We have this vacuum. We also have one of the newish Eurekas that are advertised as cleaning better than the Dyson at less than half the cost (I paid about $130 for the Eureka).

My thoughts: The Dyson is easier to steer, and my wife thinks it cleans better on some surfaces. I think the Eureka does a better job at getting pet hair out of the carpet (the majority of what we're cleaning up) and just seems to leave the carpet cleaner.

This DC25 is still a great vacuum, but I think the folks at Eureka are on to something.

Just my $0.02

I own a Dyson DC25 Animal. While I am not in love with it having no bag (it is something of a mess to empty and clean), I cannot argue with the amount of dust and dirt it picks up. It is unbelievable how it can find so much dirt in a house with no animals or children. I would be afraid to go back to anything else. As for the price, this price is not high for a quality vacuum cleaner. Buying one for less will give you less cleaning power (no matter what Comsumer Reports says...they never have liked Dysons) and less durability. If you want to zip around an apartment for a couple of years, go cheaper. If you need a machine to clean a whole house for several years, you have to pay for that quality.

These are great vacuums.
Be gentle on the buttons, though.

We've had ours about a year now and the brush-bar (aka beater-bar) toggle switch is going bad.
The brushes won't turn on most of the time, but I know it's not the motor in the head b/c if I can get the brushes to turn on, they work fine.

I took it apart and couldn't see anything obviously wrong, so I'm not sure what's causing the problem (oddly, it's been working better since I did that).

We do have three boys who love to "help out" and also love pushing buttons (literally and metaphorically), so I think they've just worked the life out of those switches.

Anyway, just take it easy on the buttons.

I brought my Panasonic (which is at least 15 years old) in for repair recently. The store sells new and used vacuums as well and I asked the guy if the panasonic was worth fixing. He took a look at what was wrong and said that he could get it in good shape. When I went to pick it up I asked him about the Dyson brand and he told me that a friend of his became a Dyson rep for awhile when they were new and told him not to bother with the Dyson.

According to this vacuum repair guy it turns out that the Dysons are in for repair quite a bit. He also says that the bag vacuums out perform the bagless and recommends a bag vaccum to any of his customers.

I also wonder that since Woot! has the Dyson brand for sale as refurbs quite a bit, that maybe there is something to what this repair guy said.

With that said, it cost me $42 to repair the 15+ year old Panasonic and it is going strong.

Long live the bag!

Woot.com... the vacuum capital of the Internet.

Does anyone have any feedback about the fact that it's refurbished?

Attention Dyson fanboys with your anecdotal evidence (“I bought one and it picked up lots of stuff! I’ll never buy anything else!”): Consumer Reports scores a total of 6 different Hoover models above the highest Dyson, which is the D28 Animal. With a score of 67, the D28 is ranked tied for 16th. And at a retail price of $650 it was somehow overlooked for a CR Best Buy. This model scores a 54.

But don’t worry, they can never take your stories! Oh, the wonderful stories!

ladybug2000 wrote:I own a Dyson DC25 Animal. While I am not in love with it having no bag (it is something of a mess to empty and clean), I cannot argue with the amount of dust and dirt it picks up.

No, you can't argue that point, because you never see how much dust and dirt a bag vacuum picks up, unless you rip the bag open and look inside at all the dust and dirt that went into the bag.

I'm sure Dysons are decent vacuums. But, in my opinion (and we know what that's worth), Dysons are 40 percent gimmick, over priced, and no better than a good Eureka or Hoover.

If other vacuum companies thought the Dysons were so good, they would either buy the company or license the technology and copy it.

I own the orange one. Bought it brand new on sale at Kohls for about this price after price matching Best Buy.

I'd say the performance is decent but not amazing. The ball is handy to maneuver. I don't think it cleans any better than our old vac. I think the clear container that allows you to see the dirt makes you THINK it is cleaning better. You can't see dirt in a bag until you empty the bag...you can see the dirt in the clear bin on this one, so you constantly get visual feedback that you are accomplishing something. I'd say 75% of Dyson's success is based on you seeing your dirt, and 25% based on some spectacular vac performance.

