If anyone needs to deal with pet hair in the kitchen or other bare floors, get a Bisell Versus, the corded version. I’ve tried all sorts of bare floor vacuums, and this one is the best by a wide margin. It picks up dirt (why do so many vacuums fail this basic task?) and pet hair very effectively. It doesn’t work well on carpets, though, so this is a kitchen/bathroom thing if your home is carpeted.
Too bad it can cost as much as a used car!
I will look into refurbished vacuums, thanks** miss**.
You want an LG Kompressor. Love mine and sooo glad I didn’t drop the dough on a Dyson.
Dyson Animal, Dyson Animal, Dyson Animal. Had mine 6 years and it still kicks ass. Got a 6-inch stick (like off a tree) stuck in the tubing that caused it a little problem, but I took the thing apart, pulled out the stick, put it back together and it worked great. Even vacuumed up chocolate milk on accident–I just had to rinse the filter and let everything dry.
They just had it on Woot! and I talked my boss into getting it. She’s had it a week and just gushed about how great it was. If you can snag it off Woot! go for it, great price.
Hadn’t heard of that - it looks pretty nice! Any problems so far with it?
I just ordered a Bissell Cleanview Helix based on Consumer Reports ratings. Basically it was the cheapest vacuum ($100) to get an “excellent” pet hair cleaning score, and good marks in other categories. It should be getting here in a few days, and I’ll let you know how it works. The apartment is waaay overdue for some vacuuming, with a longhair and a black shorthair both shedding since there’s no A/C in a small apartment…
Got one of these in 2007, and other than a maintenance clean by a pro, it works great. I’ve used it on loose pile carpet, berber, bare floors (tile and wood), area rugs and upholstery and had no trouble whatsoever. For any vacuuming of pet hair, one does need to do the necessary maintenance on the vacuum if you want it to last-- clogs, dirty filters, etc. will kill a vacuum pretty quickly if pet hair is part of the mix.
No problems so far and I really like it. I’d never heard of it either and then noticed it on sale at Sears a few months ago, did a little research, and decided to get it. I have the blue one which is only 2 points lower than the Dyson Animal on Consumer Reports (67 vs 65) and the black model is one ranking higher than the Animal (3 vs 4 with the blue one ranked 8 out of 42 models). There is an “animal specific” model (red–ranked lower on CR) but the guy at Sears recommended the other models over it. The non-sale prices between the Dysons and LG favor LG, plus the LGs seem to go on sale a lot, whereas if you want a Dyson for <$200 you’ll have to get a refurbished one.
The dust container has a slowly spinning blade that compresses the dust, hair, etc. into a tight clump so you don’t have to empty it as often and it kind of stays together and is less dusty when you dump it.
It sucks like a champ! I’ve witnessed a dust bunny sucked from under a glass cabinet 4-5 feet away over a hard floor. The handle is built into a long wand that unattaches from the body and has rotating brush that works great on pet hair covered furniture and stairs (I have two cats). The wand comes apart at different lenghts for edge/corner cleaning and has a built in duster. The only thing I don’t like about it so far is that you have to take the whole wand off (and then break down the wand) if you want to use the duster, you can’t just pull that specific piece off. Well, you can, but the suction isn’t activated unless the whole wand is off.
Shop Vac for big fluffy stuff, Dyson Animal for the cling-ons on the furniture and floor.
I have a Vax, which is great for getting horse hair off clothes, also it can be used as a carpet shampooer which is handy for “accidents” (not that any horse has ever wee-ed in my house, but I know what cats and dogs are like!)
In my humble opinion the best vaccuum of all time is (was?) the Tri-Star. Yes, the bazillion-dollar one that some shifty salesperson would come to your door to “demonstrate” after wooing you with a cold-call saying you “won a prize”. (Of course the “prize” always turned out to be total B.S.) My stepdad gave me his old Tri-Star years ago and it was fantastic. Then I got suckered by a Tri-Star rep into trading it for 50% off a brand-new one, and the new one was even awesomer than my old one. But like an idiot I left it with an ex-boyfriend and never saw it again, (:smack:), then I got calls from a collection agency because he never paid the bill for it. Turns out the company CHARGED THE FULL PRICE even after I traded in my old one and he got nothing but grief from them. It’s unfortunate that such a shifty company sells such an amazing product.
