Anybody bought a vacuum cleaner lately?

My favorite vacuum

I once sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door, often "cold" calling. Talk about the ULTIMATE sales job! Good thing the brand I was selling easily out-performed any vacuum the "prospects" already owned and used. My brand(only sold new door-to-door)...FILTER QUEEN. They are simply the end-all to total ceiling to floor cleaning. Also just happen to totally clean the air while doing so(hospitals use them). They are not cheap. Sales people offer prospective buyers "big bucks" for their used brand, then deduct that from an overblown retail price for the Filter Queen. Got tired of my sales supervisor wanting me to be dishonest with people, so I quit. Found terrific buys of used Filter Queens on eBay. They last a lifetime and then some! You'll NEVER buy another brand! Closest to Filter Queen quality? Rainbow(uses water). Filter Queen has patents Dyson can't touch. Just thought I'd share this if someone insists on wanting the finest in total house filtering and cleaning.
 
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kyounge1956 said:
Does anyone use a robot vacuum (e.g. Roomba)? I have contemplated getting one of these for a small house with hard floors throughout except possibly an area rug or two. I have one longhaired cat and may add another cat or two in the future. I am thinking a robot might keep the loose hair and scattered litter picked up better, or at least more frequently, than I am likely to! .
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Yes we have been using them for several years now but are about to switch back to a more conventional vacuum. The Roomba's seem to work great on carpets "when they work" unfortunately, with weekly use, they only seem to last about a year before they start having problems and good luck finding the right parts especially at a reasonable price.
 
Midpack said:
It depends on your needs, carpet, tile, wood, traffic, sqft, pets? If you don't have pets any vacuum may well work for you, I'd just see what a Consumer Reports recommends and buy it.

We had two long haired dogs, and went through a Hoover, Eureka and Oreck each in less than a year. :mad: Even cleaning the rollers of hair on the Oreck every time we used it, it was toast in less than a year. :mad: Then we bought a Dyson Animal (we'd resisted because it was $500), but it's still going as strong as ever more than 5 years later. Works great! So even though they may be overpriced, we've definitely gotten our money's worth out of the Dyson already, so you get what you pay for (more often than not).
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I agree, it depends on what you want the vacuum to do. I had an Oreck that lasted about 15 years and loved it, but I had no indoor pets. Currently have a yellow Dyson. It works ok but it is overpriced. I used airline miles to get it.
 
M Paquette said:
We're looking at an Oreck Magnesium, a 7-8 lb light vacuum. This would replace the 30-odd lb Hoover that DW doesn't want me lugging up and down the stairs any more when I vacuum. Costco has a pretty reasonable price on it right now compared to what Oreck usually wants.

I just wonder about maintenance on the thing. It looks like parts aren't available to the public, and all service/repairs have to be done through a factory authorized suck broom dealer.
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I always bought the parts directly from Oreck in La. We had no store close by.
 
gsparks2 said:
I always bought the parts directly from Oreck in La. We had no store close by.
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I bought it and owned the thing for about a day. Unlike the older Oreck vacuums, the Oreck Magnesium was built to not be user serviceable. When the 'lifetime belt' failed after about 20 minutes of use, I called the Customer Service line, and was told that I could take the machine to the nearest service center, or I could return it to Costco. I took a close look at the machine, and it required some special tools to open up. While I could find or fab the tools needed easily, the idea bothered me. Well, that and having a brand new vacuum die after almost cleaning one room, and it's less than great performance at that task.

I returned it to Costco, took the cash, and got the $100 Hoover PAWS Wind Tunnel upright. It's heavier, really ugly, but cleans better, can turn off the brush roll for bare floors, and I can get and replace parts very easily. Heck, when I eventually replace the belt, there's a simple tool-free release of the belt cover to make this easy.
 
I have owned a Dyson DC25 Animal for a while now. Really like it. Easy to use, easy to carry around, easy to clean.

The cost is high, but this may well be one that lasts me for a very long time without aggravation.
 
Best vacuum ever

I bought my vacuum 15 plus years ago. I have never had a problem. It picks up dust and dirt every other vacuum leaves behind. I have tested it. No vacuum will beat it ever. It is pricey so be prepared. It cost more than Kirby. It does not use a filter. It uses water.

Rainbow. http://rainbowsystem.com/

I do not work for the company or sell them door to door. I just own one and everytime anyone asks about this I tell them.

I have used and abused this thing for 15 plus years. It has the attachments to do carpet hardwood floors, blinds, refridgerator coils, sofa and chair cushions.

Trust me when I say this. It is amazing. It picks up drywall dust and captures it and keeps on going. When the water is too saturated with let's say dust it will let you know by a violent shacking of the unit. Clear the mess up in the water tub and put new water and you are ready to go.
 
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I went to the Oreck store and bought a floor model/sample for $165ish for our vacation home. They reduced the warranty from 4 years to 3. Have an Oreck at my primary residence, and LOVE it.
 
I bought two Shark Navigator lift off pros . One for me and one for my daughter. We both love them . The suction is great and so much easier to push then my hoover .
 
kyounge1956 said:
Does anyone use a robot vacuum (e.g. Roomba)? I have contemplated getting one of these for a small house with hard floors throughout except possibly an area rug or two. I have one longhaired cat and may add another cat or two in the future. I am thinking a robot might keep the loose hair and scattered litter picked up better, or at least more frequently, than I am likely to!

