<p>I bought a Riccar. They also go by the name Simplicity. It seems really well made. </p>
<p>My bras are lululemon. I can’t tell you how many cheap sports bras I’ve bought that have no support. So I got a Ta Ta Tamer and a Booby Bracer. How’s that for names lol! </p>
<p>BB, I resisted buying the fancy Italian vacuum, instead bought domestic! Lol! Love those German cars, hated the repair bills. We stick to Japanese now. </p>
<p>Deb, In it’s most recent report, CR tested 29 upright vacuums, including two Riccars. The highest score any of the vacuums received was 74 (out of 100; price is not a factor in the score–only performance and features). The two Riccars ranked near the bottom of the list–19th and 21st, (scores of 57 and 55, respectively). Even more concerning than that though was that Riccars ranked dead last in brand reliability–they have the most repair issues of any brand. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we don’t always get what we pay for. Hopefully, it’s not too late for you to trade yours in for a vacuum that either cleans better (they actually measure how much “ick” the vacuums suck up), or is more reliable in terms of repairs, or both. </p>
<p>Bummer, scubasue. That is disheartening. Maybe I can trade it in for the fancy Italian one. I hate this. I don’t have any problems taking back things to a big box retailer. I am less sure about a small mom and pop shop. Now I’m confused about what to do. </p>
<p>They probably won’t care, especially if you trade it for another model they sell. Do some reading though–the $475 Miele tied with the $715 Miele and outscored the $600 Miele. (But all three of them did better than the Riccars). </p>
<p>Just bought a Hoover wide path tempo. It is clunky, but gets the job done. It’s actually the second one I’ve bought. $80 bucks on amazon, and highly rated. </p>
<p>Sue, I’m very skeptical of the experiments that do not show standard error. Was the difference statistically significant or not? ;)</p>
<p>Not too smart of CR to compare those Mieles as if they were diffent vacs. They are the same vacuum cleaner, except the more expensive ones have more control bells and whistles, that’s it.</p>
<p>Lulu bras are awesome. 
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<p>Can you tell us the brand that you got?</p>
<p>Bunsen, if that’s true, then why did the cheap Meile (with fewer features) outscore the one with more bells and whistles? </p>
<p>They do have some objective score-related process for determining the difference between and excellent, a very good and a fair rating. You can read what it is. Either way though, the repair data is alarming, especially for the price–the upright Riccars needed repairs 4 times more often than Kirbys, and twice as often as Kenmores. </p>
<p>The thing is though, as far as I can tell, CR is the only resource that even attempts to provide results of objective testing on vacuums. They don’t rely on advertising and have no financial stake in ranking one unit higher than another. </p>
<p>Uhm, because the testing was not blinded/(read: subjective) and the differences were not statistically significant? ;)</p>