I bought a Dyson
I hated vacuuming as a child. My parents used to make me do it every Saturday, and we had a big house with lots of floor space, so it would end up taking something like an hour to do. I literally hated it.
Now, 20 years later, I love vacuuming. I looked back over the years to figure out what about vacuuming I hated back then, and then I understood why.
It wasn't the act of vacuum cleaning that irked me so.
It was the vacuum cleaner.
Old vacuum cleaners were annoying, cumbersome things. They were heavy, had poor maneuverability, had limited reach, and the power cord had to be unplugged and replugged elsewhere. It was difficult to get into hard-to-reach places and the attachments were always too stiff and ineffective.
I remember thinking one time: If I had one of those backpack vacuum cleaners that you could wear, my life would be so much easier and I wouldn't hate this chore as much as I do.
We never ended up getting one of those vacuum cleaners like you see professional cleaners using, but I got something even better.
I bought a Dyson.
The Dyson V6 Animal Origin
A Dyson vacuum cleaner might be one of the greatest things I've ever bought. This particular one I picked up at a local department store called Big W for 349AUD (280USD). The first time I tried to get one, they were out of stock, but I came back a few days later and they had some more in.
It wasn't the first time a store had been swarmed for discounted Dyson-brand vacuum cleaners.
The V6 Animal is a spec or two up from the basic V6. I'm not sure what the Origin part means, but I did some research and it's actually the exact same as the Animal, just with a name tacked on and slightly recolored for Big W to sell, which is a department store that uses blue as its primary color.
What's in the box?
The Dyson came with the vacuum unit, charging cord, a wall attachment, an extender tube, and four cleaning heads: the standard floor head, a small soft brush head, a pointy head for cleaning corners and hard to reach spaces and a curious smaller head attachment, possibly for stuff like beds and upholstery?
Some stats:
Weighs about 4kg with the standard floor head and extender tube. The unit itself is very light (maybe 1.5kg).
The Dyson V6 Animal runs for about 20 minutes on a full charge. It takes 3.5 hours to charge from flat.
There is a MAX power button on the back which dramatically increases suction power.
It empties out directly into a bin. No bags required. Cleaning the unit is very simple.
Pros and Cons
Pros:
It is very easy to handle and use. Operate the Dyson using a trigger button.
Very maneuverable and easy to operate with one hand.
Versatile and comes with many different heads for different uses.
Clean everything easily from floors to stairs, desks to lounges, beds, chairs, even clothing
No cords!
MAX power is very strong. It was picking up the rugs
Nice wall attachment to store the unit vertically and out of the way, but there is a caveat (see below)
Easy to clean the vacuum itself
Runs relatively quietly for a vacuum. Has a nice sound
Looks like a gadget from the future
Cons:
Sometimes has difficulty sucking things up. I have to run over stuff like hairs a couple times to get them
The wall attachment needs to be screwed into whatever it will be attached to. Cannot attach the power cord whilst its in the wall attachment (very annoying). Need to leave it on the floor to charge
Short battery life
Expensive for a vacuum cleaner
Not much space in the unit for dust and dirt to build up. Basically need to empty it out with every use
The heads aren't labelled, so in my case, I don't really know what to do with the little head that looks like a smaller standard head