Help! Shopping for New Vacuum and Overwhelmed

[durango159]

How about a Tacony made Simplicity/ Riccar??

I love canister vacuums. I've been professionally house cleaning for 18 years. I've had the best success with Hoover canister vacuums. However now Hoover's selection is quite limited. I look for machines that clean EXCELLENT, while being convenient to use and reasonably durable. Your unlimited price range puts you in a better than me.

I'm not a Kirby guy. Too loud, too heavy, don't groom carpets enough, attachment setup is awful.

Also not a Sebo guy. Don't groom enough, non user friendly, can't handle plush rugs.
I've had awful experiences with Sebo D4 canister, Oreck uprights, most Dyson uprights I've used.

Aerus Electrolux vacuums will last forever and are quiet. However, I've found that the long slender suction units tend to roll over on their sides and slide along the floor rather than stay on wheels. Carry handles in the middle make it awkward to lug around. Some of their power nozzles aren't very powerful.

The Riccar/ Simplicitys are a great line. Very quiet, very powerful, sealed systems, HEPA S Class filtration, wide assortment of available on board tools, Made In The U.S.A, metal base plates, metal brush rolls, suction to pull paint off your wall. I'm very happy with our Riccar 1700 canister pictured below!! I highly recommend testing out a Riccar in a store. The new Tandem Air uprights are amazing too!!

I have little Miele experience but I hear they're very good. If you go canister I would be sure to get the SEB228 or SEB236 power nozzle. They have a wide variety of suction units, you need to see which one appeals to your needs as far as attachment availability, size and bag capacity. For a Miele upright I would look at the S7 series.

The Royal Lexon SR30020 is a really neat machine!! Very powerful suction and agitation!! Quiet running, and the powerhead glides very smoothly over the carpet with an extremely comfortable handle. Durability wise they look ok but definitely not built the way Royals were years ago. The Riccar or Miele would be better durability wise.

I have noticed many canister vacuums WAYYYY outperform many upright vacuums. I've also seen many that are about even with each other. A lot of machines on the market have great suction. Agitation is where many companies have slacked off. I'm sure there are a plethora of vacuum dealers in the Manhattan area. Visit a few, try before you buy, look at the agitator area: check bristle stiffness, how far it extends below base plate, are bristles edge to edge, what type of belt, etc. See what return window is for machines or if you can try it at home on your rugs and see how you like it for a day!!

Best of luck in your search!!

*****NO ONE ON THIS SITE IS STUPID!! We all have years of experience using different vacuums whether its in our own homes, relatives homes, professional cleaning service like myself or otherwise. Everyone's home is different whether its wall to wall plush carpeting, lightweight area rugs, hardwood floors and/or several options. There is a high tendency for us to prefer vacuums that we used growing up. For Example: If your parents household had a Kirby, chances are you are biased to Kirbys to this day and love them with all of your heart. This is just an example and there is absolutely NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT PHILOSOPHY!!! We should not let our preference of a brand hurt our self esteem and feelings towards one another, just because another member has shared a different experience!! Let's learn from each other and be able to discuss and share our experiences openly on this forum!!! There is a reason why we have Chocolate, Vanilla and Strawberry ice cream flavors along with Minimans and Station Wagons, canister vacuums, and upright vacuums and several different manufacturers to choose from for just about any product a person desires to purchase!! There is an option out there for everyone!!!

http://www.simplicityvacuum.com/products/canisters/mid-size/verve/

 

[hype822]

i apologize for what i posted earlier. one tends to not be happy when one finds out recently that his fathers cancer has returned at stage 4. so sorry about that earlier post again. and anyway if you like uprights take a look at a simplicity/riccar tandem air upright.

 

[funeraldirector]

Agree With Hype

Steve,

You are right about the Simplicity/Riccar Tandem Air units like the Radiance and Brilliance. Excellent all the way around and worth a look.

I'm sorry to hear about your dad. A friend of mine was a cancer surgeon at one of my clients- Dana Farber in Boston. They do some amazing stuff and their technology is cutting edge. One of the best hospitals in the world for cancer and a visit is time well spent.

Brian

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Hoover Elite C1414 upright.


http://hoover.com/products/details/c1414900/elite-bagged-upright-hard-bag-case-12/

 

[eurekaprince]

Hey there Boston Brian,

Quick question: why does the Miele Earth come with a longer hose? Don't all S5 series Miele canisters come with a 6 foot hose? Is the SES 119 hose different from all the other hoses? If yes, can you buy it as an option for all the other models in the S5 series? People have complained about the short hoses and cords on Miele canisters, so I wonder why this longer hose is not standard for all their deluxe full-size canisters...

Write back when you get yhe chance!

