For the last few months DH and I have been camping out in the Guest Room whilst walls are knocked out, and others are built, with a view to us having a snappy Master En Suite and Dressing Room. It’s the latest stage of our ongoing home renovation. But the wait is beginning to get to me.
So too is the mess. And our builders are fairly tidy. But the combination of dust- brick and saw- and dog hair and the general detritus of life in our cottage is putting a lot of pressure on Henry, our stalwart vacuum cleaner.
This month saw the arrival of the Dyson Animal Upright Vacuum, available from John Lewis– champions of the British Dyson brand and purveyors of beautiful things- to The Cottage and goodness, has it ruffled Henry’s feathers.
There was a good 40 minutes’ interlude between me opening the box and the vacuum being ready-to-use which was intensely frustrating but the norm in days when objects are made to fit boxes rather than boxes to fit objects. The instructions did require me to do a little thinking but it was done and I eagerly set to work.
The first thing I noticed is it’s weight. Henry is not light, but the Dyson Animal makes him look like a hand-held cleaner. I’m grateful that The Cottage is single-storey because I’m not sure I would trust my arthritic hands to carry it up the stairs. Once in use though, the gigantic roller ball means that you can zoom around corners (and dogs) past obstacles with a surprising amount of ease. It is by no means effortless, but entirely manageable. The size of the ball does mean that you cannot navigate under beds, sofas and the like though.
But boy, does it clean. The transparent chamber that is a regular feature of most modern vacuums was addictive viewing. I could not believe it was possible to collect that much dust and dog hair and girls’ hair and fluff in such a short space of time, and in the smallest room in the house, particularly as the room had just been hoovered. I can only assume that this is due to the legendary suction which I have heard about in adverts. In fact this model- the latest from the pioneer electrical brand- comes with Radial Root Technology so picks up even more dust than older models. And all of the dust can be neatly deposited in the bin- making it super hygienic– by simply depressing a button on the lift-off chamber. Or, in my case, your foot.
The Dyson has a lift-out wand for hard to reach places- it slides neatly down the side of sofas, under beds and up to the cobwebs decorating the beams in our bedroom. It has some super attachments that should make easy work of stairs and upholstery. I have yet to get it to slide the tube back in at first attempt, but I presume there is a knack that I have yet to master. It’s also because I am terrified of breaking- parts of the vacuum feel quite flimsy and it’s hard to believe they are robust enough to take much manhandling.
Handily, if you can’t get it back in position, you can rest the wand through the handle of the chamber and carry on hoovering with the vacuum itself, switching seamlessly from carpet to wood for a good 9 metres before you need to think about relocating the plug to a new socket, so you can cover more floor before breaking your stride.
The Dyson is a lot of money– £439.95 on the John Lewis site at the time of posting- and this is the main reason I have never been able to convince DH to buy one. And yet I have never come across a Dyson owner who didn’t think they were the best invention ever. But the Dyson DC41 Animal Complete doesn’t need replacement filters, so has no ongoing costs, and comes with a free 5 year parts and labour guarantee. So it could work out to be one of the best purchases you ever make.
*Disclosure: I received the Dyson Animal Upright Vacuum for the purposes of writing this review. My opinion is honest and the content and pictures are my own.
You may also be interested in:
I also thing that a good vacuum is a great investment. Just think about it – it will last you many years and clean better than ever. I also get a lot of looks from guests when they see it.
it might feel a bit flimsy but it’s one of the toughest vacuums you can get it’s made out of the same plastic that riot shield use that’s why it’s flexible so the plastic will never break even if you tried your hardest you could probably use the dyson for a riot shield lol it’s so durable don’t be worried it’s one of the toughest vacuumsyou can get.
Really Josh? That’s amazing! I shall be firmer with it from now on!