Dyson DC32 Animal

Dyson DC32 Animal Vacuum Cleaner

Being a proud working housewife, since the day of the Dyson release I have always wanted one of these “Super Machines” but could never justify the whopping price tag that comes with purchasing one. However when our old Samsung vacuum was playing up I thought it perfect timing to pop to Argos to buy a Dyson, seeing as they had them on a special offer at the time as well! It was like fate!

Having just found out the instruction manual that goes with the Dyson model I bought I can proudly say I have stapled the original receipt to it so I know that I paid a price of £199.95 p on the 26/12/10 (quite clearly a fun boxing day had by me!). With a RRP of £319.99 p on this particular machine, it was obviously a very good saving at the time of purchase, although as far as other vacuum cleaners go the price I paid is still far more expensive than the other non- Dyson models.

The Dyson was really easy to set up and begin to use even though it did come in a few bits to start with. The dust bin area needed slotting into the mechanics of the Dyson, the hose needed slotting into this and then the arm of the vacuum clicked into place while finally the head of the vacuum popped in last. It was all a really straight forward process and if I got stuck, in the instruction booklet there is a fairly clear diagram showing exactly this is done but I should think that everyone would be able to set it up without even referring to this diagram. The fact that it all just clicks into places means that there really isn't any fiddling about or things that need screwing into place.

The instruction booklet itself is really more of a leaflet rather than a booklet as there isn't many pages and there doesn't really seem to be too much information. After the section on how the Dyson is all fitted together there is a large double page spread about how the special HEP A filter inside the machine needs a washout every three months (should really do it now I’m thinking about it) The filter is located in one of the large wheel sections of the vacuum cleaner and there is a little lock on the side which needs turning open in order to release the filter and for this then to then be washed. After a good rinse out the filter needs a full 24 hours to completely dry out before being replaced back into the Dyson.

The final couple of pages in the booklet tells how to use the Dyson and gives important information such as making sure the power cable is fully pulled out of the Dyson before use and making sure that the Dyson is turned off and unplugged before the filter or the dust bin is cleaned out or emptied. This seems to be all basic stuff but I am sure that they just have to write all this in this booklet just to cover themselves.

Along with the booklet and the main parts of the machine there are other accessories that come with the Dyson such as four different heads to choose from, like the Mini Turbine Head Tool which is used for removing pet hairs from small spaces where the main Turbine Head is not appropriate. The other heads you get include a lightweight adjustable wand, an articulating hard floor tool, a small circular brush head extender and a long plastic head for edges and corners of rooms. These tools are all pretty handy and at some stage or another I have used each and every one and they are all really good as working on particular areas around the home. The tool I find especially useful is the one for the edges of the room as without it getting close to the skirting board is not as possible without this.

The general look of the machine is really rather nice and although this should have no bearing on whether someone would buy the machine I must say that I do like the purple colour of the cleaner and the small size means it fits neatly away into my hallway cupboard It is not the lightest of machines (8.5kg) although it is not exceptionally heavy either. The long arm of the vacuum can extend to quite a lengthy size which means that it can also shrink down nicely to be stored away, again with relative ease. All those extra heads of the Dyson are kept on board the main body of the cleaner except the Mini Turbine Head which is a little large to do this and has to be kept separately. The unit as a whole is fairly compact and similar to my last Samsung machine in size and shape so I was already used to this sort of model.

Using the machine is still not as easy as I would like (would be better if someone else actually did the cleaning of the house!) but it is far simpler than other vacuums I have used in the past because of the super suction of the machine. Having no animals at home I really only opted for this particular version of the Dyson because of the fact that Harry, my Mums dog, is here a fair bit shedding his hairs and I must admit to thinking that the Animal Dyson's must have to have a generally better suction that the standard machines to suck up all the dog and/or cat hairs it claims to.

