Offer to pay her or your kids or any neighborhood kids, $25 a month to clean the filter on your current vacuum. That will give you 8 years of clean filters vs. buying an obvious rip-off.
Or better yet. Clean it yourself and invest the $2400 in an equity fund. You’ll have a lifetime of clean filters and in 8 years you’ll have about $4,000 saved.
How hard is it for you to clean the vacuum’s filters? Considering someone has to dump the sludge in a Rainbow at least once per use, isn’t just more logical to clean the filter for her once in awhile? Say, while changing the bag?
ETA: What Omar said.
Don’t call her a bag!
I’ve got a Hoover vacuum cleaner of some sort and I don’t think it has a separate filter. I think the air is filtered through the bag itself, so as long as you replace the bag as it fills, the filter is replaced. And that’s why Dyson advertises that their advantage is that their vacuum cleaners are bagless, and therefore don’t have problems with the filters clogging. So if that’s what appeals to you, consider a Dyson machine. (And now various other brands have bagless machines.)
I would recommend getting a Dyson. It’s usually brought up that Dyson’s don’t score as well in Consumer Reports, but that’s probably just based on brand new, out of the box performance. I wouldn’t doubt that some other vacuum works better on the first day. However, do the same tests 2, 3, 5 years down the road. My Dyson is still working great 6 years later. I had a host of other vacuums which would peter out after a couple of years. The Dyson is the only one which seems to work just as well as the first day.
I had a Eureka “Windtunnel” - one of the vacuums rated the highest by CR. I hated it. It worked great for 10 minutes, and then the fine filter would get clogged by the famous Arizona red dust. I finally got a Dyson, which is better in every way. I love it.
to be honest, I settled on a $20 shop-vac. I sweep with a broom and then mop up and I’m fine.
But I have hardwood floors.
Does it come with a fabulous interior decorator?
If only there was another adult in the house capable of cleaning the filters…
If only there was… Unfortunately, I’m not around much since I’ve been away at school 4 hours away for the past 3 years, only coming back every couple weekends, and when I’m home, the last thing on my mind is the vacuum.
What a bunch of whiners! I have had cheap vacuums ($50), mid range ($250), a Kirby and I now have a Rainbow. It’s awesome. Dumping the water out? Is that really worse than wrestling with a bag or dumping out a Dyson tank? Don’t let it sit and it doesn’t smell, very simple. I actually feel a little satisfied at all the dirt i collected. Hey, its not on the floor/carpet anymore. And I have a hairy dog. I have cleaned up behind those other vacuums and gotten thier leftovers so I know it works. And I got $500 off for turning in my Kirby which is common. I will admit it sucks on the stairs (its awkward) b/c I didn’t buy the attachment. Otherwise i have no regrets. It’s the first vacuum that does exactly what I was promised it would do.
How much?
If you do buy one, keep it a secret. Many years ago when the going rate was about a third the number you gave, a cow-orker bought one and we were still giving him grief over it years later when I moved on to a new job.
Ok guys, but nobody is talking about the other features that rainbow provides. Are they true?
I mean is a fact that they purify the air or is it a scam? Besides they say that regular vacuum cleaners work with suction instead of air. They say that suction is not good, and only push the dust down into the carpet. That only air takes the dust. I don’t understand that. Any answers to this?
Am glad we have wood floors throughout. We don’t even own a vacuum cleaner. 
Mostly lies from the salesmen. Dirt is removed by air flow, whether yourdevice cost $50 or $5000.
As far as purifying the air, sure, if you don’t mind the loud motor sound roaring away while it’s happening.
The only real difference between Rainbows® and other machines is that it uses water as a filter, big deal.
Well! More than anyone else here YOU need a cleaner that doesn’t flip dust and allergens off your floor and into the air (Mr. Broom) or soak up water and spores to fester in your closet (Mr. Mop). Rainbow has a floor attachment and as has been mentioned, traps all the floor mess in the water! Oh sure, it’s gross when it’s time to empty it, but it’s gross because it’s actually collected the dirt–it didn’t create the filth, it just collected it for you.
And while you’re cleaning the floors with it, add a tablespoon of vanilla or your favorite scented oil to the water and it will scent the room better than any candle.
Fabulous machines. Stupid expensive, but pretty nifty. I’d never own one though because my kids would break it.
My family has a Rainbow. We don’t use it much anymore, but it still works fine. I don’t know how old it is–all I know is that my grandparents bought it, and that it was old (or seemed old) 25 years ago. There was one part that had to be replaced, but everything else is original.
If I had to guess, I’d say that it’s about 40 years old.
Ugh god my father used to sell these, in fact I helped him do set up and break down for the fucking in home demo.
At the time they cost 3 grand and you would only learn that through sitting through the in home demo(the salesman makes $300 USD comission per sale BTW).
It is a good vacuum no doubt, is it worth $3K though I leave up to you.
Oh, yeah…it *was *kind of fun to ride on, now that you mention it. I mean, Mom kept whining about “cracking casters” and “digging trails in the carpet” and “you’re going to break your neck”, but, c’mon…best use for the loud smelly thing, really.