Tell me about your vacuum cleaner?

I am sick to death of mine and need a new one.
Having never actually bought one before (mine came with DH, LOL!) I am not sure what's good.
I don't have loads of cash, want a simple machine but one that sucks, baby. And ours comes apart in like, 3 different places (when you give the hose a tug). So frustrating when you're trying to pull it around a room! So not sure if we can get around that issue or not.
Are the bagless ones the best?
And I'm not the sort of person who vacuums the ceiling or vacuums the vacuum cleaner either... that may influence the advice you give me: if it has to be cleaned after every use for e.g... probably not for me.
Thanks so much for any help anyone can give.

I have hated every vacuum I have ever had! Last year we invested in a ducted vacuum system....It is the BEST THING EVER!

It didn't cost us too much, I got the vac off ebay for $200 and just had to buy the pipes etc which cost about $150 and DH installed it.

I have a Dyson upright. It's bagless, the filter needs to be cleaned every three months though (according to it) but I clean it on average once a year and it still sucks fine ^^;
I think they're around $799 mark though, but if you keep an eye out sometimes you can pick them up on special... we got ours for $500. Best thing about it though is that it's upright, so you're not lugging the whole hose and machine bit around the house, it's all infront of you.
I love it though, it's a sucking machine (literally) and we have a german shepherd indoors, and it gets through his malting dog hair no problems.

GL! xx

ok , my mum bought me a nilfisk vacum with a bag and a thingy that connects to the pole to suck up the dirt , so mininal stuuf goes into the bag .so you have a tube you have to empty when you fininsh and you dont need to change the bag , only every 6 mths or yearly if you please ..

i chucked a wobbly at mum for buying a naff vacum , as DH drummed it into me that bagless was better ...

so she took me to godfreys and got the man to explain the good and bad of each type of vacum ..
he adviesd me against bagless ones ..

so after a few years my vacum is still going strong ( but i feel its time to update )

i really want a dyson but they are $$$$ and im not sure they are worth it ..

i reckon about $350 will get you a good long lasting vacum and get it from godfrey ( my mum has an awseome one with a vibrating plate that brings even more dirt out !) and it lasted her aaages . same with my MIL


advice - take it or leave it . but dont buy one from Kmart or the like , yes they are cheap , but you get what you pay for ... buying cheap will only mean you have to replace it sooner than you'd like

i know this because DH bought a cheap bagless one ($99, it camw with a steam mop , it broke too !!) and it broke with in 3 mths of usuing it , not worth it ... aim for the mid price range and you cant go wrong :)

I'd love a good vac. The one I have now is ok. Sucks better than mum & dad's Vax (don't tell dad that ;)), but the head cracked around the pipe with in the first few weeks, so it comes off as it pleases, & the extender bit on the pipe stuffed up & wouldn't hold not long after that.
IME as long as you clean out all the filters regularly they will go forever (something MIL taught me, I notice the difference every time!). I probably do mine every month or two. When ever I notice the suction isn't so great.

I have a dyson (not an upright though) and it's great. Bagless and supposedly doesn't loose suction as the comparment fills with 'muck' (as other vacumes with bags do). Horrible site to see how much 'muck' is actually removed each time you vacume. Reccommended for allergy suffers and people with animals inside. Also reccommends to clean the filter every 6 months and it's as simple as removing this circle pad and giving it a good rinse and then letting it dry out. They are pricey but we got ours on interest free :)

I also have a dyson bagless, it's not the upright but is very light and easy to move around.
They can cost a bit and i always said i had NO IDEA why people would spend that much on a vac but it really is worth it,especially as our DD gets eczema and chances are might end up with Asthma.

If you keep an eye out on e-bay or even goodguys etc sometimes you can get the basic model for a decent price.

The proof is in the testing though, when DP bought it for me (how nice of him :p ) i did a run over of the lounge with our old vac, everything LOOKED clean, then i went over it with the dyson.. i nearly threw up... the stuff this thing picked out of the ALREADY VAC'd carpet made me sick!

It's coming up to x-mas, if anyone asks what you want maybe just say some cash to put towards a nice shiny new powerful sucker! lol... maybe explain you want a new vac! the oldies might have a heart attack!

HTH.. good luck, in my experience now the amount of cheapies i have bought over the years have probably added up to the cost of my dyson which i will have for many more years to come.

:

---

The proof is in the testing though, when DP bought it for me (how nice of him :p ) i did a run over of the lounge with our old vac, everything LOOKED clean, then i went over it with the dyson.. i nearly threw up... the stuff this thing picked out of the ALREADY VAC'd carpet made me sick!

.

