Why canisters?

[eurekaprince]

In my opinion, an upright is best used for carpeting and nothing else. A canister is much easier to use for all other cleaning tasks.

Combination vacs (power nozzle canisters and uprights with onboard tools) end up compromising cleaning effectiveness and ease of use in an attempt to merge the two devices. They are also heavier and bulkier and complicated and over-engineered and more prone to have problems.

For me, it's much easier to start cleaning a room with a suction only canister from top to bottom - even getting rid of surface litter on carpet with the carpet nozzle. Then I use my low-amp lightweight fan-first upright to finish the room by deep cleaning the carpet from far end to door - backing out as I go along.

So much easier to clean with a pair of vacs like this.

 

[rainbowd4c]

In my own opinion.

I think that a canister with a good power nozzle, and long hose it just as effective as an upright. I hardly use my Shark. I use it mostly if the pet hair is to much for the Rainbow, or if I just don't feel like fumbling with the water tank. I have a huge livingroom and I can vacuum the entire living room and maybe only move the Rainbow twice if I'm just doing the carpets. If I'm doing the furniture and knocking cobwebs then I am more prone to move the vacuum a little more keeping it close to me.

 

[turbo500]

<blockquote>
I think that a canister with a good power nozzle, and long hose it just as effective as an upright


</blockquote>
I agree! In some cases, I think a PN cylinder is better as cylinder/canister vacs tend to generate more suction than uprights.

I personally couldn't be bothered with having to lug 2 machines around the house during a clean up.

 

[luxman107]

How do you do above the floor cleaning or hard surface floors without a canister?

 

[pinkge]

canister cleaning...

I use my GE Pink and coral 1955 for cleaning my home.Has very strong suction and love the dusting tool to do my dusting,and the flip rug/floor tool cleans my carpets and floors very well.
Michael

 

[vinvac]

I like using a canister simply because my house is small and changing attachments on my Kirby can be challenging for space issues.

I would put my Ultimate G up against any of my canisters as far as tool suction and cleaing performance.

I use my Super J or Lux Special most of the time when using a canister.

My daily cleaning team would be my Oreck Platinum XL and the Buster B canister. I added the wheel kit and love it for the size of our home.

 

[bikerray]

I use a canister (Electrolux, Rexair or Rainbow) for above floor cleaning and an upright (Kirby or Hoover) for the carpeting.

As to just an upright, ever tried running a Kirby over the books in a bookshelf? That brushroll doesn't help the book jackets at all.

 

[eurekaprince]

My team of choice right now each weigh under 20lbs: my white Miele S8 FreshAir canister with spotlight handle, and my Hoover Platinum Bagged upright. I am finding the team to be excellent performers! Quiet, powerful and really easy to use. And they both take up no more room than a power nozzle canister in my closet....

I really dislike deep cleaning carpet with a power nozzle canister: I like to work from far end backwards to doorway and with a canister this is very difficult to do as you are constantly pushing the unit backwards behind you with your foot. Canisters are meant to be pulled behind you....so not the best set up for leaving behind a nicely groomed plush carpet with no footprints...

 

[electrolux137]

For pinkge...

~
~

My maternal grandmother had a pink G.E. Whenever we'd go visit her I wanted to use it but she wouldn't let me. "It's not a toy," she would admonish. Instead, I had to content myself with her dumb ol' Bissell carpet sweeper.

I've had a couple of them over the years; the one in the photos was the nicest. Alas, it was a victim of our great exodus from our former apartment of nearly 20 years. I had to make some very hard decisions as to what could come along.

P.S.: My other grandmother had a Roll-Easy, which she was all too happy to let me use to my heart's content!

http://1377731.com/rolleasy/

 

[eurekaprince]

Beautiful pink GE! And right on topic, too!

Why? Because it had a neat feature by which you could push the vac out of the way by hooking the carpet nozzle onto a hook in the canister's dolly and push the unit with the wand assembly - no bending required!

 

[electrolux137]

~
~

Like this ...

 

[spiraclean]

Canister with PN for me too. Previously I always had an upright for carpets, and a suction-only canister for everything else, but find the all-in-one approach more convenient because I can go from one task to another on the fly without switching from one cleaner to another.

 

[Mike81]

Canister for me

My apartment is small and has a lot of tight/shallow places so canister with the powerhead is natural choice for me. I have about 50/50 carpet/hard floors. My only complaint is that i don't like using the powerhead on the bare floors. It's just too clumsy. Light parquet nozzle is far easier to use on bare floors.
My carpeted area is free of obstacles, so I would love to add upright to my collection. It's just that here in the Finland all vacuum cleaners for sale are canisters. Except Kirby which cost FAR too much for me. I sure would love to own one.

 

[sptyks]

I live in an apartment...

that is quite spacious and carpeted throughout except bathroom and kitchen.


 


I convert my Kirby Sentria to canister mode and do all of my above floor cleaning first and then use the bare floor nozzle for kitchen and bathroom, then I convert it back to an upright which takes less than a minute, and vacuum all of the carpet. I find that the suction through the hose is more than adequate for my above floor cleaning.

 

[suckolux]

Easy and quick for me to convert the Kirby to canister mode, however I don't find it very pleasant to use this way or handy.Hose short and down low, bag, even folded still clumsy, suction, well air flow is good anyway and on hi the noise is not very relaxing. It works, just not how I want to use a Kirby

 

[gottahaveahoove]

Today's "Vacuum of the Day"

is my perfect canister.

 

[kenkart]

CONSTELLATION

I love the ones that are "angled", like this one.

 

[Mike81]

I am trying to survive with these.
Now I am trying to decide which canister is for the powerhead.

 

[chad]

Above floor cleaning

I reckon I actually do have a canister vacuum. I've got a 5 horsepower rigid shop vac that I use around the house. It converts to a leaf blower that I use to blow the webs and dust off of the ceilings and walls. Then after it all settles I vacuum it up. Gotta love bein a bachelor. I'm also one of the few fellers that has compressed air quick connects in every room in my house. It's more handy than you would ever think.

 

[suckolux]

Yep that says bachelor for sure! Wow, I thought I had handy crap around