I am not going to go into the ins and outs of the technology that Dyson use it their machines as this is really something you can look into yourself were you considering buying a Dyson. Needless to say that most people do know that Dyson have a special way of making their machines that everyone seems to know just because of watching one of the many TV adverts for any of their products. As well as this modern and unique technology Dyson also offer a 5 year parts and labour guarantee with all of their machines which I feel is another reason to choose a Dyson over other similar types of machines.

The power cable to the machine is a nice length and at 6.5 meters long which when working together with the long hose length at 3.4 meters makes for a nice reach of the machine and I can do the majority of my flat without having to keep changing the plug sockets like I did with my last vacuum. The power cable is all tucked nicely inside the machine and can be pulled out by hand easily and then stored back away by pressing in, with the foot, the large and chunky rewind button. The button for rewinding the cord is the same shape and size as the power button although the cord button is silver (with a picture of a plug on it) and the power button is a red one with the standard sign for power shown on it.

I do like the way you can operate the power button and the cord button of the vacuum cleaner with your feet as it means that you can keep your hands free for holding on to the chunky hose and arm of the machine and you don't get yourself into too much of a tangle.

Once the machine is on, I can't say it is the quietest vacuum especially as the powered brush floor head aspect seems to make even more noise when in use as the cleaner motor turning the brushes does whirr a fair bit and its not the sort of machine that can be used late at night without waking up the little ones or annoying the neighbours! It is far noisier than my last cleaner and on hard flooring you must make sure you push in the large button on the side floor head to stop the brushes spinning around. This aspect of the cleaning is not needed on hard flooring and will make a super amount of noise and possible damage to the hard flooring.

Moving the Dyson around the flat is a fairly easy to do and with the good sized wheels and more importantly the sort of jointed way the hose attaches to the arm of the machine meaning that manoeuvring the hose around is not necessary at all as it seems to untwist itself as you work the floor either side of the cleaner. The bottom head of the arm does move around easy too and this jointed type of mechanism is what over machines should take on board because it makes the movement of the entire vacuum is much smoother and generally far more comfortable to use.

The sucking capabilities of the Dyson Animal are really very good and I have to say I didn't realise how little my last vacuum cleaner was picking up because the first time I used this Dyson cleaner I had to empty the dust bin half way through to ensure I wasn't over filling the bin. I found picking up anything and everything from the floor trouble free and there doesn't seem to be anything that won't get sucked up into the Dyson. The clear dust bin does make it easier to see the pieces of stray Lego that I have to fish out of the dirt on a regular basis too!

Truth be told though the machine does pick up a lot but I find the dust bin itself doesn’t really hold as much as I would like it to and the main mechanics of the Dyson seem to take up the main section of space from the dust bin and the 2 litre capacity really isn't enough. I most defiantly have to empty the cleaner each time I use it which is not something I would of needed to do with my last model and I do find this aspect of the Animal Dyson really annoying.

I do think however that I can overlook this downside of the machine because apart from this I can't really find any fault with it. It certainly does pick up every trace of dust, hair and crumbs that seem to fill our flat on a daily basis! The amount of dirt is often nice to see in the see through plastic dust bin but this does need a clean out from time to time so that it doesn't look totally grimy but to be fair this isn't really that hard to do. I have had to clean the foot head of the machine the most as this seems to get my long hairs and the shaggy rug fluff caught up in it a lot but again this is easy to get unclipped and pull apart to enable the cutting of the twisted up hair and fluff away from the brush inside the head.

So overall I find that buying this cleaner was really money worth spent. There are not really any major problems with it and the size issue was something I was more or less aware of before I bought this particular model but because of the limited storing space we have in the flat this small cleaner is ideal. The cleaning really is second to none and the ease of the cleaning is far better than other machines I have previously owned. It is noisy but this doesn't really bother me as I feel I am using a proper machine that is doing a great job.

I am a Dyson convert and can only award this machine a massive top marks score of 5 out of 5 stars and a very high recommendation!I do hope that this has been of some help/interest to you

Many thanks for taking the time to read.