Dyson - DC17 Animal

Bro, this sub won’t ever upvote a Dyson no matter how good a job it does. Only Miele and Sebo are allowed in vacuum heaven. Everyone else is in Dustbuster purgatory. Seriously. Just got a loaded old new stock Dyson dc17 animal with like 20 attachments for cheap and I’m happy as a lark. So glad not to be out of $1k for a vacuum too!

We bought a Dyson 26 years ago when we got our first two Pyrs. We still have the Dyson and we still have two Pyrs. It’s worked like a dream with regular maintenance of course.

It’s yellow, I’m not sure the specific model. Our definitely has a cord. We got it right around the time Dyson came out with the purple (pet hair) model. We do take great care of this vacuum, we’ve replaced some parts and it’s really holding up well through 8 Pyrs and 2 Leonbergers. :) In fact, we just bought an off-brand extension hose for it.

I confess my first pet Dyson was awesome (pre ball) #1 with suction and ease of attachments. After 9 strong years of use I decided to "upgrade". The second pet Dyson wasn't amazing, I didn't like the ball or how I had to remove items to get to the hose attachments etc, BUT it did great on carpets and tiled floors. After 4 years of use, it was destroyed by diatomaceous earth (lessons learned, it goes through the filter and builds up in the motor). I decided to go a different route with 2 different branded vacuums, stick style and push. Over the past two years with pet hair everywhere, they were ok but even cleaning filters they started to smell. This past Dec we decided to go again with Dyson and it's amazing how much it pulls up and gets all the hair and tracked dirts (we are in dusty NM). Still don't like some of the ball features but I am really glad to have one back in the house. My 2 cents.

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

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.