We REALLY need a better vacuum. We have a dog and a cat and a baby - so no matter how often we vacuum our cheap berber carpet, pet hair is embedded in the little loops, and it gets all over our daughter (she is at the crawling stage).
I can’t imagine how we could possibly afford a Dyson, so I’m wondering if there is a comparable but less expensive vacuum out there?
I can’t help you out here - but we sell Dysons at work and they are like $400! What the hell does this vacuum do that makes it cost that much?
Consumer Reports rated vacuums a few months ago. The Dyson did not come out on top. Or even in the middle. It said the Dyson didn’t clean any better than any comparably priced machine. There were others they rated higher, that cost much less.
I don’t subscribe to CR on-line, and our hard copies go to work with hubby after we’re done, so I can’t be any less vague, sorry.
You might look at the library for back copies.
Consider the Bissell bagless liftoff vacuum. I also have their deep cleaner and spot lifter.
I haven’t owned a Dyson, but it seems to me that those who do, seem to be replacing them every two years or so, they do run very hot.
It surprises me that they then go out and buy another.
Any decent vacuum cleaner will perform well. Mine uses a bag and it pulls hard until it’s full. It was less that $300.
The technology that Dyson uses is very old and certainly not deserving of the price tag it comes with. We had a cyclone bagless vacuum when I was a kid and that was over 40 years ago. I would choose a vacuum cleaner based on the attachments and ease of use (ability to get under things, rotary attachment for furniture, reach of hose etc…).
My girlfriend and I both have Dysons that are over 10 years old. Mine has never needed any work of any sort; hers has but only through misuse (eg someone washed the paper filter you are never supposed to wash and put it back in :smack: ). I would never consider any other brand now.
I may be the only person in the world who does, but I HATE my Dyson. Didn’t help that the first one was in the shop four times in the first six months before they replaced it. Doesn’t seem to clean all that well for the bother I went through to get a working one.
I have a Dyson upright - it is over 6 years old - but little used.
Mainly I bought it because I admired the design, which is actually stolen from a Victorian saw mill.
Recently I was talking to a friend of mine, he also has a Dyson, years ago we took it apart to figure how it worked - but since we were inebriated at the time, we missed the finer points.
Anyway, he also has something called a ‘Henry’, an extremely basic machine. It seems that he had spotted that tradesmen use them - and being a competent and avid user of power tools - got one for the rough work.
I’m not sure if you can get them in the USA, probably you can. It looks disgusting, is designed like a Ford Model T - and hoovers up sawdust and plaster chippings perfectly.
I have a great deal of admiration for James Dyson, but I reckon that he should have run the stuff past some brutal practical engineers.
You want something good for your money? Look at the Oreck line. They aren’t cheap ($300-$400 IIRC), but they work and they are very lightweight.
Professional cleaners use them because they don’t particularly want to haul a forty pound monster upstairs and downstairs all day.
I bought an old Electrolux at a garage sale for $40. I love it, even though it’s a canister vac and not an upright. I have two cats, a rabbit and a preteen boy and it cleans very well. I would imagine you could get a used (refurbished) one at almost any vaccum repair place.
(I’ve since then found another Electrolux that someone was throwing out! The hoses were holey and won’t work, and the beater bar doesn’t work, the the canister works great and is compatible with all my hoses and beater bar attachement. It’s being stored in the basement in case mine ever goes on the fritz.)
Dyson is the Norton Antivirus of vacuum cleaners; everybody talks about them as if they’re the bees tits, when they are simply not the best. People buy them almost as a reflex.
Right, and people tend to think, “Hey, this is the most expensive vacuum I can afford, so it must be good.”
We’ve got a bagless Bissel and it was only about $150 and works really well.
Really strong brush motor and stiff bristles for our berber carpet.
We also just sat through a home demo for the Tri-Star vacuum. Those are about $1,800. Like the Kirbys, overpriced, but good. But not that good.
Ours is a Bissell, bagless upright. WIth a HEPA filter.
We’ve had it a few years now, and it still performs great, has a really long cord, and rolls very well in every direction over all our carpets.
And believe me when I say this: you do not have a worse pet hair problem than I do!
We’re in a somewhat unique situation here as we collect vacuum cleaners.
Off the top of my head, I think we’ve got something like two Electrolux canister vacs, two Kirbys, one or two Hoover Constellations (the round ball that hovers like Sputnik) and a fleet of assorted uprights and canisters. And one Dyson Animal.
