Customer Reviews

Dyson DC41 Animal New

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I know this will be long, so I will present this in pro's & con's, a summary of my background a little, a summery of my experiences, and then a more detailed follow up on some of those pro's/con's.

All in all, my wife and I are really happy with it. It's only been the first week, so time will tell.

Some of the pro's and con's might appear to be double listed, as some are a plus and a minus.

PRO'S
* Sucks - pulls dirt out of somewhere where my last vacuum couldn't find it.
* a bit quieter than any vacuum I have had...lower pitch as well. My wife and i can actually talk a reasonable levels when the vacuum is running.
* Vacuum head self adjust to floor, so no bending down to turn the @!#$ switch on most vacuums.
* Attachments lock into place, so they don't come off when using them
* Dirt canister removes as one unit (no dirt on the floor), dumps out of bottom over a trash can
* Beaters/rollers (rolling brush that hits the carpet) stops rotating when the vacuum is in park, which also diverts the airflow to the hose.
* Beaters have a switch to turn them off - for hard floors
* Pulling on hose to clean with does not cause the vacuum to fall over
* Hose does not fight you to keep it extended, but does spring back when needed...not sure how they pulled this one off - looks weird.
* Feels lighter
* Wand is one piece, so you don't have to assemble it to use it
* Lots of attachment options
* Filters are all washable, it says once every 3 months - after 2 wks, there was only the finest, and almost no dust...washed it just to see.
* LONG elec cord - 30+
* no wasted space, so the design looks cleaner (i.e. hose tucks into frame/handle)
* easy to unclog (see very end - 1.5 month update)

CON'S
* Wand is a bit awkward, length is a solid 3ft, and has to be removed to use tools with the hose
* Ball takes a little getting used to.
* Elec cord is not a self wind up
* Canister dumps out the bottom - not all the dirt comes out, but most.
* Most attachments are extra, meaning extra money.
* Smaller canister than most vacuums, but not bad either.

BACKGROUND
I decided to go with frustration free in the title, rather than the typical "this vacuum sucks". I'm a guy, I think I'm typical in that I'm not a fan of vacuuming. I do it to keep the filth down.....my wife can see dirt better than I, either it's in the genes, or men are better at ignoring things they don't want to know about, cuz then we would have to do something.

At any rate, I'm always frustrated when vacuuming. Getting it out, moving it around, the endless back and forth. This is before you start dealing with attachments and emptying/maintaining the thing. I've been using bagless since they came out.

We have pets, 1 cat, 2 dogs, and others (but they don't leave hair or dirt around). These 3 pets are also allowed to come and go as they please, so for the most part, vacuuming is needed to keep the hair down, and the dirt as well. As such, pet hair kills vacuums. Which is why the last few I have purchased have been Bissels. Especially the pet one. I had a Eureka once that killed itself in less than a year on dog hair (gets in the rollers, and burns the bearings up. I've liked the Bissels, but decided with a Dyson for a number of reasons based on reviews, plus I would rather buy one good machine, than a lot of mediocre ones.

MY EXPERIENCE
I've had the Dyson for a whole week, so keep in mind, mileage may vary. I'm actually rather impressed. We tend to vacuum weekly, though more would be better (white long haired dog, means you see hair the day after you vacuum on dark colored rugs). Our Bissel needed replacing, so I'm told, but it seemed to do a pretty good job...so I thought.

On opening up the box, I'm a guy, no need for instructions, the vacuum went together pretty nicely. No tools required. Snapped together like an expensive lego set. Though rather straight forward, and they include cheat sheets on the vacuum for those that didn't open the instruction book. I didn't time myself, but it took longer to get the parts out of all the packing material, than it did to assemble it....not that there was too much packing material.

On first use, a bit of dirt (and hair of course) came up. A bit more than I would have expected. I was impressed on that alone. I then vacuumed the next few nights. I was amazed at how much dirt came out of the carpet (same each time). I know dirt packs into the carpet, but geez.

Most vacuums it seems a chore to vacuum, in that you have to move back and forth while rotating the vacuum to move it across the floor. Basically I can move it around with almost no effort. The head is a little lower in height, so I can actually get into places I couldn't before. One thing to note, most vacuums have many of those brushes on the beater/roller, where the Dyson has half as many - spaced further apart.

