<p>I have a 13 year old electrolux that I am very happy with, I also have a 22 year old Oreck that I got as a shower gift, still works. I have a miele at my vacation house that I also like. The vaccuum repair shop that I’ve brought the Oreck reccomds the Sebo. Expensive but apparently much better made then the latest electroluxes.</p>
<p>Hate my Hoover Wind Tunnel, love my Dyson! Yes, I have two vacuums; the Hoover is for the cleaning service as they are known to break vacuums and I didn’t want them using the Dyson. As we have two dogs, vacuuming is done often and I love being able to see what is picked up in the Dyson. I never knew there was that much dust and dog hair in my home until I saw it in the Dyson!!</p>
<p>I’m following this thread with interest – opinions all over the place. Here’s the canister vac I have/like. Anyone heard of/use stuff from The Clean Team?</p>
<p>[Cleaning</a> Products and Supplies, Online Clean Team Catalog](<a href=“http://www.thecleanteam.com/catalog_f.cfm?category2=cat13&category=Vacuums]Cleaning”>http://www.thecleanteam.com/catalog_f.cfm?category2=cat13&category=Vacuums)</p>
<p>When we moved 4 years ago, the house came with a central vac system, which I love, love, love for the convenience. I still use the vac (above) for the finished basement since the central vac system wasn’t installed there. No pet hair to pick up since our Wheaten Terrier doesn’t shed, so I can’t give ratings for that.</p>
<p>for years I used the clean team cleaning products but never bought a vac from them - stopped getting catalog so stopped buying years ago but didn’t have complaints when I did buy.</p>
<p>I’ve concluded vacuums are like toasters: they don’t make them like they used to…Those 25 year Electrolux’s can’t be beat.</p>
<p>But thank you all for the input. So armed I went off to BBB (what is "beyond!..at my house it is the basement I guess…) where my choices were limited but the access was good and needed. ( My vaccum that died was a Clean Team Big Vac which I have been very satisfied with but it is definitely failing. Yesterday’s death was followed by a resurrection when the motor cooled off–but it is still not functioning right–and they are backordered on the website so replacement before guests arrive was not an option…and by then I was interested in what some upright options might be like as well. If I can get the Big Vac operational it will become the basement level office one and I won’t have to lug up and down stairs.)</p>
<p>Meanwhile, I settled for the (much less expensive than Big Vac) Hoover Windtunnel “Platinumm” (!!yeh, right no platinuum that I can see…) because it was light but powerful for carpets and the floor/upholstery/brush attachments come with a separate smaller corded handvac setup. We’ll see what I think overtime but I’'m hopeful the lighter weight/convenience will get me to use each more often and the furballs will not get bigger than the cats (20 lb Maine coon) before I get out the equipment. Both upright and smaller unit seemed to do a good job (and the novelty of new stuff prompted my daughter to do a fit of vacuuming!)</p>
<p>I believe our collective wisdom suggests there are no perfect vaccums but many of us in the vacuum community. Hoover on! (or brand of your choice–I just always laughed at my relative who called it “hoovering”…" and now I am…)</p>
<p>“I only bought the second one (which is about 10 years old) because I’m too old/lazy to drag any vacuum up and down stairs anymore. Now one lives up and the other down”</p>
<p>I love my Miele and thought about getting one for upstairs but how do you vacuum the actual staircase musicmom? Doesn’t one of them have to either come up or down the stairs?</p>
<p>Puzzled88-
Ahhhh, how to vacuum the actual stairs! Not easily, even with two mieles.</p>
<p>Our stairs go up 4 steps to a landing, then make a 45 degree turn and up 10ish more stairs.
So, I use the downstairs miele plugged in downstairs, vacuum the 4 lower and then move it to landing to do the upper 10. Not easy to reach those uppermost…</p>
<p>I’m thinking of ripping out the waaay old carpeting and may refinish wood beneath if it looks to be in fair shape.</p>
<p>The newer Mieles (read expensive new ones) have the ‘direct connect’ hoses with the electric inside the length of the hose. My two old ones have cord outside…not a big deal but something I had to watch for when looking to buy my second to work with my first.</p>
<p>Once the stairs are wood, perhaps you can just stand at the top with a leaf blower!</p>
<p>I’m currently 3 years into my second Miele, the first one having lasted 19 years and I will never buy anything else. Of course, the newer one had some big improvements over the older model but both have/had Hepa filters, work on carpet, hardwood and tile without having to change the attachments and work easily under furniture and on my stairs. The canister is light enough that I don’t mind lugging it up and down stairs (much!) and when I remember how I used to struggle with the old Sears uprights, I can’t believe I put up with it as long as I did.
