vacuum cleaners that suck (literally)

Miele's are worth the money. That being said, it's all about knowing your product. Their new stick vac is enticing, but it's their first. 

Dyson, on the other hand, makes a killer stick vacuum. Downside? They hate moisture. Don't go sucking up too much of it. 

I've got a Rainbow that sees use more as a shop vac aside from carpet. Wish someone make a Rainbow-to-bagged conversion kit. The water changeout gets old. 

Sine_Qua_Non said:

Dyson animal user for 20 years. Got a new one just last summer. Works great as usual. 

This right here.....

To be clear, we were looking for a more budget machine for our guest house.  We have an Electrolux in our home.  Its a bag unit, but works pretty well.  It's about 7 years old.  I had to replace the internal filter when I sucked up some still-hot fireplace ashes, which resulted in a smoke screen in the house, and we had a rat chew through a hose which got duct taped and is still holding up after 2 or 3 years.  

We have a Shark Rotator that we've had for a couple years now. We love it. Easy to clean, easy to change filters, easy to use, and works great on everything: hard floors, carpet, furniture, etc.

Got a Dyson DC25 that has been okay. It's loud, but I've put it through a lot of abuse above what it's designed for.

I used it to suck up some concrete dust and now it sounds funny, so pretty sure I killed the motor. Still works though. 

Other than that I've only had to replace a split hose in the 8 years I've owned it.

I really like the bagged Miele my parents have, but I'm probably going to just fix my Dyson because used motors are like $30 on eBay 

Miele. It's a German vacuum. We got one after too many Sharks and Dysons crapped out. It's in a whole other league. 
Think Mercedes vs Kia. Solid, does what it does better, costs more but lasts far longer, and even at the end of it's life works better than a new Shark. 
 

Have you considered a robot vacuum for doing the bulk of the work? Then you don't really need a super robust secondary vacuum.  We got the RoboRock S6, a little pricey, but much better than the Roombas in the same price range since it has LIDAR (same tech that self driving cars use) instead of cameras.  The roborocks also can "detect" carpet, and it spins up the brush and adjusts ride height to compensate.  It's pretty amazing what that little robot can suck up.

Most can be mapped to multiple floors, though you obviously need to move the unit by hand before it can do the next floor.  

We're looking for a decent stick vacuum to supplement the roborock, Dyson seems to be where its at. But, some of the reviews suggest the runtime is only 20minutes tops on the Dyson V7?  That doesn't seem like long enough to justify the Dyson price tag.

Wifey managed to clog the Dyson with a bunch of dry plant leaves over the weekend.  I took the opportunity to pull it apart, clear the clog, and wash the two filters in the vacuum. 

After the experience, I'm more of a Dyson fan than ever.  The machine is easy to pull apart and service, and I like the way it's engineered.

volvoclearinghouse said:

Just googled GRM forums to find some recommendations for a new vac...after vacillating back and forth on a few, I asked Mrs. VCH, who said, "Just buy the damn Bissell". 

So we got this.  Will let you know how it works. 

 

To follow up, the Bissell arrived and was immediately put into service. 

Like:

- Seems powerful, sucks well

- Bagless emptying feature works pretty well

- Comes with extra washable filters so you can wash one and leave it dry while using the other one.

- Neat integrated brush in handle for dusting

- long hose and cord

- Floor attachment seems to work well on both hard floor and low pile carpet. 

Concerns:

- No place to store accessories on the unit, so they need a drawer or tote or something

- Unit is kinda large, not terribly heavy, but takes up some space in storage

- Friction fit of the handle to the pipe going to the attachment.  Seems OK for now, we'll see long term.

Overall, pretty decent suck for the buck. 

Canoe 

I'm terrible at house chores, so anything that makes them easier I should (hopefully) be more likely to do them.

Canoes notwithstanding, any recommendations (or ones to avoid) for a stand-up cordless vacuum? I see Hoover, Miele etc.  I'm not opposed to spending more $ if it's worth it.  While my current vacuum does the job, I sometimes wonder if I would use a vacuum more often if it were more convenient - just pull it off the charger and go, vs. the 30 seconds it takes to uncoil the cord, find a spot to plug it in, then use it while making sure not to vacuum the cord, reloading the cord when done, etc...   

Ian F (Forum Supporter) said:

I'm terrible at house chores, so anything that makes them easier I should (hopefully) be more likely to do them.

Canoes notwithstanding, any recommendations (or ones to avoid) for a stand-up cordless vacuum? I see Hoover, Miele etc.  I'm not opposed to spending more $ if it's worth it.  While my current vacuum does the job, I sometimes wonder if I would use a vacuum more often if it were more convenient - just pull it off the charger and go, vs. the 30 seconds it takes to uncoil the cord, find a spot to plug it in, then use it while making sure not to vacuum the cord, reloading the cord when done, etc...   

Dyson stick vacuum is great for this.  I was skeptical at first.  I bought a refurb one and it was mildly disappointing.  Then I replaced the battery and it has been amazing ever since.  It really does change your approach to vacuuming.  If you see any dirt you can chase it down in seconds.  I regularly do a quick pass of the kitchen and dining room after a meal.  Feel like a quick-clean?  I can vacuum the main room in a few minutes, the whole house in about 15 mins.  The smaller spinning brush is also great for cleaning the couch (dog hair).

I honestly haven't used a traditional plug in vacuum in years.

