Tell me you love your vacuum.

[beac]

I hate mine.

It's an el cheapo Dirt Devil upright that has all the suction power of a hiccup and leaves most of the pet hair and dirt behind. I know this b/c my wonderful, magical, how-did-I-live-w/out-it? Hoover Spin Scrub carpet cleaner pulls up a ton of it right after I've "vacuumed" with the lazy Dirt Devil.

I've saved up for a new vacuum, done a ton of research, and still feel unready to pull the trigger because for every glowing review of each vacuum I've looked into there is always one saying "it sucks, and not in the good way."

So, I thought I'd expand my research here and see if any clear favorite emerges.

Pet people of DU, do you have a vacuum that makes your heart sing? (or at least picks up dog/cat hair at a reasonable rate?)

[hlthe2b]

1. I bought the Dyson Pet model at Costco a few years ago...

I've been pretty satisfied. Not cheap, but at least it has lasted.

[Coyote_Bandit]

2. I have

an old Eureka that does a pretty decent job. Bagless - but it has a couple of filters that have to be replaced regularly. The local Eureka store did not recognize the filters or the model. When I first ordered filters from them I had to take them a picture of the machine and the tag identifying the model. I try to keep a couple of extra filters around.

[GardeningGal]

3. I had an original Dyson animal that I liked.

Then Costco had a special on the new one that has the ball as the roller and I got that because the old one was tricky at times. I absolutely LOVE the new one. Glad I bought it.

[beac]

7. Is it THIS one?:

http://www.woot.com/Special.aspx?utm_campaign=Amazon+VIP+-[phone]+-+Woot+-+dyson-dc25-upright-ball-vacuum-10+-+camp53&utm_source=Amazon&utm_medium=email&k=vacuumparty

b/c woot has it offered today only for $249.99 + $5 shipping, but I'm a little leery of the "Refurbished" status. Wonder how that impacts the warranty??

Did you buy yours online or locally??

[GardeningGal]

11. Yes, mine is like that.

I have the purple one. I got mine at Costco locally.

[TorchTheWitch]

4. I love my Dirt Devil Easy Lite so far

I used to have some other more expensive and much heavier Dirt Devil but it sucked... and as you said, not in a good way. Damn thing got clogged all the time, too. And I REALLY hated the damn bags. The new pup chewed on the hose, so I had to get something else and it had to be really cheap since I was broke. I got this much lighter Dirt Devil Easy Lite canister vacuum and it does a MUCH MUCH better job of sucking stuff up especially pet hair. I didn't even get half way through vacuuming my hairy bedroom before the canister was already jam-packed with hair and dust. The carpet has never been this hairless though with the first cleaning of the whole house I had to empty the canister about a dozen times.

The only thing I don't like about it is there doesn't seem to be any extension wands that fit it, and they don't come with any. I have no idea why they think wand attachments aren't important... how else are you supposed to do the cobwebs that gather in ceiling corners or get under the bed for dust bunnies??? I still have the old wands from my other Dirt Devil but they don't fit. I'm thinking of figuring out a way to scrape some plastic out of the inside of one so I can jam it on the hose.

So far I really like this thing. It only cost about $40 (though I got it on sale for around ($30) and it does a WAY better job than my old piece of crap heavy much more expensive Dirt Devil with those damn bags. I don't have a really thick pile carpet though, so I don't know how this one would work on something like that.

[ginnyinWI]

9. how to clean out those cobwebs

Not as much fun as vacuuming them, but take a broom and pin an old towel around the bristles. You can get them that way, then just throw the towel in the laundry. Same thing for under the bed, if it's a hard floor that is.

[TorchTheWitch]

14. hey, that's a good idea!

Thanks, I'm going to try this. I hate cobwebs, and the itsy bitsy spider invaders build the damn things in a single night sometimes.

[Angry Dragon]

18. If you have spiders

it means you have a lot of bugs..........

[TorchTheWitch]

19. Oh yes, lots of bugs here

I've never seen a cockroach, but I have all kinds of outdoor type bugs like those damn tiny ants that come and go in huge armies to invade the kitchen. It's an ancient house with a million ways for bugs to come and go. As I understand it these places are so old that bathrooms were added later and they used to all have outhouses.

