A waste of Money (Dyson DC08 Animal)

Member Name: paulpry118

Product:	Dyson DC08 Animal
Date:	28/03/08 (463 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Compact and easy to store

Disadvantages: Not very good at removing animal hairs

I've aways had Dyson upright cleaners and found them very heavy. So I thought for a change I would buy a cylinder cleaner and with owning two dogs and being owned by three cats I thought this cylinder cleaner would be the perfect answer. However I now wished i'd never bothered.

A bit about the inventor and Dyson Company

James Dyson first invention was a Sea Truck whilst he was studing at the Royal College of Art. A few years later came the Ballbarrow. In 1978 he noticed how the air filter in the Ballbarrow spray finishing room kept clogging with powder particles, so he designed and built an industrial cyclone tower, which removed the powder particles by exerting centrifugal forces greater than 100,000 times those of gravity. Dyson then realised that the same system could be used for a vacuum cleaner, 5 years and 5,127 prototypes later the worlds first bagless vacuum cleaner was produced. The first vacuums were sold in Japan for $2000 each and was originally called the G Force.

In 1993 James Dyson opened his research centre and factory in Wiltshire and produced a machine that collected finer dust particles. The DC01, was the first vacuum to ne released in the uk. James Dyson was constantly improving on his invention I think the vacuums are now upto DC15. He also went on the produce the 1st washing machine that used two drums.

The DC08

The DC08 Animal was made with the intention of picking up pet hairs. It is a cylinder cleaner and is silver and purple in colour and made of very solid plastic with plastic and rubberised wheels. I have just put it on the scales and it weighs approx. 14lbs (I say approx. because i'n not sure how accurate my scales are). The cleaner is 36cm high, 45cm deep and 27cm wide. The hose is 215cm long and the telescopic wand is 107cm fully extended. The cable is 645cm long with automatic cable rewind. (Just put you foot on a button and it rewinds, make sure you don't put your foot on the on/off button as this is the other side).

The vacuum has a clear dust bin so you can see when it is full. This is very easy to empty just unclip the dust recepticle take to the bin push the button and the collection unit seperates from the main unit, then just empty it into the bin.

The vacuum contains two filters a normal foam filter which needs to be washed every 6 months and a lifetime Hepa and bactisale filter ideal for allergy sufferers. The filter that needs to be washed is very fiddley to remove and takes quite a bit of practice to get used to removing it.

Accessories

It comes with the main turbine head 27 cm wide, a mini turbine head 16cm wide (this is ideal for using in the car), a long thin plastic attachment 23cm long (ideal for getting in small gaps), a tiny plastic head 12cm wide (ideal for cleaning curtains) and a small round brush 7cm in diameter. There is a holder that can be placed on the vacuum to hold all the attachments apart from the mini turbine head but I dont use this as it seems to get in the way.

Storage

The hose wraps around the hoover for easy storage and is quite compact. There is a holder at the back of the vacuum which you can clip the telescopic wand into it for storage.

My Opinion

It fails to pick up animal hairs on thick carpets, I have to use a plastic brush to remove them. However it is good on laminate and tiled flooring where the hair doesn't stick. It clogs up very easily and the carpets just don't look clean.

It is a nightmare on the stairs due to the hose not being long enough to reach the top so its a bit of a balancing act.

Also with it being an animal the cleaner is very noisy, in fact it frightens my dogs so much I have to put then in the garden when using it.

It is rather expensive and doesn't do what it promises to do.

Extras

Mine cost £230.00 from currys and they are still available for sale on Amazon for £262.00 which is rather expensive for a cleaner that has been discontinued and replaced with a newer model. It does come with a 5 year guarantee though.

For further reading the Dyson website is www.dyson.co.uk. The Dyson helpline telephone number os 0800 954 0154. The helpline is open from 7am to 10pm 7 days a week.

Thanks for reading

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Summary: A rubbish Vacuum cleaner

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