Vacuum Cleaners

[Signe]

My flatmate needs one.  He likes easy and upright.  Both my sister and his brother have Miele vacuums and they love them, as much as one can love a vacuum cleaner which shouldn't be too much, I think.  They're canister style but they do make uprights.  I have a Dyson Ball Thingy which I like but don't love to death.  I like that it's yellow!  Does anyone have any experience with Miele uprights?  Or disasters with any other sort of vacuum so I can avoid it?  They place is fucking dusty and if I don't vacuum soon I'll have to throw myself away.  I'll be back in the US soon and merrily vacuuming cat hair again.  Miss the cats but not the tumbleweed sized tufts of hair rolling around.

Vacuums are SO fucking pricey!!

[Signe]

Oh, and they have to be available in England.

[DraconianOne]

Can't directly answer your question but I did recently research and buy a new vacuum cleaner and came to the following conclusions: uprights are more expensive than cylinders, Miele are more expensive than most other brands. But they do get good reviews so if money is not an issue, go with a Miele upright.  (S7210 Black is £260 at Amazon).  We ended up going with a Bosch cylinder (BSGL5126GB) for about £140 - but there are less powerful models for under a ton.

[apocrypha]

We recently bought a VAX upright bagless thing - an "Air Reach" it's called. It's pretty good, nice and light with long extension tubes, which makes stairs & high ceilings less of a pain. However I'm not a fan of the bagless vacuums. You just cannot avoid getting a lung & face full of dust when you empty them. Also the design of the brush bar thing means you can't use it on lino/vinyl since it just clamps itself to the surface and sticks like a leech :/

We had a Sebo before which was great, plenty of suction, good bags that kept the dust well away from sensitive lungs, but expensive bags and really bloody heavy.

[Signe]

One of the reasons I don't much care for uprights is the brush.  Everyone I know has hair down to their knees and it just wraps and wraps and wraps around those brushes.  I hate unwrapping people's hair!  It's for my flatmate and he's okay with pricey.  There is a VAX Air upright here but I don't know how good it is because it's been broken since we moved in, even AFTER I unwrapped the owner's hair from the brush!  Bleh.  I also can't figure out what to do with the hose at the top and the red light just flashes... there must be a green light to go with the red one but I've never seen it.  I really tried to convince the thing to work but it won't cooperate.  I also share your disdain for bagless.  They just seem dirty to me.

Mr. SpellChecker thinks I have disdain for beagles.   

[apocrypha]

Have a hunt on the side of the brush unit for a small button labelled "brush reset" or something. Because they have rubber drive belts for the brushes they shut the motor off to them if they detect an obstruction (i.e. a shitload of long hair) and need to be told "it's ok, I yoiked all the hair out!".

On ours, to use the extension hose, you have to unclip the hose going into the non-bag bag bit, clip that hose onto the extension hose and use that. Means you can't chew up the cable or your toes while using the extension hose, which is actually kinda helpful, if a bit of a pain in the bum to unclip etc every time.

We sound like a pair of old housewives 

[Numtini]

Miele is the answer.

I can't fathom why anyone would want an upright to be honest.

[Ironwood]

Dyson.  Every Fucking Time.

Also, uprights are just far, far better for larger surfaces so you don't break your damn back and it can do the work and I don't know of any uprights that DON'T have a squeezy nozzle you can use as a non-upright.

So there.

[apocrypha]

We just didn't have £200+ for a Dyson at the time, or we would've.

Upright vs non-upright (Cylinder? Prostrate? Flat? whatev.) - we have 6m living rooms with 3m high ceilings, we need all the vacuum reach we can get!

[Signe]

Dyson is what I have.  One of the sort with a ball.  And I like it, but it's the whole hair thing that pisses me off and it's definitely not anywhere near the worst with long hair.  Of course, we had a large townhouse and my flatmate has a small flat in London.  He does, however, have long hair.  Having said that, the Dyson has the best suction of any vacuum I've ever used and it's a monster with the pet hair.  (which doesn't wrap)  Flatmate has no pets.  Come to think of it, maybe he should just get a fucking broom.  

[Miasma]

If it's a small place he might like one of the cordless vacuum sticks, they almost make vacuuming fun.  I'm cat sitting for a few months so I have to vacuum much more often because of the hair and tracked litter.  They are great because you don't have to screw around with plugging them in and lugging them around, you're free to just grab the handle, push one button and clean.  Many have two settings, either just suction or suction+brush roller so you don't have to use the roller if you don't want to.  I bought a hoover but dyson also makes one for twice the cost.

These don't make sense if your place is big enough that you can't be done in under 15 minutes because that's all the battery lasts for before needing to be recharged.  The hoover's battery just comes out and you place it in a docking station but I think the dyson has a cradle that you basically have to wall mount and it's the charging station.  Aside from the price I didn't want to mount anything to my walls which was another reason I went for the hoover.

[Rasix]

Dyson.  Every Fucking Time.

Trust this man.  I love my Dyson.