Pricey, but IMO housework is annoying enough without having to fight the equipment as well as replacing it every few years.</p>
<p>We have four big hairy shedding dogs. Our Hoover Windtunnel needed frequent expensive, time-consuming repairs but our Dyson Animal, now 6 or 7 years old, has been very effective both on our carpets and our hardwood floors. It is intuitively assembled so that when something goes wrong, it’s generally easy to see what needs to be done without consulting a repair person. On the one occasion when we needed a more serious repair, the guy at the 800 number was well-informed, and the procedure for getting the thing fixed was easy and fast.</p>
<p>We have two vacuum cleaners. An eureka that is about 28 years old and a Vax that is about 21 years old. The Vax will also clean up wet messes and do steam cleaning. Both still work but the motor in the Vax is much stronger. It has a triple filtration system. Unfortunately they were bought out by a British company and they no longer sell them here. I have to buy the bags and filters from the UK.</p>
<p>My mother has an old Hoover that is at least as old as I am and it still works.</p>
<p>I look at all of what seems to be plastic junk today and am happy to keep using my old stuff.</p>
<p>On beater bars - they get clogged with hair. You need to take them apart, unwind the hair, and then put them back together. I have done this many times. It is not a fun job. Alternately, you could just get a straight flow through attachment.</p>
<p>Hoover settled with Dyson for infringing Dyson’s patents. I do not like infringers, especially big companies preying upon smaller ones, so no Hoovers for me.</p>
<p>[James</a> Dyson spent years fighting Hoover. Now he intends to clean up - Home News, UK - The Independent](<a href=“James Dyson spent years fighting Hoover. Now he intends to clean up | The Independent | The Independent”>James Dyson spent years fighting Hoover. Now he intends to clean up | The Independent | The Independent)</p>
<hr>
<p>“You need to take them apart, unwind the hair, and then put them back together.”</p>
<p>No taking apart needed - I flip the vacuum over, cut the hair/treads that got tanged on the brushes with scissors, and they easily come off. </p>
<p>We have stairs similar to musicmom’s. My Dyson has a long retractable hose and a powerbrush attachment that I use to clean the stairs. I position the Dyson on the landing, and the hose is long enough to reach the top of the stairs.</p>
<p>Sometimes the hairs get tightly wound on the core, not the brushes and these are harder to get at with scissors. An Exacto knife might work better.</p>
<p>Resurrecting this thread because I unexpectedly find myself in need! I have lots of hardwood floors and tile, very little carpet and a couple of rugs----Seems the old rule that smooth flooring needs a canister and carpeting needs an upright has been thrown out the window! Anybody with predominately smooth flooring have a great vacuum???</p>
<p>I have a small Ryker upright that I use on my hard floors. It weighs nothing, and does a good job. It can be switched from hard floor setting t rug setting, but I would not reccomend it for an entire room. I have a full size Ryker for my carpeted rooms. My cleaning lady also brings a Ryker.</p>
<p>As the one in need who started this particular thread, I empathize. Pressed for time I bought the Hoover Platinum Windtunnel (no platinuum involved I’m sure but I guess it is to suggest modern merit). So far I’ve been happy with everything except that the cords are not as long as on my former Clean Team Big Vac so I’ve had to re-configure how I go about my vacuum routine (HA–I wish it was a true routine…I guess “strategy” would be better; where I have to plug in has to be revised. What is a mixed blessing is that there is a separate, light weight unit for bare floors you don’t want to do with the upright, upholstery, etc. I like how easy it is to do a quick run with this one for dusty bare floor areas without getting out the heavier (but still very manageable upright)–which is plenty powerful for my needs (various ancient oriental rugs and serviceable modern area rugs.) But it does mean not doing everything with one machine. Seems to be working for me so far though and I am almost through the current Era of Houseguests.</p>
<p>Another vote for miele. Small, light, quiet, powerful. If you shop around, you may get a good price. I got mine at BB&B a few years ago.</p>
<p>Igloo, which Miele to you have? Do you use it on both carpet and wood floors? there’s a $299 model and a $499 model. If the $299 model is decent, I’d get it and use a 20% off coupon at BBB…</p>
<p>I don’t remember what I paid. I have a vague recollection of it not being the most expensive one. I use it on both carpet and wood floor. Just went to look, it’s “antares”</p>
<p>I have a Kirby and while it is very heavy, it works well. You don’t need to get all the attachments either (although I did, and never use some of them). </p>
<p>What’s important to me is that any vaccuum have a HEPA filter and very few did at the time we got our Kirby. We have a houseful of allergy sufferers and if you have guests and pet hair you want to remove, get a vaccuum with a HEPA filter and keep everyone breathing easy.</p>
<p>I had a cheaper Kenmore upright that fried itself after 2-3 years and we also have a rechargeable upright that is just terrible. It’s basically a dirt devil with a long handle. D1 happily took it to college and I happily let it go.</p>