Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Over the years, we've owned 3 Dyson Animal vacuums; this Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Plus Allergy, the DC65, and the Dyson Ball Allergy - so we're no stranger to Dyson's. The first Dyson DC65 lasted us about 4 years, the second Dyson Ball Allergy lasted roughly 6 months, and this Dyson Cinetic Big Ball didn't even make it a week. Right out of the box, I could immediately tell that this vacuum was a disappointment... Keep this information in mind when reading my review: - I vacuum a minimum of once a week, but usually twice or more because animals. - We have every type of flooring in our home, including hardwood, ceramic tile, marble, carpet, and area rugs (stitch, shag, AND memory foam) - More importantly, we own 2 adult, male, smooth coat Saint Bernards, and 3 cats, 2 of which are Maine Coons. So in other words...FUR. To sum things up, here's a breakdown of the good, and bad qualities of the Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Plus Allergy: The Good: - The cord is very long, and easily let me vacuum the entire first floor (approximately 2,000 sq. ft. home) without moving the plug - The unit itself isn't overly noisy - Not much, if anything, is flung backwards while on tile or hardwood floors - Some of the attachments are neat - It's a vacuum. The Bad: - The packaging is terrible...there's just an inordinate amount of crap to open, cut, flip, untwist, untie, un-rubber band, etc. - It's HEAVY. All of the Dyson's we've owned were ball-vacuums, so it's not something I would have to "get used to"...it's just ridiculously clunky. I mean, I guess it's nice to get an upper body workout while you vacuum?? But personally, I'd rather leave that to my free-weights. - Along with being clunky, it just doesn't maneuver like you'd hope. If our entire house was carpeted? It would probably move fairly seamlessly, but that just isn't the case if you have different types of flooring. I found myself regularly picking the entire unit up to switch from one surface to another. - The cord doesn't retract itself...really?? $700.00 and they couldn't add that feature?? - The collection bin. Is. Terrible. The thought that you're going to pop the end open, and have everything effortlessly fall out of the bin is laughable if you have any four-legged creatures living in your home. The bin was designed terribly skinny around the perimeter, so every bit of fur sucked into the machine gets wedged in gap inside of the canister - so badly so, that I had to use a paint stirrer to get the fur out of the bin. ***Cue animal-dander-dust-cloud*** - Lack of suction. This vacuum DOESN'T suck, and I really hoped it would...our first Dyson could seemingly suck-start a Detroit Diesel. It was that powerful. This machine?? Barely removes even the simplest of fur-wrapped brushes (as in, from its own attachments). I shouldn't have to "pick" the fur/hair off of the brush tips to feed them into the hose bit by bit...for $700.00, it should self-clean, AND vacuum our floors by itself, while making me a margarita. - The attachments...alright, I'll admit that some of the attachments are pretty slick...and I was genuinely excited to use the new dusting wand...but the lack of proper suction just makes the attachments less than amazing, and somewhat useless. - The lack of places on the vacuum FOR the attachments...ok, yes, it's awesome that it comes with so many cool toys...but having to wear the messenger bag-style attachment tote while you're vacuuming (if you want everything on-hand while you're vacuuming) is not awesome...it just makes the entire process more cumbersome than it already is. - The relief valve...which when activated, makes you want to launch the vacuum out of the nearest window. Look, I understand that a strong vacuum may need some sort of emergency relief valve, but it shouldn't activate when you're simply vacuuming the floor with the hose. Pretty much any bend in the hose will activate the valve, and anything that makes the machine start to WORK, activates the valve. It's pretty much the most frustrating feature of the entire unit. - The roller bar...or rather, the area rug eater. This wasn't nearly such an issue with the other Dyson's we owned, but this Dyson caught EVERY area rug we own, every time we used it, making vacuuming take twice as long as it should, leaving the corners of the rugs filthy, and un-vacuumed. Personally, it seems like the problem is the fact that it's a continuous spiraled brush, rather than an arrow-shaped one, which directs everything to the center of the foot. - There isn't a light...understandably though, that extra quarter would probably throw their margins WAY off. - It DOES NOT MOVE on high-pile shag or memory foam rugs. Not even an inch. I can't even begin to explain how ridiculously aggravating that is... - It doesn't clean as well as you'd think...this was immediately noticeable because there was no way that something that feels so wimpy is cleaning well. I vacuumed our house top to bottom, emptying the canister about 4 times, which takes roughly 2 hours when I use all of the attachments to hit crevices, and furniture...immediately after, I grabbed our one-year-old [frankly filthy] Shark Rotator Lift-Away Deluxe, and did a quick run through the house, hitting all of the carpets, and rugs that I had done with the Dyson, but literally only taking 20 minutes to zip through the house...and I filled the canister. Our Shark was CAKED with filth on the foot, and I haven't replaced the filters in almost a year...and it sucked up an ENTIRE canister full of crap after running our shiny new Dyson through the entire house (not just once, but for an entire week)... Overall, I have to say this vacuum was a complete, and total letdown. I was genuinely excited to receive, and use our new vacuum, but the entire machine, and extras were just terribly executed, with little to no thought put towards ergonomics, functionality, or practicality. I'll be returning this unit, and spending a whopping $34.00 to replace all of the filters in our little Shark, because even at a third of the cost, it puts this Dyson to shame.