<p>NJRes: I use DH’s shop vac, but not often. Too difficult to empty–I always get dirty doing it. However, it’s very useful to clean the leaves out of the pond.</p>
<p>wow! Lamom you have it made!
I will say my husband is a bad vacuumer. He runs over the carpet like it is the Indy 500!
Give the poor machine a chance to do its job for goodness sake! Clearly he wants it to be over with, and I want it to be dust/dirt free.
Thus-- I vacuum. I am thinking now he does that speed thing on purpose.</p>
<p>Wow! Thanks for all of the advice! I’m going to check the Labor Day sales tomorrow and see what’s out there.</p>
<p>Dyson Animal! Love it! I have owned this vaccuum for 7 years and have never had a problem - never needed a repair - nothing! We have a yellow lab (ie. lots of shedding) & I use the Dyson Animal everyday.</p>
<p>Another Miele lover. Why? When I (or the cleaning lady) vacuums, it doesn’t spit some of the finer particles of dust out any other orifice. We are an allergy family, so it’s important that anything vacuumed up, stays in the vacuum, and isn’t redistributed into the air only to land back on some surface in a few minutes. </p>
<p>My cleaning lady loves our Miele and doesn’t even switch out the regular head for the hard floor head when doing the hard floors, because the regular head doesn’t blow anything on the hard floors around.</p>
<p>There was another vacuum thread a few months ago and I took the advice on it and bought a Dyson. It wasn’t the ball one but one of the bigger ones. I hated it! It wouldn’t go under the couch and the hose is attached at an awkward angle that made it it very difficult to manipulate. Maybe I was missing something but i brought it back and bought a Miele. It is small, light and well designed without all of the plastic protrusions just waiting to get snapped off like the Dyson has. I love it. Can’t remember the model but it cost 400 dollars.</p>
<p>Which one would you recommend for carpeted stairs?</p>
<p>It’s so hard to compare when each brand has so many options. How much better is the Dyson DC28 than the DC25?</p>
<p>Another Dyson owner. I have a Norwegian Elkhound and used to spend a fortune on bags. Even worse was the central vac that got clogged with dog hair. I just empty the dyson canister directly into the trash can.</p>
<p>I have a Miele that I paid about $800 for but this summer when my son and his $46 Bissell vacuum from Walmart were home, my cleaning lady took to using his and thought it worked better. It might be because it was brand new though - I bought it on dorm move-out day so we wouldn’t have to wait for the dorm vacuum and because I was hoping he might use it in his apartment this year.</p>
<p>Didn’t have a lot of money to spend so replaced my old vacuum with a basic Oreck upright. I like that it’s lightweight and I don’t have to drag the cannister up and down the stairs. It also has a really long heavy duty cord so I’m not constantly stopping to move the cord to a new outlet… It uses bags but they hold a lot and don’t have to change them too often. Also doesn’t take up a lot of space in the storage closet.</p>
<p>Oh, someone answer TutuTaxi as I have the same question. What do you people use to vacuum carpeted stairs?</p>
<p>I also love my dyson but it is a pain to pull the long tube thing around for the stairs.</p>
<p>Also see thread from earlier this year. In post #38, I have details on the Kenmore we picked (under $300, when on sale)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1040114-new-vacuum-3.html?highlight=vacuum[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parent-cafe/1040114-new-vacuum-3.html?highlight=vacuum</a></p>
<p>It comes with an extra power head (mini sized), very useful on stairs. Also on furniture - it would be great for pet hair.</p>
<p>Go with a hide-a-hose and a central Vac. You’ll never look back more powerful, quieter, cleaner and easier to use. The hose recoils inside the wall</p>
<p>ohiopublic, I do not believe one can retrofit a house with a house vac for less than $500 which is the OP’s budget. I’d like to know if one CAN do it under $500 :)</p>
<p>I do not have any problems with using the Dyson hose with the poserbrush attachment on the stairs. The trick is to not pull the “wand” out of the tube completely.</p>
<p>^ True about the budget. I’m sure that quality can be purchased for $$$, but I need quality for $. I really appreciate all of the input! Maybe in my next life, when I build my dream home, I will get one of those nifty central vac systems. :-)</p>
<p>Opinions needed:</p>
<p>Kohl’s has the Dyson Animal DC28 Upright for $549.99. I have a 30% off coupon which would bring it to $384.99. Plus $7.50 to have it shipped or I could drag myself to the store and buy it. Pros: bagless which sounds good to me. Cons: upright makes it heavier, in my opinion.</p>
<p>Bed Bath & Beyond has the Miele Titan S2180 for $599.99. A 2o% off coupon would bring that to $470.99. Pros: Canister. Cons: requires bags and I’m tired of buying them.</p>
<p>Which would you get?</p>
<h1>2 YMMV (10 char)</h1>
<p>Dyson. I love not needing bags.</p>
<p>Ditto what dmd77 said. Once I stopped using bags I can’t imagine ever going back to a vacuum cleaner with them. Just one less thing to have to remember to buy. And I just bought a second Dyson.</p>