The couch/furniture cleaning attachments (sold separately and intended for pet hair) don't work at all (at least not with microfiber). I use a damp rag to pull cat hair off our couches. Works better than the dyson.
7) I'm sorry, but I'm not impressed about its so-called superior hair/dirt pickup. I still have to go over the rugs several times in some places, and if I go on the hard floor, it spits the debris around/behind the vacuum (nothing like feeling dirty grit hit your ankles when the vacuum is supposed to suck it all up). My old second hand vacuum picked up dirt just as well.

It's not a bad vacuum at all. But it is NOT worth $500. My mom was smarter than me and went to a vacuum retailer, where she bought a commercial Hoover like the kind elementary schools use. Cost less than my dyson and works much, much better. (it's just as heavy though).

Now I'm stuck with a very expensive vacuum that I'd love to replace, but can't justify since it cost so much.

If I bought another expensive vacuum, I'd get a Miele rather than a dyson.

Or, perhaps I'd try an Oreck, they are less expensive and many people rave about them. Plus they're known for being light to carry!

@Alivoo01: what one did you buy that was light? My upright weighs at least 25 lbs. It's like carrying around around a 4' tall toddler by his arm.

@Alivoo01: Mine has that button too, but if you have to shake it all all (like to get cat hair out), the clear part will just shake clear off the solid colored part. Maybe mine's a dud. Probably also weighs 14 lbs like yours... but hauling it up and down the steps, it might as well weigh 50

@Alivoo01: I think I need a live in maid, haha.

@Alivoo01: I think my mom called the local schools and asked what they had, and where they got it, and then just went to that store and looked. I never would have thought to do that, but those vacuums are used hardcore, so that was really smart.

@Alivoo01: oh, LOL!

Yeah, I have heard mixed reviews of Merry Maids, etc. Like that it isn't always the same person who comes to your house, so the quality or trust isn't there or consistent.