Eurekaprince Brian in Toronto

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Hoover Elite C1404 upright.


http://hoover.com/products/details/c1404---/elite-bagged-upright-soft-bag-12/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Hoover Guardsman C1631 upright.


http://hoover.com/products/details/c1631/guardsman-12-bagged-upright-steel-lined-fan-chamber/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Hoover Guardsman C1431 upright.


http://hoover.com/products/details/c1431010/guardsman-12-bagged-upright/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Hoover PortaPower CH30000 straight suction canister.


http://hoover.com/products/details/ch30000/portapower-lightweight-vacuum-cleaner/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Hoover Signature Lightweight C1320 upright.


http://hoover.com/products/details/c1320/12-signature-lightweight-upright/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

To make the Kirby's groom and deep clean, You need a 4 row brushroll. Adjust the beater bar to position 3 on the G-Series. Adjust the beater bar screws all the way down on the Pre G-Series. Adjust the carpet height to where you hear the brush contact the carpet and adjust one more click down. The Kirby's is now at the correct carpet height for excellent deep cleaning and excellent grooming.

 

[kirbyultimateg]

As a general rule of thumb, Bagged Uprights and Bagged Canisters clean much better than Bagless Uprights and Bagless Canisters.

 

[ryan1994jeep]

I understand your doubts with Dyson, but it seems since you were so happily satisfied with your Fantom that the Dyson would well suit your needs with the wand/hose handle and bagless convience. Might I also recommend the Kenmore Intuition Crossover canister.

 

[TheBillbot]

A Good Used Eureka FG Upright that's in Good Condition. Also a new 1934B Eureka is great as well. Huge Bag Capacity and Great Suction, grooms the carpet very nicely and leaves nice marks on the carpet.

The Attachment Set for the Upright has decent suction as well but nowhere near as good as the Fantom. I would get Filteraire Bags for it as they are cleaner than normal FG bags.

A Hoover Decade 80 or Convertible isn't a bad choice either.

 

[eurekaprince]

I actually think Ryan has hit on the correct solution: The Blue Kenmore Intuition power nozzle canister. It is very good at everything and comes with a nice long 8 foot hose and a nice long cord - longer than the cords and hoses provided on Miele canisters. The electrically powered mini power nozzle stores on board, and the hose and wands are standard diameters so you can attach any tool you want to buy from your local vac dealer. This has been Consumer Reports top rated canister vac for two years. It's also got a much larger cloth Hepa bag than the Mieles. Just don't abuse the machine and you'll be fine - follow the instructions and shut off the vac before disconnecting the electrified hose and wands to avoid burning the contacts.

The neat feature of this vac is that the floor brush stores right in the power nozzle. You just shut off the vac from the handle control, press a pedal to release the brush, switch the vac back on you are ready to go...

According to consumer surveys done by Consumer Reports, Kenmore canisters have a lower repair rate than Miele, Hoover, Eureka and Swedish Electrolux. The higher end Kenmores such as the Intuition are made by Panasonic.

Here is a summary of the results of tests done by Consumer Reports on this vac:
CARPET CLEANING: The Kenmore Intuition 28014 does a very good job of removing the embedded mixture of sand and powder from our soiled test carpets. This is a measure of how well a vacuum removes the dirt hidden deep in the carpet and not visible to the user's eye.

BARE FLOOR: The Kenmore does an excellent job of removing sand from our vinyl floor, leaving very little behind and not scattering sand across the floor.

PET HAIR: This model does an excellent job at picking up pet hair from carpets using its power head. The visual inspection of the test carpet following the pet hair test reveals no traces of pet hair left behind and very little pet hair caught in the brush roll.

USABILITY: This Kenmore is packed with many creature comforts, such as a nice telescopic wand, and nicely placed electronic controls on the handle for suction, and brush rotation. A dirt sensor is also conveniently placed on the handle. A unique feature is a quick release floor brush that is integrated into the main power head.

 

[funeraldirector]

Miele hose/EurekaPrince

Brian,

I am not sure what is up with Miele and their hose lengths. I took my new Lux Guardian Platinum down to an old Lux buddy who sells Miele to show him the pre-production machine and do a side by side with some of his machines. The Earth hose is slightly longer by about a foot and a half over the Capricorn. The hose on the Silver Moon with 236 nozzle I had was short also. However, this additional length, due to the stiffness of the hose makes the Earth seem like a different machine over the Capricorn. Miele took the swivel off those machines and I prefer the Silver Moon design for its mobility. Those shorter hoses remind me of the old gimp, woven Lux Silverado Lawrence MFG. hose with the front of the machine hitting your ankles all the time. Perhaps it is related to the additional electronic innards of the Capricorn hose that they shorten the length for economic reasons.

