OK, I started this thread months ago and have still never bought the DC25 Animal/ball... but I am tomorrow! Home Depot has them for $398 on special and that's good enough for me. I helped the wife clean house for an all gal party on Friday night and by looking at all the white dog hair on the floors, carpet and furniture you would think we haven't vacuumed in weeks!   I've had enough. It's Dyson time!

OK, it's finally done. DC-25 Animal Ball in the house! Went to my local Home Depot and told them I wanted that vac for the special $399 (I thought it was $398) I saw on line. Had a super nice gal that helped me but their sales signs said $438. I told her I thought I saw $398/399 on line but maybe I was wrong. She showed me her monitor that said it was $438. I offered to go home and pull up what I thought I saw and print it out and that I very easily could have screwed up and been wrong. I certainly believed what she was showing me on her screen. I live a mile away and had no problem with checking it out on my own and returning later. Much to my surprise she whips out a calculator and punches in some numbers and says "Hey, no biggie, I'll sell you that vac for $399. I have to power to do that!" Wow! I told her I have no problem being wrong and she didn't have to do that. I'm willing to pay the right price. But she insisted and said she wanted me to go home a happy customer. Again, wow. I took the deal but will make it a point to go back tomorrow and tell her supervisor how nice and professional she was. Damn, don't see that kind of customer service very often anymore! Most people don't give a shit if you ever come back... happy or not.

Anyway, yeah the vac kicks butt! One or two passes over our worst dog haired rug and it was totally clean. I would make 10-12 passes with the Eureka and there would always still be hair. Even when serviced with a fresh bag. Hell, I would have to get on hands and knees and hand pick it out of the rug! Our dog has white hair. The hair in the canister was brown... pushing blackish! Shows you how much extra dirt it was picking on top of the dog hair.

And I did the typical test. Vacuum a room with the Eureka and then hit it with the DC-25 and holy shit! Half a canister of extra dog hair and dirt! Showed it to my wife and she told me that she was actually glad we spent the bucks on the Dyson. Always good to keep the spousal unit happy.

End of happy vac story. Over and out.

To this day, years later, it still astounds/disgusts me how much crud the Dyson picks up every week.

if anyone else is interested in one, www.woot.com has it on sale today for 299.99... refurbished though

I stopped by the same Home Depot today where I bought the Dyson. I hunted down the manager to tell him how great the sales associate was that cut me the really nice deal on the vac. He wasn't surprised. She was the employee of the month! I wasn't surprised either. I told him he needs to clone her and he said he wished he could.

Funny. Having such a kick ass vac has made me want to vacuum even more. More kitchen points earned from the wifely unit!

Quote from: fastwin on June 28, 2011, 03:58:50 PM
Funny. Having such a kick ass vac has made me want to vacuum even more. More kitchen points earned from the wifely unit!

the desire to vacuum everyday will go away, i promise 

kudos to you though, for vacuuming in the first place
my husband doesn't even know where we keep our's 

My wife doesn't either. Although the vacs haven't been put away since the fur monster came to live with us.

My loving wife dropped a bombshell on me when I came home from the hospital four years ago after breaking my neck. She asked what did I use to clean the toilets and where did I keep it!!! I said "Holy shit! We've been married since 2005 and you have never cleaned a toilet??!!" And the answer was yes. I am the designated vacuumer, dish washer and general house cleaner. Hey! I do a kick ass job! OK, y'all stop laughing at me!!

Quote from: fastwin on June 28, 2011, 05:21:11 PM
My wife doesn't either. Although the vacs haven't been put away since the fur monster came to live with us.

My loving wife dropped a bombshell on me when I came home from the hospital four years ago after breaking my neck. She asked what did I use to clean the toilets and where did I keep it!!! I said "Holy shit! We've been married since 2005 and you have never cleaned a toilet??!!" And the answer was yes. I am the designated vacuumer, dish washer and general house cleaner. Hey! I do a kick ass job! OK, y'all stop laughing at me!!

um...could you divorce your wife so i can marry you?.... i need a maid, um i mean husband 

I need a job not a new wife. And CA is too far to commute to clean houses. But with bills mounting it's not out of the question. Seriously, I do a kick ass job. Would you consider medical insurance coverage?

