Pros & Cons Of Vacuum Cleaners

As per title, I'd be interested to hear people's thoughts. For example ...

What are the best type in terms of flexibility and ease of use? For myself, I've tended to favour uprights. They're easier to 'park' while you move the plug from one point to the other, while the dog-on-a-lead type are probably more reliable, because there's less to go wrong, but they always seem to be the wrong side of a chair leg or half-open door, and you always seem to be stooping to pick up the business end. Either type suffer from the difficulty that you're always having to change the tool as you move around the room, but at least the uprights can carry theirs around with them.

What are the NOISIEST ones to avoid - I returned a new Vax to Tesco's today on the grounds that I would have needed ear-defenders to have continued using it. It had an ear-piercing whistle redolent of a jet engine, and, after using it for half-an-hour or so, I felt as deafened as I ever did in any rock concert.

What are the HEAVIEST ones to avoid? Lugging a heavy vac up and down stairs, and holding it on them to clean them, are becoming tiresome to my aging frame.

Other factors are that I don't have pets, and am mildly allergic to dust-mites.

I've found these so far, but am open to other opinions: Panasonic MC-UG302WP47 Upright, £79.50

formatting link
Dyson DC33 Multi Floor Upright, £199.99
formatting link
Sebo X1.1 Upright, £249.00
formatting link
Miele S7260 Cat and Dog Upright, £267.30
formatting link

Reply to
Java Jive
Loading thread data ...

I have a Dyson DC07, which wasn't my choice, but that's another story. (1) No complaints about its efficiency.

The only design issue I have is the super-stretchy hose. When using it on the stairs, the effort you have to put in fighting against the contraction force of the hose is quite significant. I can only imagine how anybody with any strength or mobility issues would cope.

(1) Henry is now relegated to the garage, and still provides sterling service when real muck has to be dealt with.

Chris

Reply to
Chris J Dixon

Well I have a Vax sledge design. Good points, its not that noisy, bad ones, well the bottom is getting very scarred by pulling across doorway carpet holding strips. the emptying of the container has issues when you attempt to put it back together, one end has to be lined up so carefully you can't get the thing back in. also the rotating brush sounds like its bearings are knackered. It would have been better if it had been about three inches narrower for stair placement without tipping over as well. Maybe Vax designers all have wide stair treads.

some of the ones I saw though were incredibly noisy, yu are right. Can't they fix this? Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

I spent 30 years in the cleaning industry, and the consensus there is that tub vacs are more versatile than uprights. Numatic have about 90% of the commercial cleaning market for tub vacs.

Having said that, uprights now have flexible hoses and tub vacs have tool storage, but IMO a tub is still easier to use.

Most domestic vacs are noisy, they use universal motors.

I think that's where a tub vac comes into its own. You can gey extra long hoses for some.

Most tubs are availble with HEPA filters.

formatting link

formatting link

formatting link

Have a look at this

formatting link

Ultra reliable, quiet, powerful, tool storage, HEPA filters, cable wind, cheap bags - around £80.

Reply to
The Medway Handyman

formatting link

formatting link

formatting link

I'd also be interested to know what unit would be recommended as a compromise between lightest possible weight upright, effective on carpets and usable with tools. To replace my parents incredibly noisy old and far too heavy for either of them to use vacuum cleaner.

We have a Dyson which is good but also noisy and too heavy for them.

Have tried one of the small thin battery powered vacuum cleaners for my parents but it doesn't last any time at all and barely picks anything up. Strikes me there are a lot of pretty demic vacuum cleaners about.

Henry's work OK and survive any amount of abuse but not really suited for ageing parents who want a slight lightweight upright to lean on.

Reply to
Martin Brown

For Numatic spares I've dealt with

formatting link
but Numatic is very helpful also.

I see that James is £92 excluding VAT on the first site - where is cheaper, please? The really big advantage of Numatics is the length of flex. I have a Nilfisk and need to move the plug twice to do the house; George (on long-term loan to a neighbour) can do it from one socket. There's a 2.4m hose for the Numatics, although I can do the (standard) stairs with the supplied hose.

formatting link

Reply to
PeterC

formatting link

formatting link

formatting link

Try the Samsung VCU3351 or similar. Our cleaner recommended it to us (has one herself), much lighter than most of the competition and seems to work pretty well.

Reply to
cl

Sebo X1

Reply to
Huge

IMHO, it does depend on the floor coverings. If you have lots of carpets, you can't beat an upright. And an additional smaller one which can be carried easily for stairs, etc.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

formatting link

Lightweight and proven suitable for very ancient geriatrics with joint replacements who just have to vacuum clean every day.

Now apparently replaced by this:

formatting link

Reply to
The Other Mike

It might well be the bees knees but £350 for a vacuum cleaner? Seems well OTT to me. There must be something less pricey.

Reply to
Martin Brown

Keep an eye out for offers. If you can wait, you can sometimes find them for much less. We have several across the family, and didn't pay more than 2/3rds for any - two of them were half price in a Homebase closedown.

Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

+1 (I was about to post exactly the same)
Reply to
Andrew Gabriel

Someone has to pay for the constant TV ads.

Reply to
Dave Plowman (News)

In 1993 I bought a Mercedes 1100 from Killies in Sheffield - a dog- lead cylinder vac. It's still working perfectly. I find it's the Kalashnikov of vacuum cleaners. You can pop the motor out and then dunk everything else in the sink to clean. I've only once had to replace the plastic thingy that holds the filter in place. The standard cleaner head has an easy-operate food pedel for flipping between carpet and smooth floors. I've never had to scramble around on the floor to swap tools like I had to in my very brief ownership of a Hoover upright that fell to pieces. It's light enough to carry up and down stairs, but rugged enough to clean the stone floor of the cellar. The one niggle with it is that it's about half an inch too wide to sit on a stair tred in my house, but it's compact enough to rest one hand against it while buffing away at the next treads.

JGH

Reply to
jgharston

Dyson are offering refurbished DC24's for 190 quid.

Or if you are really cheap you might even be able to pick one that 'doesn't work' at a council dump or on Freegle / Freecycle. Fix it up for free or simply pay your 60 quid to Dyson and it will be like new.

Reply to
The Other Mike

Don't ignore the Dyson "ball" cleaners. We have one and it feels much more manoeuvrable and easier to use. It's not just a gimmick.

Worth paying extra for. Makes traditional ones running on a pair of rollers on the back feel very old-fashioned.

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

From experience of their customer service, VAX.

MBQ

Reply to
Man at B&Q

Friends have just brought one and love it easy to drag behind you and they' vev found it to be far better tyhan their old electolux upright, as they ha ve noticed less dust on shelves and it seems to pick up- cat hair better an d even the cat that was lossing it's hair has now stopped losing it quite s o much.

Could be a coincidence or perhaps dust mites were causing the cat problems.

And yes it was expensive for a vacuum cleaner, but it was purple :)

I have the recharable DC35 IIRC qiet happy with it although on carpet the b rush rollers seems to clog all to easily.

Reply to
whisky-dave

"VAX"?

Reply to
Broadback

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.