Alright… this is a lame question so if your looking for an exciting physics topic go elsewhere… NOW DAMNIT! eheem Sorry. I just moved cross country (this is my first post in weeks) and I NEED A GOOD VACUUM CLEANER!!! ack… mine is in pieces. I am taking a pole of what kind of vacuum is the best… keep in mind that I have 3 dogs and a cat, so some magical thing that can suck up hair and litter from 10 feet away would be nice. ANYWHO… if you have discovered a GREAT vacuum cleaner that you would never live without I would like to know what it is. Please! Tell me! What is the best vacuum cleaner out on the market today??
“Boy, wouldja get a load of the cloaca on that one”? -Cecil Adams, october 8 1999
I had a Kirby a million years ago. It was a monster, it literally sucked the carpet witless. But it weighed about 37 lbs. and was much too wide and tall to be of any practical use in anything other than a hotel ballroom. I assume today’s Kirbys are more user friendly, altho I’ve never hear them mentioned as being particularly good.
Then mom and dad gave me an upright Dirt Devil one Christmas. Be advised: Dirt Devils really suck, and I mean that in the worst possible way.
About a month ago I bought a Hoover (hee!) mid-line - $169 on sale at Penney’s, came with a free (as if) ‘dirt-stick’ thingie which I don’t need because I already have a Eureka Lite Cordless that I like a lot. The Hoover sucks royally (they don’t call ‘em “Hoovers” for nuthin’).
Get a Hoover.
StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.” I Spy Ty.
Dirt Devil is what I have now… and it is the worst thing I have ever seen (though it is an old model) and attachments are SO dang hard to use its not worth it.
So your saying hover is GOOD then when it sucks royally??
It may not be a fascinating subject for most,but I’m interested because I need a new one too. I borrowed my girlfriend’s upright once (I don’t remember the make) and it worked great but it seemed like it weighed 100 lbs. I was in a townhouse at the time and what a pain in the ass it was hauling that thing up the stairs. I’m not a weakling - I work out - but that thing was heavy and awkward. I’m now in an apartment, so stairs aren’t an issue, but space is, and I don’t want a humongous, heavy vacuum. I’d advise anyone (especially if you have stairs to deal with) to try lifting and moving it around before you buy.
Absolutely! Mine is (moderately) lightweight and standard size. Skip the Kirby, trash the Dirt Devil, and invest in a Hoover. I don’t think you’ll be dissatisfied. I’m certainly not.
StoryTyler
“Not everybody does it, but everybody should.” I Spy Ty.
Sorry, Ty, but I gotta go with Phantoms. There’s a whole line of 'em…I think just plain Phantom vac, Phantom Thunder, and Phantom Fury. Powerful, lightweight, not prone to kicking a bunch of crap back into the air, and easy to empty. (No bags.) Last I knew they were in the $100-$150 range, depending on which model you chose. I think that the Fury is their “luxury” edition, but the original Phantom is fabulous, regardless.
“Wednesday the 15th - Chris made one of her rare good points today.” Guanolad
I just bought my second hoover since I’ve married (17 years ago). When I wanted a newer vacuum, I made the mistake of buying a Regina. What a mistake. The thing would get clogged up on piece of lint! I hated that thing. I bought a hoover upright, and I like it pretty well, though not as well as my old one. I’ve come to the conlusion that the more attachments a vacuum has, the worse quality it’s going to give you. My old hoover convertible ONLY vacuumed floors. If I had my druthers, I’d get a plain Jane upright vac, and then somethign a little more portable for getting the edges.
I know many people that have owned Kirbys. I’ve NEVER heard anyone say a bad thing about them except that they are ugly. If I were buying a vacuum today, I’d at least look at them.
Finally, I’d like to agree with everyone about Dirt Devil. Nothing good to report. They look pretty, but wear out really fast.
My grandkids visited this weekend. The little darlings came on Friday, and the little Bastards left on Sunday!
Like anything else, vacuums work better when regularly maintained. Every couple of years (when it stops picking up dirt) I take my Panasonic Performance Plus to the appliance repair shop and they clean and oil it, making it work good as new. (Presumably you can also do this yourself, but I’m lazy, and it costs something like $20-$30 dollars.) My vacuum is plastic and very light. I’ve noticed the price varies.
My mother always had Kirbys, and I can attest that they do last forever, they work well, BUT they weigh 100 pounds. Several years ago I bought a Royal - it cost me about $400, and so far it’s been great. It picks up all the cat hair, it’s lasted with nary a problem for 4 years and shows no signs of slowing down. It’s not as light as the ones made totally of plastic, but it’s much lighter (and costs less) than a Kirby.
