Two dogs, a cat, and visitors are surprised by their presence

I purchased this model last year, against my wife's advice. I had done great deals of research on a vacuum, and elected to go to Sears and purchase the one that "the British guy" sells.

Actually, I did do research. Real research, prior to dropping just over $400 on a vacuum. From everything I could tell, comparison wise, the Dyson was the greatest machine ever to suck dirt from carpet. And it comes in that sleek and sporty yellow color, to boot. I was sold.
I might add at this point, that, as my title says, my wife and I have two large, as in 80 pounds, dogs, as well as a long haired cat who enjoys dumping her fur throughout the house, seemingly at will. Add to that my wife's penchant for a clean house, and you see our dilemma. During the year prior to purchasing this vacuum, we had burned through two other models. One, a Eureka, lasted all of three months before going out in a loud "POP"! The other, a Hoover went for almost 8 months, if memory serves correctly.

While searching for a replacement, I remembered the commercials on television, where Mr. Dyson describes his vacuum "technology" and how things should work properly, which he claims his vacuum does through "Root Cyclone" technology. Basically, spinning air creates centrifugal force. By making the air stream spin, dirt and debris are subjected to centrifugal force. The dirt and debris are thrown out of the air.

Because the airflow is unobstructed there's nothing to clog, so suction power remains constant.
That was more or less copied almost directly from their website, but I can tell you, over a year later, it works. I may not understand the complexities of it all, but it works. Well.

The Dyson has amazing capabilities in real world use, if not on paper. An extra long 35' cord doesn't sound too worthy of a $400 price tag, until you realize that if you plug it directly into the center of the living room, that entire room, as well as two bedrooms, and a hallway can be vacuumed without replugging. Flipping a lever to turn off the brushes for bare floors isn't much of a hassle, right? At least until you buy a Dyson. It automatically turns the brushes off on bare floors, be it hardwood or ceramic tile. That is a pretty impressive thing, and I've looked to try to figure out how it knows bare floor from carpeted floor, to no avail. It knows, though. The hose attachment can reach our vaulted ceilings with the help of a stepladder, nearing twenty feet at their peak.

When the clear canister gets full, emptying it is simple. Pull it out, squeeze a trigger, and the bottom flips down, emptying its contents into a trash can. Let me add at this point that, I don't care how clean you think your house is, the first time you use this piece of machinery, you will be amazed at the stuff you get from your carpet. Well, amazed and disgusted, all at the same time.
There is a permanent HEPA filter that only needs to be cleaned periodically. Just rinse it out, and let it dry. How simple is that?

If you have berber carpet, or rugs with fringe, don't be alarmed if you hear a horrific clicking sound. That is actually a safety mechanism to prevent the vacuum from sucking up your rug. Simply turn it off, and pull whatever is stuck out. I'm not sure, but its some kind of ratcheting mechanism.

If you have a pet, the stores will recommend the pet model, for around $100 more. That may be needed for some households, but since my wife is such a clean freak, our house was already pretty clean, due to daily, multiple vacuums. The animal one comes with a stair cleaner, but we have no stairs in our house, so we did not need it, either. The basic one works well in our home. It comes with a couple of attachments. The crevice tool, and the couch cushion thing. The crevice tool is great for, obviously, crevices, such as the little divider thing where your windows close. You know, its the place where in most households, dirt, and spiders get entrapped, etc. Well, in my house, you could eat out of those things. I also use it to vacuum in between my seats in my car. It's a really versatile tool.

The couch cushion thing, as I've lovingly named it, is an attachment that hooks to the hose, and has some red velvety stuff on the edges, presumably to pick up mild pet hair, etc. It's been used to clean couch cushions, vacuum refrigerator coils, every heating/AC vent in our house, and various other surfaces. The velvet gets kind of nasty sometimes, but clean it off with a rag, and it's good as new again. The attachments all connect simply, and reattach to the vacuum easily. It's been over a year, and it still works as well as it did the day we brought it home. I was sold on the Dyson first, and now, my wife swears by it. In fact, my sister, and my parents both have one now, as well. You can't beat that kind of recommendation.