Product Review: Dyson V7 Animal Pro

Like so many of you, my wife and I are meticulous shoppers. Whether it be online or in-person, we tend to put a lot of research into the things we purchase so that we know we're putting our hard-earned money on the proper products. There are so many options for even basic items like leashes and collars that it's easy to get lost in what we're buying.

We will be writing reviews as we purchase and use these items ourselves. As you do your research for products you're planning to buy, our goal is to add another layer to that research.

At the expense of sounding too grandiose, we flipped back and forth on doing this post because of how much of a luxury item it seems. Seeing how we're still in the middle of allergy season and because Markus is a heavy shedding dog, this product has been such a godsend for us that we wanted to share it with you. The product we're reviewing this week is the Dyson V7 Animal Pro.

I recognize that as I write this, the Dyson V7 is dated and there are now newer models that are superior in technology and performance. It is actually because of these newer models that we lucked into some clearance prices for the older V7 models, which are more than enough for us.

For this update, I won't be doing a deep dive of the specs for the vacuum cleaner (you can find these on other blogs) since this is a dog blog. I'm only going to be focusing on the features that I think are important for dog owners to consider when purchasing a vacuum from Dyson and a fair assessment of the one that we do have.

The Dyson V7 Animal Pro

As dog owners, the Dyson V7 Animal Pro has been an amazing product to own and there are a few things that we love it. Dyson vacuums are known for its reliability of suction power and honestly, dog's fur is light and wispy. Picking up loose furs off the ground is no problem for a machine like this and frankly shouldn't be for any vacuum cleaner.

Dyson vacuum cleaners usually come with a clear canister attached to the vacuum so you can watch as the garbage accumulated. This canister's easily emptied, which will be important to have if your dog loses a lot of fur like ours.

Emptying the canister on a Dyson's really easy to do. On the V7 Animal Pro, it really is just a pull of a lever and the bottom opens up for the garbage to fall out into a bag. I should say that because dog fur is so light and it can get packed when it's being sucked in so the fur doesn't always fall out immediately. Sometimes we need to stick our hand in to jimmy a few furs loose before the rest falls out.

The Dyson V7 Animal Pro canister filled with Markus’ fur and dust

The Dyson V7 Animal Pro also comes with a different heads, which has turned out to be pretty crucial for a dog owner. Markus' fur isn't always so obvious on the ground - sometimes it floats on over to corners that are tucked in or hard to reach. Other times, his fur gets stuck on the couch and it's not so easy to vacuum out. This is where the different heads and attachments come in handy.

Whether it's the crevice tool or the mini motorized brushroll, these attachments come in extremely handy when trying to get to the awkward spots or trying to get fur off places where fur tends to stick like the fabric on couches. Paired with strong suction, these attachments are great for keeping your floors and furniture clean and fur-free.

Keep in mind that there are multiple bundles within the V7 line that come with different accessories like brush heads and filters.

For us, the biggest asset is that the vacuum cleaner is wireless. Markus' fur piles up pretty quickly and when it does, it starts to roll in the wind like wispy tumbleweeds. To be able to pick up the vacuum from the charging dock and start vacuuming right where they are sure beats having to plug the vacuum in. A secondary benefit of the vacuum being wireless is that you don't have to lug around the wire when there's a dog running around the vacuum while it's on.

To HEPA or not

It's worth mentioning that the Dyson V7 Animal Pro comes with a HEPA filter. If you're hoping to keep the allergies at bay, this is important because it's actually less about the fur and more about the pet dander that gets the allergies going.

Although the vacuum won't capture all of it, the HEPA filter ensures that any of the finer allergens that the vacuum sucks up isn't just shot back out into the air. Not all of the Dyson V7's have this, so if you're planning on picking one up and the filter is important to you, be sure to double check that the bundle or the model comes with it as opposed to going for the sets with more attachments.

Regardless of the filter, it's important to keep the filter clean by running it under water and Dyson makes this really easy too. The filter is easily accessible and they recommend to keep things fresh, this should be done about once a month with 24 hours drying time in between.

Beware of Fake Attachments

During Markus' shedding season, we got greedy and looked for ways to speed up the grooming process. On days we had to groom him indoors, we'd brush him and for whatever we couldn't pick up, we'd vacuum the rest. We asked ourselves - what if there was an attachment that allowed us to do both at the same time?

Sure enough, we found an attachment for the Dyson that would allow us to brush and vacuum at the same time. The attachment acts as a dog brush kind of like the bristles of a slicker brush and a vacuum cleaner head. You would brush the dog and then hit a button that would retract the bristles and suck everything in. The concept is actually quite clever and at the time, we thought the attachment came from Dyson, but we were wrong.

We bought this through Amazon and when it arrived, it was pretty clear without even having to use it that the product was faulty. You can immediately tell from colour and the product's material that it was made differently. We tried to connect the attachment to the vacuum cleaner and not only did it not stay on, but it was so poorly connected that it lost the suction that the Dyson brand is known for.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the vacuum is loud and Markus isn't a dog that sits still with a loud vacuum going next to them. If you're thinking about purchasing a head like this (we don't recommend unless it's really by Dyson), try running the vacuum cleaner next to your dog to see if they're comfortable with it first.

It also doesn't work well for handhelds. The attachment could work if the vacuum was always on. Since handhelds require you to hold the button, it's not the greatest experience to groom the dog and then switch to retract the bristles and hold the button down. By then, the dog's taken off because of the sound already.

We never tried the brush on Markus. The biggest reason was because it's not an authentic Dyson product, so it didn't work the way we wanted it to. The second reason was when we actually got to hold it in our hands, we realized how flawed the concept really was so we just got our money back for it.

As I mentioned from the very beginning, I recognize that the Dyson V7 Animal Pro is a luxury item that's typically more expensive than other vacuums on the market. We've been using this vacuum for a while now and it's still as powerful as the first day that we got it. For the price you're paying for a Dyson vacuum cleaner, you are getting a very high-quality product and you're going to be happy that you did in the long run.

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