My prime days Dyson package arrived… It’s definitely not the animal 2 model and I’d be 99% certain it’s a factory refurbished. Every bag was open and the catchment cylinder has a fine dust around the seals. I checked the serial number on Dyson support and it’s a base model Dyson ball ... More on forums.woot.com

Really not a deal. They've been selling that same upright for years and has many issues. Cost of maintenance for filter replacement alone is more than bags for just about any machine. There's a HEPA filter that needs to be replaced every 6 months. There's a secondary filter that needs to be washed every time you use it. On top of that the cleaner head has serious issues and you can expect repair on a regular basis for that thing. Personally I'd skip that and just go with the Hoover from the auto reply that's half the price and a much better cleaner. More on reddit.com

Thank you for this! Answered most of my questions and confirmed my suspicions that it wasn't the same.

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I may get downvoted for this, but if you have received the Ball Animal 2 already and it works for you, you should be fine with using it until it breaks. As long as you perform the filter and bin care as the manual states, then it should last at least a handful of years. The major failure point of the Ball Animal 2 and models with the same head design is that hair and other long strands of material can collect inside the head and damage it, which often results in customers having to replace the whole assembly. To avoid that, just keep up with cleaning the head. The Ball Animal 3, as Complete_Bike_7493 already mentioned, fixed that particular issue with the head and also addressed some other issues such as them being hard to push on thick carpet and rugs by adding adjustable bleeds, being mediocre on hard floors by adding gates for larger debris, and being hard to maintain for the user by adding the ability for the user to easily remove the brush roller for cleaning. Aside from the head, it is essentially the same vacuum cleaner as the Ball Animal 2, but the head alone makes the Ball Animal 3 far superior. On the other hand, being the newer model, it is more expensive than the older Ball Animal 2. You may have a hard time finding one for under $300, though I have seen them go on sale for that. The Kenmore CrossOver is a nice alternative to something such as a Dyson or a Shark. It shares many features such as the multi-cyclonic bin, washable filters, brush roll shutoff, separate brush roll motor, swivel steering, and so forth, but also has a lift-away mode and what I feel is slightly better build quality than the Dyson models. They are decent enough on hard floors, I would not say that the CrossOver is any better than the Ball Animal 2 on hard floors, but it has a more reliable brush roll design. I also prefer the quick draw wand of the CrossOver versus the hose design that the Dysons use, which requires more of a learning curve to use. More on reddit.com