Dyson - DC28 Animal Airmuscle

Yep, have a corded Dyson Animal upright from 2005 or 2006 and it still goes strong! Just take it apart and clean it 2x a year though. We got a cordless as a gift and it's great too, but the power doesn't last long as we have dogs and it automatically goes into high power.

I hate my Dyson 28 for animal hair! It is cumbersome and the extension never pulls out without pulling the entire vacuum over! Can’t wait to get rid of it! I bought an ancient rainbow on marker place and really felt it did a good job but it crapped out. I’m looking for a new or lightly used vacuum with a water filtration similar to the rainbow because it excited me so much to see how much gunk it got out of my house. We have all hardwood floors with wool rugs. I had heard recommendations for the rainbow E2 Black and have been looking for one but haven’t for one in the condition and price that looks like I want. Now I realizing there are a few more options other than Rainbow. Advice and recommendations would be greatly appreciated! I need one pretty quickly

Miele is a premium brand for sure, but the price difference is well justified. I have C3 Complete, carpet, cats, and that thing sucks hard (the good kind of suck). Have only had it for a few years and so far so good in terms of reliability, but optimistic about it. That said, I previously had a Dyson DC-series upright - had it for 8 years with no problems. It was still alive, I just had to get rid of it because I was moving and couldn't take it with me. So I guess even on "lesser" brands you could get lucky. But through my childhood, my parents kept buying Hoovers and Dirt Devils and GEs and all kinds of "walmart specials" and I feel like we had a new vac every 2 years or so because the old one would just crap out. So I am definitely traumatized enough to consider it very frugal to be buying a more "premium" suck machine.

We have been through a few Dysons, I’m blow away by how much better the Samsung bespoke does. We don’t even have use our full size Dyson animal anymore.

So I had a Dyson upright Animal vac that did a pretty decent job but both my healers despised it with a vengeance and would nip at it and attack it whenever I vacuumed. I tried to scare them away by unleashing the vac brush on them and, what do you know, the lil raptors loved it. After they got used to the routine, I’d get the vac out and vacuum them first then the house. It was a win win. God, I miss those guys.

Leaf blower and an industrial exhaust fan. But honestly we go three ways. We have a carpet broom that has rubber teeth on a broom handle we use before the Shark vac once a week, and for the hardwoods we use a handheld with a long extension so we can do a quick once over around the corners and edges of everything daily. We found out the hard way if you only use a traditional vacuum, even if it’s a really nice Dyson that’s says it specifically for heavy shedding pets, you will get a ton of hair in the roller and will burn out the motor or at least clog the roller and it will break and stop spinning.

I have a Dyson upright pet because everyone else in my family does and we all love it. No one's had a single problem, and it sucks the everliving hell out of pet hair-filled carpets. Think the first one of us to get it has had it 10 years, some almost as long. Mine's a refurb I got 5 years ago and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.

I hate my Dyson animal upright. I’m going back to shark when this squeaky, hard to clean, heavy pos dies.

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.

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've never had a miele, but i certainly don't buy dyson because it's convenient. They're expensive as hell. I buy dyson because they work reliably for years. I replace the filters every year or two, and otherwise i just don't even think about them. I have a handheld and a plug in dyson, and they have seriously won me over. There's lots of options that are similar on the market, but i've never found any other vacuum that works that well

I used a dyson and once I got used to it I love it tbh. My house is only 96sqm so I put it on full blast and it does the job. I do appreciate its a pain in the hole if there is something a legacy cleaner would deal with. If I had more space in gaff I migjt have went for a Henry. I am mostly commenting because my mob is shite and need to get something better myself 😅

I think it just takes a but of getting used to. Like the first few times I used it if there was a small peace of plastic.or paper on the ground my old Henry would eat it right up but the Dyson goes on strike 😅. Once you make that adjustment I find it class. Light weight, easy to use and with mod houses its so easy to store as well.

