Dyson DC17 Animal Upright Cleaner

I just purchased my Absolute Animal DC17 Vacuum three days ago. Prior to that I had a filter queen vacuum and a bissel steam cleaner. I try to steam clean at least twice a year with my allergies. Before purchasing the Dyson I decided to vacuum my carpet twice daily for a week just to see if the Dyson was better then my filter queen. I expected it to pick up some dirt even after the constant vacuuming. WELLLLL, in the two days I've used the dyson in my living room, dining room and hallway I've filled five FULL canisters of dirt and nearly filled a sixth canister. For curiositys sake I decided to try a little of the zorb today and was thoroughly impressed. A little went a LONG way and it really did make a big difference in the high traffic area inside the back door. It left the carpet much fluffier and lifted the pile very nicely. I guess my only complaint would be the owners manual. They really need to put into words how to work different parts of the machine not just show a VERY few pictures. And yes a headlight would be nice but it's not really a big sacrifice. I'd prefer a machine with no headlight that takes up the dirt to one with a headlight that leaves it behind.

This vacuum is far superior to any other vacuum. I bought this vacuum to replace an old crappy one and I must say this vacuum is amazing. I an extremely clean person and I tried it out on one of my rugs I had JUST vacuumed and it picked up so much dirt... I WAS AMAZED. This vacuum's hose also comes off and I WAS ABLE TO LEAVE THE VACUUM AT THE BOTTOM OF THE STAIRS AND BRING THE HOSE ALL THE WAY TO THE TOP. So it is perfect for vacuuming stairs and getting into small places that you couldn't reach before. This vacuum has great suction and if you have a pet I would highly recommend it. You will honestly see the difference if you get this vacuum.

I have 6 dogs, 3 cats, allergies and house full of carpet. Because of this, I needed a vacuum that can keep up with all the fur and dirt, help trap allergens and stand up to heavy, frequent use. I originally purchased a Dyson DC14 Animal and, while it was an excellent vac, the DC17 Animal is head a shoulders above it.

Not because I have a lot of extra money lying around, but because a top flight vac is imperative in this house, after much thought I traded my DC14 for the DC 17 a few months after it came out. The difference between the two is AMAZING. A lot of the problems that the DC14 was known for (clogging roller brush, less than stellar turbo brush, etc.) are a thing of the past. We looked at Oreck and a few other commercial/industrial grade vacs that cost into the four figures, and none of them were as good as the DC17.

PROS:

1. Unbelievable suction! I am always amazed at the crud my Dyson picks up. After I vacuum a room, my allergies know the difference. Never have I had a vac with pick-up power like this one.

2. Non clogging roller/brush bar - I used to have to flip my other vacs over, including the DC14 - to manually cut the hair and stuff off the brush every few times I used the vac. I have never had to do that with the 17. As an added bonus, the roller is encased in clear plastic, so you can see if it is getting dirty or if something is stuck.

3. Powerful attachments - because of the mega suction, the hose attachments work much better. Electric powered attachments are the best, but these are the best suction driven attachments I have seen yet.

4. Improved design and sharp looks

5. Included 5 year warranty - Dyson provides an included 5 year warranty, saving you the expense of purchasing a service contract somewhere.

6. No Bags! - And as much junk as this vac sucks up, it's a very good thing, you'd spend a fortune on bags otherwise.

7. Cleanable filter

8. Nice long hose and cord - you can clean for a long time before you have to unpplug to find a new outlet.

9. If you suck up something too big, it is easy to take the vac apart to get it out.

10. Ease of emptying, great for people with allergies. I do recommend emptying it outside if you can, though. The vac picks up a ton of very fine silt, some of which goes airborne as you empty. I solved this by either emptying into a plastic grocery store bag wrapped tightly around the bottom or taking it outside.

11. Very easy to operate, nothing complicated at all about it.

CONS:

1. It is a little heavy, but nothing extreme. The big handle on the top of the canister makes it easy to carry.

2. Price - of course it is expensive, but with this vac I firmy believe you are actually getting much more cleaning power than you are paying for.

#. Need to clean the inside or the canister - but this is a VERY minor thing, because it rarely needs done and is very easy to do. Sometimes you may need to open the canister and scrape the dirt off the top part where the little holes are. Takes less than a minute.

I would recommend this vac without hesitation to anyone; after owning it, I would never feel that my carpets are clean with anything else.

