Pros: There's too much to fit in here
Cons: Powered hand tool isn't very powerful, Zorb doesn't really work
The bottom line: I think you should consider this, because no other vacuum cleaner has the same technology, and it's made by a trustworthy company.
First off, I would like to congratulate you for reaching this page. I want people to know about Dyson, because they actually work, last, and clean like no other vacuum cleaner.

Let’s see, I currently own 3 different, and expensive Hoover vacuum cleaners: a Hoover fusion, Hoover Z 700, and finally, a Hoover WindTunnel Canister I was about to get my 4th one, Hoover WindTunnel 2 bagless, but my Worst experience with Hoover yet has blown that from happening. Instead, I spent my money right after Christmas to get a Dyson DC17. I wanted a Dyson, because after 2 years of researching and reading 4-5 star reviews, my mind forced me to get one. I was looking at this Dyson the same time I was looking at the Hoover. I’ll organize my review by starting from bottom to top of my Dyson.

THE AGITATOR AND ITS COMPARTMENTS

The first thing that I wanted to look at was the hose that was exposed on the left side of the Dyson, where all the dirt went through. It was very durable and could easily be taken off incase of an accidental clog. I’ve never have had a clog in this area, and I do suck up large things often. The next thing I noticed was that the brush bar plate was easy to take off. With just a coin, you turn three knobs 90 degrees and the plate comes right off. This makes cleaning the brush bar so much easier. Did I mention that cleaning the brush bar was adjusted to be easy? It’s easy because on the brush bar, there are small notches; where you could slide the scissors on to cut strings, hair, carpet lint, etc. off. Also, on the brush bar plate, there is a rubber line that prevents any shooting missiles (dirt) from hitting your feet. But I doubt that will happen because there is an automatic brush shutoff right next to the power button, which turns the brush bar off and keeps the CONSTANT suction on. I also like the fact that this doesn’t have WindTunnel technology, but has a plate in front of the brush bar, so then dirt can’t fling back down, but will eventually be sucked into the vacuum cleaner. By the way, I emailed Dyson a while back before I purchased a DC17 from Dyson and one of my questions were: “Does your vacuum cleaner pick up much better than a Hoover? With all of that suction it would seem so.” They replied and answered that question by telling me:

“The ASTF international test F608 says that in fact a Hoover with WindTunnel technology does pick up more dust when it achieves the most suction it has possible. However, when Dyson was introduced, and WindTunnel technology JUST came out, a Dyson picked up more than a Hoover because of it’s suction, so Hoover decided to make its agitator much rough and hard on carpet so that the suction can pick up more debris. And because of its rough agitator roll, it can wear and tear the carpet more than the dirt itself.”

I didn’t disagree with her at all, because when I clean my shag carpets with my Hoover Z 700, most of the time, it’s just carpet lint. One of the last smallest details is that this isn’t a vacuum cleaner with a belt. Ok, if you look, there is something that LOOKS like a belt, but that’s not how it works.
A belt laps over a turning cylinder, which so happens to be the motor for suction. This has a separate motor that turns a belt with bumps on it. So if you try to stop the agitator from spinning, you are trying to stop the motor from continuing. But you can’t stop a motor from turning without hurting yourself can you? Nope. It’s perfect. This means that you don’t have to buy any belts.

Despite all of the small details, one of two of the biggest reasons I bought this Dyson over all of the other ones, is because of it’s agitator roll, beater bar, whatever you want to call it. It was specifically made for American carpets. Dyson was invested and created in Europe, and those European vacuum cleaners were cleaning American floors, which works mostly perfect. I like this agitator because it’s not that thin agitator like the DC07 and DC14. I have read some complaints that the agitators break on the DC07 and DC14 because they are flimsy thin plastic. And this so happens to be just a round, durable plastic that is the same as the plastic on helmets. But one of the cons about this is that I wish that they would put the wide channel on this one. This vacuum cleaner can “snow plow” dirt on hard floors, and that makes it hard to pickup the dirt. You can’t just tilt the vacuum cleaner back because it’s auto adjustment. You may need to whip out the hose. It’s really easy and quick to do that, but I will talk about that later.

So this concludes the part about the agitator, and it’s compartments. Now it’s time to talk about the Dyson’s bin.


