Why You Can Trust CNET Dyson DC41 Animal Complete review: Does this top-of-the-line Dyson drop the ball?
This high-end vacuum did great in our performance tests, but it still left us disappointed. Let us explain why.
- 10 years product testing experience with the CNET Home team
When you think of Dyson, you probably think: "ingenious design." I know I do. Its products are modern, sophisticated, and undeniably cool. Just look at the Dyson Airblade, one of the most appealing cooling apparatuses ever made. A brilliant idea, executed almost flawlessly -- that's the Dyson reputation.
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It's because of that reputation that I was so stunned by the Dyson DC41 Animal Complete. As vacuums go, it's excellent, putting up nearly untouchable numbers in many of our performance tests. But in terms of design, it's a colossal disappointment. I found numerous key flaws that, frankly, don't make much sense coming from a company that's known for its forward-thinking ways. Why isn't there an easier way of putting the vacuum in and out of its resting position? Why are the back wheels so often up when you want them down and down when you want them up? Why doesn't the wand have a comfortable, logical place for you to hold it (or, for that matter, any handle)?
Like all Dyson vacuums, the DC41 looks amazing, but looks can be deceiving.
This is a $649 vacuum, the best and most expensive model Dyson has to offer, and for that kind of money, I just don't think that flaws like these are acceptable. I'm not sure I'd accept them in a vacuum that cost half as much. The real shame is that, as I said, the DC41 vacuums so well. If you cleaned your house with it, you'd probably be very happy with the results -- but only after putting up with lackluster user experience. With other vacuums like the Oreck Touch and the Electrolux Precision Brushroll Clean offering similar cleaning power along with vastly superior designs and substantial cost savings (in the case of the $309 Electrolux, it's less than half the price of the DC41), there's just no way I can recommend the DC41 for anybody but the most devoted of Dyson loyalists.
A design that disappoints
At first glance, the Dyson looks futuristic and high-tech, and it is. As far as its inner workings are concerned Dyson's done an admirable job of building a powerful vacuum, and it's a good-looking piece of hardware, too. But once you get your hands on it, you'll start to encounter the kinds of flaws that'll leave you questioning the overall quality of your appliance.
First, the DC41 is difficult to lower out of its upright, resting position. There's no latch to step on, no button to press. You're simply supposed to yank it down. Try pulling it down gently, and the whole vacuum will rock back toward you while remaining at that 90-degree angle. It takes a sharp tug to snap it out of position, and every time you do so, the whole vacuum will rattle a little bit, leading you to wonder how long before something breaks. That's not a very good start for the user experience of such an expensive appliance.
Take a look at that picture up above, specifically at those small back wheels. Those serve as a sort of kickstand for the vacuum, helping to lock it upright at 90 degrees. When you pull the vacuum down out of its resting position, they're supposed to snap up and out of the way. In my experience, however, this wasn't always the case. If I didn't quite pull the vacuum down far enough, the wheels would remain down even after the vacuum was out of its resting position. It's an easy thing to miss, and if you do, it'll affect how well the DC41 performs. It happened to me during one of the many testing runs that we put the vacuums through. I didn't notice that the wheels were down until I had finished my run. The DC41 had been averaging a very respectable 92 percent pickup rate in this particular test, but with the wheels down, that number dropped to 55 percent.
You'll need to watch the DC41's back wheels like a hawk if you want your vacuum to stand up straight.
The back wheels can cause trouble again when it's time to put the vacuum away. When you push the DC41 back into an upright position, the back wheels are supposed to drop back down into that kickstand role. You hear a click, and you think you're all set. But there are actually two clicks: the sound of the wheels dropping, and another false click that occurs just before. If you hear this first false click and assume the vacuum is locked upright, you'll be in for a rude surprise as soon as you take your hand off it. This is something that gave me a headache time and time again during testing, as I constantly found myself diving downward to catch my falling Dyson before it back-flopped straight into the floor. It shouldn't be so easy to make a mistake like that, not with a $649 vacuum, or frankly, with any vacuum.
Design qualms aside, the DC41 is a powerful, versatile vacuum.
Another gripe I had with the DC41 was with its wand. I liked that the wand reached a little bit farther than some of the other wands we tested out, like the wand on the Oreck Touch, and I also liked the plethora of clever brush attachments that come packaged with the DC41 Animal Complete. I did not, however, like the fact that the wand has no handle. There just really isn't a comfortable way to hold the thing. It's such a needless annoyance -- how hard is it to add a handle to that design, or at least a grip?
You're paying for performance
Now for some good news. The DC41 Animal Complete will clean your floors better than just about any other vacuum cleaner on the market. We tested it out on three different surfaces using a variety of different materials, and it never failed to do an acceptable job. More often than not, it did an exceptional job.
Cheerios, 1 oz. (percentage picked up)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Hardwood | | Midpile | | Low pile | |
Oreck
929795
Dyson DC41
929793
738897
938892
8083
We started with cereal, testing out each vacuum's cleaning capabilities when it came to large-size, lightweight particulates. The DC41 was right at the top of the pack in a virtual dead heat with the Oreck Touch, with the Electrolux not too far behind. Frankly, all of the vacuums did pretty well here -- except for the other Dyson vacuum we tested, the $499 DC50. This isn't the first time we'd catch it under-performing, so one takeaway here might be that if you want to go with a Dyson vacuum, it might be worth the money to splurge on the DC41. Perhaps the more important takeaway, though, is that if you want great results from your vacuum, you really don't need a Dyson at all.