I have two dogs; a Siberian Husky and a Husky/Golden Retriever mix. Both are good sized dogs and both shed considerably. As such, I had been considering purchasing a Dyson Animal for some time. Given the cost, I wanted to make sure it would do the job. I saw that Dyson made a newer version of the Animal with more power so I made the plunge. It was easily assembled with little issue. The directions could have been a little clearer about the brush having a separate motor that only engaged when the handle was down. As to the performance, read below was to my particular thoughts on the good and the bad of the DC17 Animal:

The good: This thing really gets the hair up. I tested it against my Eureka and there was a substantial improvement. It is much easier to empty, and there are no filters to get clogged - something my Eureka was bad about. The furniture attachment works great and the wand/hose is easy to operate. The whole package is neat and well organized.

The bad: This particular model uses a ribbed belt to connect motor to the brush. The belt then wraps around the brush about 1/3 of the way from one end. All the hair that is picked up on the other side of the belt from the pick up tube is brought by the belt and gets sucked right by the brush motor area... As you can imagine, the belt grabs the hair and wraps it around the motor's drive shaft and binds everything up. Making matters worse, is the difficulty accessing that area of the vacuum to remove the hair.

The icing on the cake: I called Dyson with my concerns. The service rep who took my call suggested that I take my vacuum back to the store where I purchased it and exchange it for a Dyson 15 (with the rollerball) as it used a different brush drive mechanism.

So what you should take from this: Don't buy this vacuum if your animal(s) have long hair and/or shed a lot. Of course, if you have the patience to disassemble it every so often, then it works great.

I was spending anywhere from 70-100 dollars yearly to get a new vacuum. I always opted for bagless, and thought that "maybe" a dyson would really do what it says, and be worth the money, if I don't have to ever buy another". How funny: When I first got the dyson, I FILLED the canister with a fine talc-like substance that was embedded in my carpet. SO GROSS! Everytime i use it, I get 3-5 more inches of yucky stuff in that canister! It's gross! But seriously, I don't have to DUST as much anymore. It has NEVER clogged. Never lost suction. It is still as strong as the day I bought it! AND: Dysn has a 5 year warranty! If that thing stops working ANYTIME in the next 5 years, they'll fix it or replace it FREE. That alone makes it worth it. Those other bagless vacumums offer 90 days. About as long as they work...

I but my DC17 Animal about 5 months ago with some hesitation. After all $500 dollars for a vacume is alot of money. But I figured that I had spent that in the last 3 years just on cheap vacuums anyway and they did not do that great of a job but I did not realize until I got my Dyson how BAD of a job they really did. I got my dyson home and vacuumed my livingroom with my old vacuum and then did it with the Dyson and WOW I could not believe the amount of dirt and hair that my old vacumm left behind. I also took it over to my parents house and tested it against thier Kirby and there just was not comparing the two. The Dyson won hands down. My wife uses that carpet powder on the rugs and I could not believe how much of it was still in our carpets. I bet my floor is ten pounds lighter after the dyson got up what the old one did not. The filter system is amazing also. My old Vacuum had dust all over the outside of it from all the dust that had leaked out and the outside of the Dyson is spotless. If you have allergies you must have this Vacuum. The part I like the best is the hose. It is all self contained in the handle you just lift up a lever and it extends a whole 17 feet. I can leave the Dyson at the bottom of the stairs an go right up to the top and not miss a step. It also comes with a bunch of accessories. Like I said I have had it now for about 5 months and it has not lost suction once. It is also easy to empty. All you do is take the container over to the garbage can push a button and it is empty. It also automatically adjusts when you go from hardwood floor to carpet. No more bending over to turn the dial to adjust the hieght for hard surfaces to rugs. The only thing you have to watch out for is you need to make sure you do not go over something you do not want sucked up. This thing is powerful and if you go over it it going in. That leads me to the only thing I would change about the Dyson. It is so powerful that when you are using the hose it sometimes get stuck on what you are vacuuming ie. the couch. I would recomend that they put an air vent on the handle to control the suction for certain things. Like the ones they have on shop vacs. In my opinion it is well worth the money.

Ok I have had this vacum for almost a year now and It is still running like a champ. I have not had any problems at all. It has never clogged or lost its suction power. I have a dog and a cat that are constantly shedding and this Dyson gets the hair up in a jiffy with no problem. After a year now I say GO FOR IT!!!!!

