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Dyson Ball Compact Animal Upright Vacuum Cleaner (also Dyson DC50 Animal Compact Upright)(US Version imported by uShopMall U.S.A.)

£9.9£99Clearance
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As I have come to expect from the brand, cleaning efficiency was first class, whether you ran the cleaner over short pile carpets, deep pile rugs, hard floors or tiles. Edge cleaning on the carpet test was excellent with virtually no powered residue left in the dip at the skirting in just a single pass. Likewise, my test using dry porridge oats on deep-grouted floor tiles posed little challenge for the DC50 as it efficiently pulled all the particles from the tile gaps with ease. You also get a good sized crevice tool with slide down dusting brush and a tiny little upholstery tool which looks about the right size for a sofa in a dolls house. I’ve been chasing my Collie dog and Labrador around with various cleaners for years and Dyson’s floor heads continue to get better and better when it comes to hairy hounds or fur-ball felines. The DC50’s large diameter brush bar and combination bristles seem to all but drag hairs out of carpet pile. It works very effectively on hard floors too where some floor heads will simply push hairs out of the way. This means cleaning them is as simple as stopping the tool and manually pulling the fur ball from the bristles without having to take anything apart. It works very well, and is particularly useful for pet beds, your animals’ favoured sofa spots or, in our case, the one stair our Collie dog always sits on to watch the world go by.

For smaller homes with limited storage space or those looking for a lightweight cleaner that will handle pets with ease, the DC50 Animal really cannot be faulted. It’s light, compact, cleans well and easy to use. Of course this will mean the brush bar gets regularly entwined with hairs, particularly if you have pets with tresses like Julia Roberts (seriously, you should see our neighbour’s cat…). Not a problem as the head unclips from the cleaner with a single push button and splits in two for easy cleaning. It would be even better if the bar came right out of the head, but de-fluffing the bar is far from onerous. Regular emptying is essential, particularly if you do have pets trooping around the home with dirty paws and moulting like an old fur coat.If you are used to the solid feel and well balanced stability of a full size Dyson upright, then the DC50’s compact dimensions and rather flimsy feel come as a bit of a surprise. There is clearly a trade-off between keeping the weight and size down versus robustness and overall stability, and it shows. Everything from the handle to the ball and wheel assembly exhibits a large degree of flex when manhandled, which doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. Still, as we are yet to break anything on a Dyson test cleaner thus far, we assume the company knows how to make its plastics user-proof. Opinions are rarely that divided at the Trusted Testing Department, but there was a distinct diversity of thoughts on the DC50’s merits when it came to stairs. In the positive camp, it weighs less than 5.5kg, so I had no problem lifting it from stair-to- stair using the main floor head to clean as it went. All that said, once again the cleaning results with the hose and tools was superb. The crevice tool is longer than supplied on most compact cleaners and its dusting brush bigger too. The anti-tangle turbine tool is excellent and it is only the upholstery brush design I struggled with. At just 9cm wide, it is going to take you a whole lot of arm action to clean a three-piece suite. Dyson DC50 Animal – Stairs The main body, ball and the bin of the DC50 is notably smaller than other Dyson uprights and that limits the bin to a rather meagre 0.8 litres. That’s still double the size of the Dyson V6 Absolute and other Dyson cordless vacuum cleaners, but it’s tight all the same.

The concerns fade when the DC50 is fired up, the powerful suction, superbly designed floor head and ball manoeuvrability make it both efficient and a joy to use. It turns with the lightest twist of the wrist, the head steering in the direction indicted, and the floor head very effectively adapts to different carpet heights. The DC50’s main floor head is easily removed for detangling those pet hairs from the main beater bar too. There are two washable filters on-board, which Dyson recommends giving a monthly rinse and spruce up. The only thing missing from the DC50 Animal’s pet credentials is an anti-odour filter system the like of which Miele include in their pet specific models. It’s not a deal breaker for most pet owners, but anyone who owns a Labrador and lives near a pond might want to consider the odour combating options. If that fails, I find a splash of Brut 33 on the filters often helps. The beater bar can be stopped altogether for sensitive hard floors, but we found the main beater was extremely gentle on hard surfaces anyway and the carbon bristles make for super removal of dust and fine powder from parquet and laminates. The machine’s overall lightweight translates directly to making the cleaner feel ‘nippy’ around the home, doubly so as this test comes straight after using Miele’s tank-like U1 upright, and its notably quieter than most full size Dyson uprights too. The DC50 comes in the smallest box I’ve ever seen for a fully-features upright cleaner – it’s properly compact. Assembly simply requires clipping the floor head to the body and the handle to the flexible tube, so there’s no problems there either.But there are tradeoffs. It doesn’t feel as sturdy as Dyson’s other cleaners and the small bin and short reach could trouble some people. Given these facts, it might be worth considering a cordless vacuum cleaner instead, or a cylinder vac with a larger capacity as well, though all have their own pros and cons. Verdict

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