Dyson - DC15 Animal Upright Vacuum Cleaner

Favourites - Miele C3, certain early Dyson uprights (DC07, DC14 and DC15) Least favourites - current Dyson models, all Shark models ever, any Hoover brand sold by AusVac/Godfreys/VacDirect Australia

I grew up with a DC15, which is basically just a DC14 with the first “ball” steering system It was a ripper of a vacuum, I ended up with it eventually; my family got maybe 15 years in total out of this vac? I replaced it with a new Dyson upright and I’ve never fucking hated a vacuum cleaner so much in my life! I have a Miele now

Their early models perform much better than current offerings; if they restarted production of the DC07 or DC14/15, I’d totally buy one! Wouldn’t even consider a current Dyson though; the stark contrast in quality between a DC15 and UP16 is blatantly obvious, favouring the older model.

Wow interesting. We had our Dyson Animal first generation for 15 years with two cats and two dogs. When it broke we bought the next generation one. Fingers crossed it lasts as long.

Wow interesting. We had our Dyson Animal first generation for 15 years with two cats and two dogs. When it broke we bought the next generation one. Fingers crossed it lasts as long.

Have the corded Dyson Animal with attachments....two years old. NOT worth it. It was to replace a 10 year old Dyson Animal that my spouse used like a shop-vac and ruined (dead mouse.....GRRRR!) The new one is crap...it is too light to allow the hose to extend without tipping over. I have even stretched and wrapped the hose around the closet rod between uses, but the hose doesn't stretch out like the old one. I am frequently whacked by the darn thing when using the attachments....but that is the point of the animal version!

\* A corded Dyson Animal vacuum with all attachments included. BTW

We had the Dyson Ball vacuum (corded) and absolutely hated it. It worked terrible, was heavy and just wasn't good. We did regular maintenance on it too. It just was crap. Since then, we've replaced it with shark vacs. We keep one on each floor of the house so we don't have to continually carry them up and down stairs. They work great. I also recently got a handheld cordless shark vac and it is AWESOME. We have some awkward spaces in our home that a vacuum never really fit in so the cordless hand vac does the job. With 4 cat, I vacuum regularly. I use a Fuller hoky (manual sweeper) daily and it works great too!

Ok so firstly, never buy a shark. They’re some of the worst vacuums in the long run and break easily also shark bins are super small. If you want a Dyson corded, they sell the ball origin and the ball animal (discontinued on Dyson’s website) for £250-£300 so a little over budget. I personally prefer Dysons as bagless uprights as they’re super powerful and easy to use. The only downside is that they’re a little heavy compared to most vacuums. If there is anything else specific or of your not willing to get the Dysons because you don’t like the reviews or design or price just let me know in a reply.

I have a Dyson animal upright from around the same time. Maintenance is key. My kids swept up grated Romano cheese at one point. Turn the vacuum on smell was awful. Pulled and cleaned the filters, vacuumed up a box of baking soda and smell was gone.

Most people here will tell you to stay away from Dyson. Like everything else, everyone's experience is different. I have a Dyson Animal upright that's a decade old and still works like new. We've always had a stick vacuum for the convenience, but both Shark and Samsung models we had weren't even worth the convenience. We dropped the coin for a V15 and honestly it works even better than the upright. My only problem with the V15 is the battery is not removable, and of course anything with a battery is not going to be BIFL. But in my experience Dyson makes a great product. Bagged vacuums will definitely have better longevity odds but if I'm getting even 10 years out of a vacuum, that's good to me.

I have a Miele canister and upright, they are great and I would recommend them to anyone. I also still have a Dyson Animal upright that I bought in 2003. I think keeping them going for the long term is in doing maintenance on them.

A lot of others have responded to the question you asked me but here goes.  Make sure you change bags and filters (some filters are washable) on a regular basis. Clean the roller as others have mentioned. These are easy things you should do often.  Check the belt for the roller brush, they stretch and wear more than you would expect. On the Dyson I have I have rebuilt the clutch and changed the belts twice.  Wash it! Take the hose off and spray some cleaner in it with some water. Then pick it up with an end in each and like a horseshoe. Move your arms up and down separately, right arm up means left down etc. Do this for just few minutes and drain it by holding one end high and letting the other down so all the junk will come out, trust me it can be gross looking. Next do it with water and see how it comes out, go until it drains clean. Hang it to dry as much as you can. If it is on a canister like a Miele reattach and put a towel in place of the bag then turn it on, this will help pull the water from the hose and the towel will absorb it before it gets to the motor.  Clean the area where the bag goes with a cleaner of your choice and wipe it out with a towel. Clean all hose connections and seals that you can see.  If you want to take it further then you can disassemble it and clean the area around the motor and the motor itself, don’t use water or a cleaner on the motor as this will accelerate it going bad. Most of the time you can just wipe them off as they will have a black soot on them.  If you follow the steps above then your machine will last a long time. 

The Dyson animal is the same way, really hard to find any parts. I had a piece of the plastic handle break on the dust canister and while it didn’t affect the machine in how it worked I wanted it to look right and ended up buying the part on eBay. 

I actually own six different vacuums. Yeah I heard that the Dyson is garbage for a long time but it still works and works better than most. 

I’m sorry, the cordless Dyson isn’t that great for carpet/rugs so I wouldn’t rank it that high. The attachments are excellent for their specific uses like couch/mattress, the nozzle for corners but I have the old school Dyson Ball vacuum cleaner and it’s sooo much better for rugs. Vacuum’s with cords for the win!