Vacuum cleaners (floor, appliance, furniture, installed)

[cleosmom]

Went and did some research yesterday.

What I learned about Dyson is that the Original (yellow) is no different then the Animal (purple) other than the attachments (hard surface floor and furniture brush) that come with the Animal. You can buy the attachments, however it's cheaper to buy them already with the vacuum.

The second thing I learned is that you cannot replace the belt yourself! The belt and the little apparatus that it connects to costs $50.00 and then you add the shop's labor onto that which is a 2.5 hour job yikes

So, this domestic queen will not be buying Dyson!

Now, I was introduced to Lindhaus vacuums for the first time yesterday and I like what I saw so far, still need to research it more first. It has a gear driven belt and if something gets caught up in the suction that shouldn't be (fringes on rugs, etc.) it does an automatic shut off. Their belt is under warranty for life!

Having said all that, if anyone has changed their own Dyson belt, let me know. Also, if you have or have used a Lindhaus, how do you like it?

[Mike from back east]

Consumer Reports rated Vacuums not long ago. Dyson did NOT stand out, were about mid-range, others did much better. If you aren't a subscriber to CR, your local public library will have it. Librarians rock!

My wife and I always bought Sears / Kenmoore vacs, as you can walk into any Sears store and get parts, even for a 25-year-old vacuum. You can order parts on-line with Sears and they'll UPS or USPS it to your home for a minor fee. Always SAVE their owner's manual, as it will have all the part numbers. No one else does this to my knowledge. Same goes for any power tool or appliance from Sears / Kenmoore, you can get parts for many many years and even take things in to their shop for repairs.

I'm not a stockholder or connected to Sears in any way, I'm just a very favorably impressed lifetime customer. You won't get this kind of service at any of the "marts" that are so popular.

As my wife says, the topic of vacuums REALLY sucks.

s/Mike

[dooozie]

I bought the yellow Dyson about a year ago. I spoke to the company because I thought my belt had broken. Come to find out, it was something else, which was easily remedied. duhhh. The customer service gal told me the belt was guaranteed for the life of the vacuum. So, I won't be worrying about it. I don't personally use it very often (have cleaning crew), but when I do, I find it easy to use and light. I would recommend it.

[exhdo1]

I installed an Electrolux whole house system a few years back and while it's convienient it definetly dosen't (pardon my english) suck! Our portable one (Fanthom Thunder) works great!

[MoMark]

I have a Wide Path Hoover Fold Away bagless vacuum that I really like. I bought it at Target for I think $80 and it sucks the hell out of my carpets which with two cats....is necessary! I vacuum the carpeted areas once a week and have to empty the container at least three times because of all the cat hair it picks up. I had had a Bissel, and I really liked it at first, but then it broke down after about a year...just quit. I thought..well, everyone tells me the Bissel bagless is a great vacuum, so I thought maybe I got a lemon and went out and bought another. It did the same thing. No more Bissels. This vacuum by Hoover I really like, not too expensive and very, very powerful vacuuming. I know my carpet is as clean as it will get after I run it over the carpet.

[lookingfortheperfectplace]

I also had a bissell that quit after just 1 year. But I would keep mine on for a hour to sooth my son when he was a baby so it's no wonder it fried. But at any rate I wasn't going to get the same brand. I ended up with a dirt devil which works great but I sometimes wonder if it is too powerful because I get a lot of carpet fuzz in the container. and my carpet is 3 years old and good quality.

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by lookingfortheperfectplace

I also had a bissell that quit after just 1 year. But I would keep mine on for a hour to sooth my son when he was a baby so it's no wonder it fried. But at any rate I wasn't going to get the same brand. I ended up with a dirt devil which works great but I sometimes wonder if it is too powerful because I get a lot of carpet fuzz in the container. and my carpet is 3 years old and good quality.

My carpets are new as of October of last year and had never been lived on until I bought the house. I had lots of carpet fiber/fuzz the first couple of months, but it's been sucked out now that which will come off. Isn't it amazing that the Bissell is so ...overrated?

[lookingfortheperfectplace]

I did however get a bissell carpet cleaner recently and it kicks ass! hopefully it will still be kicking in a few years. I picked it because it had all the best features I was looking and it had great reviews. And I got it from costco and if it is junk they will take it back.

[MoMark]

Originally Posted by lookingfortheperfectplace

I did however get a bissell carpet cleaner recently and it kicks ass! hopefully it will still be kicking in a few years. I picked it because it had all the best features I was looking and it had great reviews. And I got it from costco and if it is junk they will take it back.

I have one of those too and it did work well. It has the light that goes from red to green depending on how fast I push it to let me know if I'm getting the deepest cleaning. I bought mine at Sam's Club

[cleosmom]

Well, thank you al for replying. After researching online half the darn day, I think I am going to go with the Hoover Wind Tunnel 2.

I was preferring to go back to bags, but the original Wind Tunnel is bagged, but doesn't have the pet tool for the furniture, so I'm back to bagless.

Okay, now back to your regular scheduled program