Dyson, Where Have You Been All My Life?!

After months of deliberating, hemming and hawing and self-convincing, I finally took the plunge today and bought a Dyson. We've had a Hoover WindTunnel (it wasn't even bag-less!) for over ten years now. The cord was pretty frayed and I think it was starting to go downhill. So I've been in the market for a new vacuum. I posed the question on Facebook - which vacuum should I buy. The answer was unanimous - DYSON! Seems the company has quite a loyal following - everyone was raving about them. But the price tag is what lead to my hesitation. These vacuums are not cheap. I just couldn't convince myself to spend between $400 - $600 on a vacuum cleaner. Well, I just so happened to receive my 30% off coupon from Kohls this past week and Target also had the Dyson DC25 animal on clearance for $429. That was still a bit too much for me to consider spending. Then I found out that Kohl's does price matching so I decided that would be a heck of a deal - $429 plus 30% off - that would be a no-brainer. So I went to Kohls this morning and talked to the a salesperson. Turns out that you can't combine the price match and the 30% off coupon - figured that was too good to be true. They did however, have a couple Dyson's on sale so I decided to check them out. I played with the newer "ball" vacuums which seemed like a neat feature but I really don't mind pushing the vacuum back and fourth - its not worth an extra $100-$200 to not have to do that (I mean, it's not like the thing vacuums itself, you still have to push it). So for $399 they had the DC33 model. The weight felt about the same as the DC25 and since I decided I could live without the ball, this meant I could get a Dyson for $399 with 30% off plus $10 in Kohl's cash for every $50 spent. So I took the plunge and made the purchase. Before tax it was $279 but keep in mind - I also got $50 in Kohls cash - and there is always something I need from Kohls. So in my mind I only spent $229 for a Dyson vacuum which is about what any decent vacuum would cost. I brought it home and put that puppy to work. And WOW....it's a bit scary how much stuff it picked it. Now, granted, I have never owned a bag-less vacuum before so I can't tell you how much my old vacuum picked up but this just seemed like A LOT! Mainly dog hair of course but there was also a lot of dust and dirt in there. I'm still curious what the DC25 "animal" would do that mine doesn't because I'm quite pleased with my vacuum. I'm probably better off not knowing because I refuse to spend the extra money for the ball or the "animal" feature. After one use I believe I have become a Dyson loyalist and I am enjoying my VERY clean floors - now will someone come and clean the rest of my house for me?