Dyson V7 Animal Review in 2021

The Dyson V7 Animal comes with the following items out of the box:

1. V7 Extension Wand
2. Direct Drive Multi-Floor Cleaner Head
3. Docking/Charging Station
4. 2-in-1 Combination Tool
5. Crevice Tool
6. Dyson V7 Animal Vacuum (with HEPA filter)
7. Soft Dusting Brush
8. Mini-Motorized Tool
9. Wall Plug Charger

The Dyson V7 Animal was launched in 2017 and quickly became one of the most popular cordless stick vacuums on the market, even today. In the medium price range class, the V7 Animal offers great value and performance. Compared to Motorhead, Fluffy, Absolute, and Allergy, the Animal variant is my favorite.

First, only 3 of the top 5 Dyson cordless vacuums offer whole-system HEPA filtration, including V7 Animal. That's really important to me. Second, the V7 Animal model comes with every attachment except the Fluffy Cleaner Head, which can only be used on hardwood floors. Here's a comparison of the top 5 V7 models.

The V7 Animal provides 2 power settings: Normal at 25 Air Watts, and Max at 100 Air Watts. The V7 suction rating is very good. Air watts, to put it simply, is a formula that factors in both the airflow and water lift. It represents the strength and airflow volume capacity of the motor. The V7 model offers the same air watts as the V6 model, and just slightly below the 115 air watt V8 model. All in all, V7 suction is excellent so long as you properly clean the filters (see Maintenance section).

The V7 Animal offers 72 inches of water lift, which is a measurement of how much weight the vacuum can lift with the motor. This translates to how well the vacuum can pick up large, heavy debris. Every V7 model, including Motorhead, Animal, Allergy, Fluffy, and Absolute provide the same water lift rating because they all have the same exact motor and design. The airflow rating specifies the amount of air the vacuum cleaner can suck in with no attachments per minute. The V7 Animal can consume 39 CFM (cubic feet per minute), which is a great amount of air within its price class.

The V7 Animal has 2 power settings: Normal and Max. Normal offers a good 30 minute run time without any attachments (20 minutes with direct drive cleaner head), and 7 minutes on high setting regardless of attachment. This is up from 20 minutes on the V6. The V8 provides 40 minutes of run time, and each subsequent release offering even more run time, at the expense of getting heavier and bulkier.

30 minutes should be enough for an average 2000 sq ft house, but you have to factor in floor type and extent of cleaning. For instance, vacuuming carpets will consume more energy than vacuuming hardwood floors for the simple reason that the motorhead meets a lot more resistance when driving the brush through carpet. If you decide to vacuum every crevice, baseboard, and ceiling fan, one charge might not be enough.

The V7 battery charging time is 3.5 hours. When connected to the charger, a solid blue light will emit on the side of the battery indicating that it's charging. When the light shuts off, that indicates charging is complete. Dyson provides a 2 year warranty on all of its batteries.

Weighing a manageable 5.3 lbs, the V7 V7 is up from 4.6 lbs of the previous V6 generation. The extra weight is in part due to a larger battery that extends run time to 30 minutes and other improvements. Relative to V8, V10, V11, and subsequent models, I would still consider the V7 Animal low to medium weight. It's easy to hold and maneuver, even for an extended period of time.

The V7 Animal dust bin is 25% larger than the V6, filling at a modest 500ml (0.13 gallons). Even with the increase in size, it's still fairly small, and you will have to make extra trips to the trash can if your house is extra dirty. This dust bin got a surprisingly great overhaul from the previous generation of V6 dust bins in terms of simplicity and ease of use. Simply lift the small red handle up and bottom of the dust bin will fly open, releasing all the dust and debris directly into the trash can, without getting your hands dirty. The see-through canister design is great because you can see what is being picked up and how much.

Emptying the bin is quick, convenient, and clean. Should any hair get wrapped around the collector head refusing to drop down, simply shake the container or reach in and pry it off. While the design is great, points are removed for its small size.

