Dyson ... again

I know, I know, this topic has been beaten to death, but I just had to report my own results with my new, reconditioned Dyson vacuum. First, I hesitate to admit that I am an ... er ... insufficient housekeeper. In fact, at any given time it would be more sanitary to eat off the floor of my barn than off the carpets in my house (priorities, you know). Truth be told, I was so sick to death of going over every single spot a dozen times and still not getting up the dirt and animal hair in my house with every vacuum I've ever owned that I had pretty much given up the effort, and my carpets showed it.

Then you folks started singing the praises of the Dyson, and I figured if I could find one for around $300, that'd be worth the expense given the fact that no $100-200 vacuum has ever lasted more than a year in this house. So, I started searching around the web, and after a false start with a fraudulent eBay seller who accepted my best offer bid then refused to sell me the vacuum, I finally purchased a factory-refurbished Dyson DC07 Animal with a 6 mo. factory warranty from amazon.com for $350 shipping included.

The Dyson started off strong, picking up obsene amounts of hair and dirt from my carpets, but after a couple of days it started overheating and kicking off, requiring several hours of cool down time before I could run it again. Even then, it would only run for a couple of minutes before overheating and shutting off again. Another vacuum bites the dust ... literally ... at Shadowood - or so I thought. I read the owner's manual, checked for obstructions that could cause overheating, emptied the canister frequently, everything it told me to do, but the problem only got worse. I wasn't too worried, though, since I do have this 6 mo warranty.

So, I called the Dyson service center. The nice rep listened to my vacuum woes and immediately asked if I had checked the filter. "What filter?" He directed me to the washable filter which, according to the owner's manual, should only require rinsing every 6 mos. I removed the filter while the rep talked me through the simple procedure. "What does it look like?" he asked. "Filthy and encrusted with dust and dirt," I replied. "That's your problem," he proclaimed then went on to admonish, "I can't imagine why they sent you a refurbished unit without cleaning the filter first." "I can't either," I replied sheepishly, knowing darn well the filter was probably immaculate when the machine arrived 3 days earlier. Gag.

Anyhow, after rinsing, drying, and replacing the filter per directions, my Dyson is back to 100% perfect performance. I can't say as I'm even slightly impressed with the mini-turbo or low-reach tool attachments. They really aren't working as well as the smaller suction tools that came with the vacuum. But the suction tools do a fine job of picking up hair and dirt from carpet edges, upholstery, and small spaces.

Once past the humiliation of clogging a filter that should have lasted 6 mos in just 3 days on my carpets, I must admit that I love this vacuum. A lesser unit would have given up by now. Perhaps this house has finally met its match in the Dyson.

Laurie