The best above floor cleaner?

[sebo_fan]

Baglessball - meant to say I have two dusting brushes from Miele - the generic round one you get with a 360 degree rotational axis and the bigger flatter one you can buy as an optional tool - similar to the Dyson one that Dysondestijl has shown - however Miele's one can't be stored on a machine's tool storer if you buy the Miele S2, S4 or S6 cylinders.

Its an alright brush but the standard round brush on the Miele is pretty good and there's a slight difference of plastic dependent on the machine you buy - Miele UK stock the basic round brushes with the S2 whereas the S6 and above get the same brush but with an additional silver look bumper around the perimeter designed to act as a mini bumper and inner dust channel separator due to the wavy nature. I haven't ever really noticed much of a difference but the tools do offer a bit more quality than the ones supplied on the S2.

 

[vintagerepairer]

I think it all depends on how you clean. For a good deal of years my mother owned both an upright and cylinder cleaner. Her upright cleaner with tools was used downstairs where we had fitted carpets in all but the kitchen, and it was enough for a regular clean. Upstairs she had a cylinder as we only had bare floor boards and rugs. However, she often brought the cylinder downstairs to perform a deep clean of the whole house as she said the extra suction power was "much more useful".

In latter years I got her a Panasonic upright which she loved, but the one and only time she used the extending hose she hit herself in the face with cleaner as it fell towards her. She was 80 years old at the time and was very upset by it. By then I was doing most of the heavier housework tasks for her anyway, and I used to use the hose, but still I favoured a cylinder for all the times I wanted to reach deep down into places and under furniture. I very much dislike expanding hoses on vacuum cleaners as they tend to pull the user back to the cleaner, or in my mothers case, the cleaner to the user.

 

[suckolux]

That happened to my mother with her Hoover also, mom was 81? the cleaner did not survive mother being pissed off.Yes, she threw it across the room

 

[sebo_fan]

Kudos to mothers who get annoyed with vacuums. My mother was fairly abusive with a lot of our Hoover classic uprights, but at least they survived.

VR - the expanding hose issue - oh yes, its very much a design fault I often experience with Miele's extension hose attachment - brings me back to the original hose and the machine if I'm not careful or get stuck around corners!

 

[vac-o-matic]

FQ Princess III

I use the above for all my bare floor and above floor/detail cleaning. I love the 10ft. hose and full size attachments, the filtration using the added charcoal filter, long cord, and how quiet it is. When it's time to empty, I put a kitchen size trash bag over it, and turn the bin upside down in the bag, then spray/wipe it with a disenfectant/sanitizer, and I'm good to go. A close second is my Oreck Dutchtech 1400, again with a long hose, cord, quiet, good filtration. One big feature on the Dutchtech I like is that I can turn it on/off at the hose handle, nice.

 

[alexhoovers94]

I don't have a specific vacuum to use everyday, I just use whatever vacuum I feel like, I don't use the tools everytime I vacuum (everyday) anyway but normally I use the Turbopower 2 or the Turbopower Total System for my "allrounders" but again what vacuum I use depends on what I feel like using that day when I use the Total System for an "allrounder" the tool Suction is not quite as strong as on the turbopower 2 but it is certainly enough to get the dust out of crevices and get the hairs or crumbs of the sofa, so it does me.

I do however have an upstairs vac and that is the Contour.

Not really relevent but I use the Henry or the Purepower for the cars, usually the purepower as it has very strong suction and it has that nice slender crevice tool that can get right down the sides of the seats and usually fits in most tight spaces (that's what she said) around the car.

 

[sebo_fan]

As you know Alex, the beauty of the Hoover TP series and infact most of their vacs is that you can use any tools from other brands. Years ago, middle of the 1990s Argos used to sell a small range of "unbranded" Wessel werk type air driven turbo brushes - the mini, small kinds that Miele and Sebo use. I bought a couple of them from Argos primarily to be used on the vacs I had at that time that didn't ever come with those kinds of tools as standard - attached to the TP2 and TP3 kind of gave the vacs a bit more versatility as well as extended cleaning power.

 

[sebo_fan]

VR - I also agree with you that it does depend on the way you clean! Even after whatever I choose to use, I spied a cobweb in the corner of my kitchen today a couple of inches from my microwave which is located up on a work top. Whilst cleaning the kitchen with wet wipes and steam cleaner, grabbed the nearest gadget I have (Hoover cordless hand held dust buster) to remove offending cobweb and then went about all the worktops removing toast crumbs, coffee powder and loose dirt instead of the intention to wipe everything down with wet wipes.