We have pets. And carpets. If you're a pet owner, that should tell you all you need to know about why a vacuum is important. If you're not, understand that pet hair and carpet fibers have a mutual attraction thing going that makes your garden variety, pathologically-obsessed stalkers look like rank amateurs. Pet hair is the ultimate test for a vacuum - pretenders need not apply. I've found that you can start with an empty vacuum bag, and by the time you're done with an 1800 sq. ft. home, the vacuum is 'breathing' like an asthmatic with a terminal case of TB, with an inability to pick up anything. Even worse, most vacuums just aren't able to pry the pet hair from the carpet fibers to begin with. In short, most vacumms don't suck. And that's not good.

When I say 'most vacuums,' that allows the guilty to get off, scott-free. Allow me to name names. Oreck XL? Fergetaboutit. Hoover? No bueno. Kirby? Pu-leeeze. They ALL do a lame job - at best - of dealing with pet hair on carpet.

Then we come to the Dyson DC17 Animal.

NOW we're talkin' suction! This vacuum works - and it works just as well after an hour of vacuuming as it does from the start. Well-engineered is damning this mechanical marvel with feint praise. From the incredibly well-thought-out design, to the consistent suction power, this vacuum rocks! Want proof? We had a professional cleaning crew come in and vacuum with their own machine, with a new bag in a room where our dog (border collie) and cat (um..."canardly") hang out. The floor seemed to be more pet hair than carpet. Brand X vacuum got some - but not much - of the hair. They then went over the room with our new Dyson. Verdict? An almost-full container of pet hair (about the size of a small bowling ball), and a carpet so clean you could all but eat off it. Their parting comment was "we've GOT to convince our boss to buy a Dyson...this thing is amazing!"

Dyson's are not cheap (although we found our best price here on eBay). But they are more than worth it. Spend the extra bucks, and you'll save yourself all the money you'd spend replacing all those other vacuums that DON'T work, and all the time it takes to go through them.

I would recommend a Dyson to anybody that wants their floors clean and debris-free.

I read many reviews on eBay and other sites for Dyson vacs and just had to take the chance. I had what I thought was one of the better vacs (Oreck), but NOTHING compares to the Dyson DC17 Animal Vacuum! I recently had a lot of renovation work done in my house which created a lot of dust and other debris. I vacuumed and vacuumed and thought my carpet was clean. Well, when I first used the Dyson DC17, I absolutely couldn't believe that I completely filled the canister 3 times with disgusting pet hair and contractor's dust. Friends seriously asked if I had my carpets shampooed. I can't say enough about this vac. It is truly the best vacuum at ANY price.

This vacuum is awesome. We have a German Shepherd and his hair destroyed our old vacuum. The Dyson picks it up without a problem and our carpets are much cleaner and feel much better now. I would highly recommend this vacuum

By far the best vaccuum ever. I have owned top of the line Rainbow, Electrolux, Hoover, Panasonic, Dirt Devil, Kenmore and others, none suck as good or has the quality and reliability of a Dyson DC17. I even have a DC07 and a DC16. All of them are great for their respective jobs. I have approximately 3600 sqft of carpeting and having no bags to deal with is a huge money saver. The quick dirt release of these machines is pure convienience. A please to use and easy to push around and tote up and down stairs.

This seller failed to send me the Dyson DC17 Amimal Vaccum Cleaner. I had to go through the PayPal's resolution center. PayPal recovered my $430.00 and refunded to my credit card. I was very impressed with PayPal's prompt reply and quick resolution for this matter.

I know that most people would thing that paying so much money for just a vacuum would be crazy and in most cases I would agree with them, but in my experience with a Dyson 17 that is not the case. Yes they are expensive I am not here to say different but I know that they work & work well. I have 4 children & my wife is pregnant with are 5th child now, she does not work out side of the home & takes care of our children on a full time bases. Our kids are on the floor all the time, we have had other vacuums before but I can tell you that Dyson was not lying about it has the strongest suctions then any other vacuum on the market. There was a spot right in front of our back door that was stained from the kids coming in after playing in the back yard for the last two years my wife has tried everything to get the dirt up short of having it professionally cleaned, all the other vacuums that we used would never quite pull up all the dirt that was there but the first time that we used our Dyson 17 over that spot it was gone you could not even tell that it had been there. But what really got me was I had just vacuumed the house with our old vacuum and thought that I had done a good job of get everything up off the ground then I took our Dyson a vacuumed the same room over, I got almost a ½ full container full of dirt that the Dyson picked up more. If anything I am just happy now to know that my kids are playing on a clean floor and when our next child will come that I don’t have much of a worry that the floors our not clean.

