Hello everyone, it's Sandy's daughter!
I was looking at either getting the new Kirby or the Dyson DC17. We have three cats, one which sheds horribly, and a dog with horrible allergies and sheds bad when he itches. So I need a powerful vacuum that will suck up all the animal hair (plus all the other regular stuff that gets in the carpet). My b/f's mom has a Dyson (not sure which one, it's purple I know) and she doesn't like the attachments on it because it has the metal tube that is connected and you can't take it off and she said it is horrible to vacuum lamp shades and other items. I want a light vacuum to bring up and down the stairs but not so light that it doesn't suck up anything. All in all, I just want a great vacuum.
Any opinions would be a great help. We are getting the carpets cleaned on Monday and I want to get a new vacuum by then so I can use it after the carpets are cleaned to keep the carpets clean longer :)
Thanks!

I love my Dyson. I just bought it last fall. It's the animal. As for stairs, I only have 1 flight of stairs. I can say that the vacuum is heavy but I really don't notice it when I'm vacuming even up the stairs. As for the kirby, I've never had one but my friend has one and she has nothing but problems with it lately - she's had hers about 10 years so I can't compare on quality becuase mine is so new. I did try hers out at her house one day when she first got it and it did seem as heavy if not heavier than my dyson. Also, she paid way more than I did and that was 10 years ago.

I'd say try your BFs mom's and then get a kirby and try that. They used to let you try a kirby for a few days before paying for it. Not sure if they still do that though.

I guess I'm no help except to say I'm very satisfied with my Dyson so far. My DH works construction mainly with sand and he brings this home on his shoes and clothes. When I first got my dyson and tried it out, it sucked that little sand up like nothing. I also have a dog and it got a lot of dog hair up also. That was after I had vacuumed with my old vacuum, a hoover. It was amazing what that thing had missed.

Hope I helped you and not confused you more!

I don't have a Dyson or a Kirby.. but there are a lot of Dyson reviews at Amazon that might be helpful.

Here is a link that might be useful: Reviews

I love my Dyson but I don't have stairs. I have the purple and red one. It's great on dog hair. I can use the hose w/o the wand. Also the more you use the hose the easier it gets to use since it stretches.

I used a friends Kirby one time and that was the worst vac I've ever had the misfortune to use. It was heavy and hard to push and really didn't do a very good job IMO. I personally wouldn't waste my money on one.

Linda

I have the Dyson 18, light and flexable and adjustable and not bad on stairs. Can't tell you about fur, as I have no animals. If you go to the Dyson site you can get some good information.

Ditto on the Dyson purple (animal)! Love it, but it takes time to get used to the weight, and the stiffness of the hose. Once the hose is looser, the attachments are amazing, but I was disgraced with myself the first few times I used it! HUGE difference in amount picked up...with two cats, a puppy, gravel roads, and a lake nearby means I generally have a beach in here. The dyson gets it all!

I love my Bissell Healthy Home but I don't have stairs. I am always shocked at the amount of animal hair and dirt my Bissell sucks out of my carpets. You would think my animals would be bald by now.

I have the animal Dyson and love it.
The hose extension is more than adequate to vacuum stairs.

Yes. The dyson is NOT a lightweight vacuum and could be a problem to carry up and down stairs but you would have this problem with a lesser vacuum.

When the right sale comes along I'm buying another dyson for my basement; probably a lightweight model.

You won't be sorry with a dyson, Sandy's daughter.
LOL

Lori

I have the animal also and love it. I've had it for about four years now and only had one problem. I dropped the canister after emptying it and broke the latch. Must say the Dyson customer service is awesome. Sent me a whole new canister (not just the latch) no questions asked. We've never had to change a belt, I actually don't think there is a belt to change. It gets so much hair and dirt, it's amazing (or disgusting depending how you look at it). I don't have stairs but the hose is really long. The only problem is that the suction is so strong, you really have to pull on the hose to extend it all the way. It does loosen after a while. The only difference between the Animal and the yellow one are all the extra pieces you get with the Animal. The vacuum itself is the same.

So the only cons I can think of with mine would be the height if it, it wont go under my bed and dresser, and that I can't get right up next to my baseboards as well as I like. I'm kinda lazy when it comes to the attachments. I use them I just usually don't feel like messing with them.

My friends have a Kirby and payed a FORTUNE for it. We had a Kirby when I was a kid. It was heavy and loud. Every time I see "Mr Mom" I think of our old Kirby. "Hey Tommy, where's mom keep the vacuum?" "You mean jaws?!"

We have a Dyson and have been happy with it. I don't know the model but it's yellow.It was $400 something but they had a sale where we got a $100.00 gift card to that store
so it was less than $400.00. We got ours at Fred Meyers but Target had the same sale at the same time.
Pat

The Dyson Animal is the one I'd recommend for your needs. Yes, it is a bit heavy but does an excellent job. I vacuumed with a Eureka that came highly recommended the day before we bought the Dyson. I was flabbergasted at the amount of pet hair, dirt, etc. the Dyson picked up left behind by the Eureka.

