This is marginally on-topic because my wife and I need a new vacuum cleaner for our home and one of its uses will be to clean up the sawdust I track into the house from my workshop in the garage.
We're looking at the Dyson because it gets such raving reviews on Amazon.com and Epinions.com, but it's almost kind of suspicious that so many people have so many wonderful things to say about it. Is this vacuum cleaner really so great? At $399 I don't want to screw up this decision.
i love our royal. strong, well built, great warranty.
N> This is marginally on-topic because my wife and I need a new vacuum cleaner for
We have a Norwegian Elkhound, similar to but smaller than a husky. He sheds about 11 months of the year. The fur chokes standard vacs so we use my shop vac in the house.
-- Mark
You might look at the "Filter Queen" canister vac. High-priced on the new market, but affordable 'used'. Nearly indestructible -- all steel canister; it'll eat medium sized nails without any damage. *AND* the filtering is fine enough it _will_ take smoke out of the air. Surprisingly -quiet-, too. The only downside is that they're *NOT* designed for wet pick-up.
I've got 4 vacs around the house, (1) a 1948 (!!) Eureka canister that I'm going to have to retire soon -- can't find bags for it any more; (2) a 1988 Filter Queen, bought used 9 years ago, (3) a 16 gal shop vac -- mostly for picking up table-saw and jointer output (the Filter Queen capacity is only about 2, maybe 2-1/2 gal), and (4) a ridgid "wall-vac", used almost exclusively as the 'dust collector' for a RotoZip. Note: *with* the vac attachment, the RotoZip is an _amazingly_ handy tool for wall work -- virtually dust-free.
I bought one of these based on a Consumer Reports top rating and Best Buy.
It's excellent. It replaced a central vac that I refused to pay $600 for a new hose and carpet head for. This simple, $150 vacuum does a far better job than the central vac did.
Barry
It was, it came in 14th at over twice the price of the Eureka.
The Dyson did manage to beat the Aerus, with was 17th @ $700. #1 was a Hoover @ 300, #2 was a Kenmore @ $330, and #3 was the Eureka @ $150.
A $1200 Kirby came in 12th. My sisten-in law has that vac.
The title of the article is "Vacuum cleaners: When more isn?t better", and is available online and in Avant Go to subscribers.
The moral of the story is that price and performance have no correlation with vacuums.
I'd past the results here, but I don't wish to violate CU's copyright.
Barry
Check your local library if you want to see the results and don't subscribe (I'm kinda remindin' myself here also, since I tend to forget the library has magazines in addition to books, which I check out all the time).
Renata
smart, not dumb for email
I used to get CR a dozen or more years ago, but not since then have I even read it. Something about the way several times they said something was crap that I _knew_ was not. Their laboratory style tests also didn't seem real worldly, maybe that has changed. Never again will I base a purchase on any one report. About the vacs, I looked at a Dyson at Sears, it is so inconvient to switch to the hose to pick up in corners, along the edge of baseboards, behind furniture, etc., that someone would have to almost give it to me. The best vacuum won't work well if it's too hard to use effectively.
Steve
We once owned a Kirby. Biggest piece of junk I ever saw. Fine dust all over the house from the bag. You can't get rid of the fine dust unless you use a CYCLONE or a very exceptional other machine such as a Rainbow. We bought a private-label cyclone machine 20 years ago that got splended results but it's no longer on the market. It was made by Bissell which now has their own cyclone on the market, I believe. We got over 12 POUNDS of dirt out of 2 square yards (area 4 by 4-1/2 feet) of carpet that our Kirby wouldn't pull up. A good vacuum centrifugally separates the dirt from the air and filters the air before it gets to the blower/fan. If that's not how the candidate product works, keep looking. The alternative is fine dust on the furniture, just like you get fine dust all over your shop if you use one of the many popular dust collectors that have inverted canvas bags for filters.
If you invest in a good shop dust collector of the cyclone variety, you'll get rid of most of the sawdust you're tracking into the house. So take some of the money you save buying the Bissell instead of the Kirby, and buy a good cyclone system based on Bill Pentz's design. Invest some time at
Clarke
N>
For a single use, true. However, using the $19 HF nailer day-in and day-out for production use may show why the $120 nailer is a better deal.
I personally favor central vacuums. Rare is the house to which one cannot be retrofitted pretty easily. Very quiet, exhausted outdoors, large bag capacity and long hoses make for easy indoor cleanup. You may spend $1000 on the system, but you'll never buy another portable and the $1000 is tacked right on to the selling price of your home (or deducted from the profit).
scott
I HAVE a central vac. The hose and carpet tool are shot, and will cost almost $600 to replace. Come on!
I bought the $150 Eureka and my house has never been cleaner.
My central vac is now RIP (Retired in Place).
Barry
I agree with you. Why pay a few hundreds when less than a hundred will do? It is like buying a $120 brad nailer when a nineteen buck HF's nailer will do!
Bought a Hoover (MADE IN USA) "Breathe Easy" for $59 at Walmart and it vacuum all the hairs from our two Crocker Spaniards!
not sure I understand why it would cost $600 for the tool and hose since there are 50+ sites on the Internet that would sell you one for under $100.
I am in the process of retro fitting one into our ranch with the unit itself in the detached garage. I will steal 2 drops for the shop as it passes through. A DC has its function and , I believe, so does a vacuum of some sort.
BRuce
B a r r y wrote:
Point me to some.
I searched for months, the best I could do was $5-600 depending on the actual accessories.
Barry
I forgot to mention that I have a Fasco system. Fasco is gone, they've ceased to be. This system was originally $1200-1500 installed in 1991 by the builder. The AC is provided by a plug next to the vacuum outlets, not the hose connection itself.
The online sites and a local guy that offer compatible replacement parts charge $299-350, + shipping, for the power head alone. I'd love to see your links to the places that will sell me a hose, a power carpet head, and possibly floor tools, for $100. I'm pretty sure my current tools won't fit the new hose.
My best quotes were $299 for the head, $150 for a 30 foot hose and misc parts, and $100 for the loose tools to fit the new hose.
The new parts should also clean better than the $150 HEPA filter equipped Eureka, the old parts didn't.
Thanks in advance! Barry
Is your hose gold plated?
I bought my entire system with the unit, hose, and beater brush for $600.
The hose and brush by themselves would be $279.
Brian Elfert
Vacsolutions.com
You can get the hose, beater, and other accessories for $279 plus shipping. This should work with pretty much any central vac.
Brian Elfert
The solution I mentioned will work with any system that has the standard size central vac outlets. The hose does come with a cord for a seperate outlet.
Brian Elfert
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