I have a Kirby given to me by my parents back in the early 90s. They bought it back in the early 80s. As my mom got weaker she decided to get a lighter vacuum. I was thrilled to get the Kirby. It has out performed anything else. The suction is so strong, the housing metal and will last forever. The only thing you have to keep on top of is keeping a tight belt on the beater brush.

I brought in my beater brush Wednesday to have it replaced because I didn’t think it was working very good lately. We compared it to a new one and it still had all its length. How well-made is that that it would last over 20 years of constant use? The problem was a worn out beater brush belt that kept it from beating the rug under pressure. I bought 5 new belts so I’d keep it in stock. When I got home and changed the belt, (they are a bit hard to get on brand new) the hair came up in one swoop. *I also have a Dirt Devil upright that leaves almost all the hair behind on the rug, useless for area rugs and carpeting if you have animals.

Now the negative side of the Kirby. It is heavy, but that is because it is industrially strong. I have a problem taking it up and down the stairs. To use the attachments you have to get down on the floor and take the big head off the machine and switch to the hose. I never minded it too much until I started having back and knee pains. It was worth it to get that kind of performance. But in the past few months, I just couldn’t get down there to change the heads over without a lot of pain. So I went out yesterday and bought a Dyson Ball Animal. I read the reviews and they were good. The wand and attachments are right on the machine and the suction is suppose to be fantastic.

My first impression after unpacking and reading the instructions is it was a bit odd to use with that ball. I thought it felt heavy in my hand. Then I learned to drop my hand down and let the ball hold the weight. It is plastic and gives the impression that it is cheap compared to the metal Kirby but I read somewhere that it is made of the plastic used in crash helmets. I don’t know if that is true or not but I would expect something that cost this much to be very sturdy.

The box sticker said it had a 5-year warranty. The booklet inside the box said 2-year warranty. I called the help line and the explanation was they changed it back in August 2007 to a 5-year and the booklets were already packed in the boxes with the old information. I went ahead and registered it with the lady on the help line. I had no problem getting through on the help line.

The Dyson suction is as good as the Kirby, I think. It surprised me. I didn’t think anything could come close to the Kirby. I don’t think it is better but it is equivalent. I read the Dyson was pretty quiet. I didn’t think it was any quieter than my Kirby. This Dyson was very easy to go from floor to area rug and back. It didn’t get caught up on the edge of the rugs. You can turn the beater brush off with a button and do the hardwood floors and turn it back on for the rugs. That is a big plus. It got around the furniture easily and there is an attachment for low furniture that worked good.

To use the attachments, you park the vacuum with the handle upright which latches down a piece that automatically keeps the beater brush from rotating. The wand is held inside the hose of the handle area. You just press a button and slide it out and you are ready to attach the attachments.

The upholstery attachment worked OK on flat pillows and the couch but it bogs down easily on fabrics or softer materials. My Kirby upholstery attachment works so, so, so much better. I took my Kirby attachment and was going to use it on the Dyson but the Dyson has a smaller diameter wand. I found a small diameter wand part from an old hand held vacuum (I think it was from a Shark) that fit in the Dyson end and then I took duct tape and made the other end fit into the Kirby attachment. Yes, I like the Kirby attachment that much. I have 3 cats and their hair gets on my curtains above my window radiator where they spend much time in the winter and the attachment makes short work of it. I used this attachment with my Dirt Devil upright when I didn’t want to change over my Kirby and the suction wasn’t good enough for it to work very good. You have to have really good suction for this attachment to work. After some Micky Mousing, the Dyson had it spinning like crazy. Too bad Dyson don’t have one of their own that works like that.

One of the best things was emptying the canister. It just snapped out and you press a button and the bottom swings open and the dirt goes right into the trash. The only other experience I’ve had with a bagless vacuum was the Dirt Devil. This was so much easier than emptying the Dirt Devil upright canister. That was a really dirty job. The Kirby has a really good filter bag that wasn’t bad to change. Because it held so much, it was a job you only had to do once in a great while. But as the Kirby bag got full, I noticed it would become top heavy and the handle wouldn’t stand upright good on its own. I kind of new it was time to change the bag!

I’m very happy with the Dyson. It is going to make keeping the main living area clean a whole lot easier. It took up the cat hair easily. But I’m definitely keeping my Kirby set up for hard wood floors and keep it and use it upstairs. I know the Kirby will greatly outlast (and has higher-quality and better attachments) than the Dyson Ball Animal but the Dyson does as good a job, is not nearly as heavy and is so much easier to use.