I do my stairs by sitting the vacuum at the bottom and then stretch the hose out. I've never had a problem doing the stairs that way. You can also do the bottom half, move the vacuum to the landing and finish that way.

I'd highly recommend the Dyson to anyone with pets or kids as it's extremely efficient at getting all the dirt out.

I compared the Dyson and the Sears vac's and Sears had a higher rating...

I love my Dyson, too, but I can't imagine hauling it up and down stairs. I use mine downstairs, and have separate (and cheaper) vacuums for the upstairs and attic. The handiest of these is an upright I bought from Home Depot (their own brand) for $30 or $40. It's so lightweight, but amazingly powerful. Even has the HEPA filter.

I have the Dyson Animal, too and with 2 dogs and 2 cats, I think it does an amazing job. The hose is stiff initially but it gets less so and it's really long and flexible. I'm all on one level, tho and don't know if I'd want to haul it up 4 flights of stairs (but I'm old and out of shape - LOL)

DANG IT!! I made a post and the puter froze!! GRRR...anyways...what I said was...BUY THE ANIMAL!! You wont regret it...with three long haired dogs and two cats...the thing is awesome...I have a vac for each level of the house and I wish I had TWO MORE ANIMALS!! I wash the hepa sponge about every three months and let it dry for three or four days before putting it back together...I also take the container with the motor part outside and blow it out with the air compressor...you wont believe how much dust comes flying outta that thing...my gripe...the DOG HAIR fills up the beater brushes quickly and I have to at least set down and unscrew the cover with a coin and cut the hair off the brushes...i then get an idea of how WELL it's picking up...it's a pain..but what the hey! I just wish the hair would go on up into the vacumn! it also doesn't let you adjust the level...i guess that's no big deal...my wand comes off and the hose is long enough to do the main stairs so that's a real plus...i like how quick you can pull the wand off the main cannister to get the corners and edges...

You wont regret this investment!! Watch for sales at Target...

I have owned a kirby G Ultimate for about 8 years and I just sold it and bought a Dyson Animal. So I can give you points about both. I loved my kirby (also had a shampoo attachment), it was over the top expensive (about $1200, bags are about $20 for a pack of 6)), it could do all kinds of things, if you could remember how to hook up the attachments (I never used most of them)...and every time you want to vacuum the baseboards or whatever, you have to take the vacuum head completely off and attach the hose for attachments. This is an absolute PIA! We just recently had a tiny beetle infestation (gross, I know...and in a brand new home, no less) and this week alone, I vacuumed no less than 10 times and had to take off/put on that darned vacuum head at least 20x. I swore this Tuesday that I was going to go get a vacuum with on board attachments.
Which leads me to the Dyson Animal (bought on sale at Sears for $460). It is similar in weight to the Kirby, but for some reason feels more agile. The weight does not bother me at all and I can push it with one finger. After all the vacuuming I'd already done with the Kirby, the Dyson picked up about 1/2 a bucket of very fine dust, which I think is impressive. I also vacuumed my stairs. I got about 3/4 of the way up, but the hose is kind of stiff, so I think that if it loosens up, I could do the entire flight of stairs without moving the vac. The suction coming out of the attachments doesn't seem to be as fierce as the Kirby, but it still picked up everything I went over.
Next thing is that the Dyson is about 1/2 as loud as the Kirby and doesn't smell when I vacuum. My Kirby always smelled weird while it was on. Maybe dust coming out from the beater bar? I'm not sure, but after vacuuming once with the Dyson, the house actually smelled fresher.
The Dyson has a quick release hose. All you do is open a little lid-like valve, pull up on the metal part of the hose and it comes right off so that you can use it by itself or with an attachment. You can also take the long metal piece off of the hose (look for the red "action" tabs) and put the attachments straight onto the hose. That metal piece is a little long and can be awkward, but so far it hasn't been too much of a problem. Perhaps it was permanently attached on older models?
Over all, I'm thrilled with the Dyson. I'm hoping the hose loosens up after awhile, but it's so much more convenient than the Kirby and I'm VERY happy about how it's cleaned the carpet. Hope that helps. Good luck.

Well I think I have made my decision to go ahead with the Dyson. Mike seems to think the house keeper will be the only one using the vacuum so we should get a Kirby and they can carry it around and use it. He is WRONG if he thinks this house doesn't need to be vacuumed more than once every other week. But I think the Dyson is better priced, lighter, more convenient with the ease of use of the attachments and I know I am the one to vacuum the house, so I have to be happy with the vacuum.
Now, all I need is a sale on these by Monday so I can save a little money, but either way, I will be getting one of these.
Thanks all for your help, once again you helped me out :)
-Kalie