Initially I was blown away by what this thing picked up. The hose thing is a bit difficult, but I needed something to pick up pet hair. I ran my (brand - X vacuum) over my area rug and then ran the Dyson for its first run. WOW! Right after the Kirby and it sucked up a canister full... no kidding. If it would stay running that way, it would have 5 stars. BUT... as soon as i had a problem with it not pushing smoothly, I noticed a little wheel underneath had just come apart from the center hub part. It was also wrapped with hair.carpet bits etc. Now, the brush bar is something you would expect to get wrapped, and I did remove hair from that without much fuss. BUT, there was NOTHING on line about how to clean this one wheel.... located directly under the black housing that the brushes attach to. To make matters worse, when I looked on Dyson's site, NO schematic whatsoever to help identify the part that failed. Dyson says they can't put out a schematic because of proprietary information.. really? You have a patent don't you? And, you can certainly find on online at third-party parts dealers. They agreed to send another wheel... but they guessed wrong at which one I needed. We tried again, then they sent the soleplate assembly... which contains the outside wheels... again, wrong. How efficient is that? THEN I did s screen shot of Dyson's schematic that they themselves can't provide...and marked it up in Photoshop (God help you if you don't have that capability). I emailed that. I got no reply but did get a prompt shipping confirmation of the whole lower assembly. Thank you Dyson... a bit expensive but since you can't seem to provide a means for your customers and service reps to id a part, I suppose that is the only other way. Guess what? Didn't take long for the new wheel to get wrapped up. That is exactly what caused the first one to come apart... and believe me, tweezers do not pull that stuff out... UNLESS you disassemble the entire lower unit and pull apart that black housing and take the wheel out... WHICH I DID. But not many people have the star drivers to do that, or the patience or ability. You should NOT have to do that. So, no handy diagram, and no video that even comes close to addressing that wheel... only one on how to clean the brush bar. no help whatsoever. They did offer to refund my money with proof of purchase, and they have always been polite, but that unfortunately does not provide the cleaning/disassembly info needed nor does it solve the initial problem... and so far no one is willing to provide me with upper management contact info to address it with them. This is certainly a design faux pas, unless of course the Dyson DC65 Animal is not to be used to vacuum up a home that has pet hair....?? C'mon Dyson, at least show an interest in solving this.

Until they figure out how to help us clean out that wheel area (and make a diagram available), I'd say do NOT purchase this machine. Granted, I have long pet hair... maybe if you have no pets and nothing to get wrapped around that wheel, you would be happy.

We bought the Dyson Animal to replace a Miele canister that just didn't seem to be picking up all the cat hair in our house. The Miele is easier on stairs, but it just didn't seem to be getting the hair out of the area rugs. The Dyson is magnificent in this regard. Our rugs were so full of cat hair that I thought the pile had been permanently flattened. (Even an expensive professional cleaning didn't get the hair out.) The Dyson has completely restored our rugs to like-new condition. The amount of fur it pulls up is unbelievable. I emptied the container nearly ten times the first time I used it on our bedroom rug. We've been using it for a few months now and it's working just as well with the weekly cleanings as it did straight out of the box.

Two complaints. First, it can take a couple of pushes to get the Dyson to click back into upright position after use. (It's fallen over onto me a couple of times when I wasn't patient enough.) Second, I'm not crazy about the wand attachments. They are great for dusting high surfaces and on upholstery, but nothing is really ideal for stairs. Given how well it's treated our rugs though, these are really minor complaints.

We purchased this to replace a four year old Shark Navigator that served faithfully but was falling apart. Having an Australian Shephard whom sheds quite a bit my wife wanted this vacuum. I was hesitant to buy a vacuum that costs so much, this came up as a deal so I pulled the trigger. To test it out we ran out Shark over the living room carpet like we do daily and followed up with the Dyson. I was really surprised what it grabbed in one quick pass, especially really fine particles that were probably there for a while. The brushes and suction pulled the carpet up to give it a newer feeling. The cord is much longer and allowed us to reach into the hall. As I get older I realize spending more money for nicer products is worth it, this is definitely worth it to me.