MORE DETAILS (than you probably needed)
So most reviews talk about how much the thing sucks (meaning less back and forth), I mentioned my results above. What is amazing is that it is noticeably quieter. It's not like you can vacuum while someone sleeps, but it is quieter. The lower pitch also seems to make the noise less bothersome.

The Canister: it's nice in that you don't have to open up the container over the floor to take it over to empty it. With dog hair, on other machines I usually end up pulling some hair out of other places and getting dirt on the floor. Basically, I have to re-vacuum the area I stopped to empty the vacuum. As nice as it is to just pull of the whole canister, hold it part way into the trash can, and push a button to empty the whole thing - not all the dirt comes out, and you do have to close it by hand....I've been giving it a little jiggle before closing it, causing the usual dust cloud at the trash can...will have to see if I work out a better method of use.

Vacuum hose wrestle mania 2000 is closed for business on this machine. Typically, on other vacuums I have had, the hose has a strong pull which i have to hold on to, and also make sure i don't pull the vacuum over....or onto me if I'm close by. This is in part that vacuums tend to have the hose high up on the vacuum, making them tilt easy. Dyson is very low on the vacuum. Also, I'm not sure how they do this, the hose will spring back together for putting it up, but when you pull on the hose to use it, it takes little effort to maintain the extended hose....it kinda pulls itself back together when you are done.

I have not actually weighed the Dyson and my old vacuum. And while I would swear the Dyson was lighter while using it, they kinda feel like the same weight if you just lift them up....I'm guessing this is a result of the lower center of gravity.

Attachment heaven - have you ever had the attachments fall off while using them. I have. not all the time, but enough to be annoying, or you push them on really hard, but then have to work to get them off. Dyson attachments all lock into place. Rather simply done, and easy to use. Though, the way they go on, they can't be rotated...not sure if this is a bad thing.

And lastly; the ball. It does maneuver better than a regular vacuum, and I think it is the big plus to significantly reducing the frustration in vacuuming. It's actually rather maneuverable. Though it takes a little getting used to, in getting into tight spots.

1.5 Month update
We both still love this thing. I won't go over what I have before. I recently decided to clean the car. Not that it was filthy, but with the dogs and use, it needed to be cleaned. It worked like a champ, but one aspect I wanted to point out was that I found I missed an unused Starbucks napkin under the seat. The vacuum pulled that thing in so fast, I couldn't even react. A few points from this event. I believe the vacuum has a bypass when the unit is clogged to save the motor. I could hear something as it kicked in and out. Also, to unclog the unit, since the napkin was way in there. If you turn it off, and move the handle down like you were to vacuum the floor...there is a tube that I had not noticed before that switches from the hose to the floor. When it does this, that is where my vacuum stuck. i.e. you don't need to try and push it through, or figure out how to get the napkin out....though it did take a few minutes to figure this out...quite by accident.

The DC41 is a great product and is probably the best vacuum out there. But that hasn't stopped me from noticing a few defects. There are really 2 major ones that nearly made me return this product.
The first issue is that they got rid of the foot lever that typical vacuums have to engage the beater bar. Instead you just force it down and start vacuuming and when you are done you just put it back up and it latches and stays upright. This is pretty neat but when you are putting it upright there are 2 distinct things that happen, it engages the wand hose and then it engages the lock that holds it up. The switch for the hose is much louder and happens first so this leads you to believe the vacuum is upright and to let go when it is not latched properly causing it to fall over if you are not quick enough to catch it. This makes me respond by putting it upright much more forcefully then I want to do to something I've bought for nearly $600.
The second main issue is the path the air flows to the motor. There are 3 zones in the canister. The air goes from the outer to the inner getting cleaner as it progresses. The outer one is for big debris and dust, and then air flows through those tiny cyclones on the top and deposits its finer dust in the middle zone. Finally after leaving those cyclones the air goes through the filter (accessible though the top of the canister) and down the inner zone to the motor then finally out through the filter in the ball. The problem with this is that when you empty the canister the dust can and will cross contaminate from the other zones and into the post filter, inner zone. This means next time the vacuum is started it will suck in that dust into the motor and the ball filter.
So here is the story of how I found out about this defect: to test out the DC41 I took it to a house that was very dirty (some parts had not been vacuumed for a year) and vacuumed nearly the whole house. I had to empty the canister 3 times. After the 3rd time the vacuum got clogged (A peppermint in the narrow hose tool) and it activated the thermal cutoff. After learning about the thermal cutoff and what it meant, I took apart the vacuum and cleaned out all the access ports. Also looked at the post motor filter and saw that it was absolutely filthy but the filter in the canister was still white. So the dust was bypassing the canister filter somehow. So I figured it was when I dumped the canister the dust plume went everywhere including back up into the part of canister that is meant to be dust free. That amount of dust can't be good for the motor.
Here are a few more nit picks:
It feels a little harder to navigate then the DC25
I wish it had a light and something to automatically rewind the cord.
Sometimes it feels like it's about to break in my hands.
The hose wand sometimes doesn't extend all the way out of the hose and sometimes causes the airway to be blocked when used. I think the DC25's wand was better.
It does not has a spot for all the tools.
The reason I decided to keep this vacuum is the active base plate, I have a lot of wood flooring in my house and I want to get as much dust up before I use the Swiffer. Using this vacuum I now only have to use one pad each time I clean with the Swiffer instead of several.
And the DC41 will not be facing that dirty house again so it will never be that full of dust again.
Here are few good things about it:
It has great suction.
It survived that dirty house.
Its cord is long enough that I can plug it in anywhere and vacuum the entire floor.
Ultimately I think this is a great vacuum but for $600 I expect the best with no flaws and this has 2 too many flaws for that price. Unfortunately I can't find a better vacuum so I'm stuck with this one.

