Ball Animal 3 for $279 is a good buy if you want a bagless upright, but as others have stated - bags provide many benefits (specifically machine cleanliness and overall filtration). With a bagless machine, every time you empty the bin the dust goes flying… so make sure to empty it outside. Also - the cyclone pack will eventually get crudded up and start smelling like a musty dog. Thank goodness on a Dyson upright it’s fairly straightforward to clean it out, but still a project (on their stick vacs it’s an absolute nightmare). Contrast that with a bagged machine in which you simply… change the bag. The dust is all trapped inside, and quality machines even plug the bag when you remove it. Since the bag itself is your primary filter, every time you change it - you “refresh” your machine. Yes, there’s a nominal recurring cost… but bags go further than many people think they do, and some vacs have very large bags in the first place. More on reddit.com

I bought this vacuum around 6 months ago. It is the best vacuum I have experienced. I have dogs that shed a lot, and it picks up the hair very well. I love the portability. The canister has to be emptied pretty frequently, but to me that is a fair tradeoff for not having to deal with a cord. It's much easier for me to more frequently vacuum a smaller mess versus a large mess infrequently. More on reddit.com

I’ve had the ball animal for over a decade and it’s been an absolute beast. Never any issues. 3 dogs btw More on reddit.com

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