Yes, I own a V7 Animal + from Costco. I'm actually amazed at how much stuff it picks up- it's many steps above a DustBuster, and does better than the cheaper vacuums I've owned. I used it almost daily on the first floor of the house to keep up with the everyday crumbs and dirt. It's so easy to click it off of the charger in the pantry and zip around. I also use it to vacuum furniture, and it's maneuverable on the stairs. The filter is amazing, I don't smell anything while vacuuming or after. My dog doesn't shed, so I can't speak to ability to tackle pet hair. It picks up my human hair though! The battery life is pretty good, 20 minutes is enough for my daily use, and I've never had it die on me. I love it. The filter is easy to wash, and doesn't seem to get very dirty, but I faithfully do it monthly.

In contrast, I still have a Shark something or other that I think works well- I think it picks up more than the V7. However, the filters are not HEPA and I can smell the vacuum smell for several hours, it's heavy, has a cord, tips over when using the attachments, and the head doesn't come apart to pull the hair off the rollers. I have to cut it off! I leave it upstairs where I have a storage space for it and drag it out every now and then. The filters are a pain to clean.

Hi Littlegreeny!

I don't own a cordless Dyson vac, but I used to own a corded upright Dyson and I understand about the unmotivated part. What I did like about the Dyson was how well it cleaned, especially when it was new and my previously vacuumed rugs showed how uncleaned they were when I put the new Dyson to work upon receipt. It was shocking.

I would caution against getting a model without a hepa filter. IMO, any vac should have one given how things get stirred up when vacuuming, but more so with a powerful Dyson.

Our Dyson was prone to breakdown. I had to "operate" on it frequently and that lead to unmotivating me to vacuum because I knew it was going to be hassle when all I wanted to do was vacuum; a seemingly ordinary and simple task. I have a rather calm temperament with a long wick, and that vacuum would push me to tantrums out of frustration. I kept it for longer than I should have because when it was functioning, it cleaned exceptionally well. Any household item that sends a calm spirit to fits of frustration on the regular during normal operation should get the boot.

Anyhow, a client of mine has been working in retail in the returns dept the last few years and her store sells, among many other things, vacuums. She has told me that Dyson vacuums are the most highly returned item she handles at work. She processes Dyson returns of all models daily. Customers claim they breakdown like mine did, but they have the good sense to return it, unlike me! lol

One day I finally had enough and put that vacuum out on the curb with a "FREE" sign on it. I thought for certain it would disappear instantly. It sat on the curb for three days before someone picked it up.

For all any of us know, Dyson has worked through their glitches and they make a happy vacuum currently and those issues are in the past. I would hope so. I hate to downer on something like that but maybe reviews could lead you to seeing if the problems have worked out.

I wish you good luck and hope you get a good one!

I just got the V7, the Animal version available on QVC. My needs are probably different than yours: we have mostly hardwoods and a Corgi who sheds like there is no tomorrow. I went for the Animal vs the Absolute because of the hardwood attachment that sounded perfect (it's not motorized like the Fluffy, doesn't have a roller that would clog with dog fur like our Roomba, and is low profile to fit under furniture). I got it last week, and the hardwood attachment is honestly a big disappointment: there are no bristles, it has tiny wheels that squeak and barely roll. :/ But on the other side the regular motorized brush and especially the mini brush are fantastic on rugs. And the convenience of just being able to grab it and do a quick clean up instead of dragging out the big guy (I also have a Miele canister) and plugging in one room, then moving to the other and plugging out/back in again etc. is huge!

I think with concrete you could use the regular brush on all surfaces, no real need to pay extra for the fluffy?

To summarize, for me this is not a replacement for the canister, but a great complement to it along with the Roomba to get us through shedding season and handle quick cleanings.

SEA SEA, I'm very skeptical about the HEPA claim in bagless models - I mean, the second you open up the latch to empty the container all of those particles get dumped right back into your living space.

Thanks so much for the responses Julie and Sea Sea!

Julie, I’m glad you love your Dyson. I’d plan to use mine similarly.

