Dyson DC17 Animal Bagless Upright Cyclonic Vacuum

Dear prospective DYSON PURCHASER,

My name is Jessie. As a self-professed perfectionist, consumer advocate, and stay at home Mommy to a 7 month old little boy who is crawling and rolling about, I consider myself qualified to say this review will be just about as objective as you'll find. I love my Dyson, but had to go through three vacs via exchanges prior to settling down so to speak. I can provide the things to look out for, and if you really have your heart set on getting one, help you to make your experience as pain-free as possible.

Since we are talking specifically of the DC17 Absolute Animal model, here is a breakdown of what you'll get in the box:
~One beautiful purple and grey colored bagless vacuum with an easy to handle, empty and clean .66 gallon dust bin. It's easy to empty and fun to watch fill up, you'll enjoy it! It has a 35ft cord, and 51 foot reach with the attached hose and the telescopic wand. This doubles as the vac handle, and takes some practice using as it can be a bit cumbersome at first! The brush bar can be turned off and on with a push button for doing tile, and hard floors too! I love how it makes my floors feel like they've just been mopped. Good bye broom! But, more on functioning later.

~A packet of nice looking manuals with the serial number label on the front, or an outdated manual package falsely stating you have a two year warranty despite the 5 year statement on the vac and the box, without extra serial number stickers on the cover.

~A carpet maintenance kit consisting of a powder you sprinkle into the carpet and suck back up, a liquid stain remover spray and three carpet tools (one square tool for rubbing in the powder, one low reach floor tool for getting under things etc and one mini turbine upholstery tool for stairs and getting up pet hair)

~Three on board attachments, consisting of a small round bristled upholstery brush, a long crevice tool and another small upholstery brush with tiny red fiber micro "bristles" (my own description not theirs!)

That just about covers what it comes with, now I am going to go into how they all work (or don't.) After that, I am going to fill you in as to how I became a satisfied Dyson owner after having to do two exchanges, resulting in my getting to use three Dyson DC17's within a couple of weeks.

So here are my opinions about how all the parts work:
Cleaning kit--Honestly, I did not try the carpet cleaners so I am not qualified to comment. They seemed neat, but the first vac broke within 3 days which meant I didn't have time to open them up!

Tools--All of the tools attach by firmly pushing them into the handle (no clicks, locking mechanisms) so friction holds them in. I don't care for that, because if you don't push really hard getting them wedged in, they can come loose during the process of using them, although this does NOT happen much. It happened with mine when using the mini turbine tool for cleaning stairs. It seems sub-par, rather ordinary for such an otherwise extraordinary machine. For over $500 I expect a lock or a snap. The only tool I found to be worthless is the mini turbine. It has an internal bristled roller that is supposedly great for stairs. It cleaned my stairs adequately, but the spinning mechanism is fueled by the suction, which means the minute the bristles touch any carpet they slow down. Mine didn't stop completely, but once again for the price, I would expect to be able to fully press it into my carpet enough to clean all the hair off and suck up particles of whatever without decreased pickup. It mirrored the same mechanism of a useless attachment that came with a Dirt Devil I used to own that cost $150.

Suction--Awesome awesome awesome. No problem there, however make sure to read my section regarding older models. There is a difference, even though Dyson denied the possibility on the phone, in suction and brush roller function between newer and older manufacturer dates of this same model.

General gripes--Dyson has decent customer service in that they will listen to you and send you to a repair service should something go wrong, however they don't seem to have an opened mind about the possibility of a product variance between older DC17s and newer DC17s of the exact same model. I suppose now is the right time to say I have proven there is a difference to myself and my Husband, delving into that animal. Pun intended!

The Story
As stated before, the one we are VERY happy with now is the result of two returns! And so there is no confusion about it, all vacs I mention in this review are the DC17. We bought our first DC17 Absolute Animal Dyson from our local BX store after seeing first hand what Dyson's are capable of having witnessed it's use in my Husband's office and my parent's home.

