<p>Dyson is the only one that is fun to use and fun to take apart. And it does work great!</p>
<p>Since dog hair seems to be a big problem, I recommend using a dog brush called “The Furminator” - it really removes a LOT of the dead hair that would normally populate my rugs.</p>
<p>The Furminator rocks! I bought one for brushing my evershedding cats who seem to enjoy it. Dogs, on the other hand, are not particularly fond of it. Before the Furminator, I had to empty my Dyson Animal container several times during vacuuming the entire house. BTW, I love my Dyson. I do not use the attachment tools that much, because Swiffer dusters work great on the pictures and such.</p>
<p>A friend who has a dog bought a Roomba and lets it loose in the house to do quick and dirty vacuuming during the week. Seems to work fine for him.</p>
<p>We used to have a central vac, and I hated it. The hoses were long and unwieldy. When we streched them from one room to the other, even though there was a cloth sleeve on the hose, it marked up the wall. I don’t want to ever use one again!</p>
<p>I may have missed it, but I haven’t seen anyone mention a Riccar. It is all our small, local vacuum shop sells because they think it is the best around.
I have one (and an older one I took to the lake) and love it. All the attachments are on the back, so it is very easy to take them off and use them “mid-vacuum” if needed. I do not have to pull hair off the beater bar and it is a bag vacuum. I also have had a purple Dyson Animal for several years with no problems. I DO have to clean a LOT of hair off the beater bar every time I use it.</p>
<p>I just bought a Simplicity upright. Great suction, but I do miss the ease of use of my canister vac. The upright is just too tall to get under the beds, etc. Using the attachments is a pain, but it has great suction for the carpets.</p>
<p>OMG–I’m about to go with central vac–I just would love to hear ONE opinion, but I guess that would be like hearing ONE opinion about colleges. There is no best one for everyone.</p>
<p>Here’s what I don’t get–why do people with allergic family members keep getting more pets? I can see keeping a pet until it dies–they are family–but getting more pets when your kids are sick all the time…???</p>
<p>I made the mistake of not installing a central vac system when I had the walls open… wife said she didn’t want one. It would have been so much easier.</p>
<p>We own Newfoundlands… we’re on our third now (one at a time, not all at once). You people have not seen hair until you’ve had a Newf in your house. 130 pounds of hair. Daily brushing will remove your standard paper grocery bag of hair per day. There are actually people who knit sweaters made from Newf hair.</p>
<p>We have trained our dogs NOT to enter the major carpeted room in the house, and they do abide. They’ll walk to the room threshold and lay down, and not enter. Doesn’t matter, you pick the hair up on your socks, slippers, bare feet and it ends up in on the rug and in the upstairs bedrooms. Dogs also do not frequent the second floor. Das ist verbotten.</p>
<p>Newf hair eats vacuum powerheads/beater bars. It’s ubiquitous, wraps itself around the brush and will eventually kill the powerhead. I disassemble the powerhead monthly, remove all the hair wrapped around the brush and reassemble. It’s routine maintainence.</p>
<p>I have yet to find a vacuum that will defeat Newf hair. I’ve tried them all.</p>
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<p>It would climb on thicker rugs lying flat on the floor, like a big carpet-like rug. I have flimsy throw rugs that will get caught in Roomba, so I pick them up and launder them while Roomba does its thing.</p>
<p>I love my Roombas. Yep, I have two. The first one choked on some fringe, I found a place to repair it (harder than it should be), and while it was out, I bought another one. Now I set them both loose at once, it’s fun to watch them. It’s kind of like having a bizarrely helpful pet. I’m always astonished by how much grit and dirt they pick up that I hadn’t even particularly noticed.</p>
<p>I regularly set them loose in the bathrooms and have them do the entry areas daily.</p>
<p>You can also use a Roomba to clean the footwells in the car.</p>
<p>We also have central vac; it’s fast, easy, and the easiest way to clean the canisters without making a mess is to put a garbage bag over the whole thing and open the canister INSIDE the bag.</p>
