I have my first ever Dyson and just love it!! One thing I learned when we were searching Dysons was that the "Animal" refers to the hand attachment itself and you don't have to buy the "Animal" model necessarily if you find the basic Dyson on a good sale. The basic model had the same specs as the one that is packaged as "Animal". Dc-8 or something like that? You can always buy that attachment separately. It is pricey though so prolly best to get with the package if you plan to use it. That said - though I love my Dyson, I am not that impressed with the animal attachment itself. I usually do not bother with it at all. It is the suction of the vacuum that is so wonderful!! It literally picks the carpet up off the floor and sucks out all the dust and hair - cleans like crazy Sometimes that cup is full to the brim with cat hair that I thought was gone!! Like the commercial says, it does not lose suction. I noticed that the newer light weight model that moves on a roller ball actually has less power than the basic clunkier model.

I recently saw a TV commercial for a new model available at WalMart - some name brand I don't remember at the moment - and it sounded like it used the same cyclone technology of the Dyson and I wondered if that might be something to look into and more affordable? $4-500 IS a lot to pay for a vacuum - even though I love it very much and am glad I have it.