Quote from: fastwin on June 28, 2011, 06:52:04 PM
I need a job not a new wife. And CA is too far to commute to clean houses. But with bills mounting it's not out of the question. Seriously, I do a kick ass job. Would you consider medical insurance coverage?

it's a days drive from tx/new mexico, jump on the bike & just drive fast!  i sooooo hate housework 

The Dyson I have (DC07) is great but on the stairs, it's bulky and hard to move around. Plus, it kinks in the hose because of the incedible sucking power. :p  how does that roller ball model do on the stairs?

Quote from: IZ on June 29, 2011, 07:03:13 AM
The Dyson I have (DC07) is great but on the stairs, it's bulky and hard to move around. Plus, it kinks in the hose because of the incedible sucking power. :p  how does that roller ball model do on the stairs?

Doesn't it have an attachment for the end of the hose to make stairs easy? You shouldn't be using the whole unit for each stair. 

No stairs in my house. The one thing I am not crazy about with the Dyson is the removeable "wand". But I probably won't ever use it and didn't buy it for that feature. We have the mini All Around Shop Vac for that kind of detail "wand" work.

You know, it's kinda sad in a way that I could get a five page thread on a Ducati forum about damn vacuum cleaners.

The handle pulls out and that's the part used for stairs.  It still kinks though when you leave the base at the top or bottom of the stairs.

This week I have been using a DC 07 Animal at my Dad's house



As you may know I own a Kirby. (Actually three of them now. Don't ask it just sort of happened) One of them is 15 years old and still works fine.

In comparing the two. The Dyson is easier to clean out with the canister and all. The Kirby uses a Bag, which is a little more difficult to change, but not too hard.

I like the feature on the Dyson where you pull the handle out and it becomes a flexible hose for sucking things up.
The Kirby requires a shutdown, removing the carpet attachment off the front, and attaching the hose. Definitely more complicated.

The Dyson is most certainly lighter, while the Kirby is a heavy tank when you have to pick it up and carry it someplace. However If you grab the Kirby down near the base on the built in Handle, Carrying it someplace becomes much easier.

In use, The Kirby has Power driven wheels, sort of like a lawn mower that makes vacuuming a breeze. Under its own power it feels light as a feather. It takes slightly less effort then the Dyson to vacuum the carpet. I read that the main reason for the power driven wheels was not so much because of the extra weight of the vacuum, but that the thing really sucks down on the carpet and makes a seal so the power wheels really help in this regard. A couple of weeks ago I was using one of the new ones I acquired and the power was off on the wheels. It was kind of wearing me out  before I realized that the switch was in the off position.

The Kirby has a light on the front so I can see in dark corners. The Dyson has no light. Its not a big deal most of the time, but My bedroom is Dark when I have the shades closed. So I like that light.

The Kirby also has a Shampoo attachment which does a pretty good job. Probably not as good as a dedicated carpet shampooer but it gets the job done. Again this feature requires removing the carpet attachment, and the Bag, and attaching some shampoo parts. It takes a couple of minutes to do this once you get the procedure down.

I don't know if the Dyson has anything like this or not.

The Dyson is much quieter than the Kirby. The Kirby is a bit more quiet than the shop vac. In turn the shop vac is more quiet than the chain saw. I think to myself that I should be wearing earplugs when I run the chainsaw...I feel that I don't need earplugs when using any of the vacuum cleaners

For straight up carpet vacuuming though, I would say that the Kirby does it a bit better than the DC07 Animal. The Dyson is not bad, its just not as good as either the G4, G6 or G2000 Kirbys that I have around the house.

 

http://youtu.be/TDHVLIuJnQA