If you're looking for a larger dust bin, you will have to skip the V8 model, which is also 500ml, and go for the V10, which provides a 50% larger dust bin than the V7 or V8.

The Dyson V7 Animal comes with a first stage pre-motor filter that removes relatively small debris as it enters the vacuum, but before it reaches the motor compartment. This allows all the larger particulates from remaining in the dust bin, and not pass through the motor stage.

Small dust particles, allergens, mold, and bacteria will still pass through the pre-motor filter, getting pushed right out into the air you breathe unless the vacuum has a HEPA filter installed.

Luckily, the V7 Animal does have a whole-system HEPA filter installed, which will trap all those undesireables within the high efficiency filtration system. This helps clean your air as you vacuum, keeping you and your family breathing fresh and clean air.

Many tests show that the Direct Drive V7 cleaner head (comes included) picks up debris from carpet with ease, large and small. Using the stiff nylon bristles, the brush drives deep into carpets to capture hard to reach dirt. Rice, Cheerios, oats, flour, and sand is picked up with no issues at normal power setting and normal cleaning pace. The vacuum also picks up pet and human hair with ease. The brush will get tangled if enough long hair is picked up, but that is to be expected.

The dual-brush cleaner head intake is slightly smaller than the V8 version and has fewer air gates which leads to higher suction. This makes this cleaner head great for deep cleaning your carpets and picking up the deep seated debris.

The V7 dual-brush cleaning head picks up fine dust with ease on any type of hardwood floors. Its high suction makes it a breeze. However, picking up larger bits like cheerios is an issue, as it tends to push the debris forward instead of picking it up. This is simply because the suction style brush roll cleaner head is not ideal for hardwood floors. It was designed to be used for both surface types, but it ended up being good for just carpets. If your house floors are primarily hardwood floors, you want to look for a vacuum with a soft roller cleaner head such as the V7 Fluffy model.

The crevice cleaning test shows the motorhead requires considerable effort picking up dirt from the crevice when going over at normal pace. If you keep the motorhead over the crevice for a couple of seconds, it tends to begin to clean it. Using the crevice tool for this purpose is a better alternative, but this goes to show that the motorhead can help with crevice cleaning.

The V7 Animal offers great usability. Transforming the vacuum cleaner from handheld to stick (and vice versa) is simple. All it takes is a push of a button to quick release the pieces, and snap in the new extensions in seconds.

The V7 has very good maneuverability. The vacuum itself is quite light, can turn 90 degrees, and lay nearly flat to reach deep underneath furniture.

The V7 produces moderate noise levels, clocking in at 65dB normal setting and 74dB on high setting. This makes it just slightly louder than the V8 version, but not by a big margin.

Maintaining the Dyson V7 Animal is relatively easy. First, empty the dust bin when the debris level reaches the marker on the side of the canister. Second, remove and clean the blue pre-motor filter located at the top of the cyclones under running water once a month. Next, remove and wash the post-motor HEPA filter under running water once a month. Dry both filters for at least 24 hours before attaching them back. If the filters are not dry (especially the pre-motor one) then the moister can damage the motor. Following those steps, the V7 Animal will operate nicely for years to come. Neither filter needs replacement.

The Dyson V7 Animal is an excellent all around vacuum. It comes with a high efficiency, air cleaning HEPA filter which the Motorhead and Absolute models do not. I highly recommend HEPA filters because they clean out mold, bacteria, fine dust, and pollen as you clean. This vacuum comes with every attachment except the Fluffy Cleaner Head which can be picked up separately for a complete accessory set. If you do not have a lot of hardwood floors, this is absolutely the #1 recommended vacuum out of all the V7s.

The V7 Animal is a tried and true cordless stick vacuum cleaner which can easily transform into a handheld vacuum cleaner. Although it was released in 2017, this vacuum has really stood the test of time as it's still one of the top selling vacuum cleaners on the market today.