This review is longer than usual in order to cover all the aspects you consider when buying a vacuum.Especially a high-end one.
Rating Out of 10
Overall: 9
Features: 9
Suction: 9
Ease-of-use overall: 9
Tools: 9
Value: 8
Ease-of-use on carpet/stairs: 9
On hard floors/furniture: 8.5
Debris container, emptying and capacity: 9
It begins
For the past four years, we've had a Hoover pet vacuum. I hated it from the start. It was too heavy and unwieldy, made horrid creaking noises, and I couldn't use it without wanting to throw it out the window. A liked it so I told him if we kept it, he had to be the one to use it. We were both working outside the home and splitting chores so it wasn't a problem at the time.
Breaking up with Hoover
The problem came when we had M2 and I became a stay-at-home mom. More of the chores were on me. The house really needed more than the once-a-week vacuum we'd done previously with people home more and a kid in the mix. The stupid Hoover had me swearing and cursing it out every time I used it. It also beat up our woodwork any time it got anywhere near the edge. Recently, the stupid thing didn't really even clean the carpets any more. My allergies were going nuts.
The new vacuum hunt
I finally had enough of that crap. And so the hunt began. The prey: A vacuum that didn't leave me feeling like I'd lugged around a baby elephant and angry as tiger with a stubbed toe every time I used it. Importantly, it had to actually CLEAN. Even spending more money to achieve this was worth it if those requirements were met.
Dyson vs. Shark
I looked at the
Dyson and
Shark brands online and in store. Both were household-name brands. Both came highly recommended by friends and family. I tested out the Shark in a store and it seemed to be more cheaply made and not as easy to use. Just taking off the hose had the thing crashing to the ground and it wasn't easy to move.
Dyson's animal magnetism
Enter the
Dyson Animal D65. With three cats, something for pets is important. It comes with a handy turbine tool, which is basically a mini vacuum, to help get cat fur up. It's also handy for getting to hard-to-reach places. That was a major selling point.
Manoeuvrability
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| Hose fitted into handle |
This thing is very easy to move around the house. The ball is pure genius. It swivels and turns with little effort on carpet. It does take a bit more effort on hard floors with the brush turned off, but is still better than a traditional machine. The cord is long. I don't have to keep unplugging it and going to another outlet. It takes a few tries to figure out how to get it to stand back up as it's not the norm, but I got used to it fast. I can even go over area rugs without them being sucked up as the vacuum adjusts based on surface height automatically. The rugs also get clean, really clean.
Hose
The hose is long, comes off the vacuum easily, and stretches without the whole thing falling over. Tools snap on and lock into place so they don't pop off during use. When you're done, there's a nifty button to pop them right back off. The solid plastic part of the hose, that connects to the tools, slides right into the handle of the vacuum. As soon as you have the vacuum in the up-right position, the hose turns on. The suction is just as good with the hose as when used upright. There's no need to push buttons or move bits around. The hose is rather stiff and not all the tools have a spot on the vacuum. Neither is a deal breaker for me.
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| Soft dusting brush tool |
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| Turbine tool |
Tools
In addition to the turbine tool, there is a crevice tool that has a pull-out part to add a soft brush and a
soft dusting brush. The crevice tool is pretty standard, the pull-out brush is just ok. The dusting brush is great. It's better that a regular duster on certain surface. I use it on flat surfaces, like tables and woodwork, and fans. It won't work on knick knacks, but I didn't expect it to. You can buy a
stiff bristle brush and other tools separately. I'm not interested in any but that
brush. I just don't think they're needed, it works well without them. The brush I'm going to buy to help get out the junk M2 grinds into the carpet and furniture. Doing stairs is also easy with this machine. We use the turbine tool for that.
Other features
Power and brush buttons are found in a convenient spot together on the front. One annoying thing is that the cord doesn't retract. As A commented, with something this expensive you'd expect that feature. Yet, there's really no way for that to happen as it's compact. Being compact allows it to be lighter (I lift it no problem at all) and to fit into smaller spaces for storage.
Capacity
Despite being compact, it holds a ton of dirt and debris. It also sucks. Really sucks. The good kind of vacuum suck. I can go a few days without vacuuming and not have my allergies act up because there's not a layer of dirt that didn't come up sitting below the new dirt. To empty the bin, you just hit the button at the top of the canister, shake it into the trash, pop it back closed and stick it back on the vacuum. No screwing around or touching it and getting your hands dirty.
Spare Parts
While I haven't had to do it myself, you can order parts for the vacuum and replace them yourself should something wear out or break. I have had family members do that with their 10-year-old machines. It was an added bonus for me as usually when something breaks, the vacuum is junk. Either you can't get the part or can't fix it yourself so it's not worth it.
Recommendation
We've had the
Dyson Animal D65 a few weeks now and I love it. It works great and is easy to use. Yes, it's pricey but it's worth it. I fully recommend it to anyone looking for a good vacuum. We'll see how it holds up over time. As many family members have had one for years, I've got lots of hope on that.
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