The Dyson DC17 is the latest vacuum released into the ‘Animal’ line by Dyson in October of 2006. It looks almost exactly like the DC14 with a modified canister. I have not had a chance to get my hands on a DC17 Animal yet but in the research I’ve done, except for the few differences discussed below, your looking at essentially a DC14 Animal so feel free to read the DC14 Animal review if you’d like.

The canister now has “Level 3 Root Cyclone” which I won’t even attempt to decipher and explain other than to say it’s similar to the DC14 and DC15 except has 3 levels of particle separation vs 2 with the others.

It also has the motorized head as in the DC15 Animal. This give the beater bar it’s own dedicated motor and a slightly less powerful motor (as compared to the DC07/DC14) for the suction. With all the engineering that goes into the Dysons, I can’t imagine a “slightly less powerful” motor will equate to “slightly less” cleaning power. Keep in mind that the more powerful motor on the DC07 and DC14 also had to drive the beater bar.

The folks at Dyson also redesigned the brush bar reportedly with “American carpets” in mind. Whatever that means. In any event, the bar is now cylindrical in shape as apposed to the ‘flat’ bars of all predecessors.

I’ll hold off passing judgment until I can see one but the flatter design in the DC07/DC14 and DC15 were very easy to clean because the scissors could follow a flatter surface easier than a round one. We’ll see.