Guess which one we actually use?
Yep, the Dyson is our “daily driver.” One of the Kirbys has been banished to the garage until the day we get rid of the carpeting that someone else put on the garage floor, and about the only time we drag out an Electrolux is to vacuum out the fireplace.
I’m not about to say the Dyson is perfect. Hoo boy, does that thing have some aggravating quirks! I’m really not fond of how the hose and wand work. It’s like wrestling with a snake who’s just swallowed half a fence post. And getting long pet fur or thread out of the brush roller is horrid as the roller is not user-removable.
But then, the Electrolux is fidgety and quits unexpectedly, ejecting the bag like a toaster because it thinks the bag is full, and the Kirby sounds like a train roaring through the house. Weighs as much as a train as well! Also, as a bottom fill, it does suffer the dreaded loss of suction.
We’ve had our hands on Orecks. Their claim to fame (aside from Paul Harvey) is they’re lightweights. Unfortunately, they’re lightweight in more than one way - they’re fine for people that vacuum new carpet daily and aren’'t hung up on the idea of getting all the deep dirt out of an older carpet. Plus, when a company has to give away other appliances to entice you to even look at the thing, (Try the upright for 30 days, and keep the portable canister vac as our gift to you!) there’s something not quite right.
I don’t know why people go on and on about Dyson’s being expensive. They’re really not that pricey. As already mentioned Orecks are in the $400-$700 range. Growing up we had a Rainbow, those go for about $2000! Tell me what makes those cost so much! Really though, I would never buy a Rainbow. Apart from having better things to drop two grand on, they are perhaps the most cumbersome vacuums ever invented. First off they only come in a canister model, I’m an upright man myself. They are also ungodly heavy, mostly on account of the large canister of water that traps the filth from your carpets transforming it into a lovely sludge that must be emptied after every use. Not to mention the weird whirly pie tin that must scrubbed regularly. I hated vacuuming as a kid, no doubt because of what pain in the ass that machine was.
Nowadays I don’t mind vacuuming. My last vacuum was a Bissell upright, I paid no more than $200 and it gave me a good 7 years of service with no problems.
I’d suggest going to a vacuum dealer, explain what your needs and ask their advice.
I’ve noticed that HOOVER, DIRT DEVIL, etc., now make uprights that resemble the Dyson (bagless, multi-colored plastic, etc., and they sell for a lot less. anyway, I like hoovers-they seem well-made. my wife is a cleaning fanatic-she vaccumms twice week, so we wear out vacuum cleaners. what i notice; a lot of parts on vaccuums (that used to be made of metal) (like wheels, sockets, etc.0 are now plastic-and once they wear out, you CANNOT fix the machine! (throw away). What i advise; buy a commercial machine-you can buy them from industrial supply houses. they are heavier, but will last forever!
I hate ours too… I can’t remember why the feck I wanted to get one - possibly because it had a “height adjustable” hose whatsit, which has since been broken bu D’Mother who uses the machine in much the same way a Victorian maid beat a rug with a bat thing :rolleyes:
Those Henry ones that FRDE mentioned are “industrial strength” ones designed [and originally only available for] hotels, I may well buy one of them to replace the Dyson when it perishes in that accident it will have when I’m done sharpening the axe…
Hmmm, Henry; as in Henry Oreck?
picunurse mentioned Consumer Reports magazine; I looked back to the Mar 06 issue. Their top five:
1.Kenmore Progressive with Direct Drive (bag)
2.Kenmore Progressive with Direct Drive (bagless)
3.Hoover Wind Tunnel Self Propelled Ultra (bag)
4.Eureka Boss Smart Vac Ultra (bag)
5.Hoover Wind Tunnel (bagless)
1,2, and 4 are tagged “best buys.” The Hoovers are noisier. The Dyson came in at 9, 20, and 21. They did not test a Henry. That’s probably all I can quote without permission.
I had a friend who wanted a Dyson but couldn’t afford it and I think she eventually went with an Electrolux and is pretty happy.
Maybe you could find someone who hates their Dyson and buy it off them. I love mine although it did leave scratches on my wooden floors until I figured out I was holding it wrong. I checked Australia’s version of consumer reports and they mentioned that mid-priced vacuum cleaners were easier to use and performed about the same as expensive ones.