There's an example then - clearly when I'd usually use a bigger vac to get around my worktops, on this occasion I chose to use a low powered hand held dust buster!

 

[floor-a-matic]

<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Electrolux because I can stand the canister on its rear end for vacing high places</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Compact/TriStar or Filter Queen because of powerful suction</span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;"> </span>


<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Rainbow for extra long hose (but I can use an extra long hose for most vacuums too)</span>

 

[tolivac]

For above floor cleaning-with handtools-like my Sebo D4 Premium-but don't like its dust brush-use an adaptor with a Kirby dust brush.Same with the Meile.For real serious above floor work-the NSS M1 "Pig"esp with big cobwebs,the car,and so on.The Pigs LONG hose allows you to reach anywhere without lifting the machine.And I have a "Hi Up wand for it so I can reach really high places-no other vac can go.Another good hand tool machine is the older TriStar-the "Baby" pig.Yes-even used my M1 pig to slurp out a freinds fireplace-replaced the paper bag right afterwards and put it in his metal trash can.Wouldn't dare do that with any other canister vacuum I have.Another thing for the NSS pig---You can use it as a blower Kirby style--make sure the scrap trap is empty.Remove the bag and put the hose on the fan discharge-instant super blower-blew the driveway with that-better and quieter than garden ones.I can use the NSS blower to "Blow Dry" carpets after using the Kirby Foam carpet cleaner.More powerful air blast than the Kirby.Use an NSS wand on the hose without the floor tool attached.

 

[kenkart]

AirWay!!!

I use a 88 Airway sanitizer, the hose is 10 feet long and in the upright position you can reach anything, plus the tools are perfect.

 

[tolivac]

Forgot about the AirWay-another good above floor cleaning champ.And you can use most standard handtools with it.And the Filtrete bags improve the airflow!Oh yes-another similar vacuum is the Royal "Pony" type canisters.I have a lot of above ground machines-hard to name them all-and Rainbow!!Its fun to use too,how dirty can you get the water in the bin?

 

[parwaz786]

Dyson DC44 is the best, and The above the floor cleaner I like best is the Dyson DC04, actually I love it as for what it is!

Excellent tools
Quiet
Easy to use
LArge bin
Rarely clogs
Filters don't clog un-till you vacuum up something like plaster IMO
Fantastic at cleaning carpets
Lasts long
On clutched models, it has a LOVELY hose cuff which lets you have airflow by pressing the circle button, and that leaks some air which is nice
On non clutched models, it has a nice rubber cuff which don't crack
Durable
Well made
Not flimsy
better designed than the DC07 in a few ways
Long cable
The DC04's are very popular
Please excuse my language- (using that they dont get like that EG) etc- I am from Birmingham

 

[parwaz786]

IGNORE THE LAST BIT AS TO WHAT I SAID

 

[sebo_fan]

Dont know if its totally valid but I noticed Currys are doing a good trade in on almost all Dyson vacs. It is tempting knowing how average I've found my Panasonic upright to be but the main thing I dislike about Dyson is the central hose/wand release. Much prefer a more conventional one.

http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/dyson-...30256_1672_xx/1_12/price-asc/xx-criteria.html

 

[parwaz786]

If I were to go to Currys, I would buy the DC33 Animal, I believe its the best Dyson there, DC41 is too "TECHY" My friend has the DC41 Animal and he loves it, but I dont, he says its better than his old Henry, and my neighbour has a DC40 multi floor which he loves, I dont.
DC33 is good, its the most similar Dyson to the DC04, DC07 or DC14 there, and the old Dysons are the best

 

[sebo_fan]

What about Shark Navigator Lift Around?

Has anyone seen this? Im sure it has been more popular in the U.S but Lakeland (as some of you may known) sell a lot of great vacuums and household cleaning products that I sometimes find myself going ga-ga over. They have been selling a few Shark products in the UK for some time and the "Lift Around" looks like a good design "for above the floor cleaning".

They also sell the cordless Navigator (£139-99).

http://www.lakeland.co.uk/23719/Shark-Navigator-Lift-Around

 

[shopvacdude]

I use a 6 gallon wet/dry vacuum with a 12 foot hose for all the above ground stuff. It works great, and it's cheap. The only problem is the noise.
If filtration is an issue, better filters can usually be bought. If not, they can be improvised easily. Electrostatic HVAC filtration media works great for allergens and fine dust.