Dyson DC43 Animal upright vacuum cleaner (guest review)

This guest reviewer happens to be a long-time work pal, Kat Hanley. She’s a 30-something mom to one four-legged Golden Retriever, Sydney; both live in Toronto and Sydney has his own Facebook page. For real. And I’m “friends” with him.

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Andrea and I work at the same PR firm in Toronto and I’ve been begging her to let me review a Dyson for years. OK, maybe not years, but pretty much ever since she started Mommy Gearest. When she recently messaged me to say the day was finally here, I truthfully did a little happy dance. And honestly, it couldn’t have come at a better time.

The Dyson vacuum arrived right in the middle of… moving. Ugh. You know what I’m talking about: packing, purging, cleaning. Then you move and you have to do it all over again; clean, unpack. It’s the absolute worst.

Being a mom to a Golden Retriever, I’m no stranger to dirt, sand and dog hair around my house. And while I’m picky about being able to wear black and not look like I’m wearing a second dog, I also let her lay on all of furniture.

First, let me set the stage setting: my house (both pre- and post-move) has a combination of hardwood, ceramic and area rugs.

The Dyson Animal (the Dyson DC43 to be exact) was going to be my saviour… I just knew it.

THE GOOD

The Dyson required a little bit of set-up, but the instructions were easy to follow. It also comes with a tonne of attachments — hardwood floor brush, different small hard/soft brushes, a pet-grooming tool and the coveted mini-turbine head that you can use to clean furniture (including your car!) and promises hair will NOT get tangled around the brush. Massive win. Shout-out to Dyson Canada for sending along an awesome holiday gift with more attachments and the handiest accessory holder bag. (I’m in love.)

Look closely. This is all of the pet hair that Kat vacuumed up with the Dyson Animal AFTER she’d already vacuumed with her old vacuum.

To start off, I took the “Dyson Challenge”: vacuum with your old vacuum, then with the Dyson. Then compare. Since I have mostly hard surfaces, I had been using a sweeper vac most of the time and it seemed to be picking up everything. Wrong. So very, very wrong. After just one pass around the house, the Dyson was almost full. How had I been thinking it was clean inside my home for so long? How had I ever worn black? Look at all that dog hair! And, that mini-turbine tool lived up to everything it promised. It took ALL of the hair off my couches and pillows with no tangling and I only had to go over it once.

When it came to THE MOVE, my Dyson DC43 Animal was with me every step of the way. I used it to super-clean things as I was leaving (you’re welcome, new tenant) and at the new house it followed me from room to room as I set up furniture, making my new place look new at all times. I can honestly say that it made the cleaning parts of the move as easy as they could possibly be. If only it could have packed for me!

A few of my favourite features:

• It’s so easy to empty. Just press a button and the dirt falls from the vacuum into the garbage. No more dust flying around
• Combination tool: this handy tool lives on the side of the Dyson and is a long, pointy tool (the kind that is good for corners or baseboards) with a soft bristle brush that is connected to it, so you never have to switch tools. You just move the soft brush up and down as needed. Genius!
• Because it has the Dyson Ball technology, the DC43 Animal whisks around corners and furniture in a breeze. It’s not really very light, but you hardly feel like you’re lugging a vacuum around with you with it because it moves so well
• The cord is long. Very long. So long that I only have to change plugs once when vacuuming the entire house

Sydney is terrified of all vacuums, so unfortunately I’m not able to use the pet-grooming tool on her. But I got a friend to come over with his dog and we tried it on her. The grooming tool is like a common “slicker” brush for pets, but when you stop using it on the animal, the brush prongs move and the hair is sucked into the vacuum automatically. It’s easy to use and works really well. I’m on a mission to make Sydney tolerant of it.

THE GAFFE

Turns out, there is such a thing as too much power. At least there is for area rugs. The Dyson Animal pulled a few fibers in a one-year-old area rug, which resulted in some long, noticeable runs. I found this was avoidable by not using the rotating brush bar, but I would ideally be able to use that tool to really get into the carpet.

I also find the hose a little tricky to use; it’s a little stiff so it may just need to “break in.” Having spoken to other Dyson owners, it seems this is a common complaint.

THE GEARS

4.5/5

So…where can you get it?

• Dyson Canada
• Dyson USA
• And dozens of other countries around the world! Just visit www.dyson.com, and your country should come up