Favorite Things: Dyson’s “the Animal”

November 2, 2009 in I Freakin' Love This Thing! • I Freakin' Love this Household & Every day Stuff!

Prior to our wedding, Y and I had two vacuums: one was a 20 year old hand-me-down canister from his parents, and the other was a cheap upright vacuum from Target that I bought and loved. I am the vacuumer (is that a word? If not, it totally should be!) in our family, and I refused to use the canister because it was such a pain in the neck and it spit dust out the back. I’d heard wonderful things about the Dyson, but I wasn’t about to give up my vacuum. It was two years old and perfectly fine, thankyouverymuch.

Until it broke.

Well, technically, it caught on fire and I was terrified to plug it in again, so I’m not entirely sure it was broken.

In any event, I wanted a new vacuum. We did some research and added Dyson’s “the Animal” to our wedding registry, hoping someone would get it for us in the next week (with four cats and a dog, I have to vacuum a lot). Obviously, no one wanted to buy us a $400 vacuum 6 months before our wedding (or ever, as it turned out). So we bought it ourselves, hoping some super rich member of our extended family would take pity on us and eventually get it for us.

This vacuum is so much better than I ever thought it would be.

It. is. amazing.

It seriously sucks up a TON of dust and cat hair. The dust is actually what amazes me most, because most vacuums can clean up cat hair. After I vacuum each week, there’s about an inch of dust at the bottom of the canister thing. It’s both fabulous and disgusting. Here I am with my vacuum on our first day together:

The vacuum is also really easy to empty: I just take it right outside, hold it over the garbage can, and push one button.

I love it. It’s definitely one of my favorite things!

Back to all blog posts

I will totally take Andrew up on that challenge, for sure!! I’d be interested to know the results!! As for your questions–I haven’t had any issues with the weight of it, but we only have a one-level apartment. Maybe I would feel differently if I had to lug it all over the place? I’m not sure. We also don’t have any area rugs, so I can’t really speak to that. The one complaint I DO have about it is that you have to completely unwind the cord in order to use the extender piece, which is annoying. Also, I feel like the cord should be one of those that winds itself, given how expensive the vacuum is. But otherwise, I totally adore it!! @GeekinHeels: I haven’t had too many vacuums in my life, so I guess I didn’t realize that they actually start to lose suction. For some reason that strikes me as odd! I’ve been coveting my friend Sarah’s roomba recently (and especially like the idea that there’s a model that mops the floor–which I HATE to do!!). You actually just made me feel a little better. :)
Posted by Stinkerpants on 2010-07-03 20:16:19 We got a Dyson Animal as a wedding/Christmas/housewarming gift about 4 months before our wedding, right after we moved into our new home. I L.O.V.E. it — we don’t have the “ball” one, but man does that thing pick up some major cat hair (we have two). I area about the area rugs, my hubs has to stand on one end while I vacuum those LOL.
Posted by Jesse on 2010-07-03 20:15:34 I have one, too! I’m just sad that we got ours *right* before the ball ones came out, so we don’t have that nifty maneuverability (should be a word if it’s not already!). I love how much cat hair that thing sucks up, but it is a little gross to think that much cat hair was on the floors and furniture to begin with! To Andrew with the Kirby… my mom had a Kirby and we hated that thing! Way to clunky and heavy and never seemed to work as well as the demo showed. She ditched her Kirby and got a Dyson recently and is much happier with her Dyson. Sarah, if you take the challenge, post about it. I’m curious!
Posted by Jamers on 2010-07-03 20:14:47 When registering, we were deciding between a Dyson and a Roomba. We decided on the Roomba since we can run it without one of us actually having to be there (and we need to vacuum fairly often because of my husband’s allergies). Now, I’m starting to regret the decision because the suction on the Roomba is starting to die, and as they say in the commercials, Dyson is the only vac that won’t lose its suction. One question for you: my friend hates her Dyson because she says it’s too heavy. Can you elaborate on the weight of the Dyson?
Posted by Geek in Heels on 2010-07-03 20:14:17 My Kirby challenges your Dyson to a vacuum-off. I’m being serious. Set it up. I’ll come.
Posted by andrew hsu on 2010-07-03 20:13:28 I recently took the plunge and splurged on a Dyson as well. I absolutely love it, and only have one disappointment: It doesn’t like area rugs very much.
Posted by Robin on 2010-07-03 20:12:47 I know what you mean about the fantastic yet disgusting thing. SB and I just bought a new vacuum cleaner designed for use with pets (no pets yet, but no harm in future planning) and have used it on carpets at both his house and my parents. Yay but ewwwwwww at the same time for what they’ve managed to get out of the carpet!
Posted by Scribbles on 2010-07-03 20:10:55 i dream on one day owning a dyson! i think after our trusty hoover bids adieu, dyson will be making it’s way in.
Posted by honeymyheart on 2010-07-03 20:10:16

Stinkerpants

The Stinkerpants Blog