Dyson DC23 Animal

Wonderful Piece Of Machine & Engineering, October 28, 2010

First, you need to understand that there are several models for the DC23 series. As of Oct 2010, there are the Turbohead, Animal and Motorhead. The canister for all 3 models are technically the same (minus the color). The differences between the 3 models are the accessories (e.g. length of hose, tools, handle, etc) that come with each, and how each machine can be stored away.

For a quick rundown of the differences, it is best to refer to dyson’s online store and read the “Plus the following Accessories…” in the specifications tab.

This review is specifically for DC 23 ANIMAL (obviously), but most part of the review is applicable for all 3 models.

PRO:
– powerful suck thru carpet
– pick up animal hairs (cat) like magic
– multiple intelligent designs that simplify the vacuuming job
– comes with useful tools that can handle most home situations well
– most parts can be cleaned easily with cold water
– no non-durable parts
– long power cable
– not THAT noisy
– good looking
– very helpful customer representative from DYSON

CON:
– takes an unexpectedly large amount of horizontal space to store it away despite the small canister (the way it stands in the product picture is the way it is supposed to be put away)
– it is a dust magnet and can be difficult to clean up due to many small parts and gaps
– may need a longer bit of time than average to fully utilize the machine
– very small trash holding capacity
– short hose length
– very expensive for a vacuum cleaner

Bottom line (my personal opinion):
– It does the job (vacuuming) really well. However, it makes me think that the cheapest model in the DC23 series (Turbohead) may suffice my everyday needs, as there are no big difference between the two on paper.
– I am a techie yet it took me an unexpectedly long time to figure out what are all those many buttons and tools for. I think they may have ‘over-engineered’ it in certain area.
– It takes a lot of space to store it in my tiny apartment. The Motorhead of the DC23 series that uses less storage space (due to the longer hose) but it is $100 on top of the already expensive $500 pricetag. Luckily, I can improvise and make it takes up less space but detaching certain parts – but it also increases the ‘setup’ time needed for each use.
– It’s a keep.

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Awesome Suction! Great Vacuum overall!, January 4, 2011

By 

Shawn Chasse “SC” –

  

First off I have to preface this review with the fact that my wife and I are sort of clean freaks. Nothing excessive but we vacuum our kitchen almost daily.

Our first floor is mostly hard floors (wood, laminate, tile) with one room of carpeting. We have owned a Kenmore upright vacuum for about 5 years. About 1.5 years ago we were fed up with the poor performance of the Kenmore on our hard floors (it did fine on carpets) and started looking around. My wife wanted something that was small and easy to use on a daily basis. We ended up with a $50 hoover stick vacuum that she loved. I didn’t like it as much but it did a great job of cleaning up the hard floors for the most part. Emptying it was another issue. Then in early November it broke, the collar that connected the head to the rest of the vacuum simply snapped in half. It was DEAD.

I did some searching and looked around and ended up buying an Oreck Quest canister vacuum. I was very happy with it initially and we used it for several weeks (it’s performance was better than that of the hoover). However we felt that the overall suction of the unit at the end of the hose was not up to par for the price (around 190 with bags etc) The rotational members and connector pieces of the hose had tiny air leaks that seemed to be detrimental to the suction at the vacuum head. We returned it to Oreck for a full refund (within the 30 day period). I must give Oreck compliments for their policy, it was hassle free.

After a few days of searching the web and reading reviews I decided on the DC23, It was between the regular turbinehead and the animal and we ended up getting the animal. We have a medium sized dog with a fairly short coat so we thought the extra mini-turbinehead and the hard floor tool (would have had to purchase this anyway) were worth the extra cost.

It’s been almost a month now with the DC23 and we are still thoroughly impressed. As claimed there is no loss of suction, even when the canister appears filled with dog hair and dust it still sucks up everything we throw at it. Below I will rate the different features of the vacuum separately as to explain my 4/5 star rating. If not for a few quirks this would be a 5 start review.

Maneuverability 4/5:
The maneuverability of the unit is top notch. Dyson’s handle design is fantastic. the articulating area where the hose meets the handle is brilliant. And the hard floor tools multi-articulating capabilities make it a dream to maneuver around obstacles. I cannot stress enough how awesome the hard floor tool is to maneuver. The only downside to the maneuverability is the actual canister itself. It is never hard to drag around, but sometimes will pop a wheelie instead of following you. Not anything I would criticize too much but just a little annoying. When it does pop a wheelie however, there is no loss of suction or problems that one might think could happen. The only other thing that could be better here is the cord could be about 5 feet longer, this would let me do my whole first floor (900) without having to change outlets. as it is now i divide the house into 2 segments.

Suction 5/5:
Simply amazing, really, I had my doubts after seeing commercials for Dyson vacuum’s of the years. They really do pack an amazing punch in the suction department. I’ve filled up the vacuum several times with no loss of suction so their claims do seem to hold up.

Portability 5/5:
The vacuum is just the right size. it’s light and easily portable. My wife has no trouble bringing it upstairs, unlike our upright where i usually get stuck lugging it up/down stairs.

Accessories 5/5:
The standard trio of accessories (crevice, brush and stair tool) are well designed and are very useful. The turbinehead was quite surprising. I’ve had several other vacuums that use suction to power a spinning brush head and they always totally stunk. Not the turbinehead, this thing is a beast and really picks up everything in the carpet. Also the mini-turbinehead performs just as well as it uses the same basic design. Finally the hard floor tool that comes with this is fantastic. It is the tool that gets the most use at our house and it shines at picking up dirt hair etc on the hard floors. Simply awesome.

Storage 3/5:
Here is the big miss that I feel Dyson should rectify. They provide great storage for the 3 basic tools on the unit itself. This is perfect. However with this model that still leaves 3 tools (turbinehead, mini-turbinehead and the hard floor tool) to be stored. As seen in the pictures the turbinehead (or the hard floor tool) can be “hung” on the back of the machine. This works but is slightly weak and when you pick up the unit whatever is hung there (especially the turbinehead due to it’s higher weight) will fall/get knocked off easily. After that you’re still left with 2 tools that have no home…

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