DYSON’S BIN

What makes Dyson different from any other vacuum cleaner is it’s famous technology, the Root Cyclone Technology. I HATE other companies that try to imitate its technology and sell it for less, because those people don’t realize that the imitators don’t have what Dyson has. Sure, the Hoover Fusion, the Bissell Healthy Home, and some others claim to have Cyclone technology, and they do, but it isn’t as well as you think it is. Dyson started cyclone technology, and will always be the best because they come up with the best ideas first. Then the other companies take over.
The Hoover fusion has only 2 cyclones (aka: Dual Cyclone technology): the outer cyclone where you see the dirt, and the inner, large cyclone. One cyclone cannot filter all of the dust, so most of it gets trapped on the filters. The Second reason why I chose this Dyson over all of the other Dysons is because of its Level 3 root cyclone technology. Instead of 8 cyclones, there are 11, unlike the Bissell Healthy Home. Most bagless vacuum cleaners with a HEPA filter directly into the bin are considered a Level 1 Cyclonic vacuum cleaner. A vacuum with a set of several different cyclones and a bin is considered a Level 2 cyclonic vacuum cleaner (like the other Dysons), and because this vacuum has a set of pre-cyclones to first filter out sand and grit, then microscopic dust particles, it’s considered a Level 3 cyclonic vacuum cleaner. And that’s really good because that means there are more air watts (suction power that is) and there is more dust being filtered instead of being collected on the washable filter. Another thing I like about the bin is that the shroud doesn’t get clogged easily. The shroud is the part inside the bin where it separates the large dirt from the smaller dirt. Smaller dirt is allowed in, but big things like pet hair cannot get inside. Unlike the Hoover Fusion and the Bissell Healthy Home, The Shroud is perfectly straight, instead of an angle, which means that dirt doesn’t get on the shroud easily, and to help even more dirt from blocking the shroud, there are 4 stoppers at the bottom of the bin. This is very important, as Dyson said, and it helps stop the dirt spinning inside the bin, and trap it from moving around to block the shroud. These four stoppers are at the bottom of the bin, and they do a very good job at preventing the dirt from constantly spinning. I personally like the fact that the dirt spins because it’s really cool looking, but it makes a huge difference. Dust and dirt still spins, but it doesn’t towards the bottom part of the bin.
Emptying the Dyson’s bin is very easy. You put your hand on the carrying handle of the Dyson (which is at the top of the bin), and press a button with your thumb. The bin comes off the vacuum, and you are able to bring the bin to a trashcan. Place the bin right over the trashcan, and, again, with your thumb press the red button to release the bottom part of the dirt cup. There is a LOT of dust, especially if it’s your first time of use, so it’s probably better to do it in the garage or outside. And this thing will always pick up a large amount of dust, so you probably should make this a habit. However, if you have allergies, then you can take a trash bag, and place it under the bin, then empty it out. You may have to shake the bin a little until all of the dirt finally comes out. If there is still a remainder of dirt that cannot come out with the basic technique of emptying the bin, (here’s the second technique) then there is a button that is on the back of the bin. You press this button, lift up, and the bin is separated from the cyclone chambers. Then you can empty it easily. Either way works, however, I would do it the basic way, because there are rubber feet that separate the dust from the large debris towards the bottom of the bin. You don’t see these until you empty the bin, and if you try to empty the bin the second way, it’s hard to remove the bin from the cyclone chamber.

Oh, by the way, if you would like to find out how this Dyson’s Cyclone technology works, you can go to: http://www.dyson.com/range/feature_frame.asp?model=DC17-ANIMAL&sinavtype=pagelink . There, you will find the page on Dyson’s website that explains everything about this vacuum cleaner.



And to conclude, the last detail I like about this is that it has a large bin (about 1.73 gallons).
Ok, so this is what I have to say about the bin, now a short discussion about the Buttons on the Dyson


BUTTONS ON THE DYSON

This Dyson has exactly 2 buttons. They’re both located above the easy carry handle, or also know as: “Ergonomic carry handle”. One is a large red button with a power symbol. I suppose you can guess what that one is. The next one is smaller with a picture of the agitator and it has the words “on” and “off” on it. Once again I bet you can guess what that button does. A Japanese toilet has about 10 buttons on it ok, so compared to that I don’t think this is complicated. But, just incase, the large red one is the power button. You need to press it a little hard for the vacuum cleaner to fully turn on, or else it turns back off. The grey button turns the agitator on and off for hard floors and gentle carpets/rugs that move easily, etc. Again, you will need to be rough on this button, press down on it hard. Both of the buttons are easy to press, but you need to fully press them, that’s all I’m saying. But remember, when you turn the Dyson off, the agitator’s settings reset, so if you turn the vacuum cleaner off when you originally had the brush bar off, it will be set to on the next time. Also, before turning it off, put it into the upright position, because sometimes it doesn’t turn off when it isn’t in that position.

