Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum: I Will NEVER Go Back!

My husband and I had received a Hoover Wind Tunnel vacuum as a bridal shower gift five-and-a-half years ago, and I always thought that a vacuum was a vacuum. Sure, the old one was self-propelled, and Hoover was legendary in vacuums, so I took the belt replacements and servicing as part and parcel of owning a vacuum.

Finally, however, the pedal that keeps an upright upright gave out, and I had reached my limit. My sister had recently gotten herself a Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum and was singing its praises. She had even gone so far as to test it by vacuuming with her old Hoover that was just like mine, and then going over the area with her new Dyson and said she was sick at the amount of "stuff" that came out of her carpets. That was enough to convince me, so when my husband got his book advance, he graciously allowed me to go out and get my very own Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum.

::: What Makes Dyson Different? :::

If you've seen the commercials or print ads, you've heard Dyson's claim that their vacuums are different because they don't lose suction. I've read the product literature and seen their website, and regardless of how they do it, this claim is right on the money. With my old vacuum, I was constantly checking to see if the bag was full, because the more full the bag was, the more times I had to go over the same area of carpet to get it all picked up.

With my Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum, I never have that problem. Even with the canister half-full, it will still operate just as efficiently as it does with a totally empty canister, and overall, the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum is just as efficient as when I first got it two months ago or so.

::: Why the Animal? :::

I went with the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum over the other Dyson versions because it had all the extra tools that I thought I might need. You get the basic DC07 model (in my favorite color, purple!), along with a mini turbine head for cleaning pet hair from furniture and other confined spaces, a carpet care kit, and the low reach floor tool which allows you to go under beds and other furniture easily.

The construction of the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum really is like no other vacuum I've ever seen. It's an upright that almost seems to convert to a canister. It has a reversible wand so that you can use just a hose or flip the wand over and have a long wand with a handle to get into those high ceiling corners. Pop out the bagless canister, place it into a bag and squeeze the convenient trigger, and you have an allergen-free method of emptying, approved by allergy organizations in Great Britain. Lose a Barbie shoe in the vacuum? No longer a problem, because with the clear canister, you can see whatever you might have accidentally vacuumed.

In addition, you no longer have to replace filters and incur more expense. The filter on the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum is washable and durable; no more replacing filters.

Ever tried to vacuum a throw rug and had your vacuum try to drag it right into the bag? With the bare floor setting, you can easily vacuum throw rugs with the brush off, making it so much easier to vacuum wood floors and delicate floor rugs.

You also get the standard attachment tools you would with any other vacuum.

::: Why Am I So Excited? :::

Rarely do I write reviews of products that already have 100 reviews or more of the product, unless I really hate it. However, I am so in love with my Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum that I want to share my love with others.

First of all, my carpets have never looked this good. The suction of the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum is unbelievable. When we moved in, the carpets were already in dire need of replacement, but knowing that we were having children right away, I really wasn't ready to plunk down money to replace the carpets only to have babies and toddlers trash them. As a result, I have some high traffic areas where the pile no longer even moved when I vacuumed. My first day with the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum, I actually saw the pile move, a mean feat in and of itself!

Secondly, I love how easy it is to empty. With small children, you are always vacuuming pieces of food off the floors and carpets. Nothing was more disgusting to me than the smell of my old Wind Tunnel with a few days' worth of food in there. I now empty my Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum every time I vacuum food particles and never have to worry about that nasty smell.

Thirdly, the allergy feature is right on the money. I have a horrible allergy to dust mites, and changing out the bag on my old vacuum was torture, because I'd spend the next hour or so with watery eyes, sneezing my head off. With my Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum, I just pull a trigger and dump the contents right into a bag and tie it. I no longer have watery eyes and sneezing fits emptying the vacuum.

Fourth, the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum is sturdy and durable. I have one little one who is obsessed with the vacuum. He regularly tries to use it himself (although I've now gotten him his own little toy Wind Tunnel to follow behind), and as many times as he has crashed, tipped over, and banged on my Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum, there are no scratches, dings, or cracks. Dyson constructed the vacuum out of the same ABS and polycarbonate that they make crash helmets out of, and based on the abuse of my own little crash test dummy, I'd say that it works.

Fifth, the mini turbine tool is about the coolest vacuum attachment I've ever seen. I've always dreaded vacuuming out my cars (a must with three children who seem to shed crumbs like cats do hair), but after a recent eight-hour car trip, I knew I had to clean out our new minivan. With the mini turbine tool, it was a dream come true to clean, because it was just like having a mini vacuum in there with me. Attachments always seem to take ten times the work, but not the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum with the mini turbine tool, and I informed my husband that I would gladly vacuum all our cars from now on.

::: Assembly, Storage, Etc. :::

Assembly for the vacuum took me about five minutes. The pieces snap together very easily, and the instructions are almost entirely pictorial, meaning that even a husband can most likely follow along should he actually crack open the manual.

The Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum has an extra-long cord (I can vacuum my daughter's bedroom with the vacuum plugged into an outlet in our living room in our ranch) that has two convenient hooks for winding the cord. The vacuum is approximately the same size as my old Hoover, but I actually store it in the corner of my living room so it's always available.

::: I May Sound Crazy, But... :::

I realize that it sounds completely insane to wax rhapsodic about a vacuum cleaner. However, with three little ones ages one to four, I vacuum at the very least twice a day, and usually more. Vacuuming has always been a painful chore for me, but since getting the Dyson DC07 Animal Upright Vacuum, it's a much easier, and actually much more enjoyable, task.

My husband, who balked at paying $500 for a vacuum, even admits that while he finds all vacuums overpriced, it really is worth $200 more than our old Wind Tunnel. That is, when I let him do the vacuuming.