<p>But… the Roomba vacuums for me while I’m knitting. How cool is that?</p>
<p>I want a Roomba 570. Any opinions on models, Roomba owners?</p>
<p>(Of course, starting my fourth year as a robotics team mentor, I’d rather build one myself, but I think it would take me a year of free time to get the programming and sensors down right. Then I’d have to make the hardware. iRobot provides a lot of robotics engineering for the money.)</p>
<p>“Here’s what I don’t get–why do people with allergic family members keep getting more pets? I can see keeping a pet until it dies–they are family–but getting more pets when your kids are sick all the time…???”</p>
<p>H had hay fever and could not be around animals long before we got married. He knew I was very much a country girl and a pet person, so he decided to give a cat a shot when we bought our first house. The first cat ended up back in the shelter because H would terrify her with his violent sneezing. We felt so guilty about bringing her back, the shelter ended up making big bucks off us. H did not give up, and spent a couple of one-on-one hours with the second prospective cat at a different shelter. Surprisingly, he did not feel any ill effects, and we still have this cat! I guess she had the hypoallergenic gene. She is now joined by her little “sister” and nuisance dogs. H pet allergy simply went away. I read somewhere that having pets and rolling in the dirt are actually beneficial for stabilizing kids’ immune system.</p>
<p>You can hack your Roomba. Just go to Amazon Books and search for Roomba. There’s a data port right on it, just waiting…</p>
<p>We have the Roomba Sage, purchased from woot.com, where it shows up occasionally for a great discount.</p>
<p>I was never impressed with the idea of a central vac, then the house we moved into had one- I especially preferred it to sweeping wood floors whereas my DH was all about the broom, not the vac. I think it is personal preference. I also liked it for an area rug that sheds like crazy- but then DH empties the canister, so I have not dealt with that potential mess 
Never had any suction issues in the many years we lived there. In my new location I rather miss it!</p>
<p>Hoover sucks. HAHA! Well, my Hoover Windtunnel actually sucks pretty well and is quite clean with a bag and filters, but it is SOOO heavy and difficult to maneuver. I don’t vacuum very often because it is so inconvenient. I would not recomment this, even though Consumer Reports says it is one of the best choices.</p>
<p>You know what I want? Micro Mini Vacuums. Designed to look like knick knacks (or fine art sculpture), you’d place one per book shelf to dust occasionally, ala Roomba.</p>
<p>Finally fed up with vacuum cleaners not working for more than a year …Two weeks ago I bought an Oreck, got it home, seemed OK, then heard really bad stories about their success with pet hair… sent it back to very nice customer service for full refund… Next bought a Kirby, just told the salesman I don’t want a long demo just tell me how much and what is the best deal I can get… So far I like the power, but I may have a small problem in that I put a belt on wrong and I think it got sucked into the motor! Maybe I shall surrender … I admit I have been defeated by the world of vacuum cleaners!</p>
<p>I prefer a bag vacuum because of my past experiences with kids and critters. What I am referring to is head lice, pinworms and fleas. When these tiny monsters invade your home, you have to vacuum at least once a day (if not twice) during and after treatment (of kids, pets, furniture). I want trap the parasites in a bag and throw the bag out! I will never buy a vacuum without a bag for that reason.</p>
<p>I love my Miele(red canister). I have had it over 10 years and not a problem at all and picks up dog hair and lots of loose threads on the carpet in my sewing room. I was once told it is the “Cadillac of all vacuums!”. I guess whoever said that thought Cadillac’s were special. It must have been my 84 year old mother. ;)</p>
<p>I also love my Miele(s). In fact the oldest is 13 years and I liked it so much I got a red one about 10 years ago to keep upstairs and the cheaper yellow one to keep in basement!</p>
<p>They are great for animal hair, are rugged, have had no repairs (except one cord that I pulled plug off). They do have bags, but kid’s allergist says that the bags and hepa filters are the best way to keep dust down.</p>