Dyson are an utter rip off. I sympathise completely with you. Used to own one and I felt I’d have to do two rounds of the house to get it clean. Go for a Miele, they are cheaper and significantly better.

Mi is gondolkodtunk a philipsen, de az eladó le beszélt róla, mert szerviz igényesek nagyon..igy maradt a dyson..abszolút nem bántuk meg

Nekünk Dyson van, 2 gyerek, 2 macska mellett nekünk igazán megváltoztatta az életünket. Mivel könnyű, az iskolás gyerekünk is játszva ki tudja vele takarítani a szobáját és imád is vele "játszani".

Right? I'll grant you some other brands that are underpowered. But Dyson? Dysons are great. I got one as a wedding gift like 14 years ago and it was an amazing vacuum. So much so that I bought another to replace it without even batting an eye at the price. The Dyson was still going strong but the battery was toast and I couldn't get a replacement. I'm not opposed to the idea of an EGO vacuum either. If it was good I'd probably buy it. But Dyson is legit awesome.

I think most people buying vacuums aren’t treating or looking at them as BIFL. Vacuum techs are going to crap on anything difficult to repair/maintain while your average consumer is only going to see the end result. I’ve owned a Hoover upright, shark upright, Dyson upright, and now 2 different Dyson sticks including the v15. I would never buy a canister vacuum due to what I deem as an inconvenience in pulling it around everywhere. When we owned a house with majority carpet the Dyson and Shark uprights were great. We have dogs and their brush roll was incredible at picking up pet hair. Our current house is primarily hardwoods and we still have dogs. The V15 is amazing, super light, and convenient. And despite how gimmicky the green light thing may look it really does work amazingly well for hardwoods with pet hair. It does ok on carpet and rugs but the old canisters feel like they would for sure outperform it. I don’t really expect a lifetime out of my vacuum especially if I’m buying a $150 Shark. If I get several years I’m pretty happy as the repair bill is near the cost of the Vacuum - it’s almost like the printers whose ink refills was more expensive than a new printer.

I’m scared to even say this but I use sharks for my housekeeping business and I love them. I also used OLD OLD Dyson uprights (not balls) and I will still reach for those for dirty jobs because I love how easy they are to take apart. One of my clients has a Miele and I hate it. I am much more efficient with my sharks and dysons. And yeah I just clean them regularly

I think Dyson is a great vaccum that is aimed at consumers. I have the corded upright one myself. It's probably the best consumer vaccum I have used. The vaccum techs seem to prefer commercial use ones. And they seem great. I hire a cleaner sometimes that uses a Meile and it certainly cleans better than the Dyson. But I don't want to lug it around myself.

I have 3 Dysons, 1 corded upright & 2 cordless stick vacs. All operating fine with no issues as of yet. My 1st cordless from around 2006 is stir used weekly. Only I have had to replace the battery & brush accessory. But overall Ive been pleased.

Dyson, uj dimenziokat nyitott meg a porszivozasban. Meger minden forintot!

I have a Dyson upright and I was also given an older Shark Stick (not cordless). I prefer the Shark even though it has a cord. I bet I would like a cordless Shark even more. Point being, Dyson isn’t the end all be all anymore.

I use a hand held one (probably from Amazon, I can’t remember!) that isn’t a named brand or anything special. I use that to hoover poos etc up in the cage day to day. I also use the hand held one to hoover up any loose bits of hay on the carpet when my girls have had floor time. Once these have been hoovered up, I hoover the carpet as normal with my Dyson upright hoover. I accidentally got a bit of hay stuck in my new Dyson when I first got it so I make sure anything like that is gone before the main hoover comes out. Having said that, I have an older hoover from Argos - it was the cheapest they sold I think; a white one. It’s an upright electric one and doesn’t look like it would do much but it’s actually really good. Now I’ve got the Dyson, the Argos one has been relegated to hoovering piggy messes when I don’t want to use the hand held.

I’m genuinely not sure what this sub hates Dysons so much. I’ve had an upright for 15 years now and have never had an issue. And I’ve had a Dyson stick vacuum for 5 years and no issues.

