Dyson DC25 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner Review

I was hoping to be blown away with this product as so many others seem to be, especially coming from a previous vacuum with a $70 price tag. It is certainly better overall than my prior vacuum but still has some shortcomings.

THE GOOD
I primarily use it on hardwood and tile without the brush spinning. In this regard it works much better than my old vacuum which didn't have a brush shutoff. Dog hair now doesn't run away from me since there is no brush spinning and creating a fan of air.
For the first few weeks I owned this vacuum I also didn't think a whole lot of the ball design. I could twist it some and it made things a little easier, but not sure it was worth the extra money. But as time has gone on, I have gotten much better with the handling and it has become a much appreciated feature. It really makes the job go faster now, so if you just got one and aren't impressed with the ball just give it a little time.
The extendable hose is really great for cleaning stairs. The vacuum stays pretty much in place at the base of the stairs. Normally I just lift the vacuum up and run it over the stairs with the main brush, though, since there is a handle on the front of the vacuum that makes this easy to do and the vacuum is pretty light-weight.

THE GRIPES
I'd have to say that using the extendable hose on flat ground can sometimes be 'painful' because the hose pulls the vacuum pretty close behind and the hose will grab and yank your leg hair if you're a guy (or a burly gal). So I end up having to use one hand to keep the hose extended away from me and the other to actually guide the hose attachment.
It is also pretty poor at sucking up pretty much anything from our wool rug unless we use the brush. Even stuff sitting on the surface of the rug (not imbedded at all) won't get sucked up unless the brush is spinning. The reason that can be a problem is because if you do use the brush, it will also pull up lots of wool fibers from your rug. I have to empty the canister because it is full of rug fibers after vacuuming just one 8x10 rug. That also may not be good long-term for the rug.
Other complaints are that the circular dirt bin only holds dust/dirt near the outter perimeter as most of the bin is occupied by a tube the drops the dirt in there. I may not be describing it very well, but if you have dog hair it probably won't fall out of the container when you press the button to release the contents without you fishing your hand up there and pulling it out yourself since it is wedged against that inner tube and the outside of the dirt bin (probably an inch or less of space there). I have a black lab, which isn't a particularly long hair dog, either. That kind of defeats the purpose of the quick clean dirt bin, I think, since your hands still get all dusty from pulling stuff wedged in the bin.
Final complaint is the short power cord, although it really isn't that big of a deal. I wish they could have added another 5 - 10 feet but I can get over it.

OVERALL
I'd say this is a pretty good vacuum. I really do like the ball design now, even though I was not impressed initially. Just have to have a litte practice at it and start to understand when and how it can help. It does work well on stairs and I'm glad I didn't buy a canister for that as I had considered. I can't really speak to how well it does on carpet, as the only carpet I've used it on is very worn-down berber so it didn't have to fight thru any depth to get to the dirt. Suction seems strong, except on a thick pile rug.

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