---

We did this too! We have one of those shaggy rugs in our loungeroom... the amount of dog hair it got out that we couldn't even see... DH almost evicted poor puppy ^^;
You gotta love how it all swirls around in there too, yum yum XD

I recommend a Dyson too! I've got one now, which is superb (an upright) and had one back home in the UK. My mum has 2 (one for upstairs and one for downstairs) and wouldn't consider anything else.

Like the others have said - it's amazing what they pick up, and creeps you out a little bit when you see what's in the cylinder.

We got ours from Harvey Norman for about $450 as it was an ex-demonstrator. Came with a lot of demo extras too!

Another point to add is that Dyson Customer Service are THE BEST!!! I was vacuuming one day and managed to knock the "wand cap" off - searched high and low for about 2 months and couldn't find it anywhere! Called Dyson and they sent me a whole replacement wand for free. As soon as it arrived, I put on my dressing gown and found the cap in the pocket - It had flipped off into there! :redface:

Definatly recommend a DYSON!!!!

We have had our Dyson for 8 years and nothing has ever gone wrong with it. It is fantastic as we have a dog and it picks up all of his hair. They are expensive but worth it!

I have a Kirby. IT IS THE BOMB! But for $3000 it should be. I personally wouldn't buy a bagless. HEPA filters are a must if you want piece of mind that what you are picking up isn't being blown back out. My vac has an eight layer HEPA filtration bag that just clips off and is thrown away and is totally biodegradable. Yes mine was way expensive ( gotta love paying it off) but my parents have had a Kirby since I was about 7 I am now 28 and they still have the same vacuum cleaner so well worth the investment in the first place.

Dyson upright its awesome!!!!!!!!!!! Love it, Hepa filters I dont clean as often as it says but still works well.

We've been happy with our Vax. It's been going strong for 15 years! It is basic but it shampoos and suck up water if, say, your laundry trough overflows and water runs down the hall... which happens to me embarrassingly often. :redface: Really good for spot cleaning baby spew off the carpet too. I don't think I could go back to a vacuum that only sucks up dry stuff.

yep dyson fan here too. i know you said you didn't want to spend lots but the $800 for our dyson was the best money i'd spent since laying out $1400 for a digital slr camera. and if you think about $800 over the ten to 15 years your dyson will last, it's not hat much money for what it does.

If you are only vacuming tiles/lino/wood floors tho, i'm sure just a cheapy sucker woud be good.

but for carpet you can't go past the dyson. it's a very rewarding experience vacuuming these days lol. and i'm sure our home's hygiene standards are much higher! good luck.

I love my Vacuum cleaner.
It is a Dyson DY 19. It cost us $400 + an extra $70 for a 'turbo head'. We bought it just over a year ago. Did i mention that I love it?
It would not be so good without the turbo head - it gets the dog hair out of the carpet.
Did i mention that I love my Dyson?
It is a barrel one - I think the upright ones mean that you end up pushing the whole thing back and forth with every stroke - which seems like extra work.
It's nice and easy to empty. (I do empty it after every vacuum i.e. when I have done the whole house). And I love it.
The cord could be longer - but I am lazy and want to vacuum the whole house without moving the plug :lol:
I haven't recently vacuumed the ceiling or the vacuum cleaner either!!
I love my dyson. When we first bought it we were a bit disgusted at the amount of dust that it sucked up - but after we used it a couple of times, that has stopped. It proved our old one was not so good.

Have you checked out what they say on Choice, or Product Review?

:

---

! It is basic but it shampoos and suck up water if, say, your laundry trough overflows and water runs down the hall... which happens to me embarrassingly often. :redface:

---

I'm glad I'm not the only one that has that problem lol

Thanks, ladies!
Sounds like Dyson is pretty popular. My mum bought one recently but has already had to have it fixed... Sounds like she just got a dodgy one though.
Thanks for the suggestion of Choice, Lenny. Will jump on there for sure.
Haven't heard of vax before. Their website doesn't list any prices. Are they comparable in price to the dyson range, does anyone know?

OOH!! I thought I was the only insane person to spend $4000 on a vacuum cleaner!

I have a Kirby Sentria - fabulous little toy - it even has a massage attachment :shakehead: lol
Probably a bit more exxy than you were interested, but I know people who have older models that are now 25+ years old and still going strong.
It shampoos and cleans upholstry, polishes floorboards, has a HEPA filter, is upright or barrel...