Sand/sawdust, 2.5 oz. (percentage picked up)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Hardwood | | Midpile | | Low pile | |
Electrolux
978091
906877
http://reviews.cnet.com/vacuum-cleaners/oreck-touch-bagless-vacuum/4505-14098_7-35828613.htmlShark
928659
After our cereal test, we wanted to see how all of the vacuums handled small, dust-size particulates, so we coated our carpets and floors with our trusty blend of sand and sawdust. Again, the DC41 was neck and neck with the Oreck Touch, but this time, they weren't sitting at the top of the pack. That honor went to the Electrolux, which posted impressive numbers across all three surfaces.
The DC41 did a great job on hardwood -- better than any other vacuum did -- but was a slight under-performer on both low-pile and midpile carpets, falling just short of the 70 percent pickup rate benchmark that you want from a high-end machine. To be fair, it was close enough for us to call it a satisfactory result, but still nothing near what you'd expect from a machine that boasts "twice the suction of any other vacuum."
Also noteworthy: this was the only test where we saw the DC50 outperform the DC41, as it cleaned sawdust off of low-pile carpet almost 20 percent more effectively than the DC41 did.
Pet hair, 0.2 oz. (percentage picked up)
(Longer bars indicate better performance)
| Hardwood | | Midpile | | Low pile | |
Dyson DC41
100100100
Oreck
92100100 http://reviews.cnet.com/vacuum-cleaners/oreck-touch-bagless-vacuum/4505-14098_7-35828613.html
http://reviews.cnet.com/vacuum-cleaners/oreck-touch-bagless-vacuum/4505-14098_7-35828613.htmlElectrolux
75100100
100100
100100
Our final testing category was pet hair. Fortunately for us, Lola, the official Labradoodle of CNET, was due for a haircut, so we had plenty of material to work with. By the way, this was the exact same type of pet hair that we used while testing robot vacuums, and since those tests produced such telling results, we were excited to see how the high-end uprights would do.
She's a trooper, that Lola.
Above all others, the pet hair tests were where the DC41's performance really shined. After multiple runs on each surface, the DC41 came back with three perfect pickup averages of 100 percent. This means that each and every time we ran the test, the DC41 picked up the exact amount of pet hair that we spread across the floor. Clearly, if you have pets that tend to shed, the DC41 is going to be a useful appliance.
However, as impressive as these results were, some of the other, more affordable vacuums were able to nip at Dyson's heels. The Oreck Touch also posted perfect scores on both carpets, then came darn close on hardwood, faltering on just one test, enough to knock it down to a 92 percent average. The Electrolux also nailed the carpet tests, then scored an adequate 75 percent on hardwood. The DC41 deserves lots of credit for acing the test across the board, which no other vacuum was quite able to do, but again, the real takeaway might be that it doesn't blow away other machines quite like Dyson would have you believe.
The DC41's canister works well, but it wasn't our favorite.
Features and usability
The DC41's most notable feature is the signature Dyson Ball, which sits at the base of all Dyson vacuums. With the Ball, you'll be able to tilt the vacuum from side to side as you turn, which does, in fact, make it much easier to maneuver than most of the competition, in spite of the fact that the DC41 weighs in at a heavier-than-average 17 pounds. Keep in mind, though, that we're seeing similar maneuverability-minded features showing up in other vacuums. The Oreck Touch pivots and maneuvers in a comparable fashion to the DC41, and again, costs a lot less. As easily as the DC41 moves, you don't necessarily need to splurge on a Dyson in order to find a vacuum that'll satisfy your maneuverability needs.
The DC41 features a 0.55-gallon canister made of tough, clear BPA plastic -- the same material police departments use for their riot shields. As sturdy as this sounds, it feels a bit flimsier than we'd like, thanks to the mechanism that opens the bottom of the container. This is the part of the vacuum that rattles whenever you have to yank the machine down into position, and over time, I'd be worried about jarring something loose, or worse. Still, as canisters go, it works well, popping in and out of the machine without difficulty, and emptying straight down into the trash with ease.
The Tangle-free Turbine attachment will make quick work of hair without any of it getting stuck in the brush.
The DC41 Animal Complete sets itself apart from the standard DC41 with the addition of several unique brush attachments for the wand. Most notably is the Tangle-free Turbine, a cleverly designed tool that features two circular brush heads that spin in opposite directions. This allows it to vacuum up hair without any of it getting wrapped around a brush roll. I tested this out with some long strands of hair clipped from a set of extensions, and it did a great job, picking up all of it without any of it getting caught.
Maintenance and service
To maintain your DC41, you'll need to empty the canister regularly -- after each use is ideal, although the canister is big enough to handle a couple of runs' worth if needed. Dyson also recommends washing the filter out at least once every three months. A quick rinse under warm water followed by 24 hours of air-drying should do the trick.
If you find that your vacuum needs servicing, you can call Dyson toll-free six days a week at 1-866-MY-DYSON (1-866-693-9766) for assistance finding a Dyson-authorized service center near you.
Conclusion
We saw Dyson raise the bar for vacuum cleaners years ago, and ever since, its machines have maintained a certain aura of perfection about them in the public eye. The DC41, however, is far from perfect -- too far to justify the $649 price tag, especially with more-affordable competitors that have, in many ways, managed to catch up in terms of performance and design.
Dyson may very well need to head back to the drawing board to address some of these key design flaws. Until that happens, I can't recommend the DC41 Animal Complete over vacuums like the Oreck Touch and the Electrolux Precision Brushroll Clean, both of which can compete with Dyson in terms of performance while offering less-flawed designs and more-attractive prices. Consumers looking for a versatile, feature-rich vacuum might also want to look into the $199 Shark Rotator Pro Lift-Away, which intrigued us with its 3-in-1 functionality.