Which Vacuum do you Have? Suggestions, Please!

[UnowBertr]

I’m looking for a new vacuum cleaner. I need one that can clean carpets and wood floors. My 1 year old keeps on throwing Cheerios on the floor and it would be easier to vacuum it up instead of picking it up one by one. Does anyone know of a vacuum or brand I should try?

[dairy2dogs]

Well I just ordered the Hoover Platinum Lightweight Upright Vacuum with Canister, Bagged, UH30010COM  off amazon.  edited to say I've been using it for a couple weeks and love it.  I really wanted something lightweight because I have stairs to carry it up and down.  It is so much lighter than any vac I've used before.  I can do the whole house in one go (i used to get so tired from lugging the old heavy thing around).  It works great on the wood and lineoleum too.  It changes height automatically so I just go from one type of floor to another.    I also wanted a bagged vac because of my allergies.  The canister vac comes with a bare floor attachment. I thought I might miss not having the hose attached to the upright but it really does a great job on the edges so I don't feel like I need to use the hose. 

Edited by dairy2dogs - 4/24/11 at 7:27am

[JesKace]

I have this

http://www.amazon.com/Bissell-Cleanview-Upright-Cleaner-82H1/dp/B00284BM3A/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1302359063&sr=8-1

We got it when our dyson broke and I didn't want to spend a ton of money on a new vacuum because we only have 1 area rug in our whole house.

It works pretty good on the area rug that we have in the living room, and sucks up dust bunnies and cat hair from the hardwoods/tile in the kitchen on the bare floor setting.  But as far as sucking anything else up from the floor, it spits almost everything out the back or doesn't suck it up at all and doesn't get anywhere near the corners of the room or up to the baseboard very well.   If I were to use it to suck up cheerios on the floor it wouldn't pick up even half of them.  I have to pull out the hose to get anything, and it didn't come with a floor attachment only the thing to get into the corners, which takes forever to go around with.

I felt like the dyson we had was the same way about picking stuff up and spitting it out when it was used like a regular vacuum, but the dyson had a cool hard floor attachment (like a wide flat piece that didn't have a rolling brush) that went on the hose and that thing worked awesome!  It was slim enough to get under everything and it sucked up all the dirt specks and hair even right out of the corners.  You could pop it higher or lower.  When it was on the lower setting it would almost stick to the floor because the suction what so good.  It was awesome for pulling dust and dirt out of the spaces between the hardwood planks.  When it was raised it would suck up all the cat hair and dust bunnies from like 6" around it....LOL  I would have got another one, but it was such a pain lugging out that huge vac just to use the floor attachment that I didn't feel that it was worth the $500.

If I were to buy a new vacuum now, after knowing what I know.... I'd go with a canister vac that has the floor attachment since our house is 95% hard floor.

So definitely take into consideration what type of flooring you are going to use it on the most!

[bignerpie]

I've had a Dyson for a few years. It's the only thing that will pick up all the dog hair without clogging (we have 2 very large German Shepherds).

I use it on all of our floors- carpet, hardwood, and tile. It has an option to turn the brushes off, so you can use just the suction on hardwood floors without having to use the hose/attachment.

It is a very heavy vacuum, but my house is a rancher, so I don't have any stairs to lug it up and down. To me, it is very much worth the money.

[Chamomile Girl]

We have a Oreck and I love it. It works great on both the carpet and the linoleum. Plus it is very lightweight and came with a hand vac for doing chairs and such.

[mattemma04]

I have  Bissel bagless that I got from walmart for around $50. It is a 12 amp vacuum.Decent enough. Had a Eureaka bagless 12 amp  $50-ish before this one,and it worked just as well. Dog chewed the cord. I was an Orek fan,but the last one I bought lasted less than a year and the motor caught on fire while using it in a 1 bedroom apartment(so not huge space).No replacement given so adios to that company!

 I have had better experience with the cheap vacuums.

My mom has some $300 or $400 vaccuum that starts with an E. I don't think it works better than my cheap ones.

All the vacuums I have used with the sweeping brush will knock around those cherrios unless you angle up the vacuun and land it right over the stuff. I just detach the hose on the bissel and suck up the big stuff.

