You win some and you lose some......
Had a DC39 Animal since 2012. Used my son's Cinetic Origin he bought last year to clean exact same areas. My thoughts are as follows:
Barrel design - pulling marginally improved, still a dog of a thing to pull - especially on pile carpet or when cord gets in the way and pull it over the cord. The tiny little wheel(s) front and back contribute little to the gliding over surfaces apart from smooth hardwood floors. Thankfully the change to the barrel has lowered the centre of gravity and it doesn’t fall on its side anywhere near as often as the DC39 when dragged.
Cannister - less fiddly to put back in after empting, people who use the DC39 will know it can be a hit and miss to get it right first up. The removed canister will now sit upright reliably if placed on the floor instead of falling over or rolling around on its side. Interesting design for emptying contents - definitely quicker to empty contents due to the drop down mechanism allowing waste to not jam against the side wall of the clear plastic as much. Still needs work, as the red push button on the cannister needs to be fully pushed down to return the clear plastic section back to original position, otherwise the ratchet engages early and shroud won't go back up. If you have pet hair, some will jam in the holes of the silver foil filter, and the ratchet/rail drop down mechanism prevents easy access - something the DC39 was better with access. So net benefit of the changes zero. Lots of flimsy components, so longevity may be an issue. Do not drop the cannister at all, there is only one small clip to lock the drop down lid in place - positioned just where it would hit the ground and snap off, rendering the canister useless and I presume a very expensive replacement. This clip needs some force to lock in properly. Something for Dyson to address.
Hose - Dyson have saved money here and used a less solid hose as it squashes a lot easier, so may split sooner with years of pulling (see above)
Wand - if you are a tall person you will consider updating, as you won't be stooping over as much. The caveat is that Dyson have again made some savings by using slightly thinner plastic – it doesn’t feel as solid. With the adapter you can use DC39 heads on your new Dyson (but not the other way around, naturally!). Not quite sold on the articulated section, did find a use when leaning over the back of couches etc, but longevity is likely to be an issue. The DC39 wand wears down the plastic at joins over time, causing air leaks when held in certain positions, so wouldn’t expect this wand to be any better. Feels solid new, but I can assure you the joins will get sloppier over the years. It’s the price you pay for not having heavier mild steel chrome wands. Periodically dismantle the wand and hose assembly if you have people in your family with long hair - it will resemble a shower drain plug with time, strings of gunge collect just as it does on the DC39.
Power head- My son bought the turbine head separately - take note dyson, it is cheaper to buy your base model and go to a service centre to buy the turbine head than to purchase a model where it comes with it! People are not stupid, adjust your prices appropriately. The service centres don’t even ask why you want to buy one anymore and keep heaps in stock. It is essentially the same deal as the DC39 though - still gets hair and cotton threads wound around the brush and a mongrel time consuming process to clean. Dyson, design something where the brush can be removed with minimal fuss! If you think to use a coin to turn the retainer disc on one end, don’t - it will wear loose over time to a point where the retainer disc falls out during use. This is a high speed rotating device and needs a solid housing.
Suction - the no loss of suction claim is nonsense. The DC39 experiences it, however the cinetic has a larger % drop off in suction as the waste canister fills up. Not sure if it has anything to do with the "shaver" foil filter on the canister. Massive difference in suction and turbine head rotation between full and empty compared to my 10 year old DC39. A quick dismantle of the DC39, a wash of the centre filter and a blow out with a compressor and you’re good to go as new. There is no washable filter with the cinetic, but probably means the motor filter inside the barrel that you can’t service as easily will clog more as I can tell you the amount of dust the washable filter collects is significant. Probably a deliberate ploy by dyson like car dealerships – service costs are more profitable over time.
Power cord: Dyson saved some money again, significantly shorter than the DC39.
Dual mode floor tool - certainly in hard floor mode removes things off of the floor a lot better than our DC39 hard floor tool (which gets clogged with pet hair and stops things being sucked up until the hair is removed) I think largely due to the purple plastic wiper blades, with the caveat that dyson need to change the location of where objects are sucked up on the dual mode tool. There are only holes at the side, nothing at the back, and tiny cutouts on the front blade, meaning that hair/larger objects are dragged backwards/forwards on hard floors until you lift the head to suck it up the wand. Side slots are great for up against architraves, but forward back motion it is not. It is a shame that the height adjustment is one way - drop down is automatic, but raising requires the user to lift the wand to access the head and manually push it back up, despite the two separate levers that do the same thing. This head is large, and so don't expect it to twist and rotate neatly parallel to the wand to access narrow spaces behind cupboards etc like the hard floor tool does. (NB Dyson, please weight the hard floor tool such that it doesn't lay on a 45 degree angle to the floor with the slightest friction when pulling the wand backwards or forwards).
On/off and power cord retract buttons - as long as you are using fingers or gentle bare feet (sheepskin slippers, you get the picture), these are a real danger of being snapped off by shoes and a bit of force. Not a bad idea, just not implemented well given the intended way it is to be used.
Overall - some gains, some losses. I don't think I will be throwing out the DC39 yet. People complain about the filter inside the barrel with the motor. Yep, wouldn't attempt unless you take your time, are a bit of a handy person and have tools (the torx screws can be undone by a smaller allen key). But the DC39 has same idea, and went 11 years to its first clean (and the filter was slightly damaged in the dyson factory!) and still running on the original, so may not need to get so fussy as suggested!