[Engels]

Do Rumbas work? The little robot floor cleaners? Thinking of getting one but would love some testimony from less random internet people.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Dyson.  Every Fucking Time.

Trust this man.  I love my Dyson.

Purple Dyson all the way!

[Ironwood]

Christ, are you posting in the wrong place then.

[RhyssaFireheart]

However I'm not a fan of the bagless vacuums. You just cannot avoid getting a lung & face full of dust when you empty them.

You're doing it wrong then.  I've never had a problem emptying my Dyson out and getting dust everywhere unless it's into the trashcan in the garage and then I drop something else into the can, causing dust to fly around.  Otherwise, I empty into a plastic bag and put that into the trash or I'm just careful to not drop stuff from a height into the larger garbage can.

[Signe]

Out of all the uprights I've had, the Dyson has the easiest to empty and it's not horrible to clean.  After this thread and the input, I reckon it's a Dyson if he wants the upright and maybe a Miele if he decides on a canister.  I always kept a stick around, too, for quick litter and kitchen cleanups... or, at least, a hand held, but I think he wants a good vacuum that will last for when he buys a house in a couple of years or so.  I'd get the little robot one if it came with all those kitties on it!  That was awesome!   

[Hawkbit]

Having pets, we were going through a $225 Hoover every two years.  Now we're on year seven with the Pet version of the Dyson.  Not only does it clean better, it has saved us money over the long run.  It's just now losing some of it's power, hoping to get three more out of it.

[Signe]

You know, my mom had the same Electrolux vacuum for thirty years.  How did moms do that?

[Salamok]

Do Rumbas work? The little robot floor cleaners? Thinking of getting one but would love some testimony from less random internet people.

They are decent for keeping things looking good between vacuums but they don't eliminate the need to vacuum regularly.

[Rasix]

Having pets, we were going through a $225 Hoover every two years.  Now we're on year seven with the Pet version of the Dyson.  Not only does it clean better, it has saved us money over the long run.  It's just now losing some of it's power, hoping to get three more out of it.

I've had my pet Dyson for 8 years. Just had to replace a small part on it that shorted out a few years ago.  Still running like a champ.   We've had up to 4 cats that shed a lot during this vacuum's lifetime.   Handles the hair like a champ.  Only annoying thing is that rug fibers/string can get wrapped around the intake area.  I have to clean that out / cut that crap off every once in a while.

[RhyssaFireheart]

Having pets, we were going through a $225 Hoover every two years.  Now we're on year seven with the Pet version of the Dyson.  Not only does it clean better, it has saved us money over the long run.  It's just now losing some of it's power, hoping to get three more out of it.

I've had my pet Dyson for 8 years. Just had to replace a small part on it that shorted out a few years ago.  Still running like a champ.   We've had up to 4 cats that shed a lot during this vacuum's lifetime.   Handles the hair like a champ.  Only annoying thing is that rug fibers/string can get wrapped around the intake area.  I have to clean that out / cut that crap off every once in a while.

Hawkbit - have you tried taking the canister apart and cleaning the insides?  My mom's had a yellow ball version for years and she mentioned that cleaning the parts inside the canister can make a difference when the vacuum starts losing some power.  I haven't tried it myself yet but plan to since I'm sure it needs cleaning, what with owning a Golden.

And cleaning the roller is a PITA.  There is no easy way to turn those things over so you can get to in there to cut threads off.

[Merusk]

I just take the beater bar out of the housing to clean it. That's a pretty simple process because it's meant to be taken apart so you can replace the drive belt. Are you telling me people try to clean it while the vacuum is still assembled?   

Yeah, cleaning the filters and bits inside the canister of an upright is a must to maintain power.  Make a habit of doing it when you dump the canister.

[Draegan]

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=202569159&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&MERCH=REC-_-NavPLPHorizontal1-3-_-NA-_-202569159-_-N#.ULUHCuRX1KY

I recently bought this one when it was on sale for $100 and it's pretty awesome.  The only problem is that it doesn't have a large collection module, but emptying it is pretty simple and takes two seconds.

[Rake]

Have a Miele Cat and Dog upright now. It's replaced my old Dyson.

I'm very happy with the Miele as overall it picks up pet hairs better and the carpets look like new every time (except for the little bit near the door that the puppy chewed).
The quality of the Miele is very high and changing bags is very easy and not something you have to do so often.
There is no smell when vacuuming with the Miele, but I used to have to open a window when using the Dyson.

The difference between them is not huge but if I was in the shop now with money in my hand I would go for the Miele. Just buy some genuine bags while you're at it.

[rattran]

The roomba did a good job here, even with 6 cats, but you do need a regular vacuum occasionally yo get he corners and edges the roomba misses. And stairs if you have those. The roomba also did better on hardwood than carpet.

If you have a 26 pound cat, dissuade him from riding the roomba, it burns out the motors in weeks.

[Soln]

Dyson.  Every Fucking Time.

What he said.  Srsly.  Don't screw with hypo allergenic vacuums.