Sea Sea, sounds like your Dyson clogged, correct? Was it an early version? About 22 years ago I had a Fantom Thunder bagless vacuum (I wonder if that’s where Dyson got his start?) I LOVED that vacuum until one day I accidentally sucked up a toy cat mouse and it clogged. I took my baby apart and couldn’t find the clog. I think I gave up too easily as I know for sure I’d find the clog if I still had that vacuum now.

I am also considering a Bissell Air Ram (actually made by Gtech of England) but that seems to break a lot too. I’m totally open to suggestions...

recordaras, thanks for the reply. I was typing my previous response when you replied.

Bummer that what you got isn’t what you expected. I think the fluffy (I laugh because I called it fuzzy) attachment would be PERFECT for your situation. Check out youtube videos of that attachment in action. I wonder if you exchange it?

I think the fluffy attachment would be excellent on my floors. It would remove all traces of dust and give them a light buff at the same time.

Recordaras,

I too was skeptical about the hepa filters on vacuums. On my Dyson, I would take it to the front porch to empty it's canister in the outside garbage can and all the debris that goes airborne would stay outside. I didn't empty it inside the house because as you say, that dirt is back in your environment.

We have several hepa filters around the house since we don't have central heat/ac here (stagnant air). One of them has a display that alerts you when too many airborne particulates are detected in the air and it starts to ramp up it's filtration. When I would vacuum with the Dyson, the house air filter would sounds it's alert signal and turn on the turbo filter motors, even with a hepa filter on the Dyson. I thought, well thank goodness there's a hepa on the vacuum or else the house air filter would never end it's alarms. Now we have a cheapo Panasonic canister vacuum that claims to have a hepa filter on it. I call it the ball and chain. When I vacuum with the Panasonic, the house hepa air filter alert and turbo system never turns on. Either the Panasonic vacuum is so cheapo in how it works that no dust gets sent up into the air, or it's hepa filter is that much better than the one on the Dyson was. The Panasonic vac seems to do an OK job of vacuuming (not great), but it's hard to tell which is what really.

Greenie,

My Dyson would clog. It didn't clean bare floors well at all if you were using the main vac with bare floor function turn on instead of attachments. It would get it's beater brush bar off track then not spin and to get it back into the slots required an engineering degree. It would clean the rugs so throughly (when it was working) it would find funny things in the fibers and suck them up and get that twisted around the brush bar and not spin. The brush bar would get cocooned in hair. So thick after each vacuuming that I would have to get down on my knees and use knives to saw through it. I couldn't even see the brushes on the bar, so much hair. I would say we don't have this much hair on our heads! How does this happen?! I've never experienced anything like it. It would overheat after 15 mins of run time and shut itself off until the next day. I kid you not. The attachments would fall off the machine while I was using them. What finally did me in was I got new carpet in one part of the house and the Dyson couldn't go over it. The pile apparently was too thick for it. This then caused the auto height adjustment to crunch itself out and die. I'm getting hot under the collar just thinking about that trouble maker lol.

But ahhh, you mention the Fantom vacuum! Ahhh. Good times. I had one of those too. I loved that machine and I vacuumed each and every day with it. It was so easy to pull out of the closet and run through the house. Just a wonderful thing to use. A dream to empty the canister. Friends used to tease me about how much I loved my Fantom vac lol. It would get Barbie clothes and accessories stuck up it once in a while because it was rather strong and it would suck up the Barbie things on the floor from a few feet away and I would have to dig those out, but besides that, it was a champ! I regret that when I needed to replace the beater bar (I used it so much I wore the brushes to nubs and no longer made contact with the carpets or rugs), I felt that the cost for a replacement beater bar was too high compared to a new vacuum. Big mistake. Sigh. I've not had a pleasing vacuum since then (I've been through so many I've lost count). Except I've grown to appreciate my cheapo Panasonic ball and chain because while it's no vacuum testing award winner, it turns on each time and pretty much is like a faithful dog and wants to know what we are doing now. Shows you how much my expectations have dropped!! And yes, I kinda do think Dyson took the design idea from Fantom but gave it a stronger motor. I used to say my Dyson was too strong for it's own good. It's engineering wasn't up to par with it's power.

