Do you have a vacuum cleaner that works well on wood floors? Do tell!

[beccaboo]

As a bit of a follow-up to the recent thread about cleaning wood floors, I am in the market for my first new vacuum cleaner - woo hoo! (I bought the one I'm using from a co-worker for $15 when she upgraded about five years ago, and it hardly works any more.) We have mostly wood floors and a couple area rugs. I've heard that canister vacuums are more effective if you want to vacuum wood floors, but I guess I'd rather have un upright. Either way, I just want something that will work great and last a long time for not too much money. I'm not sure what my max is - maybe $200? Please help!

[friend of mine]

Riccar

I love my Riccar RC 1400. It is a canister. It is so powerful. Amazingly powerful! It is also pretty quiet when on the lower settings. And the lower settings still suck much stronger than my old Hover vacuum did. It comes with some nice attatchements. It is pretty small and light wieght - but not wimpy. The cord retracts at the push of a button. It has a telescoping handle. It has large sturdy wheels that go nicely over bumps. The list of positives go on.

We have had this vacuum for about 6 months. DH never liked to vacuum before. Now I catch him vacuuming all the time! 4-year-old DD likes to lower the telescoping handle to her size and vacuum her own room. 18-month-old DS likes to ride on it. It looks like a little red race car! And, I don't worry about his hearing because of the the lower quiet settings.

The only downer is that it is not good on rugs. I even bought the extra rug attatchment and it just doesn't work that well. We only have carpet in one room in the basement. I have an old upright that I use for that carpet and my few area rugs.

Good luck in finding something you like. I'm sure Riccar has a website. We bought ours at our local vacuum and sewing machine store. It was $250. Worth every penny.

[BathrobeGoddess]

I second getting a Riccar. They rule! They are sort of an investment but worth it. I have had my for 8 years and in that time, dropped it down the stars, sucked up hot coals and caught it on fire (don't ask: ), melted the front, sucked up pennies, bolts, nails, screws, etc. and the thing still works great!

They are made to last with metal everything, bipass motor, and removable brushes on the brush roll (so you don't have to replace the whole thing ).

Mine is an upright and it works great on rugs and has a switch to turn off the brush roll to do wood floors...why I bought the thing.

[bamboogrrrl]

We have an ancient Electrolux canister (maybe from the 50s?) that works amazing on our wood floors...

[steph]

we have a miele that's awesome on both hardwood and rugs. it's quiet, filters as much or more than a hepa filter, makes vacuming a pleasure. it's a canister and not cheap - the model we got was $600 (artico) - though some models are less and some more... i never ever thought i'd spend that much on a vacume - but it should last around 30 years or so...

[Periwinkle]

This isn't really an answer to your question about vacuumes per se, but an additional way to clean wood floors... between vacuumings or for smaller jobs.

We bought a Clorox Ready Mop and fill the cleaning solution bottle that attaches to it with water and a few tablespoons of white vinegar. It cleans really well without stripping our natural wood floors, and does a great job picking up dust and crumbs.

I have two little ones who pick up anything and everything off our our hardwood kitchen and breakfast room floors, so I have to do it once a day. It's nice to reach for something easy (and quiet during naps!) without dragging out the vacuum all the time.

[bebe luna]

We only have a few area rugs, the rest of the flooring is hard wood or tile, so we just have a Hoover bagless Quick Broom- it's a bagless mini vacuum, stands upright as tall as a vacuum but is much lighter and compact. It works great on our wood and tile floors, as well as the rugs... It cost about $45 last year.

[SimplyaMama]

I our Miele Flamenco. I bought it at Sweeps

It's been 4 years, and it's going strong. I expect it to last at least another 20.

[lavender]

We have all wood floors. I use a Shop Vac. It's not pretty, but it was only $50!

[beccaboo]

Thanks, everyone! Sounds like quite a range of products work for people. I don't have much time now to do research in stores, but I'll keep these recommendations in mind when I shop. I am making more money than usual right now, so we can decide if we want to put a part of it towards getting a better vacuum than we ordinarily would... we'll see! Thanks again.

[chevy974]

Get a Dyson sears sells them and Best buy they are GREAT as well as some of the others mentioned.

[BigBelly03]

I love my Orecks--I have the hypo-allergenic upright and the compact cannister--I use them on rugs, tile, wood and the cannister on fabrics-upholstery.....I love that the upright is so lightweight too.

[lilyka]

We just bought a Shark cannister and are especially empressed with the floor attatchment. Probably not as good as some of the other ones mentioned here but only $100 and available at Target.

[Megieblue]

I love my Miele. It was painful to hand over the cash, but I'm thankful I did everytime I use it.

[CRosewhisper]

I just got a Hoover upright bagless it has a setting for Carpets and Bare floors. Extremely low tech, cheap and does the trick. Sucks up crap for around $30. I'm thinking about getting another to stow on the second floor. The thing is light but I hate carting stuff up and down stairs. Have fun!

[camprunner]

I second getting a dyson. It works great on my wood laminate (yeah trying hard to justify replacing them with hard wood)

[Irishmommy]

I have central vac, and I love it. But it's probably more than $200 (ours was here when we bought the house).