I purchased the DC 17 Animal after ruining my second bissel in the span of 3 yrs (I don't know what I've been doing to these things.. I think I'm an aggressive cleaner or something). We have 2 small dogs, so I used my bissel pet hair attachment ALL THE TIME.

My overall opinion is that the dyson is a good product at a reasonable price, especially given the 5 year warranty. The "cyclone" technology is no joke. The main unit does an excellent job of picking up things my old vacuum cleaner missed. Like others, I had to empty the canister probably no less than 5x during my first vacuum while the dyson picked up things my old bissel did not. The cons of the product are that the pet hair attachment is mediocre, in my opinon (not really any better than the pet hair attachment from my bissel). Also, I find the attachment arm is awkward. It's not terrible, it's just a little akward. Last, Dyson's user guide leaves a little to be desired... just some random photos that I still haven't really figured out.

In any case, a great product for the price. A few small downsides, but far outweighed by the good, in my humble opinion.

I have two English mastiffs total combined weight of 350lbs and two cats plus I have extremely long hair myself. So you can only imagine the amount of hair that is constantly all over my floor, couch, clothes, ok who are we kidding here all over everything. I have burned through about eight different vacuums that all claimed to be able to lift pet hair and so forth. Well needless to say a bunch of empty promises later had me once again in search of a vacuum that would stand true to its name.
I too was just like you are now, hesitant because of the hefty price tag that comes along with the Dyson. I believe that I spent an entire week scrubbing the internet reading hundreds of reviews about the Dyson Animal and after I stumbled upon one lady who owned 16 cats and her glowing review I decided that if it worked for that many cats it might have a shot in my household. One of my friends has one but is wasn't the Animal version, she said it was good and that is was worth the money. She did fail to express how good it really was.
Rest assured I do not work for Dyson or have any ties to them what so ever. However OMG BUY THIS VACUUM if you have a animal hair problem in your house.
I used to joke and say that I wanted a vacuum that would suck the carpet off the floor, well I believe that the Dyson has that ability. It not only cleaned the carpet beyond recognition I think it made it new again. At the time I was living in a run down rental house and there were stains on the carpet prior to me renting, we cleaned that carpet for 12 hours straight one night with a steamer and the stains never came up. However one swipe with the Dyson Animal and TA DA no stains...PURE MAGIC!
I don't know why they don't show things like that on the commercials or the massive amounts of hair that it picks up that you can't see but these are huge selling points. I always find myself amazed every time I vacuum now and empty the canister you could make another animal out of all the hair it picks up. Speaking of the canister this is one company who has it right. When you go to empty it and remove/replace it back on the vacuum you never once get your hands dirty. everything is controlled from a push button located at the top. I always hated emptying the vacuum and all the dirt would get on my hands from opening/closing the container well no more with the Dyson.
I have had my Dyson Animal just about 8 months and I love it. It has changed the way that I clean. I threw out the swifter things, threw out the push broom for quick jobs. The Dyson is truly the only cleaning machine you need. It makes cleaning fun, easy and fast. I know the price is high but trust me it is worth every penny and more. I would like to own two just in case, God forbid anything ever happens to mine, I have a back up without having to suffer a day without it. I love the Dyson Animal and from this point on will purchase no other. Thank you DYSON!

This vacuum rocks for suction power. It takes our dog's black hair off of our light carpets with ease. It is heavy and I cannot get under my sofa, but I have made adjustments.

While I think it is a good vaccum, trying to get warranty service for it is awful. I either had to drive it 90 minutes from my house or send it back to Dyson. I opted for the latter. They had it three weeks and offered to provide updates as the repairs went along. However, the SEVEN times I called, they had no idea what was going on with it because their "systems were down." I guess face to face interaction doesn't work at Dyson. Anyway, I got it back only to find out that a plastic part that held the extension tube onto the main vacuum was broken. Guess what? I had to return it AGAIN for another THREE weeks!!!

I will NOT buy another Dyson because of the service problem. If you feel the same about being inconvenienced when you pay $500 for a vacuum, I suggest you do the same.

When our old venerable Kirby vacuum bit the dust (after so many years of good service) and my wife suggested Dyson, at first I was real reluctant because I could easily bought 2 vacuum cleaners for 1 Dyson. But after reading a bunch of reviews online about Dyson, I thought to give it a chance. Thus far, it has proven to be a great bet. I actually enjoy vacuuming now because I feel like I actually clean our carpet w/ the DC17. In my opinion our investment of $319 for this DC17 is well-worth it.

Remanufactured Dyson DC17 Animal Cyclone Upright Vacuum Cleaner

It works, and it works well- very well. My wife is a stickler for cleaning our carpets. Our dog, a short-hair, does her best to contribute to the cause. Our previous vacuum was a Eureka Sanitaire. I've seen my wife vacuum the living daylights out of the carpeting with it only to follow up with a canister unit until she was satisfied. So when this Dyson arrived I felt that there wouldn't be much left for it to pull out. In less than a minute the Dyson was full of dog hair.

Wow.

There's a lot of plastic in the construction, but it appears to be "well done plastic."

If you want an upright that will take the dog hair out of your carpet, it's hard to believe that any product could do it better than the Dyson DC17 "Animal." It really is that good.