Dyson Ball Animal 2 Pros & Cons

In this article we highlight the pros and cons of the Dyson Ball Animal 2 upright vacuum cleaner.  The Ball Animal 2 is a fairly recent vacuum from Dyson and to date owner reviews and ratings are excellent.  In our detailed review (Dyson Ball Animal 2 Review) we scored the vacuum a very solid 94/100.  You can compare that to the scores of other upright vacuums in our upright vacuum ratings table or to all other vacuums on our site using the vacuum cleaner finder application.

PROS

Following are some of the many things we really like about this vacuum:

- It comes standard with 3 tools.  A stair tool, a combination crevice/brush tool that is a full 12 inches in length, and Dyson’s popular tangle-free turbine tool.
- The tangle-free tool works very well on things like pet hair, thread, string, etc.  It has good pickup and it does not result in tangling of the brushes.  Other more traditional non-motorized tools often require cleaning of the brushroll after dealing with hair, etc.
- The tools “click-fit” into place.  This makes them stay firmly in place.  They come apart at the push of a button.  Some other vacuums use “compression fit” which can result in the tools falling off, cracking, or being difficult to remove.
- The Ball Animal has colossal suction at 270 air watts.  Dyson state that is has the most suction at the cleaner head of any vacuum.  It is more powerful than the Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal + Allergy (180 air watts) and the Dyson DC65 Animal (245 air watts).
- The cleaner head is quite large and wide.  The suction channel in the cleaner head is about 12.75 inches wide.  
- The brushroll motor is powerful and the brushroll is so strong you can feel it vibrate the floor when it is engaged.
- The Active Base Plate (on the bottom of the cleaner head) limits the loss of suction from around the perimeter of the head and ensures maximum suction at the suction channel.
- Cleaning performance on carpet is good.  It can struggle with larger debris, but for typical debris on carpet is it capable of pulling up everything.
- Cleaning on bare floors is excellent.  The huge suction combined with the active base plate help suck up all manner of debris.
- The cleaning reach of the vacuum is very long.  It sports a 30 foot power cord (Dyson says 35ft but we measured 30ft) as well as a hose/wand assembly that we measured (at a stretch) at 13.7 feet.  This results in a combined cleaning reach of over 40 feet.
- The vacuum has something Dyson call “whole machine HEPA filtration” which means it has HEPA level filtration and that the vacuum is fully sealed.  A sealed vacuum means that the air does not exit the machine at any point prior to being exhausted from the vacuum.  This forces ALL air through the filters so you know it is properly clean.
- Both the pre-motor filter and the post-motor filter are washable and reusable.  Washable filters combined with the fact this is a bagless vacuum help to keep consumables to a minimum.
- The dust canister is easy to remove, empty and reattach.  It also has a volume of 0.55 gallons which is fairly large and helps ensure you do not have to empty it too frequently.
- The Dyson Ball Animal 2 carries a 5 year warranty.

Below is a detailed video discussing all of the positive characteristics of the vacuum.

CONS

Following are some of the issues we have with the vacuum:

- The Dyson Ball Animal is not a lightweight machine weighing in at 17.4 lbs.  It weighs 1.8 lbs more than one of its main competitors, the Shark Rotator TruePet NV752.  You can feel the heft of the machine when moving it back and forth.  This is also more noticeable on the pull back as you are also fighting the powerful brushroll.  If you are doing large area cleaning it can be a bit tiring.
- The “Ball” unit, while helping with machine maneuverability, gets in the way when trying to get under low furniture.
- The back of the active base plate (on the bottom of the cleaner head) gets in the way of larger debris on carpet and it tends to push it around not allowing it to get underneath the nozzle and into the suction channel.
- We have read that the lack of height controls and the active base plate can make this vacuum difficult to push on very deep pile carpet like shag.
- The extremely powerful brushroll may be an issue on some of the newer plush/soft carpet (something one should look into before using this on these special carpet types).
- Getting the vacuum handle into the upright position requires pushing until it audibly “clicks” into place.  Sometimes, especially when the vacuum is still on (or just winding down), you cannot hear if the “click” has taken place.  If not, the vacuum handle falls to the floor.
- The vacuum is a little on the loud side.  We measured peak noise levels at 78.1 decibels as compared to the Shark NV752 which measured 72.9 decibels.  Consider that the decibel scale is logarithmic so 80 decibels is actually twice as loud as 70 decibels.
- The Dyson Ball Animal 2 is on the expensive side at between $400 and $500 USD.

In the video below we discuss all of these issues and provide more detail.

Having worked with the vacuum for some time we find that the pros outweigh the cons.  When we need to do a very thorough cleaning of the house this is our go to vacuum.  It is a bit of a chore to work with but for our floor types (tile and short pile carpet) it does a great job.  For light cleanups we use the Dyson V8.

You can see Dyson Ball Animal 2 pricing and owner reviews on Amazon.