Dyson V8 Animal Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner Iron

I just opened this today and used it for the first time. We live in a small house (just under 1000sf) with hard floors and various area rugs (one is a Moroccan rug with thick pile). I was impressed with the suction power (the amount of dust I pulled up from the Moroccan rug was disgusting but in a good way when you're talking in vacuum terms), it is really lightweight for me (I'm a 5'6" 125 lb woman in her mid 30's), and it's pretty quiet for a vacuum this small and mighty. Plus I love that it's cordless! For me, the 40 minutes of time is fine bc we have a smaller house, but I could see how that might be a problem for those with bigger jobs. I will provide an update after a few months, but my first impression is how did I ever do without this thing? I had a Miele stick vacuum which was soooo heavy and, according to my housekeeper, didn't work well. I feel like this product is perfect for me and my use and it's so light and easy to use it makes me want to vacuum daily...is that weird ;) it is pricey, so maybe try going for an older model as I don't think there is necessarily a huge difference. For me, this was worth the investment because of ease of use, weight, cord free, works really well, I'm getting a dog soon too so this model I've heard is great for pet hair. I'm impressed and if it reallly does it's job for many years, I will not hesitate to buy another Dyson in the future. It's not cheap, but I do believe in this case you get what you pay for. I'm a stickler for things like good design and ease of use, and this fits the bill perfectly. I don't even mind that you have to hold the on button to activate it because it probably saves the battery and it's not really a hard/sticky button to keep pushed down. Buy it, you won't regret it, and you'll save because you won't have to replace your vacuum that may have been cheaper but broke a year later... Read more

UPDATE 11/9/17: I failed to mention that we have hard-wood floors throughout our entire house with a couple of large area rugs, when sweeping the area rugs I notice that my hand hurts a bit between my thumb and pointer finger, I mention this because another reviewer said that her hand hurts while using this vacuum so if you have a lot of carpet I could see this happening. But, I still love this vacuum! LOVE this vacuum! I'm going to start the review with the length of time of charge because that was important to me prior to buying, I have yet to run the battery out. That being said, I never use it on max suction because it picks up the hair and dirt very well on the regular setting. I have used it upstairs and downstairs as well as the stairs without loosing the charge, those days I always have 1 bar left before I plug it back in. Most days I use it on the lower level only and usually have 2 bars left. We are not a family that obsesses about cleanliness, we wear our shoes in the house, we live on a farm with two dogs and we still do not have grass (a new build), so you can imagine the amount of dirt we track in. I originally bought this vacuum to help maintain the dust and dog hair in between major house cleanings but found that I use it along with my corded vacuum as well. It has capabilities that a normal vacuum just doesn't have. I'm able to sweep under all the beds because it lays completely flat, I run it over the dog beds and around the toilets and under cabinets. I have used all the parts that came with it, I especially love the fabric tool, we have a heavy duty cover on our leather couch and I simply use the fabric tool to completely sweep off all dirt and dog hair, very good on upholstery and underneath cushions. It is very easy to empty the canister, I usually empty it once during my cleanings and at the end, it's also easier to empty if you detach the wand while emptying. The roll bar is very easy to clean if anything winds around it, which doesn't happen that often most things go right in to the canister. We are a Dyson loving family, I started with a DC07 animal 15 years ago until it started to lose suction, I then used the DC33 for a bit but bought another DC07 refurbished just recently because they just work better in my opinion. After talking with a local vacuum shop, I found out that the motors are the same whether you buy the animal or the regular/all floor model, at least that's the case with my DC07, they said the only difference is the colors and attachments. They also said that I probably could have fixed my first DC07 at little cost (mad at myself about that) and that regular maintenance is a really good idea. You better believe I'll maintain these two from now on, they aren't cheap but so worth the price! Good luck! Read more