Kirbys are big, big buckolas. But if’n I had me a millyen dollers, I’d git me wunna dem suckers.
Hoovers are okay. I’m still pissed that I let the saleswoman and my husband talk me into a canister-style. I love uprights - they’re easier to handle and seem to suck more. (In a good way.)
Why not try a baglees cleaner. Here in the UK, you can find the original at www.dyson.com
or for you colonials, you can buy a Fantom at http://www.abcvacuum.com/prod/fantom/cyclone.htm
100% suction 100% of the time - just don’t tell the president
I once lost my corkscrew and had to live on food and water for several days
(W.C. Fields)
Oh, the reason I know this Kirby vs. All Comers fact is because I was suckered. I got a phone call saying “We’d like to clean the carpets in two rooms of your house for free!” I knew it would be a sales call, but I thought it was for a carpet-cleaning service. Nope. Kirby dealer.
First, they vacuumed our carpets twice with our old upright Hoover. Then they showed us a clean filter, inserted it in the Kirby, vacuumed once and pulled out the filter. It had an inch of dust/hair/lint on it.
We were sold until we heard the price. IIRC, it was close to $1,000 in 1991. We had just bought a thousand-dollar sectional couch, so we showed the kind saleswoman the door.
I have a Eureka enviro-vac and it’s doing a good job for me. I think it was $130 at K-Mart, and it’s much better than the similar Hoover that my daughter bought at about the same price.
Easy to change the bag, there’s a light that goes on when it’s getting full.
For bare floors, those little Swiffle things are wondrous, and I use the disposable cloth to clean my wood blinds.
Oh, the reason I know this Kirby vs. All Comers fact is because I was suckered. I got a phone call saying “We’d like to clean the carpets in two rooms of your house for free!” I knew it would be a sales call, but I thought it was for a carpet-cleaning service. Nope. Kirby dealer.
First, they vacuumed our carpets twice with our old upright Hoover. Then they showed us a clean filter, inserted it in the Kirby, vacuumed once and pulled out the filter. It had an inch of dust/hair/lint on it.
We were sold until we heard the price. IIRC, it was close to $1,000 in 1991. We had just bought a thousand-dollar sectional couch, so we showed the kind saleswoman the door.
Augh, I just had a cold chill. I used to sell Kirbys door to door several years back. It was an ugly low point in my life. I was so poor I almost had to change my name to “Dick Broke.”
Kirby is a damn good vac but they stopped the lifetime guarantee in the early nineties. Befor that time you could send it to the factory and for a nominal fee they would overhaul it and make it virtually brand new.
Very expensive. It blew my mind the first time I sold one. Two hours after knocking on a door cold I was helping a woman fill out a loan application for the damn thing. A “full boat” was around $1,500 back then.
For my money, the best vacuum out there today is made by Amway, called the Clear Trak. It works like the Phantoms, but has been around much longer. Light weight, powerful, triple filtered, no bags, wand attachments on the back, parts are readily available. If you ever need to send in for repair Amway will overhaul it completely for around a hundred. We’ve had one ten years now and it’s never failed us. It’s not for the faint of wallet at $820.00 retail, but it will probably be the last vacuum you’ll ever need to buy.
VB
When you are lost, or in doubt, run in circles! Scream & shout!
Canthearya, you must not have gotten a correct demonstration of the Kirby. It’s one thing to see that little cloth with all that dirt but when I would finish I’d have thirty of those cloths, about 18" square each, all covered in dirt and spread out all over the floor. Sometimes they’d buy it out of pure shame.
I fell for the Kirby pitch a few months ago but I love it. They’re starting to inch up to $2000 now but they’ll knock off $$ if you buy with cash or a credit card, trade in your old vac, and even more if you rat out your friends. (I didn’t, probably ‘cos I don’t have any, haha) The motor is still guaranteed for life, and the newest model is self-propelled (i.e. it drives itself) so the heaviness is no longer an issue, unless you have a 10 story house or something. It comes with attachments for shampooing (make sure you get THIS demo, if they show up at your house) and I bought a brush attachment that rips those blasted cathairs right off the sofa like my 3 previous vacuums weren’t even plugged in. It also comes with a sprayer attachment that you can use to paint or power clean your windows or something, and you can buy a sander attachment that sucks up the sawdust as you buy it. If you’re sick of vacuums that fall apart and aren’t picking up like you want them to, AND YOU CAN AFFORD IT, I’d absolutely recommend looking into a Kirby. If you can’t afford it don’t let them in even if you’re just curious, because they totally sell themselves and you’ll be left with a big fat bill going "Wha’ happen?"
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