Is there a good vacuum cleaner that doesn’t cost $800??
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We can get Henry models on Amazon. They have a base model too. They are expected to run for twice the life of a Miele. There's another company I'd like to mention. It's German. The name isn't coming to me. They have a base model too.
A difference in price happens if the floor attachment is electrified and has a roller. Many people don't need one if they only have area rugs or don't have pets.
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Sebo is the name of the other German brand. Its base model is $399. It has the same features as the Miele.
Henry's base model is $399.
Henry is commercial quality. I can't remember the Sebo reviews I watched. I can't remember if they are expected to last longer than Miele.
In any case, people who own vacuum cleaner stores post reviews of different brands and models on YouTube.
I'd like any of these three canister vacuums but won't pass up the Miele for $279 when my ship comes in.
My mother had Kirby uprights. The last forever, are able to be reconditioned by Kirby, and work great.
But their upright design is clumsy because they're very heavy. They weigh a ton. I had one I got for free from a neighbor and had reconditioned. I wouldn't have another one.
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Ah Kirby vacuums, you are so right Daniel.
The rep calls to demonstrate, my sister-in-law buys🤪, puts £600 on hubby's credit card
Has a headlight, presumably for ... what?
And you need a second machine cos my goodness they're heavy to carry up & downstairs.
It's like using a Toyota Landcruiser on an F1 circuit
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Ancient Hoover Wind Tunnel here. Still works great but one of the two spindles the cord winds around has broken. Trying to find a fix.
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We have a bunch of Sharks because my favorites, the Sharp/Panasonic twins, are no longer available.
The Sharks mostly work fine and don’t cost much but they feel really cheap. The detachable hand vac feature is useful. They’re good enough as long as you remember to clean the filters. Our housekeeper uses one and swears by them.
The exception is one at the lake that doesn’t have a pile height adjustment. That thing will wear you out on anything but bare floor or a really low pile carpet. I’m going to have to replace it as the cleaners hate it and bring their own.
I don’t recommend that one.
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Before I retired I had about 15 vacuums. Everyone needs a hobby - Mr. Jodi collects camp stoves and I collected vacuums. I’d buy them at thrift stores, rebuild them, and send them out to clean up construction sites. You might say I became a vacuum Darwinist - if they survived they’d live to see another day.
Construction cleanup vacuums have a hard life -we tended to vacuum several thousand square feet at a clip. They have to handle two very different things - drywall dust and screws.
Drywall dust is the ruination of bagless vacuums. Their little filters/HEPA filters plug up almost instantly. Same with shop vacs. If you’re going to vacuum up drywall dust you need a bagged vacuum with replaceable paper bag inserts. I tried several (very cool) Dysons and none of them worked for more than a few minutes. Neither survived their retirement to household use either - they just aren’t built very well.
Picking up screws/nails/bits of wire presents a different challenge. You need a vacuum that doesn’t pass the debris picked up from the floor through the fan. This eliminated a lot of popular brands -Eureka, Hoover, Santaire. Pick up one screw and you break a blade off of the fan and the vacuum dies. Even the mighty Kirby, which looked like you could vacuum a gravel pit with it, failed that test and was so heavy no one would use it anyway. Commercial models use a magnet mounted on the front of the machine to pick up things like paper clips but I never found one of those in a thrift store. Modern cleaning services use backpack vacuums that work reliably but don’t have a beater bar -no good for households.
The Sharp/Panasonics did both. Same machine, different labels. Big bags, and a design that did not pass debris through the fan. I still have one in the basement of this house. It looks like the wrath of God, likely because it’s seen acres of office carpet and is covered with racing stickers but it still works fine. If it was up to me I’d have a bunch of them still. Very efficient and excellent cleaning performance.
But the household vacuums are not within my scope of influence. Sharon decides and she likes modern things. Sharks are modern and have any number of very useful features. They’d never survive on a construction site but seem to hold up fine in the houses. They’re light, nicely styled, and seem to do a good job. I’ve picked up two at thrift stores for next to nothing, probably because the previous owners thought they didn’t work. I cleaned the filters (each one has two filters like all bagless vacuums) and they work just fine. Easy enough but you have to do it.
And by now you’re probably wishing you’d never asked!
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We bought LL#1 a Shark Rocket Pet stick vac a few years ago. Paid around $120 for it - a similar one seems to be on sale at Macy's right now for $100. She has cats, and it has been a lifesaver vs using the hand-me-down-from-a-roommates-parents vacuum they were using. It's lightweight but does a great job. The cup fills up pretty fast and the filters do need to be cleaned regularly, but that's easy to do (and you know when it needs to be done because the vacuum pretty much stops sucking up the dirt!). The one annoying thing I've noticed when using it is that it doesn't stand up by itself - you have to prop it against the wall or lay it on the floor. Other than that, it's been awesome. If you want something small, maneuverable, and easy to store that still does a great job, I'd recommend it. Not sure if it's heavy-duty enough to be your main/only vac in a large carpeted house, but for a small aparment, single floor, or just quick cleanups, it's awesome.
