Vacuum cleaners- which should I buy?

[blueyedgirl5946]

Me too, they will even accept expired coupons.  I can always find something there I need which is good for me but bad for my pocketbook.

I didn't know they accept expired coupons. I save them, but throw out when they expire. Thanks for this information.

I have an Electrolux canister vacuum purchased in 1986. I have had to take it for some repairs, some have cost as $75. They always try to sell me a new product. But nope, I love what I have and intend to repair it until it is no fixable.

 

[Winchester]

Ok, FWIW......

We just bought a Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal+Allergy Upright Vacuum. On sale at Bed Bath and Beyond (Black Friday) and I had a 20% coupon.

Pros:

• It picks up well. Bare floor, carpet, stair steps, the cat trees, furniture, drapes, cat hair, cat litter. Picks it all up with no trouble.
• The button to turn the carpet brush on is right next to the on/off switch....no more using your foot to try to get the brush to turn on
• The ball allows you to turn the vacuum easier (although I find it a bit unwieldy, probably until I get used to it)
• There are a ton of accessories to this thing...and I have no idea what does what yet!
• It has a long cord
• No filters to be washed
• I don't think it's as loud as our old Dyson animal
• Not quite 18 pounds, so not overly heavy (although an older person might think otherwise)

Cons:

• Took a while to get the thing together! And it's going to take a while to figure out what all the accessories do.
• The canister is smaller than the old one (Rick just gave the house a thorough cleaning on Thanksgiving morning and he vacuums much more thoroughly than I do. But when we vacuumed today -- and we went throughout the whole house, including steps, furniture, drapes, cat trees, cat napper, the kitty couch, etc -- we had to dump the canister three times. It was kind of embarrassing because I do vacuum regularly. I swear I do. It pulled dirt out of the carpet like you wouldn't believe.)
• It's a bit difficult to get it stand straight up. Maybe I'm just not used to figuring it out. After vacuuming, I'll try to to get it to stand straight and, if I don't have it exactly perfect, it will drop down. 
• The plug tends to come of the wall socket a little too easily, I think. I was back in the bedroom and not jerking the cord, nor did it seem too tight. The plug came out of the socket in the living room. We'll keep an eye on that.
• I think I would like a light on it; that was something I did like about the Windtunnel.

Our old Dyson Animal was over 10 years old. It still picked up fairly well and I was still using that instead of our much newer Hoover Windtunnel mess. We'll keep it for use in the basement and in the vehicles.

All in all, we are pleased; we'll see how it continues to pick up and work. Rick used it in the living room and kitchen; I took it back the hallway and into the bedrooms and the bathroom. It has really good suction and it picks up everything. The price tag for a Dyson is bigger....it is what it is. This was a Black Friday sale and, with the coupon, we saved some money, more so than had we bought it somewhere else; I did a lot of looking around on Thursday night before we bought this at Bed Bath and Beyond on Friday....this was the cheapest we could find it.

 

[betsygee]

 
Ok, FWIW......

We just bought a Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal+Allergy Upright Vacuum. On sale at Bed Bath and Beyond (Black Friday) and I had a 20% coupon.

Pros:

• It picks up well. Bare floor, carpet, stair steps, the cat trees, furniture, drapes, cat hair, cat litter. Picks it all up with no trouble.
• The button to turn the carpet brush on is right next to the on/off switch....no more using your foot to try to get the brush to turn on
• The ball allows you to turn the vacuum easier (although I find it a bit unwieldy, probably until I get used to it)
• There are a ton of accessories to this thing...and I have no idea what does what yet!
• It has a long cord
• No filters to be washed
• I don't think it's as loud as our old Dyson animal
• Not quite 18 pounds, so not overly heavy (although an older person might think otherwise)

Cons:

• Took a while to get the thing together! And it's going to take a while to figure out what all the accessories do.
• The canister is smaller than the old one (Rick just gave the house a thorough cleaning on Thanksgiving morning and he vacuums much more thoroughly than I do. But when we vacuumed today -- and we went throughout the whole house, including steps, furniture, drapes, cat trees, cat napper, the kitty couch, etc -- we had to dump the canister three times. It was kind of embarrassing because I do vacuum regularly. I swear I do. It pulled dirt out of the carpet like you wouldn't believe.)
• It's a bit difficult to get it stand straight up. Maybe I'm just not used to figuring it out. After vacuuming, I'll try to to get it to stand straight and, if I don't have it exactly perfect, it will drop down. 
• The plug tends to come of the wall socket a little too easily, I think. I was back in the bedroom and not jerking the cord, nor did it seem too tight. The plug came out of the socket in the living room. We'll keep an eye on that.
• I think I would like a light on it; that was something I did like about the Windtunnel.

Our old Dyson Animal was over 10 years old. It still picked up fairly well and I was still using that instead of our much newer Hoover Windtunnel mess. We'll keep it for use in the basement and in the vehicles.