I’ve had a Dyson upright for going on 15 years now and have never had an issue. I’ve also had one of their stick vacuums for about 5 years and again, no issues. 🤷🏻‍♂️

Dyson corded upright, if you’re patient you can buy used and save a bundle. You’ll want to add a floorbrush for the hardwood floors. I have both older model canister and upright Dyson vacs. The canister is better built, but the upright is more versatile and cleans carpets better. It also stores better but is more finicky to use the attachments. It’s designed to be lighter weight which also means it’s is more fragile, take care of them and they’ll last! If you really prefer a canister you’ll want a motorhead, but the extra weight in the floor wand makes it more work to vacuum hardwood floors.

I have two older Dyson corded vacuums. My canister is a tank, had it for atleast 15 years now. Have torn down the canister a few times for a deep clean. Also bought an upright used, it’s a little more finicky and fragile feeling but also a good vacuum with proper maintenance.

Our old Dyson upright was absolutely useless on the Christmas Tree needles. They essentially fell out again after being hoovered up. Hence why I'm so interested in this thread!

I pull both Mieles and Dysons out of the trash. These days I only grab the cordless Dyso9ns, but in the past have done the upright models. They are usually work after cleaning up. Maybe half the cordless examples I get need a new battery.

I also hate my Dyson animal. Like you said, it stinks like dog no matter how much you clean and replace the filter and is so hard to maneuver. I also feel like the suction isn’t that strong. I definitely plan on getting something else soon!!

Dyson animal! 4 cats, 2 high shedding dogs. It’s amazing!

This subreddit had me all scared about buying a Dyson Animal vacuum. It’s fine, guys. It’s a perfectly good vacuum. I also have a stick, wanted more power, and guess what? It’s fine!

Dyson Animal , once a day.( we have two GSDs) and Roomba supplements mid day.

I've always had a great experience with my Dyson. It's one of the Animal vacs, and never fails to tackle my husky hair, and cleaning it out has always been a breeze. Only one part really needs to be replaced, because of an unfortunate tumble down the stairs that broke the latch portion that pops open the bottom of the canister, but I've been opening it manually for a year now. I guess I'm fortunate based on what other reviewers have experienced, but I've certainly got my almost 10 years out of it. I'd love to get a Miele in the future, and really I'm just torture testing this Dyson. It's already survived 7 cross country moves in my truckbed without a tarp, a couple times in the rain. I wouldn't absolutely not do that to a Miele though hahah!

I have three dogs and have bought numerous vacuums trying to find the right fit. The best one for us has been a Samsung Bespoke Jet that has an all in one station. It is cordless and empties itself into a bag. Keeps all the dust and dander down. It is easy to use and I use it almost every day. I also have a Dyson animal but only pull that out about once a month - if even that. I love my Samsung. Wish it had a light on the head unit - but my Dyson doesn’t have a light either. The samsung was pricy but it is by far my favorite.

We have a Dyson Animal, works great!

Dyson Animal for the win.

Our Dyson animal is awesome, it’s easy to maintain and has crazy strong suction

Animal Dyson every fortnight and a roborock every single day. Serves us well. I wouldn’t buy a Dyson again though. Bissell next time - half the price, twice the innovation. Though they are American…

Same here. We have the animal Dyson for about 10 years and just very recently replaced it with the new version. Haven’t had issues with it and we also have 2 cats and 2 dogs. 

I loved my animal Dyson. It did catch fire though prolly from the “hidden filters” never being changed. I bought a shark after that and it was great for carpet, it actually pulled your arm forwards and “sucked” to the carpet. Moved to a place with all hardwood floor/laminate kitchen, bathroom and the shark just pushed the dirt forwards. Now we sweep….no vacuums here lol

Miele C3 for life gang! I previously had a Dyson Animal for almost a decade and the improvement was shocking to me. Of course, there had likely been enhancements to the DAs in the meantime.