Really like the Dyson DC65. I had the Dyson DC40 and upgraded to the larger vacuum. The DC65 is more powerful and has a much longer electrical cord than the DC40. The DC40 is way more maneuverable than the DC65, though; comparably, steering on the DC40 is easier and requires less strength. And, the DC40 is much, much lighter. (If you don't need the larger, stronger model and can suffer through the extremely short electrical cord, go for the DC40! I also thought that the DC40 performed better on hardwood floors. The DC65 seems to be superior on carpet.)

Regardless, I really like the Dyson brand. I have had a number of other vacuum brands--Hoover, Bissell, Dirt Devil, and Roomba--but I won't go back to one of those other brands. The Dyson is hands-down a much better vacuum. For example, as a test, I used my Hoover to vacuum my carpet, then ran the Dyson over the same patch. It was incredible to see what the Dyson picked up that the Hoover missed. When I tried the same test backwards (ran the Dyson first) on another patch, the Hoover did not pick up anything after the Dyson. I never thought that I would become brand loyal to a vacuum cleaner, but a few years with Dyson has convinced me to never go back to one of those other brands.

The obvious downside is that the Dyson is a much more expensive vacuum. Since I had already made the plunge when I bought my first DC40, I was willing to take the risk on the even more expensive DC65 Animal. I think it's worth it, but I did watch prices for a few months so that I could find the best sale. If you can be patient, you can save at least $100 or more off the MSR. If you can afford to spend this much on a vacuum, I don't think you'll be disappointed in the Dyson brand. If funds are tight and your household doesn't have any tough issues (like pets or kids!), then look at a cheaper vacuum that can fit your basic needs--no need to go with a jet when all you need is a paper airplane.

One more thing...I think the construction of the Dyson is solid. But, you do have to clean the filters (like the instructions say to do) in order to maintain peak performance. If you're the kind of person who won't want to take apart and clean (wash with water and air dry) the filters, this may not be the vacuum for you. I got lazy for a stretch and didn't wash my filters for about two years. I could visibly see a decrease in performance/suction so I had to force myself to wash the filters--then, the vacuum performed like new. I guess my case proves that you don't have to wash the filters as much as the manufacture recommends, but that you do have to wash them every now and then or you probably will get very disappointed in how the machine starts to perform.

Anyway, I would buy this vacuum again. And, I do recommend it as a great, overall (albeit, expensive) vacuum.

My husband and I are VERY happy with this vacuum. Ya know the biggest complaint we heard about before we bought it was that when you put the handle in the upright position, that the vacuum would fall over or backwards. We don't get it, we have no problem with that. When you want to set the vacuum upright you push the handle till your hear a click! Duh.. What is so hard about that? I have had to do that with my past two vacuums. People seriously that is an easy click we are talking about!
PERFORMANCE, isn't that what we want when we pay for a Dyson? You ARE going to get it with this vacuum. Most of the vacuuming in our home is fairly easy. We have hardwood everywhere except the Great Room, that is stone. We do have a nice size area rug in that room, as well as an area rug in the living room and one under our kitchen table. The Dyson roller needs to be in the up position for the stone and hardwood and down for area rugs or carpet. That is pretty straight forward.

Where this vacuum shines is the area rugs actually look cleaner now after they have been vacuumed. Before, you could tell the area rugs were debris free. Amazing how much dirt they must be getting out when your area rugs look cleaner and the vivid colors are brighter! We were pretty surprised by that. I would say, the Dyson is doing it's job as advertised.
Also, of all our home furniture we have one couch that has a fabric with a nap to it. It might be micro-fiber, not sure. Well the dog fur gets all over this couch and if it isn't vacuumed frequently the couch looks like it too has a fur coat also. > So not cool! The Dyson takes care of that and I mean amazingly well!
We are glad we bought this vacuum, we thought about it, like most people do. Like I said earlier, for the money you want and expect PERFORMANCE! Will we certainly are happy with the performance. We have had it a few months now, I purposely waited to write a review. If it is in your budget.. Get it. We hope to have it for years to come.