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

Product Information

The V8 Animal also comes with a mini motorised tool for cleaning sofas and other awkward areas. Like the direct-drive floor head, this has a motorised brush bar for getting rid of pet hair and stubborn dirt on upholstery or car interiors.

While we don’t usually advocate rotating brush bars for softwood floors such as parquet, the Direct Drive head’s nylon bristles are shorter than the carbon filaments. In use, the head’s small front wheels keep the nylon brush high, so that it barely touches the floor, while the carbon brush sweeps away merrily. We’ve written an in-depth comparison of the AirRam Mk2 and V8 series here. In short, the V8 is the better vacuum with more suction power and greater versatility. The AirRam Mk2 is cheaper and effective for floor cleaning though – but we don’t recommend it for pet hair. What About the Vax Blade 2 Compared to the Animal? The V8 Animal has a maximum run-time of 40-minutes. This is only achievable when you’re not using a powered tool though. If you attach the direct-drive cleaner head or turbo tool, the run-time drops to around 25-minutes, while it only lasts 7-minutes when in boost mode.Soft dusting brush (Not included with V8 Origin, V8 Animal (Updated), or V8 Absolute (Updated) variants)

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. 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.

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The standard direct-drive cleaner has a mini “ball” joint. This isn’t the same as Dyson’s true “Ball” models, but makes it easy to whip around furniture and other obstacles. This was the acid test for the V8 Animal and it passed with flying colours The Direct Drive floor head never failed to amaze in how it lifts pet hairs from carpets, irrespective of whether the cleaner is on standard or MAX power mode. 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. 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. 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.