[MsFortune]

I love bagless models. With the bag model seems like I never had anew bag when I needed it. Such a pain.

[treeoflife3]

I have a dyson animal and am absolutely in love with it.  I got the newer ball version but my mom has the older regular version and I love them both.  The main difference is how you steer it (took a few times to get used to the ball hehe) and the canister is smaller on the ball version.  I don't mind this because my house is small which was why I chose the ball, easier to make tight turns.

I personally find the ball dyson animal doesn't pick up bigger things like cheerios well unless I use the hose but it WILL pick them up if I roll over them just right and slowly with the beaters on (even on my hard floors, not carpet.)  My mom's regular model does just fine however without knowing how to do it just so.  The dyson however is AWESOME on small things like dust and pet hair.  I LOVE it.  It gets my wool carpet nice and clean too.  I've also noticed that my house has slightly less dust too since getting the dyson.  I don't have much dust as it is (not in a dusty area) but more reduction is always a nice thing, right?

My vote will ALWAYS be for the dyson.  Mine was 500 dollars but there are cheaper versions.  Every last cent was worth it though.  I got free two day shipping from amazon though by ordering with my amazon mom account.  I love using that!!

[chel]

I love my Hoover wind tunnel. My old one died after 11 yrs. Just got a newer model and it has a button to press to turn off the rotating brush, which is the key to picking up cereal

[cristeen]

It depends on a few things... Do you just want it to p/up Cheerios, or are you going to want to actually vacuum other stuff too? What's your budget? And what type of floors do you have?

If you want a vacuum that will serve you long and faithfully, don't buy one at a big box store. That includes Amazon. Those vacs all fall into the "disposable" category.

Find a local vac shop. One that does repairs in house if possible. We bought a Riccar, and i've never used a more reliable vac. This thing picks up anything! But there are several great brands that can only be purchased from a dealer. We chose the Riccar because it was Made in the US, had a metal motor, all the parts are replaceable, and our local vac shop repairs them in house.

If your floors are mostly hard, you need a canister. If you have some carpet or lg rugs, you will need a canister w a powered floor attachment. An upright is not appropriate for hard floors - it scatters more than it sucks. But if you have mostly carpet, then you want an upright.

I definitely prefer bagged, we have a HEPA. Canister vacs always make a mess when you dump them. I bought half a dozen bags when we bought our vac, and almost 2 years later we're still working on the 2nd bag.

[aHikaru]

I myself have never owned a vacuum and prefer to actually pic up every little thing that my daughter drops, which I feel has taught her to be more careful.

When I do borrow one, every once in awhile I use a canister vacuum. But overall I try to avoid anything that uses to much electricity, costs too much money and eventually becomes cumbersome, something les to worry about.

[JesKace]

Originally Posted by cassandraz 

I myself have never owned a vacuum and prefer to actually pic up every little thing that my daughter drops, which I feel has taught her to be more careful.

When I do borrow one, every once in awhile I use a canister vacuum. But overall I try to avoid anything that uses to much electricity, costs too much money and eventually becomes cumbersome, something les to worry about.

I hear ya!

I usually end up sweeping the floors and the one area rug we have in the house and only vacuum 1 or 2 times a month to get dust fro places the broom can't get to.   The vacuum doesn't seem to do all that much better than my good ol' broom on both the floors and rug :) And  since I don't have anywhere to keep it on our main living level the vacuum is downstairs in the basement and is a pain to lug it up the stairs if I were to use it more than that...LOL

[earthymama2be]

We have the Hoover platinum mentioned above... Works awesome, mid priced, got it for 299 at bed bath beyond- 20%coupon. Have not tried getting up cheerios, but it sucks the rocks in our mudroom right up lol! Also the separate canister is great for upholstery!

[BCFD]

We have a Kirby Sentria and it's seriously amazing.  I'd recommend it to anybody who wants to suck up some serious yuk in their house.  However, for small little spills like that, I usually just use our battery operated Swiffer sweeper.  Works perfect when you don't want to drag out the big guns.