I'm so glad Julie loves her new Dyson. What a relief! : ) I really do want them to make a reliable vacuum. : )

Sea Sea, your Dyson sounded downright awful! I’m so sorry you had so many issues. I hope they’ve worked out their issues by now...

Wow, you had a Fantom too!!!!! I just googled Fantom vacuum for fun and you could buy a used one on eBay for about $100. There was a picture of the label...They were made in the USA and Canada! It really was such a well engineered and well made vacuum, especially for the time. I loved how the handle turned into a wand for above floor cleaning. I wonder what happened? Maybe they were released before their time and people just didn’t like the idea of a bagless vac? And now that’s virtually all you’ll find.

Funny story, I ordered it from a catalog and they sent me two Fantoms a few days apart but only charged me for one. I called and they picked up the second one but then refunded me for the original one. It was such a hassle I just decided not to say anything so I got my Fantom for free.

Greeny, I read quite a bit of reviews on the fluffy brush specifically, and quite a few of them said that it does get clogged with hair/fur that twists around the moving parts - we get plenty of that with the Roomba, and it's no fun! The other part of it is that the motorized brushes are too tall to go under some of our furniture, and that would drive me nuts. So I don't think I'd want to pay the premium to have it, although I'd be curious to give it a try if it didn't cost $150.

The regular motorized "all purpose" head seems to do a similar job on hardwoods and doesn't appear stiff enough to scratch, so I might just stick with that to simplify things, or add some felt pads to the hardwood attachment to see if that will make it glide better. The Miele hardwood brush is my single favorite attachment ever, so I guess that doesn't help.

Regarding full sized Dysons, I personally would never get one and quite frankly I have never liked the brand. The wonderful lady who cleaned our house for a bit was a true vacuum nerd, and hated Dysons with a passion - she'd bring her own vacuum to clients who had Dysons to avoid having anything to do with them. But in cordless land it seems like they are the best option that's currently available - nothing else gives you as much suction and battery life as they do...

Recordaras, those are very good points. You know better than anyone what will work best for you.

Sea Sea, I found a story about the rise and demise of Fantom Technogies. Just as I had thought, they did license the technology from Dyson! Enjoy!

https://www.vdta.com/Magazines/NOV12/fc-GaskoNov12.html

Wow, that’s VERY impressive Recordaras! That’s what I liked about a bagless-the satisfaction of seeing how much dirt you’re picking up.

Greenie,

You and I were probably in vacuum heaven around the same time way back when! lol Those really were the glory times, and we knew it!

I loved that wand handle for above floor cleaning like you did. It was so easy and bam, job done! Life was so easy then, Omg, cobwebs didn't stand a chance and my furniture was always freshly vacuumed with the little attachment thingumbob which came in handy during the cherrios and raisins everywhere years when the kids were little. Ever since my Fathom went bye bye, my furniture or floors haven't been the same, and yes, it makes me nuts.

I'll check out that link about their demise you put above. Sounds like Fantom got their tech from Dyson then.

Thanks for the trip down memory lane! That was just great! I wish I had a suggestion for you regarding a new vacuum though. As you can tell, I haven't found vacuum nirvana since then, so I don't have any good ideas for you. My friends who vacuum a lot (we're not the only ones) held onto their old bagged Hoovers for as long as they could seeing what I went through after the end days of my Fantom. They've since had to buy replacements, and none of them are very happy with what they settled on. Some have had a few early passings of their replacements. Oh well. Maybe you will find something you really like, and like Recordaras says, maybe the cordless Dysons are the best for right now. I see the commercials on tv for them and I long for the ease shown in the ads, but then hubby chimes in and reminds me of the vacuum hell I lived through and also reminds me that the ball and chain is doing it's job even if it is a ball and chain and mediocre is it's middle name. Can't argue with that. : )

Sea Sea, it was really nice reminiscing with you! And no worries, a cordless vac is really a splurge as I really do love my Miele.

recordaras - I have that Miele mini turbo attachment and IMO it is a waste of money. I used it once and didn't even finish the task with it. Meh~

I love my Miele! I will never own another vacuum. The powercord does not bother me a bit.