Shark. I got the Shark at Costco. I also have a Dyson Animal but it is too strong on carpet so it would void warranty on the carpet.

Dyson animal is what I use at home. The battery life is short but it works wonders

We have a Dyson Animal and a Shark Canister style vacuum. We prefer the Shark. Suction is just as good as the Dyson and it’s infinitely more user friendly as far as the attachments and hose cleaning goes. Plus smaller head fits more places like under the bed. The Shark is just a better design.

^This. We had a Dyson Animal and were continually having to take it apart and cut fur from the roller. Haven’t had to do nearly as much with the Miele.

Had my Dyson animal for 9 years and it's awesome. No issues but I do look after it.

Sebo. It’s the new Electrolux. I went from electrolux (40 years of service, inherited from my mom) which was amazing, to a Miele (20 years of service, inherited from step mom) to a Dyson Animal. The Dyson lasted 12 years before I got sick of it. I bought a Sebo! I’m 58 and I won’t need another vacuum before I die.

Like many others I have the Dyson Animal and it’s great.

I had a Dyson Animal and hated it. One, the ball makes it difficult to get under furniture. Next, the extension hose is not user friendly and hard to use in tight places. Then, I got tired of emptying the canister every time. Finally, the filters pick up the dander smell and need regular cleaning and replacing. We currently use an Orexk xl. Love it. It use an easy to change bag. I replace it about 1x per month and toss, so no lingering dander smell. Also bought the smaller should vac to use to get under furniture, nooks a cranies. Carry it on the should makes it easy to use.

I’ve had my Dyson animal for years & it’s a workhorse. Absolutely swear by it

Personal opinion, I ask my clients to provide a solid, efficient working vacuum. All of my clients have one except for one and I bring my company vacuum. They are charged a nominal maintenance fee because it’s time consuming to clean a vacuum and care for it. It’s not good to have a community vacuum and definitely dicey if they aren’t the cleanest people. I’ve got one client who has a severe allergy to pet dander and others who have multiple dogs. Nobody has a shared anything and my clients appreciate that. Personal opinion aside, because I use many vacuums I’ve been fortunate enough to figure out which ones are great and which ones are terrible. A lot of it is just personal preference however, Shark is still the leader for me. They have some pretty great vacuums, equally great attachments and are really easy to maintain and care for. I don’t care for the cordless models but the Shark Rocket corded model is one that I use for clients if they need a vacuum. My own personal vacuum is a Shark Navigator. I just keep going back to it because it’s so good. Dyson is decent but heavy. The Dyson Animal works well but it’s super bulky and difficult to carry up stairs. They make a cordless model that has a great battery life on one - that version is 4 or 5 years old and is FAR better than their newest model that has the green light bar on the head of the vac. Max 45 minutes run time so you’ve got to be real careful about when and how long you use it without having to charge it again. A lot of the cordless models also have the charging stations so you’ll have to buy multiple batteries if you travel with it. If you’re going to invest in a vacuum though, Miele is a terrific brand. Not talked about enough but it’s by far the Porsche of vacuums. It is the lightest vacuum I have ever used. The suction is adjustable, it’s ridiculously quiet and they last forever! It’s a canister vac and can be difficult to get used to BUT…I’ve never used a better vacuum. There are a few cleaners in here who use the Sebo backpack vacuums and I know they ride real hard for them! I’m sure one of them will show up soon 😂 Other frontrunners are Bissell. The Clearview is lightweight, easy to use and has great attachments. Comes in a bagged version as well. Hoover has come back into the game recently and they have a pretty stellar vacuum that is comparable to the Shark Navigator. I avoid water vacuums at all costs. Just not practical. I’m sure this is far too much to now think about but now you know 😎

We tried Hoover, Dyson animal, and shark. The shark is 1/3 the price of the Dyson and does nearly as good a job. Search Google and Amazon for refurbished, same warranty and half the msrp price

For the price, it makes sense to what's usually recommended here. The other I was looking at is 4 times the cost and heavier!  I haven't decided yet, but my trusty old Dyson animal finally died and the repair failed, I really hope OP is steering me in the right direction.  My poor Dyson. New ones are awful compared, the only thing I like about my cordless $500 Dyson is that it doesn't get stuck on rugs. I need the cord back!!!!

