Product review: Dyson Animal Airmuscle Vacuum

My husband surprised me with a new vacuum cleaner. I told him our old Eureka was past its prime, but he dismissed it. I mean, it still worked, technically. Low and behold, one night pulling in the garage, I was thrilled to see a Dyson box. That quirky Dyson Brit convinced me that he was an inventing genius. And considering we have a white cat and the hubby is mildly allergic to it, the Dyson models looked like a miracle.

Well, my husband got the Cadillac Dyson, the “Animal”. He said he sneezed the whole way to school drop off that day and had had enough. Well that man can shop big when he wants to, because this thing looks like you need a driver’s license to run it.

Our little cleaning lady took it on its maiden voyage. At first glance, the Dyson Animal looks like a beast. Our cleaning lady was afraid to use it. But after using it on our first floor (3 medium area rugs, a runner and one small room wall to wall), Mariyah had to get my husband to show him the canister. It was already to the official max lines!

Let me point out, we do vacuum regularly. So to see how much dirt, hair and gunk our last vacuum was missing was mind blowing. So yesterday, it was my turn to get acquainted with “The Animal”. I was so impressed I felt the need to share our experience in case you are in the market for one.

Pros:

There is a Tragically Hip song with a verse “The rules salesman says this vacuum’s guaranteed, it could suck an ancient virus from the sea…” Its pretty much like that. I have never seen anything like it.

The motor is pretty quiet.

It is powerful enough that it powers itself forward so you don’t have to push so hard. Reminded me of a doberman I had in college that walked me versus the other way around.

The attachments are great and fit nicely tucked behind the canister.

The canister easily clips off, and with your thumb over a red button by the handle and the canister over a trash bin, collected flotsam is easily cleaned out. (remember over a trash bin, I did not realize how easy it opened and I got some on my shoe).

Usually when I vacuum, my husband has to leave the house, it makes him sneeze for hours. Not this time! He did not even sniffle once.

The handle turns into a detachable hose where you can do stairs and leave the motor half of the machine on the ground, it stretches pretty far.

Cons:

It is heavier than most machines. The detachable handle/hose is nice for stairs and attachments, but if you need to lug this to different floors and have trouble getting around yourself, this machine might be too much for you.

The handle/ hose detachment is cool, but it takes getting used to as far as how it works and pulls out. It’s not as intuitive as I think they wanted it to be, or I’m daft…which is entirely possible.

The power cord is an old-school, coil-it-around-the-back manually kind of thing. It seems with as high tech this puppy is, there would be a retractable cord. Maybe if they did that, it would have made it heavier? It just seems not as thought through as the rest of it.

I made the mistake of vacuuming on until the canister was filled. I did not see the “max” marks until I was dumping. Considering how well this machine does, you will get to those max lines pretty fast, which means stopping to dump a lot. Maybe future models will have more capacity? That would be awesome!

It says to clean your filter with water every three months. This may be a pain for many, to do or even remember. I am sure it is to make sure this machine works at it’s best for you as time goes on. It’s just an added thing to worry about in the vast list of things to worry about for many of us.

All in all, the cons are nit-picky. Its a great machine. I felt like my house was REALLY clean, and that felt really good. It isn’t cheap (around $599ish retail) and we did get it on sale, but if you have allergy issues in your home and/or an animal, it is worth the investment.