One big negative on mine: The cord is about 3 feet too short no matter where you are. Never ran into this with my old Hoover. Constantly having to unplug and re-plug this vac while I clean the house. Annoying.

Worse is the wand design. You pull out the wand and are forced to wield this light-saber-sized stick. Very clunky and a pain to use. If you plan on using the wand much, might want to consider something else. If you mainly just use it as an upright and rarely wand-it, then the ball does indeed make the vac pretty maneuverable around furniture.

I give the vac overall a B- or C+. If the wand design were better, and the cord longer, it would rate an A- or B+.

Keep in mind that a lot of people paid a lot of coin for their Dyson. Therefore, they fall into that syndrome where you want to justify the high price by telling everyone how great it is. They are fairly good, but take the glowing reviews with a grain of salt. They aren't THAT amazing.

Went through three Eureka's...4 girls and wife with thick long hair...get's into the bearings, clogs the bags & canisters and wraps around the carpet brush.

When the bearings burn up or the brush stops spinning...the cheap rubber belt keeps spinning and snaps (of course after it melts)...

Bought the Dyson 25...wow no clogging...and the brush shuts down when it picked a shoelace...

Refurbished? I inspected everything...zero scratches, clear plastic, good brush...hoses, wheels...everything 'NEW'....maybe I got lucky...I normally do not buy refurbished or used anything...

I bought the purple one a few months ago and it is FANTASTIC!! I highly recommend this to anyone who has animals in the house AND has mixed-type flooring; wood, tile, and carpet. You can go from one type of flooring to another without doing a thing! I can go from my carpeted bedrooms to the wood flooring in the hall and den and then right into the tiled kitchen! So easy to vacuum! Plus, no bags! Just empty the bin! I do highly recommend this vacuum!

If there was a Dyson vacuum with built in cheap tablet computer, Woot would never have to sell anything else.

I bought a purple one the last time around. Arrived in as-new condition, and has worked flawlessly thus far. It's a really, really great machine, easy to use and maintain. I'm kinda in love with it, actually.

mbrickell wrote:
Worse is the wand design. You pull out the wand and are forced to wield this light-saber-sized stick. Very clunky and a pain to use. If you plan on using the wand much, might want to consider something else. If you mainly just use it as an upright and rarely wand-it, then the ball does indeed make the vac pretty maneuverable around furniture.

I thought the same thing, until I realized you can disconnect the hose at the base of the giant wand thingy and attach the smaller attachments directly to the hose. Try it!

mrlumpy wrote:I thought the same thing, until I realized you can disconnect the hose at the base of the giant wand thingy and attach the smaller attachments directly to the hose. Try it!

I will check that out. Thanks. I probably lost the little attachments by now, though, since there is no way to carry them on the vac, at least that I know about. Maybe you can educate me here as well.

Thinking about it, though, that hose would be so short that it would be fairly useless without the wand, no? I'll have to get mine out now and look at it.

Syndil wrote:
If they were as good as Dyson markets them to be, they wouldn't constantly be selling refurbs of them on woot.

So does that argument hold true for all of the refurbed iPod touches they sell on Woot (or directly from Apple, for that matter)?

I purchased one from Woot about a year ago and absolutely love it. It's light, powerful and cleans well. The only problem is that mine was shipped without an instruction manual. Fortunately, I was able to download one from Dyson's internet site.

these were better deals before taxes. am i complaining about $20?

yes i am......

mbrickell wrote:I will check that out. Thanks. I probably lost the little attachments by now, though, since there is no way to carry them on the vac, at least that I know about. Maybe you can educate me here as well.

Thinking about it, though, that hose would be so short that it would be fairly useless without the wand, no? I'll have to get mine out now and look at it.

The hose surprisingly has a lot of stretch.

I bought a purple one on the 3/6 offer, and have thoroughly enjoyed it. I actually look forward to vacuuming now (Screwy, ain't it?). The only complaint I have is that the hose is kind of awkward, and if used on a hardwood floor or tile, the vacuum has a tendency to follow the hose. With that being said, it's an amazing deal for a great product with unbeatable shipping.

