Spotlight Reviews
 An outstanding Vacuum Cleaner!
Let me begin by saying that I have three dogs and two cats. Pet hair is the biggest cleaning challenge in our house.
After convincing my wife to discontinue our professional cleaning service, due to increasing costs, I volunteered to take the cleaning duties related to the floors and the furniture. My wife foolishly took on the kitchen, bathrooms, and dusting. What my wife didn't know was that I had been reading up on the Dyson "Animal". The "Animal" arrived just two days after our last professional cleaning. I immediately vacuumed the entire house and was absolutely amazed at how much pet hair and dirt I pulled out of the carpets and off our hardwood floors. Our house has never been so absent of pet hair. Even my pets were beside themselves. My wife was thoroughly impressed. She said that the house looked and smelled cleaner than ever! The "Animal" is a total cleaning machine. It easily attacked hardwood floors, carpets, curtains, furniture, and stairs. It's the best cleaning machine I have ever used. Adding a sixth animal to our family was the best thing I ever did! If you have pets and need a high powered cleaning machine, get the "Animal"! It's worth the money! I donated my old cleaning machines to our YMCA. Fantastic vacuum
I couldn't believe many of the reviews I have seen, they seemed unbelievable and to good to be true. So I purchased this vacuum from Sears, just it case it didn't live up to all of the claims I could return it within 30 days. I had just vacuumed the house with our top of the line self propelled Hoover Cyclone vacuum. I have carpet, wood and tile floors so this would be a good test and being a dog owner would be the ultimate test for the vacuum. Well, what a pleasant surprise. Within the very first few moments I could tell that this vacuum was pulling dog hair and dust out of the carpet that the Hoover couldn't even reach. The carpets looked regenerated. Another pleasant surprise was that this vacuum was much quieter and even easier to push and pull than the self propelled Hoover. The Hoover required a bag change after every second use otherwise you start loosing vacuum efficiency. This can get expensive. The Dyson is bagless and the ease of dumping the canister great. After spending a small fortune within the past few years on trying to find the perfect vacuum (Panasonic, Eureka, Hoover), I believe the Dyson unit is the vacuum nearest to perfection yet. Now the negatives, the only dislikes I have on the vacuum was that it wasn't as convenient as the Hoover to use the hose and attachments due to the design of the integrated hose & handle.  Not so hot
I am one of those (apparently) few people who are less than thrilled with my Dyson Animal. I've never had a full-sized upright before, just canisters and an Oreck.
We have three dogs who run in and out all day long. The Dyson picks up fine dirt and hair exceptionally well. I did a vacuum check when we got it - first the Oreck, then again with the Dyson and it filled the whole bin with hair and dirt from one room. If you own mainly wall to wall carpet with few obstacles, this vac works extremely well. If you have area rugs and hard floors, you don't need to spend this much money. Here are the negatives:
- It can't be used on area rugs, even room-sized Persian-type rugs. It sucks so strongly that it just pulls the rug up into the beater brush and makes this horrible grating sound. I called tech support and they said to use the floor attachment on all rugs not nailed down.
- The floor attachment is completely useless - it's difficult to maneuver, doesn't maintain adequate contact with the carpet, and doesn't pick up dirt or hair at all.
- The vac is so fat that it won't even fit under the coffee table, I have to move everything.
- The dust bin pops off unexpectedly when lifting the vac by that handle if the bin is near the 'full' line. This is very disconcerting and painful if the vac lands on your foot. (NO I am not accidentally hitting the nearby release button.) I am now afraid to lift it.
- It's very inconvenient to use the attachments compared to a canister vac. It's a nuisance to take the vacuum apart then hook everything up. The hose is supposed to be 17 feet long but it sucks down very compactly. Be vigilant because the vacuum will come rolling silently toward you when using the hose - I got a painful gouge on the back of my heel.
- It sucks down onto plush carpet so well that it's hard to push; I have to use two hands.
- Long retriever hair wraps around the beater brush; every time I vacuum I have to use a scissors to cut it off.
- Make sure the edges of your carpet are tacked down completely or it will pull out tufts.
- It is nothing special on hard floors. It tends to push little objects (bugs, pieces of wood mulch) aside rather than sucking them up.
- The front edge doesn't vacuum within two inches, the sides vacuum closer.
- Be sure to empty the dust bin outside, the fine dirt blows all over.
- It's heavy and cumbersome, not a vacuum for 98-pound weaklings, little old ladies, or people with lower back problems.
- The cord is annoying where it hangs down. And... Dyson didn't 'invent' cyclones - they have been used for years for emission and dust control on industrial facilities. He just adapted it to vacuums, which was a very good idea. | 
Named for both its power and its ruthless approach to pet hair problems, the Dyson DC07 Animal upright is a piece of engineering wizardry designed by James Dyson, the inventor of cyclonic vacuums. A hit in Europe for years, Dyson vacuums are new to the American market. At the center of the machine's innovation is the Cyclone air path design, an eight-section chamber that creates powerful, consistent suction. The conical chambers generate 100,000 g of centrifugal force, pushing dust and dirt out of the airflow into the vacuum's 1-gallon collection cup. With no bag to clog, the vacuum's 270 air watts of suction remain steady. The large, transparent collection cup is easy to check and empties tidily--pop it off, hold it over a trash bin, and pull the trigger to release dirt without having to touch it. The DC07 also comes equipped with a multipart filtration system to improve overall air quality in the home. The HEPA filter, measuring 412 square inches in surface area, traps microscopic particulates and allergens. Expertly built, the filter is designed to last the lifetime of the machine. 