Which is to say I need to stop being cheap and buy a legit vacuum cleaner and not the $30 one on sale at Target.
Although speaking of the Bullseye, between various giftcards, Ms. Cups and I have $120 in Target giftcards and we want to put the entire thing towards a vacuum that doesn’t suck. Well, one that DOES suck. Like, it sucks but it doesn’t suck…you know what I mean.
So does anyone have any recommendations on brands, types etc. on vacuums that are in the 100 to 150 dollar range? We have 120 to play with, but if it’s a good brand/value I don’t mind paying a bit out of pocket, nor would I mind paying less.
We just live an an apartment that is mostly wood floors, but there’s carpeting in the bedrooms, so ideally I’d like a vacuum that can handle both. We don’t have pets now, probably won’t in 2017, but would look to get a dog sometime around the end of '17 or 18. It’ll get used weekly or so on the flooring, the carpets and our rugs.
I’ve never owned a ~$100 vacuum cleaner that didn’t suck in the wrong way. We have one we bought at Sam’s for about $140 that I guess is okay… but after three weeks it sounded like a jet engine on takeoff, and nothing I can do will fix it. It’s truly painful to use. We haul the Sebo up and down the stairs unless the living room has to be 'cumed in a big hurry.
I’d look for a quality brand used one and put a few bucks into new belts, filters, seals etc. Honest.
The problem with cheap vacs isn’t how they work for the first month (or in testing, even that as rigorous as CR). It’s how they work in six months, which is often dismal - leaks, noise, dust ejection, broken parts like carpet height adjustment or filter door… I’d wager that ANY vac right out of the box will perform well enough. But cheapos from even the best brand names are crap in way too short a time. I lost count of how many ~$150 (now - adjusting for inflation) vacs I’ve bought over the years only to have them follow this dismal curve. And I’m quite handy - I can fix broken parts, fix seals, etc. It’s not enough, not in the long run (say, a year).
Anyone who wants this (nearly new) Hoover with the Rolls-Royce jet engine can have it.
My wife thought I was insane to spend $600 on a Sebo. A few maintenance sessions and a minor fix here and there, and it’s still as good as the day we bought it, nearly 15 years ago.
Check with vac stores for a good-brand refurb, even if it’s horrid beige.
I got a Eureka Boss about 13 years ago based on the reviews I read about how it handled dog hair. I’ve replaced the belt and filters a few times, but it still works pretty much like new.
How does “a few maintenance sessions and a minor fix here and there” cost plus the $600 you spent on the machine compare with just buying a more affordable machine, even if you’re replacing the affordable machine periodically?
Because it’s worked every time it’s been used. It’s not a cycle of:
[ul]
[li]Ooh, new toy![/li][li]Crap, the filter door broke. Gimme a rubber band.[/li][li]Wow, this is getting noisy. I said, WOW THIS IS GETTING NOISY.[/li][li]I did vacuum. Twice.[/li][li]Does this thing have any suction left?[/li][li](Repeat at 6-18 month cycles)[/li][/ul]
The Sebo works like new every time it’s plugged in. Maintenance consists of replacing two filters once a year, a five minute job. Repairs have consisted of taking off a bottom plate to clean tangles around the brush, and an annoying tendency of crud to build up in the lock pivot so that you have to push it closed to keep the upright part upright; five minutes cleaning and it’s good for two years.
It’s even still quiet. I have no expectation of replacing it in my lifetime.
ETA: It’s also made out of boring white plastic that doesn’t crack or break - unlike certain 21st century designs in the same price range.
Yes, I realize I could easily google search things.
I can even go to Target.com and look at their selection and read the reviews. But I want to hear from people I know (well…“know”) rather than people I don’t.
Whatever you do, don’t get one of the “commercial” uprights like this one. they’re rather robust but totally obsolete. They’ve been basically unchanged for 40-50 years, their “commercial” features are you can abuse the shit out of them and they have like a mile-long cord. However, they have one big and one fatal flaw:
-Big flaw: still uses paper bags which are a pain in the ass to change, and
-Fatal flaw: the air path goes through the beaters, then the impeller/fan creating the suction, then blows into the bag. What happens is that pretty much anything bigger than a grain of rice just gets knocked around by the impeller and spit back out.
most decent modern vacuums have the suction impeller after the bag or collection bin. that way air is drawn through the bag/catch bin and particles are filtered out before they can reach the impeller.
eta: I have a Eureka upright, one of the “cyclonic” ones with the flip open catch bin. I don’t know which one it is right now (not at home) but It works well for me.
A perennial favorite and former Consumer Reports best buy is the Eureka-Boss-Smartvac-Upright. It is becoming harder to find, but it is a workhorse.
This is true. I bought one over 10 years ago and it’s still working pretty well. I gave it to my sister because it was too heavy a machine for me. I bought a Shark around $150 with a 20% Bed Bath & Beyond discount.
My wife and I have cleaned professionally for the past 17 years. We only use commercial vacs after so many disappointing residential grade vacs, but then again, those weren’t meant to be used so much. We use ugly yellow Carpet Pro vacs that just work. Nothing flashy, cost @$230 depending, but don’t seem to break on us. Kirby makes vacs that are built like tanks, but they are heavy and we had issues with fans breaking and other things, and every time it was a costly repair. The belts broke quite a bit too. The Carpet Pro vacs seem to be the same basic build as both Panasonic and Riccar, just yellow and less expensive in cases.
Since it seems that Target is your store of choice with the gift cards, I’d look at the Shark models. I’m a member of an online cleaning association and I know that some of the other cleaners there use Sharks. If they can be taken in and out of cars and used at house after house, they must be pretty good for residential builds. I’d pick the one that suits your needs (you mentioned both hard surfaces and carpet).
We went out last night and ended up with this guy right here. We got home late, so we only used it a little bit, but it sure picked up a lot of stuff. We’re doing a much bigger deep clean tonight, so let’s hope it works.