Aside from that though my old vac was a Hoover Silver Streak. A coupl eof hundred dollards I think, fabulous, reliable and sucks up everything. the BEST vacuum cleaner I ever had before the Kirby was hte Silver Streak (and I have had a few :redface:

We have a Dyson upright but I hate it - it's huge and heavy, doesn't have a retractable cord (that drives me nuts) and it looks like the robot out of lost in space (we actually call it B9 which was the robot's name!).
The Bear recently bought a Roomba........ OMG the best gadget EVER. Yes, you do have to clean it after each cycle BUT it does the vacuuming for you. You turn it on and it tootles around the house vacuuming, you can go out and come home to clean floors. Love, love, love it! Great entertainment for the kids too LOL

A friend of mine was told at a vaccuum cleaner shop never to get bagless too.
I have an electrolux which was about $100 form Godfreys a couple of years ago and it still works well, I would love a dyson but can't justify the money (and DH would have a fit!)
BTW I will not give you oney for a vacuum cleaner for Christmas!!! You need spoiling. (but maybe Dave can get some and for his b'day LOL)

We have a Miele and its great. It was about $700 so middle of the range and its light weight, has a long handle (for tall DH) and is really powerful. It uses bags, but I don't have a problem with that.

GL!

Haha, thanks Chris. Dave would likely be peed off if he got money for a vacuum cleaner. Probably I'll just tell him to buy me one. ;)
Lime - Yeah, I think in the thousands is just too much for us right now. But I am glad you and tiffany are happy with your machines... They'd want to be good, LOL!
Pixie - thanks for your feedback too. I am not all that keen on the uprights, but will still check out the others I think. LOL @ the vac that does the room itself! Wow!

You don't stil have that grey upright one do you??

Amy, my mum has a Dyson upright and it is DA BOMB! I borrow it sometimes, because it does such a fantastic job. Even if I've only just vacuumed, I'm amazed at what that thing picks up :redface:. I am a bit taller than average, so I much prefer the upright, it's much easier on my back. And it kind of just propels itself forward, so you don't have to use too much elbow grease LOL. It is VERY easy to clean too. I am not someone who is great with looking after these things, but the Dyson is seriously a cinch :).

Good luck with choosing and deciding! It's hard, but I know for me, after using the Dyson that's all I want! Just need to come up with the cash :lol:

I have a Wertheim (from Godfrey's) which I love, love, love!
It was expensive (about $1,200 from memory). But honestly, I really think it was worth it. It does have bags which i actually prefer. I had a bagless one before and it was such a pain to clean it and the filter out after every use. It was kinda gross. Having said that, I bought the little clear attachment that goes onto the pole that you often see in their store demos. So most of the dirt ends up in their rather than goin into the bag. So the bags last forever. This thing is easy to take off and empty into the bin.
It has a powerhead which vibrates the carpet and shakes out the dirt. This is really effective.
With repairs, they often have parts in the store, so if you need service, it's not a biggie. I had the pole replaced (it had seized and couldn't be extended for some unknown reason) on the spot.
It has a really strong body (the material that they make bumper bars out of apparently), which was important to me with little kids that might jump on it.
Oh, and this might sound ridiculous, but it has a really really long power lead. Sounds not worth mentioning, but it is so great that I can basically do the whole house without having to unplug and replug the thing. especially with childproof plates on all powerpoints. if i also want to do the ensuite, i do have to use a different powerpoint, but still much better than 3 or 4 powerpoints I had to use with my old ($200) vaccuum.

Dysons do seem to have a good rep, too.

And Miele are great Vaccuums.

Oh, by the way, I was also told by various vac sales people that bagless is not THAT great. yes, you might save on bags, but you have to replace the expensive filters more often.

Basically, I think you get what you pay for. You won't get a great vac for $100. ut you mgiht get by with that for a while. Until you get a better one and see all the dirt your old one left behind.... gross.

or, you could rip out the carpet and replace with floorboards. The you can get away with a cheaper vac...

Of course you don't need to go to quite the length that i went to. i reckon yu can get a decent machine from about $500.

Sasa

I thought of this thread yesterday when a heap of catalogues arrived containing vacuum cleaners. They are all so ugly! Like Pixie said... like robots or something. Ugh. I know my Vax isn't a piece of art but it's purely functional... not so appearance driven. Definitely going to look into ducted vacuuming if this is the future of vacuum cleaners. Can't they do a retro one? I live in an older style home... a robot would look so out of place. Oh but the Mieles weren't too bad... I wish KitchenAid made vacuums!!! LOL

MrsMac - nope, its a brown one with a grey hose and head. It works ok, just keeps coming apart. And it only has one wheel.
Janie - I think I will be in the same position, actually. I will go and check some out, but if we go a dyson I'll need to find a very good special.
Sasa - would love to get rid of this carpet, but we're renting and our landlords won't be changing it in a hurry. One day we are going to have our own place... one day.
Bathsheba - ROFL. I'm not too fussy about what it looks like - I can pack it away. In fact, the less I see of it the better, LOL! (Vacuuming is supposed to be DH's job. I am not a big fan. Although I might come to like it more if I get a good one ;) )

Thanks again, all. We're going to the shops this afternoon so I might pop into Godfreys...