Yours Truly

A Happy Parent

Although they tend to be expensive, the Dyson vacuums are worth every penny! They really do what they claim - never lose suction and suck up more dirt than you'd ever want to see come out of your house!

I have the Dyson Ball, which is just as good as a self-propelled vacuum. I also have three dogs and two cats that shed quite a bit. After vacuuming just one room, I have to empty the dirt chamber because it picks up so much animal hair! It's simply the best thing out there for people with pets and allergies. Since we live in Florida, there is also a lot of fine sand in the house, which traditional vacuums can't get. It's a breeze for the Dyson - it's an "animal!"

I highly recommend this vacuum to everyone; it's well worth the expense. I called the company directly to see if there was any difference between models as far as picking up more animal hair, and they said all the motors are the same. This was a couple of years ago, so they may have turbo-charged them by now, so there is a difference. It's worth giving them a call to find out which model you'd like and which will work best for you.

Thank God for this vacuum cleaner! I use it on both my carpet and tile, and just the one machine does it all. The optional turbo head attachment is great for upholstery, while the low-reach floor attachment is great for under furniture. While I wish the hose was a little easier to detach from the vacuum, it's simply the most versatile and powerful set of accessories and attachments I've ever found.

If you're going to buy a Dyson, I'd recommending going all out and getting the best you can; it's worth it. I found that the best buy is at Bed, Bath & Beyond, using a 20% off coupon. They also have the optional attachments available either in-store or online; if you go into the store to place the online order, they will apply coupons and waive shipping charges (at least they did for me).

Do yourself a favor and buy a Dyson!

I bought this vacuum, but although the auction indicated that I would get a warranty with this new Dyson, Dyson does not accept Ebay as a valid vendor for their products. The seller was not aware of this and neither was I until I attempted to register my new vacuum. Price was the issue when I decided to buy, although I did find a cheaper price at a valid retailer later. In the future I will be more careful about claims concerning warranties on an auction for a new item. Most transactions that I have done on EBay have been very good. This one was for a more expensive item and it did not turn out the way I had hoped. It will not stop me from participating in future auctions, however, I will be a lot more careful when bidding on high end products.

Biggest pros:
1. It works! It actually picks up all visible pieces of dirt in one pass. No going over and over it.
2. The ball! It has excellent maneuverability around corners and bends. It requires hardly any effort to push.
3. The dust bin! You can see what it has sucked up. It is very easy to see when it needs to be emptied, and it is very easy to empty.
4. It's light! At least compared to my previous vacuum, a Eureka Boss Upright, it is 3 lbs. lighter.
5. The warranty! It has a 5 year warranty (if you buy it from an Authorized Dealer) and there are local repair shops so you don't have to ship it for repair.
6. The auto-adjusting carpet beater. It floats on the carpet no matter what height the carpet is. You can tilt the handle all the way down and the carpet beater is still in contact with the rug. And it has it's own motor for more beating power.

Biggest cons:
1. The dust bin doesn't hold much if you are using it on a rug. I empty it after each room because the carpet fibers clump together, stopping the flow of air.
2. Manual. Not much to the manual. It's hard to figure out how put the handle together and how to attach the tools.
3. Price. I paid $480 (which is cheap, since the MSRP is $599.) My old vacuum was only $100. But you get what you pay for. I would still buy this vacuum for $599.

Before i decided to buy the vacuum i looked around and read alot of reviews first. When i purchased the vacuum my seller sent the on time but it came back damaged. I contacted my seller and he informed me that he purchased insurance on the item from UPS and i would have to deal with them directly. I called UPS and they came out and picked up the Vacuum. After many weeks i have not heard anything. I called UPS and they informed me that they could not give me any information (they said only to seller). I set up a dispute with paypal and after i gave my side then the seller gave his side the seller blocked out any futher conversation between us and forced paypale to do there own investagation. I called UPS again and asked to talk to a manager and he said the same thing.

