Dyson V8 Animal Cord Free Vacuum, Iron/Titanium, 229602-01

Product Information

The nylon brushes and powered design of the V8 Animal’s direct-drive head means it gets deep into the pile of your carpet, while the 425W “digital motor” inside the V8 Absolute has plenty of suction power – 115 air watts to be precise On hard floors, we did miss the Soft Roller head for its amazing cleaning and floor-polishing effect. Yet we also agreed that, had we never used the Soft Roller, the Direct Drive head still produced excellent results over parquet, laminate and riven tiles. Dirt compartment: You can open the dirt compartment by pressing the red release valve at the top of the vacuum's body. It's fairly small and needs frequent emptying. Unfortunately, while it's very easy to dismount from the body or to open up and empty, debris can spread while you're shaking it over a trash bin. As you’ve probably guessed from this review, the Dyson V8 Animal is one of our top recommendations for a cordless vacuum cleaner. It combines the cleaning performance of a corded upright with the versatility of a cordless – plus it’s highly effective on almost any surface.

For those worried about the brush bar scratching hard floors, the direct-drive’s nylon bristles are shorter than the carbon bristles. This has the effect of ensuring the more abrasive nylon doesn’t fully touch the floor. Even so, if your home has lots of hard floors – especially delicate surfaces – we recommend getting the Soft Roller. Stairs While the V8 Animal’s name indicates it’s designed for pet owners, the vacuum doesn’t provide additional hair-cleaning performance compared to the V8 Absolute. Both models have the direct-drive floor head and pet turbo tool, so the “Animal” and “Absolute” names are slightly misleading. Fluffy cleaner head, Direct Drive cleaner head, Mini Motorized Tool, Mini Soft Dusting Brush, Combination Tool,Crevice Tool Direct Drive vacuum head (Not included with V8 Origin, V8 Animal (Updated), or V8 Absolute (Updated) variants) Switching to MAX mode is like hitting the Nitrous and Turbo at the same time. The noise, power and suction go through the roof. Put your hand over the end of the crevice tool on MAX mode and both the suction power and air-flow rate eclipse most entry-level mains-powered cleaners. At 83-85dB, it’s actually louder than many mains-powered cleaners.In the North American market, three different variants of the Dyson V8 are available: the Origin, the Animal, and the Absolute. We tested the 'Animal' variant, and you can see its label here. The only difference between the three is in the included attachments. It's also worth mentioning that all trim levels of the V8 were slightly updated and come with a slightly different set of attachments, which we've included below. Model Name The V8 Animal’s direct-drive cleaner head is brilliant at removing both short and long hair from carpets. This is a task many cordless vacuums struggle with, but the V8 Animal makes light work of pulling up hair from carpets in both standard and MAX power modes.

A word of warning though – the turbo tool doesn’t have the same bristle combination as the direct-drive head, so there’s a risk of scratching polished hardwood floors when using it. Instead, use the direct-drive cleaner head or soft dusting brush when cleaning wood stairs. Pet Hair We've updated the Differences Between Variants to account for the new attachment set included with updated iterations of this vacuum. We've also updated the ' User Maintenance', ' In The Box', ' Tools and Brushes', ' Pet Hair Floor Performance', ' Pet Hair Furniture Performance' to reflect this new information. We think the new “hygienic emptying system” is a definite improvement compared to the V6, but it’s still a bit fiddly. The lever can also be stiff – especially when you first use it. Most importantly, however, the collar does a decent job of removing dust, dirt, hair and fluff so you (usually) don’t need to pull it out by hand. Soft dusting brush (Not included with V8 Origin, V8 Animal (Updated), or V8 Absolute (Updated) variants) The question is which model should you buy? While we love the V8 Animal for its great pet-hair cleaning on carpets, most hard floors and furnishings, if you have a lot of parquet and laminate then the Dyson V8 Absolute with its Soft Roller floor head is a better option.