My first one performed beautifully, leaving crisp "just professionally steam cleaned looking" lines in my carpets and rugs. My carpet looked revitalized, and I was in love. Sadly, it had a faulty power switch, refusing to remain clicked into place to keep the machine on only three days into "the relationship." We returned it immediately.

The second one, an identical model (claims Dyson) performed poorly. I noted the manual looked different, and seemed old as it listed a 2 year limited warranty instead of the 5 year. I seemed to remember a serial number sticker on the manual too that this one lacked. Yes, it sucked, but call me crazy, it didn't seem as powerful. The lovely stripes I adored about the first one had diminished into barely visible sporadic marks. My heart sank. True, it cleaned the dirt from my carpet but lacked that special aesthetic something that compels others to ask "Wow! Did you get new carpets?"

After wrestling with myself over whether I was really going crazy thinking maybe my visions of the first one's striping were simply imagined, and two calls to Dyson and one messy vac checkup later, my Husband returned it for me and we actually took our business to another store completely. I had a plan. I was going to go to a store I knew had fast turn over for these vacs, and check the serial numbers to compare them to the ones I had before. I had even called Dyson to find out when mine had been made. They said they had both been made August of 2007. Hmm. Something didn't make sense.

Nevertheless, I bought the third one this time going for the DC17 Allergy and Asthma version. It is supposed to be the same vac internally, but a different color and with different tools. I suppose that is another review, but my mentioning this has a point. The first three numbers of my serial numbers of the second bad one was 260-us-e, and the ones in this store were 260-us-a and 270-us-a. Different manufacturing locations and dates. When we got it home, I was delighted to find the original manual I remembered, crisp, newer looking manuals with a nice big serial number sticker on the front and on the warranty card. It was the same as the first one I had loved with the faulty switch, and the nice lines. After some minor assembly, mainly attaching the hose and tools, I started her up. Immediately I could hear the difference in the whine. A different pitch, higher. The hand tools were much more powerful with the increased suction, and guess what, my lovely lines are back to stay. I was right.

So, my overall rating is co-dependant on YOU the consumer purchasing the one that is right for you and honestly, I don't know how to help you distinguish from an unopened box how to tell which one is the old non-lining one and which one is the new crisp lining one. The only way to tell is to open it up and look at the manual, and of course try it out and return it if it ends up one of the left over second rate stragglers. If you don't like it, you can always do what I did and re-purchase it from a large heavily trafficked store where you are assured inventory is properly rotated. I am assuming most people would prefer the one that makes it look like you had a pro over to clean, over the one that merely sucks! Literally.

In closing---
The Dyson vacuum is impressive, has amazing suction, is interesting to look at, and is built slightly sturdier than most comparable vacuums on the market under their price range. However, vacs of this particular model do not all perform the same. Not all Animals are created equal- and Dyson will never admit it but I know it as a fact.

The ones that are older and come with the old paperwork stating they have a 2 year warranty (even though it says on the vac sticker 5 years) will leave noticeably less striping in your carpet. Depending on what your preferences are, that could be a good thing or a bad thing. Unfortunately, I don't know how to tell from the outside of the box aside from looking at the serial number, if the vac inside is one of the older ones. The ones that have the newer paperwork inside, mainly a 5 year warranty card with a serial number sticker attached to it, produce beautiful crisp stripes in the finished result, which I require. To me, it is the difference between a new carpet from the store (clean but no lines) versus a new carpet that you just had professionally steam cleaned.

Beyond this flaw, I will say I adore my Dyson. It just took me three machines to get here. I like the Allergy and Asthma tools so much more than the tools that come with this version, but aside from that, the original DC17 Absolute Animal I had vacuumed the same and left my carpets looking first class pampered. With a little dedication on your part, you too could be a Dyson lover.

The End!

PS If you buy your Dyson from Bed Bath and Beyond you can use any competitor's coupon even if it is expired and get a great discount! They beat our Military BX's price, and that's even considering our BX doesn't charge sales tax! How cool is that?