Our old vacuum was overheating so much that it takes me two cooldown session to even vacuum half my apartment, even after opening it up and cleaning it. So after eyeing this one for a month or two, I finally decided to buy this one instead of spending money on a cheaper vacuum that will probably break in a year or two. This vacuum comes with a 5 year warranty, so even if it costs 3 times as much as many vacuums, I expect it to last at least as long as 3 of those vacuums, especially since the filter is washable and never needs replacing.

Once I opened the box, which was even well-designed, assembly was easy. Everything snaps into place without much force, and it was working a few minutes out of the box.

I then tried it out. The vacuum is fairly light, and extremely easy to maneuver. Tt picked up so much dust, hair, and dander that my previous vacuum left behind that I had to empty the canister twice. It even cleared up most of the dust which was floating in the air before. The roller is extremely easy to remove when you need to clean it. I took a quarter to the giant plastic screw and it popped right out, a feature I wish I had on my previous vacuums.

Emptying the dust canister was easy as well, since it pops right out and has a button to release the bottom. However, I find that it opens too fast so it disturbs the fine dust laying on the bottom of the canister and makes some of it airborn. And a few times, I've had to reach in to get the dust out because it doesn't all fall into the trash bin when it clumps up, but both downsides are still minimal compared to my other canister vacuum, where I had to turn over the entire canister every time.

The telescopic wand is very very handy and snaps in and out easily. The reach on the wand is also very long, and can just about reach the top of my steps with the vacuum on the bottom of the stairs.

While the vacuum itself is great, I'm not as fond of the turbine head attachment in the DC25 Animal version. I tried it on the suitcase my cat was sleeping on, and it took several runs through the same spot to clean her hair off, which isn't much different from non-turbine brushes. On the microfiber futon we have, it worked very well, however. I also tried it on the stairs, but it doesn't seem to clean very well unless the angle was perfect, and when combined with the telescopic wand, is a pretty steep angle, causing me to have to lift it up higher than is comfortable. It'd probably be fine if I was 6' tall, but I'm not. If the turbine head attachment had an auto-adjusting angle, I would have no complaints at all about it.

All in all, the DC25 part of the vacuum is just about flawless, and got me very excited about using it, but the turbine head attachment found in this Animal version is not quite as perfect. The DC25 is definately worth every penny, just not as enthusiastic about the Animal part.

Wow, my Dyson vacuum cleaner was sent and it was certainly a factory defect. The on button could not be push down at all. It was not damaged in transport as there was absolutely no damage to the box it was shipped in. I called Dyson immediately and asked what to do. I was given the option to ship it back to Amazon or take it to a vacuum repair shop. I asked the RUDE customer service rep, Latoya,if Dyson would pay for the shipping rate back to Amazon since this was a factory defective vacuum. She explained that it was not a factory defect and Dyson would not pay for my retun shipping fees. I asked on what basis she assumed that the defect was not factory related and she stated it wasn't and she knew it wasn't. Amazing how these companies immediately take no liability for anything nowadays. I asked to speak to her manager and believe it or not this RUDE man,Ray, also took no responsiblity for the factory defective vacuum.
He also would not pay for return shipping charges.

With little else to do I took it to an authorized vacuum dealer. After looking at the packaging and the way the vacuum sat in the box he agreed that it was not broken in transport but a factory defective vacuum. The customer service department at Dyson was to fax him a repair request but guess what!!!! They didn't, go figure. He did get the part faster than he usually gets parts and my vacuum was ready rather quickly.

I love my vacuum!!! I would recommend it to anyone. I can not believe how well it works. Too bad Dyson's customer service department doesn't work as well!!!!

Sincerely,
J. Tabar[

[ASIN:B0014E3GM0 Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner]]

Very impressed with this vacuum so far. The first time we used it (having just vacuumed with our old vacuum a couple of days earlier) - we had to empty the canister three times.

I do have some minor gripes. It wasn't something I noticed prior to purchase - but unlike a lot of vacuums - the DC25 does NOT have a light on the front. It would definitely be useful in corners / under hard to move furniture. The hose attachments provided in the box are good - but none worked amazingly well on the stairs. The brush attachment wasn't stiff enough, and the other just didn't pickup all the animal hair - so I'm about to purchase the $20 stiff brush to see how that works. Lastly, the power cord could be a little longer.

As per another review, the hose design did take a minute to get used to - but is very space saving and to my surprise was long enough to do our stair case without dragging the vacuum half way up the stairs.

I'm still rating this vacuum as five stars because it does an excellent job of cleaning carpet, is easy to manoeuvre, and is a lot lighter and less noisy than my old vacuum.