[ginnyinWI]

20. when we lived a few feet from a woods we had so many bugs.

And spiders to go with them. Now we have a more open yard and get far fewer bugs in the house. There are a few pine trees near the house but that doesn't seem to be a problem.

[lonestarlib]

5. I have an original Dyson Animal. Had it

about 4 years. Absolutely love it. Costly, but well worth it.

[BTennyson]

6. For pet owners

The Dyson Pet. Nothing compares to it. Not even remotely.

[jtuck004]

8. Just went through this, went through all the reviews, a few trips to different stores

Don't have the money to buy the expensive one

Got a Bissell Rewind Cleanview Pet.

It sucks the crap out of th efloor much better than any other we have had.

It is an INCREDIBLE pain in the ass to empty, but it goes back together fairly easily. I will trade that for the stuff it sucks out of my carpet that the other one left. Seems like it was a Dirt Devil as well.

[Curmudgeoness]

10. Take all the online reviews with a grain of salt.

I am reading this because I also would like to find a really good vacuum, but noticed your comment about reviews. I was made aware of the numbers of people who are paid to enter online review by companies a few years ago. These people are paid for each review they post, and they will post great reviews for the company and lousy reviews for the competition company. It is too bad that we can't depend on the reviews, but in the end, we have to go with our gut feelings about a product, and what we can and cannot afford.

[uppityperson]

12. I got a really annoying one from Goodwill. I had to keep stopping and emptying the bin.

Then it struck me...it was cleaning well, picking up lots of fur and dirt and needed emptying more often because it worked!

[applegrove]

13. I have a Kenmore elegance. Tube with a detachable motorized broom. It is more than 20 years old.

It works great. When my parents moved out of their big house it was the only thing I wanted (or had room for). The last bag I had lasted at least 3 years before it was full. I don't vacume that often but when I do it can handle any job.

[beac]

15. Old vacuums are the best.

I had an ANCIENT Electrolux that came with my last house. The thing must have been made from all steel b/c it was heavy as all get out and it had slider bars on each side instead of wheels, but BOY could it suck up the dirt.

Alas, mr beac (who was boyfriend beac at the time) threw out all the attachments thinking he was helping with "Spring Cleaning" (ok, my garage was a bit... ahem... untidy) and that was the end of that.

[ginnyinWI]

16. my mom had one of those in the 50s.

I was a kid. The slider bars were so you could vacuum up and down the stairs with the thing. Noisy as all get out. It had a cloth re-useable bag: we had to take it outside and shake it over a piece of newspaper, then wrap and place the dust in the trash. But it was our chance to retrieve little toys that might have also gotten sucked in.

[beac]

17. Yup, the suction on that old thing was amazing...

had to be very careful around bed skirts, curtains, etc.

Now I wish I'd looked on ebay for the attachments. All the new vacs seem designed to fail within a year or two. Even the mighty Dysons only have a 5-yr warranty.

[TygrBright]

21. I find that a Dirt Devil convertable (handheld/stick vac) corded model works great, but ONLY...

...if I apply it at the source.

Once a day we hoover the ornjboi. Treats & petting and long hoovering with the handheld while he rolls around in ecstasy. We pet & rub his fur this way and that, loosening it & hoovering as we go. In the spring we get some additional clumps to hoover up from the rugs occasionally, but not all that many & they're easy enough to get up with our Compact canister model.

He's a long-haired, very very floofy kitty so if we didn't do the daily hoovering we'd shortly be drowning in cat hair that no vacuum could possibly deal with.

helpfully,
Bright

[beac]

22. Ah, if only my pets felt "helpful" about being hoovered!

Alas, the cat runs for the hills and the dog, who used to not be afraid of the machine has been convinced by his girlfriend dog that it is the devil's own instrument and requires a constant stream of wild barking aimed at it in order to prevent some kind of Doggy Apocalypse.

Fortunately, the warm weather has arrived, so at least we can start shaving the dog-- reducing the length of 50% of the hair, if not the volume.

[Stinky The Clown]

23. Orek Hotel Vac. Wow!

We hired a crew to come deep clean the house. They brought all their own equipment and supplies. The most amazing was the vacuums. Our stair runner had a lot of dog fur in it. We vacuum it regularly but it never gets completely clean.

But the crew got all visible fur out and it looks great.