I use the regular motorized brush head on my wood, vinyl, and carpet. No damage, works just fine.

Cavimum, glad it’s not just me. I was so underwhelmed with it that I never bothered to buy a full size turbo brush figuring that it would be the same thing. The Dyson ones work remarkably better on our low pile rugs, that was probably the biggest surprise of the v7 so far.

I have a Dyson Cordless from QVC and I adore it!! I am a clean freak, there are 5 people in my house, and a cat. I have hardwood and carpeting. I use mine almost every day for quick cleaning. I have a 12 year old "big girl" Dyson (DC7, I think) that is full size that I use for cleaning deeper. I love my Dysons!!

Excellent, thanks Joel for offering your opinion. I’m glad you love your Dysons!

I watched some QVC demos on YouTube and was really impressed. I liked their analogy of a corded vac being a desktop PC and the cordless being a laptop. I agree with them saying cordless vacs will replace corded ones in the future.

I bought a Dyson V8 Absolute back in April and really, really like it. I rarely use the big corded vacuum any more except for "major cleaning," since the Dyson does such a good job with the soft attachment on wood, tile and linoleum, and the carpet attachment for oriental rugs. We have a dark stain on the wood floor, so the fact that it's easy to grab the Dyson out of the broom closet and run it around quickly has made the house stay much cleaner.

My only criticism is that the exhaust blows straight out the sides of the vacuum body, so if you're using the short wand to pick things up (like coffee grounds on a counter) you have to aim carefully or you'll blow away what you're trying to pick up. Also, last time I used the hard floor attachment it was vibrating oddly, but I couldn't find anything stuck in it or loose. Hoping I don't have to buy a new one.

Thanks for your review Walt. I’m glad you like it.

I believe the brush rolls are removable in both motorized floor nozzles. Did you remove it to see if there is dirt or dust causing the vibration?

I have both a Dyson Animal that I picked up at Costco and a Dyson cordless. The Animal is on our main floor and the cordless is in the lower level. Love them both but the Animal is wonderful. I have a combination of hardwood, area rugs and tile on the main level and it handles all three amazingly well. I especially like it on the hardwoods -- it's like it suctions dust from deep in the wood's pores. The floors have never been so clean. I love the brush attachments and use them for cleaning my wood blinds, lamp shades, keyboards, stone fireplace, refrigerator coils, you name it. The Dyson sucks so much of the dust/dirt off that there's little clean up work left. I also like that the filter and brush rolls are so easy to clean.

ligglegreeny, thanks for the cleaning suggestion! I didn't know the heads came apart, but I've watched some videos now and will give that a try. It's vibrating like it's off balance or something, so hopefully cleaning will restore it to perfection. :)

Walt, you're welcome! I hope that fixes your issue!

So I’ve been contemplating this purchase and the V8 Absolute is on sale at Target. I got a 20% off coupon on Black Friday and it’s been burning a hole in my pocket. Target dot com sold out of the Absolute and it’s sold out at every local store but my nearest one said “limited availability”. I ran there during my lunch and told myself if they have one in stock I’m going to buy it as an early Christmas present. I went inside and the spot on the shelf for them was empty. I looked down the aisle and saw a cart of items to be stocked, none there either. I go around the corner and see two more carts. First one had none and there was one buried on the second cart! I thought now’s my chance so I unburied it and bought it! Back at work now, going to open the box and charge it up so I can use it when I get home. I think the hubby is going to be mad...

Congrats!!! LOVE the V8. We have one upstairs and one downstairs. Also have two corded Miele vacs...canister and upright and 2 corded Dyson vacs, and 90% of the time I use the cordless. BEST ever!!!

Thanks Larsi! I’m super excited but feel a little disloyal to Miele for some reason.

The Dyson is fabulously engineered and will really come in handy for quick cleanups on a daily basis.

