<p>Worth the money? Overhyped? If you have one, what model and would like to know pros and cons. I hadn’t heard of them until recently and liked the demo one I tried out but big investment, of course.</p>
<p>Hate to admit it, but I own THREE Riccar vacuums and I LOVE them! My first one is many years old and I have it out at our cabin now. The other two are on different floors of the house (I am getting old and hate lugging them from floor to floor). I also bought the Dyson Animal (the purple one) and it is just not as good as a Riccar. We live in a small town and believe it or not we have a little shop that sells only Riccars. The owner says he won’t compromise - they are the best vacuum made! Things I love about the Riccar - </p>
<ol>
<li> They pick up EVERYTHING</li>
<li> I like a vacuum with a bag - I think they just work better than the bagless</li>
<li> No hair winds around the brush bar as it does on my Dyson. We have had two long haired daughters and three long haired pets in the house and I have to turn my Dyson over everytime I use it and remove the wound up hair from the brush bar (or whatever it is called).</li>
<li> I LOVE the attachments on the back. You can very easily switch from vacuuming carpeting to using the attachments to take care of something as you go along.</li>
</ol>
<p>I am not sure what models I have - I will look and let you know.</p>
<p>The one I am interested most in called the Brilliance, I believe the top model of that line. I am most interested in how it performs on bare floors on picking things up instead of making them scatter like a lot of other vacuums.</p>
<p>Still haven’t made it upstairs to check the models, but I know they are not called the Brilliance. I have a lot of “bare floors”. Upper level is wall to wall carpeting, main level is hardwood floors with area rugs, and basement (which has our family room area - 80+ year old tudor house) has slate flooring. I don’t use the actual machine on the bare floors - if that makes sense. I have a long flexible hose that fits into the port on the back of the Riccar. Onto that hose I put the “rigid extention hose” that is housed on the back of the vacuum. On the end of the rigid extention hose I put a floor brush. Sort of makes the machine into a cannister vacuum of sorts. This set up has high suction, allows for great flexibility to get into every nook and cranny, etc.</p>
<p>I have an 8850 and an 8955. The 8955 is the newer of the two, but it is also several years old. </p>
<p>Also, I should have described the “rigid extension hose” as more of a rigid plastic extendable tube.</p>
<p>I do not own any Riccars and never heard of them, but out of curiosity I looked them up -had to hold on to my socks when I saw the prices!</p>
<p>I have never heard of them either, but allow me to add this. Please consider an American brand, built by Americans(IF such a vacuum exists).
Many now believe it is important to keep Americans working.</p>
<p>younghoss, it looks like you found your vacuum cleaner:</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>But $1500 for a canister? :eek:</p>
<p>Riccar is American.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>We bought one several years ago (after the 3 1/2 yr old top of the line Kenmore started falling apart, literally) and have been very pleased. It does pick up everything. Carpet in our old house looked fresher and the nap was higher than it had ever looked with the Kenmore.</p>
<p>We recently built a new home and are needing to get another vac for the upstairs. My wife does not like the idea of the new bag less machines and having to deal with all the dust in the containers so I haven’t been able to talk her into a Dyson or any other new "wind tunnel’ type machine. I’m guessing that we’ll be getting another Riccar in the future.</p>
<p>oops cross posted with bunsenburner</p>
<p>Uprights are less expensive…in the Dyson range.</p>
<p>I have owned one for about 4 or 5 years, have never had a problem or needed a repair. We have two cats and two teenage boys, so lots of stuff to vacuum and the Riccar does a great job. We bought ours from a tiny vacuum shop that only carries Riccar, like a previous poster mentioned, and the owner swears by them. I use mine on both hardwood and carpeting. My only complaint is that the included hose is not long enough - I just haven’t gotten around to getting a longer and more flexible one. My upright is on the heavy side, but so solidly built that I don’t complain. I know I didn’t pay anywhere near $1500! probably around $400 ? I can’t recall… Hope this helps!</p>
<p>For those that have them, are there certain things you don’t dare vacuum up because it can wreck the fan (such as one of my previous vacuums warned about…like rocks or tiny metal things, etc). With my Dyson I am used to sucking up anything that will fit so I pondered this when I remembered the warning with a previous brand of vacuum.</p>
<p>eadad - I have to agree with you. I’m tired of buying top of the line models of other brands, only to have them start to fall apart after three years (although they won’t officially die for about five). My very first vacuum was a canister (it was used) and it lasted until the vacuum was about 20 years old. I’ve only had uprights since, and absolutely hate them. Everytime I want to use the hose/extension wand to do baseboard, stairs, or solid floors, it tips over; it’s gotten to the point now that the handle has been compromised due to hitting the floor so many times.</p>
<p>I just want another canister, again. We also have allergy issues in the house, so if I’m getting a new vacuum, it needs to be the best to deal with this, too.</p>
<p>OP - I vacuum up tons of cat litter - our cats track it all over the place - and have never had a problem. Occassionally I will vacuum up a cat ball or something - again no problem. I just have to fish it out of the bag, which is not much fun! I vacuumed up a bunch of staples D left on the floor, pieces of ribbon after wrapping at Christmas - no problem. They are pricey - last time I looked they were $700-900 for an upright, but as my dear BIL is always telling my sister - </p>
<p>“You’ll spend $100 five times, but you won’t spend$500!” </p>
<p>Meaning, buy quality the first time. God love him, he’s full of these pearls!</p>
<p>Since you are a canister using, can you elaborate on what makes a person want a canister? Do you have to carry that heavy base part around and use the hose in your other hand or can you kind of drag it (the main part) around behind you? I have never had a canister but my mom did when I was very young. Since they are still on the market I wanted to find out more about the appeal of them to make sure I wasn’t’ missing out on something!!! Does it have the same type of thing with the brush roll as an upright?</p>
<p>*** “You will pay $100 five times, but you won’t pay $500!” ***</p>
<p>Exactly!!! Also I like to break it down to the price per year I will be using it, and it suddenly seems more reasonable. DH isn’t quite convinced!</p>