On the plus side, the trigger style on/off switch does save power and increase actual cleaning time. This is because you’re inclined to let the trigger go as soon as you pull away from the area you’re cleaning. A standard switch might even get left on as you walk between rooms. That 7-8 minutes is all proper cleaning time. Dyson V8 Animal – How does it clean? You get only one built-in battery with the V8, and fresh out of the box our sample took a little over four hours to declare it was fully charged; the manual airs on the cautious side and says 5 hours. That’s going to be quite some time waiting if you run out of power mid-clean. While it’s no longer the “top dog” in the Dyson cordless series – the V10 Cyclone, V11, and V15 have since been released – we think the V8 is still one of the best cordless vacs in its price range.

We've added a comparison to the Shark Cordless Pro in the ' Pet Hair Furniture Performance' box to provide an alternative that's more effective in clearing away pet hair on furniture. Aside from the soft roller brush, the Dyson V8 Animal comes with all the same accessories as the V8. This means you get the wand, the motorised direct-drive head and mini motorised head, a rigid crevice tool and a combination tool with a retractable brush. As of March 2020, you’ll also get what Dyson has coined its Reach Under tool, which, as the name suggests, is used to clean underneath objects like beds and sofas. That’s plenty to get most household cleaning jobs done in a pinch. My verdict on the V8 Animal is much the same as the one my colleague, Nathan, reached on the Absolute. It’s brilliant, combining the thorough carpet-cleaning power of a regular upright vacuum cleaner with the flexibility of a handheld cordless cleaner.

Suction power isn’t something the V8 Animal is short of. Even in standard mode the suction is impressive for a cordless cleaner and, when combined with the motorised tools, makes for very effective floor cleaning. The V8 Animal isn’t too noisy either, running at around 75dB or about the same as a quiet mains-powered vacuum cleaner. Dyson originally released the V8 to upgrade the discontinued V6. It has a more powerful boost mode, longer 40-minute run-time, and a redesigned emptying system compared with the V6. The Dyson V8 Animal is the same vacuum cleaner as the V8 Absolute, which Dyson has now stopped selling, and the predecessor to the V10 Cyclone. It isn’t as powerful or as long-lasting as the V10 but it weighs less and still does a great job cleaning. Clearly, clearing up pet hairs on carpets and fabrics is more about tool and floor head design that sheer suction power. Both motorised heads are truly outstanding at pet-hair cleaning over carpets and fabrics, and the easy to remove bars make for the simplest cleaning out afterwards too.

Like many Dyson models, we think the build quality feels a bit “cheap”– especially considering the high price. This is more of an aesthetic factor though, as the Dyson V8 is a durable vacuum that’s built to last. Dyson V8 Animal Suction Power & Cleaning Performance Dyson estimates that it takes approximately 5 hours to fully charge the V8’s battery. This is probably on the conservative side, as we’ve found it takes just over four hours. Either way, you’ll want to make sure you don’t need to recharge in the middle of a cleaning session! In standard mode the area was cleaned in 8-10 seconds, and on MAX power mode it was closer to 6-7 seconds. That’s a spectacularly good result, and up there with some of the very best mains-powered pet-specific vacuum cleaners.

In This Article

We really like the Dyson V8 Animal, as it’s an excellent cordless vacuum that’s considerably cheaper than the top models. It provides strong carpet cleaning performance, due to the motorised brush bar in the direct-drive floorhead, and comes with a pet tool for stairs and upholstery. We don’t think it’s the best choice for people with allergies or lots of hard floors though. Added a link to the Shark Cordless Pet Plus vacuum review in the 'Build Quality' section to provide an alternative with superior build quality. In standard power mode the lower suction is well countered by the powered brush bar, and the two work well to achieve decent cleaning results and long run-time. There’s no denying the extra cleaning power in MAX mode, however. We cleaned the same carpet for a second time on MAX mode and removed a further 20% volume of dirt. Like all V8 models, the Animal comes with Dyson’s direct-drive cleaner head. This has a powered brush bar for digging deeper into carpet fibres and removing more dirt and dust.