When we were picking what to put in our house, we decided to go with an engineered hardwood floor as it would look nice and wouldn’t trap allergens like the carpets we had in the past did. We had a Shark vacuum that we brought to our new house and found that we were using it a few times a week because one thing that you don’t realize with a dog is just how much it can shed! Our dark hardwood was constantly covered with dog hair (he’s a light colored dog), so it started driving me crazy. The corded Shark sucked up a lot of hair, but the cord didn’t make it convenient to use.
One day when I went to Costco (it is now my job to goto Costco as we’re literally 2 minutes away from one and my wife hates going), I was browsing the aisles and saw the Dyson DC44
I hung up the charger in the garage (this is absolutely key to using it as it makes it very convenient to grab). My son loved it and wanted to vacuum. We started vacuuming about every other day as there was tons of dog hair. Was the amount we were vacuumming just because it was a novelty to use a cordless vacuum or would we keep it up? Our house isn’t that big (just over 1600 square feet), so vacuuming the entire house can basically be done on one charge (it gets about 20 minutes on a charge). About a month after I bought it, I knew it was a keeper as my wife offered our Shark to her parents. Yeah!
Now that we’re 4 months into having it, I still vacuum a few times a week and sometimes just grab it when I see a large clump of hair around (we can never completely eliminate the hair). It’s easy to use, but a little on the heavy side for my son. The canister is far too small for having a dog as I have to empty it 3-4 times when I do the entire house; it is adequate for quick cleanups, but a pain for the full cleaning.
Pros
- It is easy to use.
- Cordless makes it very convenient.
- Charging base is well designed and makes it easy to grab the vacuum out of it.
- Has enough power to pick up dog hair.
- Lots of attachments; we tend to use the attachment that spins like a vacuum and a pointed one.
- Battery is big enough for our use; using it on carpets or a bigger house, it would be too small.
Cons
- Charger cord is too short. The base has to be mounted very close to the outlet which won’t work for everyone and barely works for us.
- The canister for the debris is too small for a family with a pet.
- Very expensive.
Summary
So far, this is proving to be a good investment. We are vacuuming regularly and don’t just put it off to a bi-weekly task like we’ve done in the past. I believe that this will help us live in a cleaner house (not sure how clean a house can be with a dog in it). I would like to see it have a larger canister to hold debris and a larger battery wouldn’t be bad, either.
Overall, I have no regrets about buying this. Without this vacuum, I imagine that we’d have dog hair around all the time and make our house look dirty. Cordless vacuums have come a long way and I’m not sure I’d go back to a corded one even if it offered me more power. The cost is the biggest hurdle in me recommending this product to others, but if you have some spare change, this is well worth a look.