All in all, we are pleased; we'll see how it continues to pick up and work. Rick used it in the living room and kitchen; I took it back the hallway and into the bedrooms and the bathroom. It has really good suction and it picks up everything. The price tag for a Dyson is bigger....it is what it is. This was a Black Friday sale and, with the coupon, we saved some money, more so than had we bought it somewhere else; I did a lot of looking around on Thursday night before we bought this at Bed Bath and Beyond on Friday....this was the cheapest we could find it.

We're looking for a new vacuum and were leaning towards a Dyson.  This is good info, thanks.  

 

[catsknowme]

The Shark Pet at my house works as well as the Dyson Animal at the house where I clean. It took me awhile to figure out how to get the Dyson to stay upright. And the Dyson plug end falls out often but that could be because a predecessor had bent the prongs.

 

[Kat0121]

just sweep and mop, so they have been kind enough to let me 'store' the extra one at our house for a while.

This vacuum is ok, but I really need to get my own. It's not great at picking up litter. I think a lot of vacuums are good with hair/fur, but I really think our cats take bucketfuls of litter out of the box and throw it all over the house when we're gone. I want something that is powerful enough to pick up the litter!

It doesn't necessarily have to be great on hardwood floors (but it would be a nice bonus), I don't mind sweeping, but I want the carpets in the 2 bedrooms and master bath to be fur AND LITTER free without having to go over the same spots like 5 times. I suppose a hand tool for furniture would be good too.

I have the Dyson cordless animal vacuum and I like it a lot. The only downside is that you have to empty the bin pretty frequently as it's kind of small

 

[muffy]

I had an Electrolux for 18 years and never had a problem with it. It just wore out.

 

[nansiludie]

I've went through 3 vacuums last year. Either the motor dies on me or they refuse to even spin the roller bar on the bottom. I had an older bagged dirt devil which lasted around 5 years but I got it used. Had a bissell clean view, two of them that went out. I'd say we go through at least 1 vacuum a year but they are the cheaper ones. I won't spend money on a dyson. I do clean them and change filters/bags and sometimes belts. I suppose 8 cats worth of hair and 1 dog is too much.

 

[catsknowme]

For litter, I use a small black&decker shop vac. I like the Shark. It performs as well as the Dyson where I work, but i worry that it is not as sturdy as a Dyson because it costs about 1/6 the price.

 

[MoochNNoodles]

I've went through 3 vacuums last year. Either the motor dies on me or they refuse to even spin the roller bar on the bottom. I had an older bagged dirt devil which lasted around 5 years but I got it used. Had a bissell clean view, two of them that went out. I'd say we go through at least 1 vacuum a year but they are the cheaper ones. I won't spend money on a dyson. I do clean them and change filters/bags and sometimes belts. I suppose 8 cats worth of hair and 1 dog is too much.

Our Shark has done well but we always have to turn it upside down and cut hair out of the roller. Our cats aren't the problem... it's DD and I with long hair! At least we aren't changing belts like we had to with our old vacuum.

 

[blueyedgirl5946]

I had an Electrolux for 18 years and never had a problem with it. It just wore out.

I believe I answered this earlier. I still have the Electrolux canister purchased in 1985. It has had a few repairs, nothing over a hundred dollars. It works great. I am holding onto it for dear life. Last time, the man tried to sell me a thousand dollar vacuum. I finally convinced him to fix the Electrolux I already had. I have no carpets in my house and no cats either. When I first purchased it, there were two cats, one with long hair and one medium. It did a good job picking up everything. The man who did the repair told the motor is still in excellent shape. I am not changing. I do have one of the robots made by Shark. I use it in between times and it works great for picking up whatever is on the floor, even coins.

I want to add here that Electrolux has been bought out by another company. I am not sure what quality a machine with the Electrolux made in recent years has compared to the older models. Someone who has purchased one in the last five or six years might want to jump in here with that information.

 

[tinydestroyer]

Just my two cents: I really wasn't a fan of the Shark, and saved up for a Dyson Animal + Allergy to replace it. Even though it was only 1 year old, the Shark was falling apart. It didn't pick up the sandy dirt that got tracked in my house, cat litter, or even much pet hair. The accessories were alright in design, but not strong.The suction degraded only minimally on the Shark, but it wasn't as good as the Dyson to begin with, I think. I will say that the Shark is maybe ok if you have carpet, and it's lighter than a Dyson.
But I have mostly hardwood floors. The Dyson picks up all of the above listed, no problem or fuss. I've never seen a vaccum as good as the Dyson, truly, and I love the versatility of the accessories. My friend's cleaning service also uses them exclusively after switching from Miele. That's what encouraged me to save and buy one in the after holiday season sales.

 

[misty8723]

I bought a Miele a few months ago. It was more money than I really wanted to spend on a vacuum, but it got very good reviews and had a great warranty. That said, I'm awfully disappointed. It cleans the surface of the carpet really well, but doesn't seem to clean deeper like my old vacuum did.

 

[neely]

I bought the Dyson Animal a long time ago more for the dog hair than the cat. We have both hardwood floors and carpet throughout the house and it does well on both surfaces. I have been extremely pleased with it - it takes a licking and keeps on ticking!

 

[jcat]

We've had a Miele Air Clean canister vacuum since 1999, with nary a repair necessary. I did replace the floor brush a couple of years ago because it had become worn.