Dyson DC40 Animal Lightweight Dyson Ball Upright Vacuum Cleaner

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Despite this model not looking too much smaller than other Dyson models, it weighs far less. Under 7kg, in fact. In addition, the mass is low down in the ball, so it balances easily in the hand while carrying. With no bags and washable lifetime filters, that’s it for accessories. Your only running costs will be electricity – and it doesn’t use much of that. Dyson engineers must have something of a personal issue with crevices. The Light Ball comes with three individual tools for getting into nooks, crannies and other awkward spots. The main crevice tool is ported from other models in the range, is suitably long and has a slide-down soft dusting brush. In fact, Dyson’s cleaners have never been mains power-hungry monsters. They’ve often consumed much less energy than rivals anyway. With a 900W power limit to with which to comply, you might think an 899W motor would be the way forward. Not so – the Light Ball has a 700W motor and an annual estimated consumption of just 28kWh. That’s a solid A-rating for efficiency and less than a fiver of electricity per year.

Go for the Ball Animal Complete and you get two more attachments. The first is a mattress tool, which is essentially a 188mm wide version of the 118mm stair tool. Lastly, there’s the reach-under tool, which is a slimmer, bendy crevice tool. It comes with its own slim dusting brush, for really reaching into hard-to-clean spaces, such as behind radiators or furniture.

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The indents on the purple nut were just too small for my fingers, which made things a little awkward. Removing the filter itself also proved a challenge. It’s sealed on tight and there’s nothing to grip onto. We suspect this will loosen a little when it’s been off and washed a few times, however. On a straight staircases, getting all the way to the top is even easier. The only caveat to the Light Ball’s usability on stairs is the long wand. You do end up holding the wand a long way from the business end of the cleaning. This simply isn’t as easy as using a handheld cordless cleaner, for example.

One of the filters is housed in the middle of the Root Cyclone gubbins at the top of the bin. This is much like the main filter on the V-series cordless models, only bigger. The second filter is hidden in one half of the ball. Unscrew the purple plastic ‘nut’ at the wheel hub, remove a half-wheel and rotate the filter to remove. We struggled with this, though. READ NEXT: The best cordless vacuum cleaners to buy Dyson Ball Animal Complete review: What’s it like to use?Anyone looking for Dyson vacuuming power in a large house with hairy pets is going to find the consistent, heavy-duty cleaning prowess of the Dyson Ball Animal a real boon. However, it doesn’t come without its caveats. Dyson’s latest upright, the Dyson Ball Animal, is an update of its previous Ball Animal upright vacuums. There are three in the range now, one that looks almost identical to the original Ball Animal, and two that have the larger body and extra features of the Ball Animal 2. Flour is a tougher customer, and we test with a 50g spillage. Here the Dyson did particularly well, collecting 49g from hard floor and 48g from carpet. Usually we see some dust residue in these tests but I really couldn’t see the missing flour on the floor in either of these tests. I suspect it was probably trapped in nooks and crannies around the vacuum’s various parts, though it’s nothing that wouldn’t get dislodged by fluff if you went on to give a carpet a good clean afterwards. Controls are simple: one button for on/off and one to start/stop the brush bar. The motor itself is claimed to be 40% quieter than previous Dyson models. In use, it certainly is: we measured just 65-66dB vacuuming over carpet. That’s blissfully quiet. Yet the energy label states 80dB. Hmmm. The Light Ball aims to be all things to all cleaning duties. It combines the floor-cleaning gumption of an upright with the spot- and detail-cleaning flexibility of a cylinder. Simply pull the wand from the rear of the handle, attach the tool and off you go.

READ NEXT: The best handheld vacuum cleaners to buy Dyson Ball Animal Complete review: Should I buy it?The reality of reducing motor power can’t be overcome by good airflow design alone – although Dyson gives it a damn good try. The Light Ball uses close to half the power of Dyson’s Big Ball Cinetic (700W power consumption compared to 1300W) yet gives away only 25% in suction power. It offers 90AW compared to the Cinetic’s 120AW. Impressive indeed.

Despite looking like a mini-me of the old Big Ball upright, Dyson’s Light Ball is all-new. This eco and weight-trimmed upright vacuum cleaner complies with the EU’s new sub-900W power limit for vacuum cleaners. It better be good – or we’ll have to protest by leaving the EU. Oh, hang on… While this basic Multi-Floor version is never going to cope with multi-pet homes, for a singular pooch or tabby it isn’t bad. For outstanding hard floor and excellent carpet cleaning from only 700W of power, we can’t think of any other cleaner that gets close. Verdict On hard floors, the ball steering is precise and the machine never skids or slides. It does take a fair bit of force to tilt the cleaner into a turn – a little more so than Dyson’s own V-series, for example – yet not onerously so.We are the largest suppliers of assorted Dyson spares in the UK, in addition to parts from other leading appliance brands. With over 40 years’ experience in the spare parts industry, our relationships with these brands is solid, so you can rest assured that our products are high-quality and authentic. At 6.9kg, you still wouldn’t want to be doing the cleaning equivalent of hill repeat exercises with the Light Ball. Thankfully, you don’t need to. The stupendously stretchy hose and long wand combined to get to the very top of our stairs – all the more impressive given the rather awkward about-turn in our staircase half way up. At its heart is Dyson’s proven Radial Root Cyclone bagless technology. Multiple cyclones claim to optimise airflow and capture dust and allergens in the bin, rather than jettisoning them into your room. This eases the strain on the cleaner’s filter system, allowing Dyson to fit just two washable lifetime filters. That is top-spec, A-rated dust emission. It has a 10m cable and needs to be kept plugged in at all times. I found that with it plugged into a central hall or landing, it could quite happily reach most of the rooms on each floor of my house, with only one unplugging required to reach the extremities of an extension.