I had a Hoover WindTunnel for about 11 years before replacing it with the DC41. I've had the Dyson now for a few days and here are my thoughts:

PROS
- As many others experienced, I was completely grossed out by the amount of dirt that the Dyson picked up the first time I vacuumed. I don't know if this is a result of a superior suction or beater bar (which does seem stronger/faster than my old Hoover... the carpet is actually *warm* as I step into where the Dyson just vacuumed) but it's definitely satisfying.

- Lighter than the WindTunnel. I know others have complained about the weight but it is way lighter and easier to carry than the big self-propelled Hoover.

- Quieter than the WindTunnel. If I need to say something to my husband, I can actually do it without pausing and shutting off the Dyson.

CONS
- The cord, as many have complained about, is not self-retracting. Instead, it winds around the back of the vacuum. I'd like a retracting cord but that's not what I find annoying. The giant PITA is that the top part of the cord holder is actually part of the handheld nozzle. What this means is that if you want to use the nozzle (say, to vacuum up a spill), you need to unwind the ENTIRE 35 foot cord first. With my old vacuum, I often just unwound 3-4 feet and then used the nozzle. This is, by far, the most aggravating thing I have experienced with the Dyson.

- There is space for two onboard attachments, which are included. They are a little crevice tool and a hard floor (I think) thing. Personally, I'd like to see space for a couple more, like if you could choose from their suite of [expensive] attachments and interchangeably pick 2 to keep attached. I plan to get the soft dusting attachment and imagine it's going to get annoying to have to run back to the closet when I want to use it and/or keep it with me as I vacuum the house until I actually need it.

- My Windtunnel had a light on the front, which I actually miss. I never paid much attention to it, but it really was handy for stuff like going under the front of the sofa or under the bed. It just helped to make sure you weren't missing anything.

- Not a "con", per se, but I don't know if I think the ball technology is something that would make me pay extra for a vacuum. It's kinda neat if you happen to have any extremely tight corners, but I think for me, it's not any easier to get around than with my old, heavy vacuum.

I'm a bit disappointed with the DC41. It doesn't have the sturdiness of other models. When you remove the wand from the base of the unit, it seems a bit flimsy. The plastic isn't sturdy and it takes a bit of juggling to get the wand "realigned" into the base when you're done.

Getting the unit to "click" into place in an upright "idle" position also seems to take a bit of effort. I end up putting a foot in front of the unit to stop it from rolling while I lift the lever up until it clicks into place.

I can't find any fault with the suction, with the exception of picking up larger items. We used it to pickup the inevitable trail of styrofoam crumbs after opening christmas gifts. The "crumbs" were on a hardwood floor. I found the head of the DC41 just pushed them around, requiring me to use the wand. My older Dyson wouldn't have had a problem.

All in all, I'm partial to my old Dyson. I like the suction of the DC41, and I like the lower head of the DC41 ( All of my kitchen cabinets have an overhang that the old Dyson was too big to get under). I don't think however the DC41 will stand up to the same daily wear and tear that my old has weathered with no problems. I'm hoping this isn't an indication of Dyson sacrificing their quality standards for mass production.