I for one am looking forward to your review of your new cordless vacuum. I hate both my Dyson upright (I don't know which model it is) and my Electrolux canister. I use my old cheepo Shark cordless and my Roomba 99% of the time. Anything is better than the corded vacuums. I often take a damp microfiber cloth and get on my hands and knees to dust under furniture and radiators instead of pulling out the big vacuums, that's how much I hate them. And I do love a clean, dust free home.

Congrats on your purchase! I'm also looking forward to your review. I have the same issue, love love my Miele canister, but wanted something easy and light to just do a quick touch up. I was really hoping they were going to bring back the Miele Hybrid that was battery powered, but I doubt it.

Okay after my first use I have to say I'm disappointed. I bought this primarily because I loved the design of the fluffy head and Dyson changed it! It was cheapened and they got rid of the rear fluffy roll (see the pic below). There are NO pics of this redesigned head online.

I found this pic online of what the head should look like:

I have concrete floors that are over 100 years old so there are lumps, bumps and cracks and I felt them all with this newly designed head. I'm getting more disappointed as I write this!!

The motor is quiet and it seemed to be pretty strong given it's size. I went around and did the whole house with the Dyson including under the couch and bed where my Miele can't reach. I just did a quick vacuum with the Miele yesterday and my floors were a lot cleaner than I expected. The bin was mostly full of cat litter (Darwin was a little messy with his burying today)...

I called Dyson and was 60th in line so I'll get called back when they are available. I'm going to complain about the new head design and see if they'll send me the old one. If not I'm thinking of packing it up and returning it to Target.

The old attachments are alas not compatible with the v7/v8. :( They changed the attachment mechanism, so anyone who invested in a whole array of tools for their v6 will be out of luck if they upgrade.

I tried to do the whole house with the motorized head today, and yikes that was not great. As bad as the hardwood attachment is, at least it's light and has some lateral movement... The regular head is great for just vacuuming back and forth, but the second you need to go into tight spots or move around chair legs it becomes a nightmare. And heavy too!

By the way, do your heads scatter bigger things like kitty litter? I was under the assumption that they would.

Well Dyson called me back about a half hour later. At first the CSR was arguing with me about the head design telling me there aren't two fluffy rollers on the head. I had her google it and she saw what head I was talking about.

She was texting someone in technical support and first claimed I bought an old model. I told her that my box says it was manufactured in October 2017. Then she claimed you can only get the dual roller fluffy head if you buy the V8 Absolute directly from Dyson. I told her the display at Target had the dual fluffy rollers and every image online does too. I asked if they'd send me the correct head that I thought I was getting in the first place and she said "those heads are V-E-R-Y expensive" and that they don't send out parts. I insisted pointing out the manual in the box had directions for cleaning the dual fluffy rollers and that all the images on the box had the dual fluffy rollers too.

She put me on hold for a few minutes and came back and said they'd send me the head. She is a little concerned they redesigned it and I might get the same head I have but if I do just call back and ask for her. So this isn't going back, yet. Stay tuned...

Yikes, littlegreeny, that's not good news. I hope you get the better part and it works well. I cleaned mine and reassembled, but it still has the vibration. I guess I'll live with it, since it still seems to work fine. I was definitely impressed with the engineering allowing a user to disassemble everything for cleaning, but I don't like to hear that they're cheapening the product, especially at the premium price point.

Recordaras, sorry for the frustration you've had with your Dyson. It's too bad the old attachments won't work with the V7/V8. I think I remember Dyson redesigning everything supposedly to make it easier to change attachments.

I actually couldn't tell you how the regular motorized head behaves as I didn't even unpack it to try it out as I was pretty displeased with the fluffy head changes. The fluffy head did an excellent job with not scattering anything but I didn't like the feel of it hitting every little imperfection in my concrete floor. Honestly, they way it felt was like a $30 Dirt Devil.

Thanks Walt. I'm sorry cleaning your head didn't fix the vibration. Is it still under warranty? It might be worth giving Dyson a call.

littlegreeny your experience is enough to make me keep looking for a cordless vacuum. It is truly inexcusable for Dyson to have poor customer service. Not to mention the misrepresentation of the fluffy vacuum head.