The Simplicity/Riccar Full-size canisters still use the 7 foot hose like the previous S36/38 and 1700/1800 machines did. The same goes for the Sebo D4. Lots of hose( 7ft) there too. I don't care for the Cen-Tec power nozzle or any of the Sears Canisters in general even with 8 feet of hose or on a buy one get one free. Since they are closing a store here they were sold for peanuts. I hate that integrated floor bush as well. That's just me. Cleaning performance is good, durability no so.

As far as hoses go , the super light weight Tristar DXL electric hose is what I would like to see on the Miele and the Lux Guardian Platinum. Super flexible and super light. the Flexible Technologies hose on the Lux is really nice but requires more care in that the urethane will tear if you leave the power nozzle and wands attached for years during storage and the clear urethane turns yellow if stored on the porch in direct sunlight. Same is true with Kenmore, rainbow and Filter Queen urethane hoses.

Brian

 

[nycwriter]

Not so sure I'm keen on canisters. They take up twice the footprint of an upright in the closet and seem overly-fussy and clumsy while sweeping in rooms full of furniture.

I'd have to see a canister that clearly performs head and shoulders above the best upright before I'd consider one.

 

[eurekaprince]

Hey Matt,

Don't eliminate power nozzle canisters from your search. Most Mieles and Kenmores have a slot on the main body from which you hang the power nozzle front edge down to minimize your storage footprint. These take up no more space than an upright.

If you had only wall to wall carpeting, I would not look at canisters (you have to clean forward into the room, which leaves you walking on your just cleaned carpets - with uprights you can clean easily while "backing out" of the room starting at the far corner).

But since you have bare floors with area rugs, a canister is a more flexible and easy to use solution. The large head on an upright will not easily get under and around your furniture and you'll end up using the onboard hose a lot anyhow.

If money is no option and you prefer uprights, go and get the white Miele Cat and Dog upright. Consumer Reports gave it high marks in all test categories (carpets, bare floors, suction thru the hose for tool use, noise reduction, emissions control) BTW, it looks like all the Miele uprights come with a generous 40 foot power cord.

If you want to really make your life easier, add the wonderful cordless Swiffer Vac to your arsenal! This $40 stick vac will clean and dust all your bare floors with ease in between vacuuming...and it hangs on a hook on the wall. My 85year old Mom swears by it!

 

[vacuumfreeeke]

NYCWriter, I've heard stories about that Kenmore Intuition canister being plagued with electical problems... I think Durango mentioned that, but I've heard it elsewhere before too (maybe in reviews?)...

I also think that you would not be happy with a Dyson because part of the problem you have with the Fantom is that it is a mess to empty since it is bagless... you clearly stated that in your initial post! A Dyson wouldn't solve that problem. Many collectors and repairmen are evangalistic about telling people that bagged is better than bagless...

Canisters can be stored compactly as most Kenmore/Panasonic, and Miele have a parking system similar to this and if they have a telescoping handle, that really helps. I couldn't find a picture of a Kenmore or Panasonic stored like this, and it's not even in the manual... I cannot believe they woudln't advertise that! The Kenmores, however, only park with the canister sitting vertically on its end... they don't have the parking system in the back like the Miele pictured below does (so a Kenmore would store like the Miele in the picture on the right, but not like the picture on the left)...

That said, they can definitely be more fussy and clumsy than an upright!

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Oreck Forever Series Gold Power Team.


http://www.oreck.com/Oreck-Forever-...-vacuum-power-teams&srule=Price - High to Low

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Oreck Graphite Power Team.


http://www.oreck.com/Oreck-Graphite...-vacuum-power-teams&srule=Price - High to Low

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Dyson DC41 Animal upright.


http://www.dyson.com/vacuums/uprights/dc41/dc41-animal.aspx

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Dyson DC33 Multi Floor upright.


http://www.dyson.com/vacuums/uprights/dc33/dc33-multi-floor.aspx

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Shark Rotator Lift Away upright.


http://www.sharkclean.com/rotator/professional-lift-away-nv500/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Here is the Shark Rotator XL Reach upright.


http://www.sharkclean.com/rotator/shark-rotator-professional-nv400/

 

[kirbyultimateg]

Last but not least, Please check Consumer Reports. CR has detailed ratings on each vacuum cleaner. Here is the link for Consumer Reports.


http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/index.htm

 

[nycwriter]

Ugh. I have to subscribe to Consumer Reports to see the ratings.

 

[kirbyultimateg]

I am currently a subscriber. I have been a subscriber since 1990.

 

[kirbyultimateg]

By the way, Euro Pro/Shark bought Iona/Fantom in 2001.

 

[nycwriter]

Thanks KirbyUltimateG.

I'm sure the Shark is an improved version of my Fantom, but I've already pretty much ruled out bagless, as I'm tired of all the dust collecting on the surface of my unit (and the mess in emptying it in my kitchen).