ISO vacuum

[crl]

Sigh. We have a Bissell that is about two years old. I wanted to get a dyson, but dh researched and said we should get this instead. So we did.

We have since moved and now have hardwood floors. (Yay!). But I still need to vacuum our one area rug and our entryway mats.

And the Bissell isn't working. It just moves the dirt around. It's ridiculous. The area rug is even super low pile.

So I don't want to spend a ton on a vacuum when we don't even have carpet. But I need something that works on my area rug.

Suggestions?

Thanks!
Catherine

[JBaxter]

I like my Shark Navigator I have hardwood/ are rugs on the main floor and carpet in bed rooms. less than $200 and does everything I want.

[drako]

If you have mostly hardwood floors than you should get a canister vacuum. We have a dyson but upgraded to an electrolux canister vacuum. We have all hardwood and tile in our house. We also have dogs so I needed a vacuum that would clean and pick up the dog hair and dust. The dyson just wasn't cutting it. It would push the dog hair around since it exhausts towards the floor and I would be chasing the dust bunnies to try to capture them before they were pushed under furniture etc. Our canister vacuum exhausts upwards so it doesn't scatter the dirt and hair. Also, with a canister vacuum you can get under furniture easily where I couldn't do that with the dyson or upright vacuum. We spent a lot of money though, but I am sure there are other canisters that are reasonably priced and work well. We went to a vacuum shop and trialed different vacuums to find which one we liked best. They were great with letting us take the vacuums home. The owner at the store also recommended this one over the Meile. This is the vacuum we have:

http://smallappliances.electroluxusa.com/en-US/Floorcare-Appliances/Canisters/Canisters-UltraOne-EL7070A.aspx

[sarahsthreads]

We have a lower model Electrolux (the Oxygen) and have been very happy with it on our mix of hardwood, tile and low-pile carpets. The *only* complaint I have about it is that the bags are kind of small, so when we had both our lab and our golden retriever I could easily fill the bag in two vacuumings. Now that we just have the lab it does last a bit longer. ;)

We've had this vacuum for at least 5 years, and aside from the fact that DH managed to lose the dusting attachment (there's a place right on the handle to put it back when you're done with it, he had a terrible habit of just putting it down in some random spot - it's probably up on some high surface I can't see being vertically challenged and all) it's still going strong!

Sarah :)

[crl]

I should have mentioned I don't vacuum the hardwoods. Broom and mop for them.

Thank you!
Catherine

[AnnieW625]

We are happy with our Dyson (bought in 2007), but I would probably buy the Shark from Costco now if I needed a new vacuum. It has a great 5 yr. warranty and it looks like it has similar functions as the Dyson, plus the price is much better.

[Kindra178]

Definitely get a canister. Uprights blow out a significant amount of dust.

[sariana]

Our Dyson is horrible on our low-pile area rugs.

Is there any way you could borrow a few different vacuum cleaners to try out on your rugs before making a commitment to buy one?

Do you vacuum anything else (upholstery, drapes)? If you don't need any attachments, you might be able to get a bare-bones model of something for less.

[crl]

It would probably be best to have some kind of attachment that works on upholstery/cars.

Thanks for the suggestions! Costco sounds like a great idea as I could just return it if it doesn't work in a couple of years. They don't have any sharks available online, but maybe in store?

Catherine

[ray7694]

My dyson animal is a life saver. I use it on my shag rug, low pile rug and hardwood. We have a golden. :)

[egoldber]

I just bought this Electrolux canister, but when I got it it was only $150 on Amazon. I use it on my hardwood floors, area rugs, and upholstered furniture on my main level. I am lazy, so I just use the hardwood floor attachment for everything. I even vacuum my coffee table. ;) (My kids eat snacks there a lot.)

http://smallappliances.electroluxusa.com/en-US/Floorcare-Appliances/Canisters/UltraActive/Canisters-UltraActivePassive-EL4325A.aspx

It's extremely lightweight, the cord is very long, and the canister is super easy to empty.

[DietCokeLover]

I like my Shark Navigator I have hardwood/ are rugs on the main floor and carpet in bed rooms. less than $200 and does everything I want.
:yeahthat:
I have an unnatural love affair with my Shark Navigator.