Please help - 832-687-2844

Thanks,
Cliff Weber

All of th other vacuums I've owned would pick up lint, dog hairs and so forth, but none of them would pick up sand like my Dyson DC17 Animal does. I was amazed at how much sand was in the carpet. I got a canister full of sand just in the doorway alone (The canister had about 5 pounds of sand in it after the first minute of vacuuming). I have a Hoover Fusion, which is a piece of junk that constantly clogged in the hose and burned out. The Fusion never picked up as much as the Dyson. The Dyson fills up so quickly. I have 7 dogs and a dog door on my house on 240 acres, so I know where the sand comes from, but never realized before what other vacuums were missing. The only complaint I have was with Fed Ex. I was working in my home office the day of delivery. I never heard them come and was surprised when I got an email informing me of delivery. Upon further inspection I found the Dyson leaning against a tree beside the road. Personally, I thought it was a tad stupid on Fed Ex's behalf to leave a big box that clearly says DYSON on it leaning on a tree right beside a major highway. UPS always comes down the drive to the house. The packaging was damaged and taped up like the unit had been refused by a warehouse and sold off as a package damaged, but product intact which may be how I got it for the price I did, but the unit was in great condition. The extendable handle hose is a little awkward, but will reach the ceiling and ceiling fans. All together, I am happy with the product and would make the purchase again if I needed to, but would request UPS instead of Fed Ex. Michael, Arkansas.

I've had my new Dyson for one week now and could not be more pleased. I'm
surely no expert on vacs, so relied heavily on reviews to decide on this
purchase. And happily, the reviews were not at all exaggerated. Comparing it
to my trusty old Hoover wouldn't even make sense (like comparing an elephant
to a flea!). But my Mom recently bought a new Kirby (for 3X the price), and
the Dyson is light years ahead in several respects.
1. Ease of use - the ergonomic design and automatic adjustment for floor
height make vacuuming a snap. My husband has done much of our vacuuming
recently because I kept having back pain afterward. But even though
the Dyson is considerably heavier, I've not had any discomfort ~and I've
used it a LOT this past week! And with the ergonomic placement of the
handle, even lifting it is not difficult or uncomfortable.
2. Attachments on the Dyson are right there -just lift the wand (with the
17 foot reach!) and go for it. No remote attachments in a box somewhere
back in a closet that you need a pit crew to use.
3. No bags to change - that means no bags to buy either. And the ease of
emptying the canister is amazing. Unsnap it, hold it over trash can, push
the lever ~and voila ~ back to vacuuming. ..And watching that clear
canister right on front fill up is like a little science project the
first few times!
Also, no belts to change - (no belts to buy!)
After just one week, I feel confident in recommending the Dyson DC17. It is
certainly a great value, and I'd buy it again in a heartbeat.

This si a wonderful vaccum that I recommend to anyone with kids. I have two toddlers and they are always spilling glitter, cereal, you name it they spill it. the only thing I have issue with is that you can get right under the edge of the furniture without adding a new piece onto the vaccum..and all mom's know you are lucky just to get the time to vaccum. But after several other vaccums including a kirby this one has lasted the longest and I still wont even think about getting a new one...it is about two years old and still runs atleast 90% as good as it did in the beginning..just plan on some nasty cleaning of hte vaccum if you suck up something a little moist...(bananas are the favorite in my house)

Just the facts. This is my second Dyson (DC17 asthma and allergy) I have purchased and that should indicate to the reader that I really liked my first Dyson. My first Dyson (DC14 animal) is still in service but I decided I wanted a 2nd (one for upstairs and one for downstairs).
I have had many vacuums before but none of them lasted nor did they really clean like my Dysons. My old carpets are really refreshed when I used my Dyson. I have two very hairy dogs and allegies; the Dyson really cleans well....better than any other vacuum I have owned or borrowed.
I like the long hose which gives me the ability to easily clean my stairs.
The machine is easy fo use and does not emit any smelly odors(like the Oreck I borrowed). Emptying the dirt bin is easy not like the Hoover or the Dirt Devil I have used...both of those you had to shake the filter clean, thus spreading the dust you collected.
Originally I did not want to spend the amount needed to purchase a Dyson but my first Dyson proved to me it was worth it.

It picks up dirt and pet hair better than any other vacume.It even made my rugs look like they had been washed because the vacume picked up so much dust and dirt. I love this vacume!!!

Picks up dirt and animal hair like no other vac I have used. It is very worth while for those with indoor pets.

I bought it because it was new technology...I'm not disappointed,,,this is one awesome machine. I had a Kirby and thought it was great but this one does a much better job and so easy to use the attachments....Can't say enough about it.. Highly recommend it.