Best vacuum for small apartment without pets?

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Hate, hate, hate (is that too strong? No, it's not) the crossover PN on that Intuition, it's a total PITA to use in real life. I bought one and returned it to Sears the very next day, and I had to drive 168 miles to return it... hated it that much. The red Progressive, D-T's first link, is an excellent vacuum.
 
Tom, I agree the Intuition's nozzle is a kludge but at least with that wand any conventional Powermate sold in the past 25 years attaches, as do all your old Kenmore/Hoover/Oreck/you name it tools you've accumulated over the years including all those nice European style horse hair hard floor brushes. Wand and hose end size are a conventional 1 1/4 inches. The Progressives oversized wands and female connection mean you are stuck using only the unconventional and inadequae tools and too small floor brush that come with that vac. Absolutely nothing from any other vac attaches to the Progressives wands.

But if you leave the floor brush together for carpet, which is what his mom has mostly, I would much prefer that Intuition at that price over a cheapo Hoover or Kenmore upright. You can dust with it, you can dust ceiling fans with that bendy tool (what a great tool, I bought one for my old vacs to dust my ceiling fans and it's eminently useful) and it will be a more durable vac than some cheap upright plastivac. For the money that would be my choice.
 
On Kenmores from the mid 1990's forward the Powermate wand slots into a holder on the bottom surface of the canister. Set the canister on its end and the Powermate attaches to the bottom with the brush hanging straight down flat against the bottom of the vac, not touching the floor. Takes very little space in the closet this way.
 
That Cross-Over tool looks like a clunky mess, are people really too lazy to disconnect the power-nozzle and attach a floor tool? Sears, You reading this? I'm a long-time fan of Sears, but their canisters aren't the same! Their uprights i see fine, except the Progressive upright, it's bulky too! I love my simple and low-profile nozzle on my Duo-Power, wouldn't it be COOL if Sears made the same nozzle in stainless-steel and LED lighting? I'd have to get a Sears card for that! 
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I don't mind at all breaking out the SEPARATE  chrome-plated wands and attaching the floor tool, it's easier and lighter than fooling around with that Cross-Over mess! They need to work on their wand-wiring too, just put the cord running down the wand, they had it right the first time! 
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Since the hose end on that version of the Intuition is a normal 1 1/4 inches you can stash a standard old fashioned wand in the closet with a nice horse hair floor brush and use that. Just leave the Intuition cross-dresser floor brush together and never separate it and it's fine.

Later on if that brush really offends you the wand end on that vac has the standard attachment for any Powermate sold in the last two decades. It is only the current gen Progressive and the new Elite canister that have the funky wands the require a unique to them attachment. Go find a clean used POwermate brush on ebay (they are everywhere), sanitize it and go with that. If I had the money right now that is what I would do. I would not let that brush stop you. And like I said, since the wand and hose end are both 1 1/4 inches you can use all of your old tools on them.

Hey, it's a $550 list price vac and not a throw away cheapo plastivac. Think about it before I decide to transfer money from savings and do the deed myself, lol!
 
8-lb upright

I bought my Mom & my Mother-in-law Riccar supralite vacuums. They are extremely light and easy to push. They are built well and they clean carpet and bare floors well. On the downside, there are no onboard tools. You can get cloth like HEPA bags for them if allergies are a problem. Simplicity/Maytag have similar options. Oreck and Hoover also have light weights. Women love these lightweight easy to use vacuums.
 
OK, I think I have it settled...

Mom can't afford a new vacuum yet. I just created this thread to obtain advice on a good, cheap vacuum for whenever she decides to get a new one in the future.

She likes bagless, and doesn't like bags. I don't think she would clean a pleated or foam filter on a cheap bagless vacuum, so I think cyclonic will be the way to go. Besides, she doesn't trust Walmart. She doesn't have pets, so she just needs something to do routine vacuuming once or twice a week in her small apartment. I know she wouldn't fuss with a canister either. Her place is pretty much all carpet, except in the kitchen, bathroom and in front of the entry door, so I think the Hoover Windtunnel Air Steerable is the way to go!

Plus, for the kitchen and bathroom floors, the Air Steerable has an on/off brush switch and a long hose and wand, so those are the additional reasons that I've picked out that vacuum.
 
I got my older Wintunnel Air off Hoover's website, Fred mentioned it on black Friday 2 years ago?? Paid $50, was a used/ returned model. Mom likes it due to the light weight and the hose and its reach, it's not perfect, but its not bad.
 
No bags!

That Eureka is bagged, plus it doesn't even have attachments! And it can't be used on hard floors, either. Mom doesn't like bags, so that's why I've tentatively settled on the Hoover Windtunnel Air Steerable.
 
If she is severely allergic to dust

Make sure she wears a dust mask while emptying it. Dust masks work very well for this. If she is mildly allergic, just make sure she just stays clear from the dust exiting the dirt container. But still, people who have allergies should really stay from bagless, but I know that your mother doesn't like bags. I can relate, my Parents always had bagless, until my Dad became tired of it.
 
Also ...

... keep in mind that even "cyclonic" bagless will require either A) high-maintenance routine cleaning of filters, or B) high-cost filter replacements.

Bagged or Bagless. Pay me now or pay me later. But in either case, you will have to pay for replacing your filtration systems with either time or money. It comes down to whether you want to do it as you go along, a couple bucks per bag, or all at once every few months, with a new $40 filter.
 
FantomFan, so far, I've been the only one to do the vacuuming over at Mom's apartment. So far, I haven't really gotten the "dust cloud" that others have experienced. My family has always owned bagless vacuums, having started with a Fantom Fury since around the late '90s.

NYCWriter, yes, many cyclonic bagless vacuums require you to either wash, tap out or replace filters on a regular basis. Most current and fairly recent bagless vacuums have filters that need to be washed every few months. After washing said filters, they need to air dry for at least 24 hours before putting them back into whatever vacuum you have.

I've never had to buy any replacement filters on any of the vacuums that I've owned.
 

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