I love my Dyson. Bought it refurbished which was the only way I could afford one. I have two cats and a kid with allergies. It was worth the expense.

And they're really heavy

I'm not sold on my Dyson either. We have a long haired dog (golden retriever) and a short haired cat, plus I have long hair, and I'm always having to give that thing a hair cut because hair wraps around the brush rendering it useless. It fills up almost instantly, it smells like my dog who died 3 years ago whenever I run it, the attachments suck but not in the good way, the hose/extension is hard to get back onboard, and the suction has been problematic lately. We have the purple Animal one without the ball. We bought it new.

We have the Dyson Animal and it's horrible. We have 2 cats so I thought it made sense to pay more for a better model this time around, but it was a total failure. It has great suction and is a nice color, and those are the only nice things I can say. It needs to be emptied constantly (virtually every time it's used). The crevice attachment has a brush on it that's supposed to be movable so that you can actually vacuum crevices, but it won't budge. And now, after 3 months of use, the brush thing that you use on rugs or carpets is already broken. It's going back to the store as soon as I can get it there.

I hate ours. The ball makes it hard to push.

Nope.

I've had two Dysons and both died. I would not buy another one.

Anonymous wrote:FWIW, we have a Dyson, and it seems no more effective than a traditional vac. Not bad, but nothing special. Maybe we have a lemon.

Interesting. I know at least one vac store that does not push Dysons, mainly because they are a real pain when requiring repair. We burn through vacs - combination of dog and cleaning lady, who just seems to be rough on them. Looking for the magic one.

I got a refurbished dc41 for $279. I love it. It seemed to be in nearly brand new condition when we got it. Plus it comes with a 6 month manufacturers warranty.

FWIW, we have a Dyson, and it seems no more effective than a traditional vac. Not bad, but nothing special. Maybe we have a lemon.

I don't know about refurbished, but we recently got a good discount on a new Dyson through Costco

I have bought used ("preowned" cars, but never any other refurbished device. Should I take a risk for a good price?