I wanted a Dyson vacuum cleaner 7 years ago, but when I went to my local vacuum store the salesman talked me into buying something different. Well, it was heavier than the Dyson-not good for hauling up stairs. It had these fancy disposable cloth-type bags, expensive too. Several years later I used a Dyson when I was cleaning commercially and I loved the way it handled and the fact you could constantly remove the dirt. After dealing with leaky bags, animal smells (it had a Hepa filter), and an inability to pick up dirt off the hardwood floor, I bought the Dyson DC41. It sucks up the debris from the hardwood floors without shooting it out the sides. It picked up dirt and sand out of my carpet that I had just vacuumed with my old cleaner. It also turns corners and reaches a lot of tight places where my old vacuum couldn't fit. This is definately a "keeper"!

I used to buy cheap vacuums over the years and I found out that it won't suck all the dirt on the carpet or on hard floors. I am hesitant to pay a lot on a vacuum but my wife convinced me to give it a try. After a few research, we decided to get the dyson DC41. What a decision. The first time I use it I am really impressed. It has a lot of power. Although it is a little bit heavier but the ball technology makes it easier to maneuver on tight areas. The attachment is so amazing. I was able to clean the vent of my AC in just a few minutes with lots of suction power. I would definitely recommend this vacuum to everybody out there. It's expensive but it's worth your money, trust me.

Swapped our old DC25 for this newer model DC41. So far I have noticed a bit more suction and less noise. This model does not have the old foot lever to drop and raise the unit, instead it just 'pops' up and down. It will take some getting used to and my only concern is that it will continue to hold in place when it is fully upright and locked into place. The wand is also different.. it comes apart unlike the DC25. When you want to use an attachment like the Dyson Groom (amazing by the way) I would suggest removing the inner tube so as not to puncture the coiled tube (it will make sense when you are looking at it). This is yet another adjustment area for me. This one seems heavier on the hand than my old DC25 but it may be because of the increased hardware to get greater suction. So far so good on this purchase.. even with the differences in design I suspect the greater suction will win me over.

Bought this last night so, granted, haven't used it long enough to notice every little thing.

Some of the things the other reviewers deducted stars for don't really matter to me. I don't care if the cord can wind up itself, etc. I care about three main things: Suction, noise and weight. This gets 5 stars on all three.

My boyfriend and I had our mouths hanging open when we saw the amount of dirt, dust, & junk that first went into the canister when I vaccumed a small area rug. And I vaccum often!

It's easy to maneuver, its lightweight, its a good height, its got a lower noise level, the chord is super long, the hose is super SUPER long, it comes with a bunch of attachments and (the best part which not many have mentioned) it COMES WITH a 5 year warranty! Most products you pay out the $%# for a 1 year warranty.

Bottom line: This vaccum is amazing, like no other I have ever seen. It has many bells and whistles yet stil manages to have a sleek design. I can already tell that it was well worth the money.

So, we vacuum at least twice a week with our old vacuum. We thought it was "ok," but very heavy, awkward, and frankly my wife just wanted a new vacuum. She showed me this at WalMart, and I said, "$600??? For a vacuum? You must be insane!!!" Finally, my extreme love for my wife encouraged me to pay what I thought was a fortune for a vacuum. Boy, is there a huge difference between this and any other vacuum I've ever used! Light, and draws dirt that you never even knew existed. My wife vacuumed a 3 foot square area and sucked up enough dog hair and dirt to resemble a small rodent...this from a carpet that is vacuumed twice weekly!!! Buy this, its worth it!

The first time I used this vacuum was a day after I'd vacuumed the house with my old machine. I was shocked how much hair/dirt it picked up, the amount of stuff in the canister reminded me of the old door-to-door vacuum salesman demos. WOW!

That cleaning power would earn this a five-star rating, except for three things:

1) Cord management. The cord gets caught up in the wheels and lower cord hook when doing a "back and forth." I'm still learning how to cope with that, not successful yet.

2) Hose/wand. These don't come close to the extension shown in the promotional materials, the hose likes to kink where it connects to the wand, and the hose is so tightly wound that it will pull the unit over when you're just over 1/2 way up the stairs.

3) Attachments. You have to buy a separate hard floor attachment (or use the crevice tool) to do stairs, get under beds, etc. Given the high price of this unit, paying another $40-$50 to be able to get under a bed and into corners near furniture seems...you know.

That said, the ease of going from hard floor to carpet and the absolute cleaning power of this make it a machine that I highly recommend.