Ok, you guys inspired me to go take a look at the wand on mine. You are correct, the hose does separate from the light saber part, and it has a fair amount of stretch. I still say it's not the most convenient solution to hose use. Kind of a lot of work just to use the hose, and like one person opined already, when you stretch out the hose it pulls the vac toward you. I do appreciate the tip, though. Now I don't feel like Luke Skywalker when using the wand part. Guess this is why they say read the book. lol.

I still stand by my opinion that the genius behind this machine is in letting you see the dirt you've picked up. You mentally think the machine is doing a better job than your old unit, where the dirt was hidden. Immediate vacuuming gratification. It works. I think this is why so many people are convinced this cleans better. That, and as I said, when people lay out $400 for a vacuum, they want to think that it's great.

Overall, though, not a bad unit if you 1) use the hose infrequently 2) aren't bothered by the short cord and 3) need a new vacuum anyway. If I had a working vac currently, probably not worth the coin, but not a bad buy if you need one at $250. $350 or $400 for a Dyson would be highway robbery based on my experience with ours, but $250...ok, I can justify that much.

starbird2005 wrote:I actually found that Dyson will send you spare parts if you ask nicely. e.g. the cat clawed the hose and Dyson sent me a free replacement.

I actually found that Dyson will NOT send you spare ribs no matter how nicely you ask. So much for giving the customer what he wants.

bembo wrote:Does anyone have any feedback about the fact that it's refurbished?

I bought a refurbished Ball about 5 years ago from Woot. Never had a problem, works as well today. It is a bit heavy. The canister holds a lot, we have 2 dogs, and I could make another from what the Dyson picks up! I've bought a lot of refurbished items and have never had a problem with any of them. The money saved on refurbished items works for me.

Am I on the dyson website? I could have sworn I went to woot! Good to see that if I ever need a vacuum all I have to do is wait a week and another dyson will be back up....

mbrickell wrote:
Guess this is why they say read the book.

You mean look at the pictures?

My brush button broke after 2 months! I also took it apart, but can't seem to fix it. Any help on how you got yours working would be great.

anyboatyourow wrote:These are great vacuums.
Be gentle on the buttons, though.

We've had ours about a year now and the brush-bar (aka beater-bar) toggle switch is going bad.
The brushes won't turn on most of the time, but I know it's not the motor in the head b/c if I can get the brushes to turn on, they work fine.

I took it apart and couldn't see anything obviously wrong, so I'm not sure what's causing the problem (oddly, it's been working better since I did that).

We do have three boys who love to "help out" and also love pushing buttons (literally and metaphorically), so I think they've just worked the life out of those switches.

Anyway, just take it easy on the buttons.

So it only turns left?...

Bought a DC25 animal about 5 years ago to replace a POS hoover that didn't clean all that well, and kept burning my rugs, no matter what height setting I put it on. It still runs like a champ and cleans far better than the Hoover, whether it's carpets, hardwood floors, or furniture. It almost has as much suction as my shop-vac. I personally love the ball and the movement it allows, but that's just me. Is it overpriced? Probably. Does it work as advertised? In my mind, yes.

Regarding the refurbs - Keep in mind that since Dyson sells a lot of these, they will have more refurbs out there than other brands. Also, open boxes are considered refurbs to Dyson, even if there was nothing wrong with the vacuum itself. There are any number of reasons why someone may return it - It could just be buyer's remorse.

Bad, bad vacuum. Used to have this same model and could fill the canister up in one room. Not complaining about that at all as that is what vacuums are supposed to do, so I grabbed my cheapie Hoover and went over the same area. Had to empty that one TWICE! Suction is poor and doesn't do hardwood floors well at all. The step on the back to engage the handle broke and no spare parts were available. Was told to take it to one of their certified repair shops, but it was 70 miles away. Went back to the Hoover and will never again buy another Dyson unless they go down to about $35 a pop.

bembo wrote:Does anyone have any feedback about the fact that it's refurbished?

It will probably break faster than a brand new one will, which is about a year, give or take a month.

Yay... a Dyson vacuum... again ...

On vacuum cleaners and just about anything else that spins like this, there is probably a motor start capacitor that only works when turning it on, and a separate circuit that runs the motor after it's been turned on.

It's possible that by turning the motor on and off frequently you've burned out the motor start capacitor. This explains why it won't turn on, but runs fine if you do get it to start.

