We have bought handheld vacuums in the past, you know the black and decker £50 ones that really don’t seem to do the job, they just suck a bit, clog up and need to be emptied every two seconds. They don’t last that long either and the range of attachments is limited to say the least.

I’d looked at the previous range of Dyson handhelds and wasn’t convinced. But they have just launched a new range of which the flagship of the range is the DC31 Animal. The new vacuum comes with an all new patented digital electric motor that spins at up to 104,000rpm. This new motor helps to give the vacuum cleaner truly stunning suction power.

The model I decided to purchase was the DC31 Animal and it has turned out to be an excellent choice. The most useful element of the DC31 Animal is the motorised brush. Using it on the stairs its brilliant and better than using a normal vacuum cleaner. Its also very easy to clean the motorised brush, a simple turn of the end with a coin and the bar comes out and you can untangle anything thats in its way and then slip it back in and lock it in place.  Its not heavy to use either it feels surprisingly light in fact, my wife prefers to use it than the standard vacuum sometimes.

Battery life is good but not great, you can do the stairs and a bit more with ease or do the entire car with it no problem. Charging takes a good while but it is a Li-Ion battery so you should get any loss of battery performance for a long time after your purchase. You can use the boost mode (there is a button on the back to get full power mode) to get even more suction but to be honest I don’t tend to use it that much and on the standard setting there is more than enough suction for most situations.

Emptying the cylinder is easy peasy, press the button and bing, the rubbish is gone. It does fling out quite quickly so hold it in the bin not over it when you do it otherwise you will get the rubbish flying everywhere.

There is a filter that needs washing once a month or so depending on usage but do keep it clean. Many people don’t keep the filters clean on their Dysons and wonder why they aren’t performing as well as when they bought them.

The 2 year warranty is good and gives a good bit of piece of mind.

Conclusion

Lets face it at £150 its expensive but do you know what it just works and does a brilliant job in the process. It would be better if the price was sub £100 but to be honest it really is THAT much better than any other handheld I’ve used, and then some. You could go for the standard DC31 model without the motorised brush but I wouldn’t its a great addition that really is worth having. Oh and the colour purple does look great on it and very funcky sitting there in the house (did I really just say that?!?).

9/10 for me, a little improvement to the battery life and reduced cost and this would be 10/10

# Motorised brush bar for pet hair pick-up
# Dyson digital motor
# Dual power mode for 10 minutes of high constant suction or 6 minutes with 40% higher suction
# Lightweight – only 1.5kg for easy handling
# LED low battery power indicator
# Patented Root Cyclone technology
# Quick and hygienic to empty – just press the button
# No extra costs – no bags or filters to buy
# 22.2V lithium ion battery – recharges up to 3 times faster than others
# Crevice tool converts to brush tool for dusting
# 2 years parts and labour guarantee