So that does it with the buttons on the Dyson’s buttons. It’s really easy; just remember to press down on them hard to fully activate the button.

So now how about if I explain the features of the extension hose/wand/hose/ whatever you call it?


DYSON'S “EXTENDABLE HOSE”

You may be wondering at this point where the hose is, right? You’ve been holding onto it the whole time you’ve been vacuuming. That’s right, it’s your handle. Let me explain. At the very top of the vacuum, there is a grey handle with a little red in front of it. The red part is your wand. To pull it out, put it into its upright position, take off the power cord on the back of the DC17. Then just get a grasp of the red part of your handle at the very top of your Dyson, and pull upward somewhat rapidly, and it will release the hose and detach from the Dyson You need to be quick, otherwise your hose can be locked into place on the vacuum, but that’s OK, just try again. Once your hose is removed from the Dyson, you can then add tools to the end of the hose, or you can take off the wand (by pushing in the hose into the wand while pressing the red button) and add tools directly to the hose itself. The wand is a little short I personally believe, so if you have an older vacuum with separate wands, you can try to put that on to the hose and the Dyson’s wand like I did with my Hoover Z 700 and my Hoover Fusion. The hose and wand are both very strong, so they don’t break, but if they do, you can contact Dyson. Their phone number is on their website and on the vacuum cleaner itself (5 year warranty).

Ok. I’m done talking about the greatest things about this Dyson, so now it’s time to cover the things that I wish were adjusted.


CONTRADICTORIES WITH THE DYSON DC17

Again, I will recap, or for the first time state the things that I wish were different about this Dyson. I will start from Bottom to top like last time.

*****The agitator and its compartments*****


I didn’t like the fact that the Dyson can “snow-plow” large debris on hard floors, because I had to take about 10 seconds of my life and whip out the hose and suck it up.

*****Buttons on the Dyson*****

I kind of wish that the buttons were a bit more sensitive, instead of me having to press hard…I don’t even know if that’s really a con. Maybe just a bit of an error to tweak. I also wish that you didn’t have to put the Dyson in its upright position to turn it off 100% of the time.


*****Dyson’s Extendable hose*****

I kind of mixed up the Details about the Extendable hose, the tools and accessories. So in that section, I said that I didn’t like the fact that the powered-hand tool wasn’t the most powerful. However if own or have previously owned a Hoover, you can try to slap on their version of the powered hand tool. It’s REALLY powerful and much better than on a Hoover. That means if you have had a Hoover Fusion for example, you can take it’s powered hand tool, and attach it to the wand of the Dyson. Most of Hoover’s powered hand tools won’t fit directly on the hose itself.
I also was hoping that Dyson Zorb would make my carpets look a little nicer. I don’t think I should judge this yet, but it doesn’t work well on those rugs that don’t have large tassels like SHAG carpet. I haven’t tried it on my SHAG yet.



Well, thank you for reading my review; I really hope this helps you with your decision on this Dyson, and maybe on any other Dysons.

*2,579 words

Go to www.dyson.com for more information on all Dyson Vacuum cleaners

UPDATE (9/15/07)******

The test company that Hoover brags about, ASTF International Test F608, and Dyson's own testing company have done a new test. They compared the Dyson DC17, which is this vacuum in this review, and the Hoover WindTunnel...2...1? I don't know which one, but the point is that their NEW tests says that this Dyson is the only vacuum cleaner that can out-clean a Hoover WindTunnel. You can go to Dyson's website, and navigate to products > Uprights > and click on the Dyson DC17. Towards the bottom-right, you will see a brief paragraph stating

"Dyson proves that the DC17 overall OUTCLEANS ALL OTHER VACUUMS and has the best average pick-up across all floors using the ASTM F608 and IEC60312 CI 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 test standards."

Really cool...I'm speechless. And don't feel bad, by the way, if you already got one and it didn't, at that time, say that, they don't release the same thing and change it a little, Dyson sells their products only when they have reached their maximum performance in which Dyson wants them to be.