I spent about two years dithering and then a month researching and got a Miele C3 to replace my falling-apart and LOUD Dyson Animal. It was a good choice. Quiet and no dust. I did remove all the carpeting in my house, but still need to vacuum up the cat tumbleweed under the bed and sofa, as well as the “welcome” mats inside the house where I leave my outdoor shoes.

I have had good luck with Dyson and Shark brands. Both in “pet” models, I’m sorry I don’t know more specific models. I personally don’t notice much of a difference in the performance so I stick with Shark since it’s cheaper and in my opinion the hose and attachments are easier to use.

I had a Dyson pet also and hated it! And their cordless vacs are horrible and last like 5 minutes! I prefer Shark vacuums as well.

My Dyson pet was the biggest damn waste of money.

I love my Rainbow vacuum and my purple pet dyson.

The purple Dyson for pets. We love it and have used it for 4 years now. We have had 3 Rottweilers, 2 Shimas, and 1 Golden, as well as 2 medium hair cats.

Yeah I’ve a Powerblade for my kitchen/ hard floors downstairs. It’s cordless and light but useless on my carpets. I’ve the Dyson pet one for those and I find it not too clunky even on the stairs, especially as it has so many little attachments. I like it. As for mops, I like my Shark one. No fannying around with detergent, just throw some bleach or whatever you use on the floor and go. It separates into a handheld steamer too.

Yeah battery is not the best, however it worked really well when it was new (like most things do). Our main vacuum is the Dyson animal+, that thing is a beast and has been working great for the past 7 years. Handheld gets used to clean cars or just pick up quick messes.

I found myself purchasing a new vacuum about every 2 years. Then I purchased a Dyson pet , and it was great. Had a 5-year warranty, and promptly lost suction at the 6-year mark. It was the best vacuum for the almost 6 years I had it. Now I have a Shark, an apartment vacuum because it is mostly for bare floors, but the cord is short. Have had it for 2 years now. I would take advice of the professional cleaner - the porta-vac.

There’s no single vac that does it all except for maybe a super heavy super expensive traditional canister like a Miele. For an everyday hard floor vac (and light carpet vac) the best is Levoit on Amazon that's about $200. It's a Dyson-like machine that overcomes a lot of the longtime design issues with Dysons (such as, it can stand up by itself -- what a concept). But we also keep the Dyson around for a more aggressive carpet vac when we need it. We also have a Eureka boss -- powerful and dependable small canister vac. And a monster shop vac in the basement. Dysons are great but they're really expensive and their air filtering system is overly complicated and tends to lose efficiency. If you own a Dyson, watch all the available Youtubes on how to clean it with pressurized air so you can keep it running. Given the competition from newer manufacturers like Levoit, I think it's going to be harder for Dyson to justify selling floor vacs for close to $1000.

You want a bagged vacuum. I've had a Dyson, a Bissell, a Dyson knock off, the LG A9, the Miele Duoflex - all bagless and all very loud. My cats will scatter if I turn them on. My bagged Miele on the other hand... they don't even bother getting up from their naps.

I just asked about how often I’d be buying bags for a sebo with two high shedding large dogs, (similar probably too a gsd and 3 (if long hair cats) I would probably be replacing the bag every week. (Actually more than that because I didn’t tell people I also have 3 cats haha) Someone with a husky commented that they replace the bag 1.5-2 times a month. Calculating that cost for two dogs is another 210 a year in bags (probably more for me) I am taking that into account with  replacing a vacuum that died (Dyson) but it doesn’t have a bag or a Sebo that has a 10 year warranty but I will have probably bought 2-3 dysons in that time period with the amount I’d be spending on bags. I haven’t decided yet 🙃 but thought I’d share the numbers.