We have three cats–two long-hair Maine Coons and a short hair tabby. Got this specific Dyson in December. Picks up cat hair better than any vacuum I’ve ever had before, even on our crappy apartment-grade carpet. Absolutely love the vacuum, and totally recommend it.
I am sure that this Dyson is better than the used Wizard from the Western Auto that I inherited from my mother in 1978. But I observe that Dyson claims that they are infinitely better than all other vacuums, while Consumer Reports does not agree at all. This seems like a helluva lot to pay for a vacuum to me. Mostly, I use a broom and a mop, having removed all the rugs.
Bought one of these for my Mom a couple of years ago. She has a lunatic calico (I think they all are) who can shed at will. One pass through the living room filled the tank with a massive, swirling helix of cat hair, and she had just vacuumed with her former favorite. Great machine.
I can’t understand all the hype every time these Dysons come up for sale. They are absolutely the worse vacuums. Give me a $99 Hoover, or a reconditioned Electrolux.
Serious question time.
Why does it seem that there are so many factory reconditioned Dyson vacuums?
Either it is shoddy quality and people return them for that reason, or maybe it is that people get them and find that they just aren’t as great a vacuum cleaner as they are hyped, they feel the premium price is not worth it, so they return the item.
Which is it folks?
both?
So, if its one, or the other, or both, why would I want a Dyson?
Here I have been waiting for this to come back and I still can do it.
I live in a pet friendly house, meaning like a large dog house. I currently use a $100 Bissel WallyWorld special. Good 8-9 years old. All I have to do is take it apart and give it a good cleaning once or twice a year.
Does the Dyson come apart to clean with soap and water? You never know when you vacuum an area where a pet have gotten sick or worse.
How does it do on a hard floor?
I’ll be going to all wood floor or something like that is more animal friendly.
Not sure if anyone responded to you yet, but there are three main types of machines you’ll see across different models.
It’s all on their website, of course, so feel free to peek over to dyson.com for details.
Multifloor - standard model that comes with crevice and upholstery tools/attachments
Animal - same as standard, but comes with their “pet” turbine tool, which is intended for picking up air. Newer models come with a tangle-free version.
Animal Complete - comes with various additional tools/attachments, including turbine tool, etc. See specific models for their included items.
The DC25 is an early version of their compact model (as I understand it). I believe it’s been phased out for the DC50.
The DC41 is an early version of their standard-size (avg. 2k~3k sq ft home) model, which has been phased out for the DC65.
This is all info I received from the website and/or one of their customer service reps when I was previously researching.
I’m waiting for a newer model to go on sale, rather than a refurb, due to the full warranty (5 yrs for new).
Also, some Sam’s Club locations have a new DC25 on sale for less than $400 (+$80 instant off). May be worth investigating if you’d prefer a longer warranty.
Good luck! 
I have two Shiba Inu dogs that shed twice a year for 6 months at a time. Tried a Dyson quite a few years ago and it did little better than the Hoover Windtunnel VAC we had (at 5 times the price). Eventually went all hardwood and tile, ditching the wall to wall carpet. Still have a number of area rugs in some areas but do not miss having the wall to wall carpet.
We have 2 Costco sourced Roomba’s that zip around the house 3 times a week to keep the pet hair off the dark hardwood and tile. Every two weeks we sweep, and mop as required.
Could not even imaging paying what they want for one of those Dyson fans.
Obviously I can’t say I know the minds of others out there, but I have seen a trend with folks buying the wrong model for their needs. (I’ve been researching various brands for myself and am seeing this kind of thing in the process.)
For example, certain models are smaller or more compact and intended for smaller residences that tend to have large area rugs and smooth floors, rather than heavy-duty full-house carpeting >2k sq ft.
People will buy the compact model to save a little cash, but turns out the model didn’t work quite right for them (e.g., smaller dust bin fills up too quickly, suction not quite as strong as they’d like [think area rugs > attached carpets], etc).
They return the model and buy a larger one (e.g., DC 41 or 65), and find it works great. The returned model now becomes a factory refurb that’s been cleaned, checked, and returned to the market for reduced sale for being, technically, pre-owned, but not necessarily defective.
Hope that helps.
I’ve been considering looking into this kind of option myself. I’ve moved into a smaller residence with tile flooring and rugs, rather than wall-to-wall carpeting, and find that most full-size vacuums simply are, frankly, too powerful for the smooth flooring and suck up my rugs terribly. They’re intended for ongoing, strong suction over carpets after all…
What challenges have you faced with the Roombas? How’s their power usage? Any issues with tangles, blockage, etc? Thanks!
I have 5, count 'em, 5 dogs. Not little dogs, big dogs. I vacuum every day and pull a puppy out of the canister!. I have had my animal since 2005 and it is going strong. If somethimg breaks, there are sites that offer the parts very inexpensively (compared to shelling out bucks for a new one!). I even bought the little floor canister model just for my upstairs. I will NEVER buy another type of vacuum EVER.
Good price. Great vacuum. Got ours from Overstock a couple of months ago and love it. Much lighter and easier to manuever than the Pet Hair Eraser we replaced. The Animal does a great job getting our Lab’s hair up.
The other side of the coin is that when the refurbished stops working, Dyson creates an excuse to refuse warranty work. First note that the refurbished warranty is only 6 months, not the 5 years on the new ones. Second, I spend over $200 for a refurbished on Woot. Stopped working shortly thereafter. Dyson kindly walked me through the reset process and it was fine - for a few weeks. I reset it myself two more times then it would not reset. Called Dyson and they said too bad, 6 months is up. Pay to have it fixed. I explained that it was the same problem they dealt with under the warranty and they claimed they had no record of dealing with it so too bad. I now have a $200 piece of garbage in my basement. Dyson has not answered two letters and Woot says it cannot do anything about it.
Avoid Dyson refurbished models - the product may be good but the company is not to be trusted.
Weird, looks like they sold out and changed items and it isn’t even a wootoff.
The only issue is cleaning the dirt bins on the Roombas - have to do it 2 times a week. If you empty them regularly you will likely find that the brushes stay pretty clean. Let them go for to long and them you have to also clean the brushes. Also need to pop the front wheel off and pull the dog hair out of it.
Also, once a month I lock them in a room and let them run completely dead. Over a period of frequent usage I will notice that the battery run time goes down to 45-60 minutes. After letting them fully discharge they are back up to where they will run for about 90 minutes on a charge.
Got my Dyson DC25 animal only to find it would not shut off and brushes wouldn’t turn on. I notified Woot and received an email from fedex with a return label attached. Only the label can not be printed on a home printer and the phone number on the email was fake(1234567890). Took email to fedex and they said it was from a fedex office and I would have to go to one of those. Closest one is over an hour away. Emailed Woot about the problem and got no response. Notified paypal and they decided they would refund the purchase price if I returned the vacuum to Woot. That would cost me $60- $75 to ship it. Woot has no working phone number to contact them. LESSON HERE IS HOPE YOU DO NOT NEED CUSTOMER SUPPORT FROM WOOT BECAUSE THERE IS NONE. BE CAREFUL PEOPLE.
I’m sorry to hear that you haven’t heard back from your email inquiry.
I’ve gone ahead and forwarded your post/information along to Woot Member Services.
Thank you for your continued patience while they attend to the issue. You should receive a response soon.
Did you ever get any resolution on this issue?
I’m starting to hear too many stories about Woot’s apathy in situations like this. I personally have not had a bad experience, but then, I have never had any reason to contact them about an order.
I’m strongly of the opinion that customers should respond to unfavorable customer service reports with closed wallets. I think I’m done with Woot, at least for now.