It's a simple fix and a super cheap part. Consider taking it to an electrician and asking about it.

darkelfz wrote:The balls makes turning and maneuvering very easy/

That's what she said.

I gots me one of them Fancy Little Dyson Balls a couple years back.
A Damn fine piece of machinery, Light, Strong, Easy to use/clean/store,etc...

First time I used it, first I vaccummed the carpets with the older decent unit, then re-sucked up the floor with the Dyson, and Damn, if it wasn't removing things from the carpet put in from the manufacturer, I mean it was Awesome! Every few feet I had to empty the clear canister, and it made me smile, seeing the amount of filth encased in the carpet.

Also, I notice after I vaccumm, I can breathe easier, my Love Life improves, and I find money on the streets.

Munney

I bought one of these (purple, I think) a few months back. I mentioned this on either the last offering or the woot off, but I'll chime in again:

1) These are very good vacuums. They do seem to do a significantly better job of picking up dirt, pet fur, et al, than many other major brands.

2) The ball really does (at least in my small apartment) seem to make it easier to manuver.

3) The cord is kind of short. If you have a very large house, or huge spaces between outlets, this could be a problem for you.

4) I do worry about the mechanism for the "kick stand", it seems a bit flimsy. I'm not surprised that somebody already mentioned that his broke after a few years, turning the unit into a very large, oddly shaped paperweight.

5) Washable filters are a huge plus. Many of the cheaper vacuums will eat you alive if you replace the filters as recommended (every 3-6 months).

Overall I like it. Easy to use, so I vacuum more frequently, so the place is cleaner. I have also noticed that there is less dust on the other furniture, indicating to me that the vacuum is picking more off the floor.

Years ago I wondered why these were so expensive.... Wife and I would buy a new inexpensive vacuum every year or two. Since we got the Dyson, it's been 10 years, and it's still working like brand new. Worth every penny in my book.
When we first got it, I tested it by vacuuming with the old vacuum first, then again with the Dyson. The canister was about half full of dirt the first one didn't get.
Just one man's opinion.

I bought this last time it was on Woot. I now realize just how crappy every other vacuum I have ever owned was. This vacuum is definitely worth the money! Only con is that the hose you use with the attachments is a little stiff, but not a big issue. Buy, Buy, Buy!!!

I think there's a couple of logic-gaps in this. Perhaps the reason there are so many Dyson refurbs is because they're WORTH refurbing. They throw the Shark's away. Dyson also offers a 5 year warranty, so that's a lot of years to replace or repair them. Most people don't repair out of warranty vacuum's so you could atribute the number of refurbs to a longer warranty.

I don't understand all the hate. I have a Dyson, have had it for 5 years now and it's been fantastic. It has incredible suction, I love the manuverability of the ball and just bought a 2nd one (handheld.) Trying to convince someone else that it's not worth their ROI doesn't make sense to me.

If you can't afford (or chose not to) that's fine but to try to tie a string of 'evidence' together as some kind of indisputable fact (that Dyson's are horrible) is silly.

Consumer reports recommended the 3 worst products I've ever owned. My fridge, my lawn mower and my Hoover (before the Dyson.) All were the consumer reports picks and then, the following year, consumer reports panned all 3 manufacturers. They're not evil but they're certainly nothing more than another opinion. I lost all respect for them when they rated digital cameras and gave the same weight in their score to a USB port cover as a superior F-stop setting.

lll0228 wrote:Just like BOSE, it's gimmicks and marketing. Independent researches have shown that it is the case for Dyson.

Because of my work in a cleanroom, I have access to a particle counter. And out of curiosity I tested the dust count at the exhaust end of a friend's new Dyson DC24.

It wasn't good... It's also loud. Compared to my Miele S7-series, the Dyson had less suction, and pumped out about 5 times more particles. It's also 3 dB louder. My friend paid full price on the Dyson and was not pleased. As of this writing, his has also broken like others have reported here.

I'd spend a little more and stick to the Miele. It is robust and the service from Miele is phenomenal. You call, they pick up, they help and send you what you need.

But the Miele is TWICE the price on Amazon. Is it worth it if my maid only vacuums once every two weeks? I doubt it.