We've been using dysons for almost 15 years now. we replace them every 4-5 years because her parents buy us one for christmas. the older one goes to the garage for outside use. 

My ex- bought an original Dyson Animal years ago and we were amazed at how well it worked, so I figured Dyson would be an "easy button".  Thanks. 

We had one of those Dyson Ball's and a friend saw it and said their Shark was better. They brought over their Shark and we tested them side by side. Repeatedly ran the Dyson over the same patch of carpet until nothing more showed in the catch-can. Ran the Shark over that same area, and much more dirt and dog hair came up. We immediately bought a Shark.

We've had it for 10+ years and only had a 2 parts break, and Shark immediately sent out replacements free of charge. We recently purchased a newer model with their 'hairpro' system and love it. The wife and daughter have very long hair and I got tired of weekly disassembling the vac to remove their hair twisted around the rotating brush. I was surprised to discover their system actually works. There is no hair around the brush. MAGIC!

Their product and customer service have won me over.

In reply to myf16n :

Inlaws bought us a shark. We couldn't use it. Tennis elbow flared up in 5 minutes of use on that thing. Too top heavy.

I have an early 90's Kirby G3 with all the hose attach accessories. Thing is a damn tank and so far has lived a longer life than me. It's heavy to lift up and down stairs, but it's incredibly powerful over any kind of carpet or rug. Kirby still supports parts for it too.

If it ever dies, I will literally cry.

In reply to maschinenbau :

growing up I used this:

60's era Filter Queen. 

maschinenbau said:

I have an early 90's Kirby G3 with all the hose attach accessories. Thing is a damn tank and so far has lived a longer life than me. It's heavy to lift up and down stairs, but it's incredibly powerful over any kind of carpet or rug. Kirby still supports parts for it too.

If it ever dies, I will literally cry.

I threw one of these in the trash recently.

They are absolute tanks and have a ton of attachments.  And they are serviceable.  But ultimately going into the closet and getting out a ton of E36 M3 and lugging around a 45lb (self-propelled!) vacuum is a pain in the ass and ultimately means it isn't getting used.

Kirby also has a weird MLM thing going on.

We've had a Dyson pet for a few years now and it works great. The fiance also found this spray to put on the carpet that is some kind of static spray that helps the vacuum pull up pet hair. 

A must with 3 dogs and a cat. 

In reply to bobzilla :

I grew up with one of these:

I was told it was a hand-me-down from my mother's grandparents so it was from the 60's at latest.  I think we finally replaced it in the late 80's. 

But as ProDarwin mentioned, it's not so much that the vacuum I currently have doesn't work, it's just not convenient to use - so I don't use it.  I'm hoping that one of the new-fangled cordless models will get me to vacuum more - since gawd knows my house needs it. 

We have had a Dyson Animal for 20 + years and it is still a good vacuum.  I have mildly rebuilt it once, aside from belts and brushes, take it apart once  a year to do a thorough cleaning and it still works great.  The only downside is getting parts for it now is next to impossible, thankfully I have picked up two from curbs, stripped the good parts and stashed them just in case.

I had an old Hoover the ex bought around 2011 or 12, I hated it.  Hard to clean, multiple sections needed cleaning, hair wrapped around the rollers, always seemed to make some weird noise.

SWMBO brought over her new Shark last week and I bought one the next day.

Shark HZ602 for about $170

In reply to Jerry :

We have the 10 year old version of that. Still works great, but something in it stinks and no matter how much I clean it I can't get rid of it. 

We mostly use a dyson stick vacuum. Replaced the battery once. Next time we replace the battery, I'm getting this adapter: 

mtn (Forum Supporter) said:

We have a Great Pyrenees, and when we bought our vac, also had a Samoyed. If you don't know what I'm talking about, between the two of them they shed enough fur in a week to knit a king sized blanket. About 20% carpet, but a lot of rugs. 

For us, the answer was a good corded (Shark in this case, it was a Christmas gift and it works very well) AND a cordless (Dyson, also a Christmas gift). The Dyson is our second cordless. Our first was a cheap Hoover that I bought on a whim; it wasn't worth much but it did open my eyes to how much I wanted a cordless.

 

Here is the thing... Any of the cordless vacs are not going to be good enough for a deep clean. That may or may not be a problem in your house, but it is in ours - so we need a good one. That being said, we vacuum every day now with the cordless. It may be for literally 30 seconds a day, it may be for 5 minutes, it is almost never more than 5 minutes, but we use it every single day. We used to have to use the corded about twice a week, and it would take about 10-15 minutes. Now, we use the corded maybe once a month. 

 

 

If you have furry dogs any of the cordless options aren't going to be suitable for anything other than stairs and baseboards.  I also bought a ~$125 Hoover cordless (not recommended) and it gets filled up in about 1/2 a 4x6 carpet.  The only way it works is if you're regularly removing the foam filter and washing it out.  Otherwise, small dust particles will get trapped and kill most of the suction.  

I've bought a used full-sized Dyson for $20 and even though I've regularly taken it apart  & washed it...it still seems to smell like dog when you use it.  I was impressed with how easily it can be taken apart.  The detatchable hose doesn't work because a part is missing/broken...but I have a shop vac and a cordless for things where I'd use a hose attachment.  It does suck well and can hold a ton of dirt/dust.  I saw someone selling old-school commercial vacuums on marketplace the other day.  I've been tempted to buy one...even if they will need bags regularly.