.
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Note that because it has a belt driving the drive wheels, roomba and oriental rugs with fringe do not agree. Roomba tears the fringe up. Also eventually the battery will die even if it is not used. It was the fringe issue that led to mine just sitting there until the battery died.
 
We have a couple of Dysons. I'm not sure I've ever seen a high rating for them but I think they are really "clever" in their design. Had our first experience with warranty service a few days ago and was very impressed. Called Dyson and a human who spoke english actually answered. Her first question was whether or not the machine was registered with them. I wasn't sure but she checked, found it wasn't, and registered it immediately. The problem was a broken hose and she said they'd ship one out right away. She said to call them back if I had any questions about how to replace it. It arrived a couple days later and it took about 45 seconds to replace it. Their warranty is 3 years. Not sure if that is typical for vacuums or not.
 
I use a Hoover Constellation that's almost 60 years old, yes, sixty. Hoover still sells the design, but I would guess its components are not as sturdy as the 1950s version.
 
GolfingDuo said:
I bought my vacuum 15 plus years ago. I have never had a problem. It picks up dust and dirt every other vacuum leaves behind. I have tested it. No vacuum will beat it ever. It is pricey so be prepared. It cost more than Kirby. It does not use a filter. It uses water.

Rainbow. Rainbow® Cleaning System

I do not work for the company or sell them door to door. I just own one and everytime anyone asks about this I tell them.

I have used and abused this thing for 15 plus years. It has the attachments to do carpet hardwood floors, blinds, refridgerator coils, sofa and chair cushions.

Trust me when I say this. It is amazing. It picks up drywall dust and captures it and keeps on going. When the water is too saturated with let's say dust it will let you know by a violent shacking of the unit. Clear the mess up in the water tub and put new water and you are ready to go.
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I have a Rainbow and love it. It picks up everything and as you said traps it in water so it doesn't recirculate dust and animal hair , etc. Have owned them for over 20 years. I'm on my second one now.
 
Moemg said:
I bought two Shark Navigator lift off pros . One for me and one for my daughter. We both love them . The suction is great and so much easier to push then my hoover .
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I have one of these too. When I had a hairy dog I used a Sanitaire Commercial, but it is heavy and bulky. I bought this light Shark, with a somewhat narrower head, and it is easy to use, really picks up the dirt, and stores in a little space which is important for me. Instead of a bag it has a little container they call a cup. Even in my small apartment, I empty it a little more than once per room, with weekly cleanings. To minimize getting the dust into the air, I insert the cup into a small kitchen bag, hold the bag closed around my wrist, and shake.

I hope it lasts.

I am also attracted to the Rainbow for allergy benefits, bit I think it is just too big and unhandy and expensive too.

Ha
 
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haha said:
I am also attracted to the Rainbow for allergy benefits, bit I think it is just too big and unhandy and expensive too.

Ha
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Many of the new vacs have a HEPA rated filter on the output (our older Hoover Wind Tunnel has one). It's just a paper/foam/charcoal pleated thing. You replace it ~ 1/year and it's not expensive.


I have no idea how effective a HEPA filter is versus the water trap in a Rainbow, maybe there are measurements on-line somewhere. While the water trap sounds good, the size of the bubbles and the amount of travel time will dictate the true effectiveness. A relatively big bubble escaping in a fraction of a second will probably escape with most of its dirt also.

edit/add - got curious and found this:

http://www.archives.gov/preservation/conservation/mold-prevention.html

The object should then be vacuumed using a vacuum cleaner which will not exhaust the spores back out into the room. A vacuum fitted with a HEPA filter is recommended; however, the water bath filter vacuum cleaner, such as the Rainbow brand vacuum, that many parks have been using, is acceptable for this purpose.
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So they say the Rainbow is 'acceptable', but don't indicate that it is better than a HEPA filter unit.

-ERD50
 
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easysurfer said:
I just ordered a cordless vacuum cleaner from Amazon to replace another model that has seen better days:

Amazon.com - Hoover Linx Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner - Household Upright Vacuums

The price is a bit hefty. Hopefully this will last a good long time.
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Just looked at your link, and read a few reviews. That sounds like a terrific vacuum. I love that it is cordless and bagless, that it uses wind tunnel technology, and that apparently despite the battery it is not very heavy.
 
I had a Eureka cordless (only about $30) but that got so clogged with cat hair and dust and that when after trying to clean that stuff out of the roller, I had a problem putting the cleaner back, so just decided to splurge and get the Linx. Plus, the ni-cad of the Eureka was having the memory effect thing anyhow, which should not happen with the Linx.
 
We just got a Roomba and it does a great job of picking up car hair (white cat hair on a dark wood floor is very noticeable). You do have to clean it out but it is really easy to do.
 
Vacuum cleaner arrived tonight and I put it together. Battery is charging so tomorrow is the first time to see how much junk it picks up :D
 
Hey I tried the vacuum cleaner today.

My first impressions:


Overall, I like it.

Pros:

- The battery lasts a long time (abut 20 minutes)

- The suction is really good

- not too loud

- lightweight (about 8 lbs)

- filter works well and easy empty - dust not flying everywhere



Cons:

- not as lightweight as my old one (only 4 lbs)

- a bit bottom heavy (feels like there should be a handle to grab when picking up)

So far so good. It did pick up cat litter that probably would have missed with the old one.
 
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