To answer the OP’s question: I’d go with Dyson. I have the Dyson City (little blue thing) and I’m happy with it. I had to buy it in the US though because it was like $200 cheaper (not kidding) than in Canada. Unfortunately that negates my warranty but what can ya do.
This right here. If you can swing it, you won’t be sorry. It’s good on wood floors, but it’s an absolute monster on carpet. The first time you use it, you’ll be amazed how much crap you pull out of your supposedly clean carpet.
1 black lab, two schipperkes, and a mutt named Lucy all agree, the Dyson Animal is the only choice. We’ve had one for 4 years (approx) and it is the real deal.
Is the beater brush on a Dyson Animal any different than on a normal Dyson? I have a normal Dyson and the pet hair will get wrapped around the beater brush after a while and I’ll have to cut it all free.
When looking a pet vacuums, many brands will work as good as others. The secret is suction power (to pull the hair out of the carpet) and Filter Flow (resistance to filter clogging).
For resistance flow, you really have to have a cyclonic vacum or a chamber baffled unit as they keeps the hair from building up against the filter. Most suck air in through the filter that sucks it up through the vacum head. If the material being sucked up can block the air flow through the filter, you reduce its abuility to vacum. Cyclonic keeps the hair and material from being sucked into the filter by massing it together. This is like swirling a fork into spagetti while cooking causing it to become a thicker mass that stays away from the filter. Chamber baffle forces the material to have to change speed like having to go through the lines at airport security and that enables the material to loose steam and drop before the filter.
Suction power can be gauged loosly by amps but reading the specs as to the rating at the nozzel is the real comparrison. Like anything the more pulling power the unit has the more it can pull items fromcarpets or crevices.
Hoover makes a windtunnel vacum that is about half the cost of some Dysons and consumer reports actually rated it better for pet hair removal. Bissel also has a cyclonic model that was rated as good as the Dysons for performance. Of course, features also play a big part in most consumer decissions. But you should first decide based on which makes and models can perform the basic task of sucking hair out the fibers of the couch and next look at features to meet your needs on how you use it. (of course you also have to consider how long it will realistically last). When it comes to vacuums, price doesn;t always equal better.
Got one of these in 2007, and other than a maintenance clean by a pro, it works great. I’ve used it on loose pile carpet, berber, bare floors (tile and wood), area rugs and upholstery and had no trouble whatsoever. For any vacuuming of pet hair, one does need to do the necessary maintenance on the vacuum if you want it to last-- clogs, dirty filters, etc. will kill a vacuum pretty quickly if pet hair is part of the mix.
Absolutely love my new Dyson pet vacuum. The first time my DH used it (I am disabled) I watched with total amazement at how much dog and cat hair that it sucked up, that the old vacuum cleaner had not been picking up. Now I know how DIRTY my house used to be. LOL
Got mine on QVC. Was able to buy it and make payments on it for 6 months, interest free. It was a special sale I happened to catch one day. I never buy anything from TV, but I was sold on buying this Dyson after watching the demonstration…
I don’t have pets, but I do have a Dyson Animal, and it is a very good vacuum cleaner. It is light, and it doesn’t use bags and once you get used to it is easy to empty. I empty it often, so it doesn’t lose suck-shin as Mr. Dyson would say. Disadvantage, it is very expensive.
Dyson is the best on the Market, but any SHARK brand pet vacuum is good, don’t get a used one though, the motors don’t last long on purpose, with any brand. Check http://www.amazon.com, and lowes for low prices. If u find one online or somewhere else, lowes will match the price if they carry the brand.
Since the OP started this over 2 yrs ago, I hope she/he has found a vacuum.