[JBaxter]

:yeahthat:
I have an unnatural love affair with my Shark Navigator.

Me too. I was impressed with my Dyson but it crapped out after 5 yrs. The Shark has every BIT as much suction I like the wand for the edges of my hard wood and up the steps. Oh and its less than 1/2 the price of a dyson. I do sometimes run it on my had wood < you can turn the spining brush off I usuualy dust mop then vac my rugs then use my vac to suck up my pile of dirt.

[mjs64]

Are you sure the Bissell is working properly? I'd check it first (a 2year old vacuum should work better than what you describe). Or don't, and buy a fancy new one!

[crl]

Are you sure the Bissell is working properly? I'd check it first (a 2year old vacuum should work better than what you describe). Or don't, and buy a fancy new one!

Oh probably not. But is it worth it to fix a cheap vacuum? I was under the impression that unless you have a Miele or something, the cost to repair just doesn't make sense. . . . .

Catherine

[mjs64]

Oh probably not. But is it worth it to fix a cheap vacuum? I was under the impression that unless you have a Miele or something, the cost to repair just doesn't make sense. . . . .

Catherine

Well, I'd check it out. It's my new goal to try to repair before replacing. I am under the impression that most times vacuum problems are easy fixes, but others likely have more experience.

[AnnieW625]

Oh probably not. But is it worth it to fix a cheap vacuum? I was under the impression that unless you have a Miele or something, the cost to repair just doesn't make sense. . . . .

Catherine

The main reason I bought the Dyson over the comparable versions of the Hoover Wind Tunnel, the Bissell, and the Kenmore was that I had known someone who had each one of those and they had lasted 2 yrs.-3yrs. and only had a small warranty, and once they broke they were told it wasn't worth it to repair them. I paid $450 fort Dyson kit (it had extra attachments-including the low floor tool for getting under couches--it is awesome) at Costco and the selling point was that it came with a 5 yr. warranty and I had read good reviews of their customer service. Had Miele had an upright or a canister at the same time that was about $450 I would have bought that, but they didn't. Had the Shark been out and had favorable reviews I would have considered that as well.

[hellokitty]

I love my shark navigator. I got it a few yrs ago, after total frustration with a hoover wind tunnel that was ranked #1 in Better Home and Gardens, but was a total piece of crap and wasn't cheap. Both my parents and another friend had recently raved to me (w/o me asking them for opinions) about their shark navigators. So, I decided to try it and we love ours. The only two things that are kind of a PITA is that you have to empty it often (it is disgusting how much ONE room will collect in the chamber), it's not hard to do, but you do have to mindful of doing it and the footprint of the navigator is a little smaller than some of the other standing vacuum cleaners. So, it requires more, "sweeps" to cover the same amount of area than most other vacuums. Other than that, I wish I would have bought the version with the longer power cord. We really like it and I find that it isn't as heavy as my old hoover, which is good, since we do carry it up and down the stairs. I also think it's a pretty lilac color, lol. We call ours, "Jaws."

[Wondermom]

We used to have all hardwoods with rugs. We moved five years ago to a house with hardwoods downstairs and carpet upstairs. We have used this white Kenmore (Sears) brand canister vacuum cleaner on the recommendation of my house cleaner. It has done a better job than any of the uprights I ever had, and it's still going strong 6 years later. Admittedly, all of the uprights were $250 or less, so nothing fancy, but this one was about $250 on sale and seems to be $210 right now. http://www.sears.com/kenmore-progressive-canister-vacuum-cleaner-white/p-02021514000P?prdNo=3
About a year ago, the latch that allows you to adjust the height of the stick portion came loose (plastic latch on metal stick), and our house cleaner wrapped a bunch of duck tape around it to solve the problem. It no longer adjusts up and down, but I think that's a minor issue after 5 years of frequent use. It's cleaning performance is still good, so we keep trucking along with it.

FWIW, our house cleaner will use the vacuum to do the "sweeping" function on the hardwoods before mopping. Watching her, I realized that's so much more efficient than sweeping before mopping.