Would a vacuum cleaner question be pushing the envelope?

We need to buy one.

There are way too many to choose from and too many of those seem to cost about $1,000.

We are a messy family with one child, 2 cats, hardwood floors, and a lot of city dust and grit flying in our windows.

Anyone have an opinion about cannister vacuums that go for $400- ish, and don't leave one feeling heartbroken and used?

All in all, I'd rather have the tasting menu at Avenues, but I have to buy the vacuum.

Hi,

Consumer Reports is where I always begin. There is a forum about appliances, where the people are as nuts as we are about food, residing over at Useful Stuff.

Miele. Miele. Miele. Miele.

With a HEPA filter.

It has turned out to be some of the best money I have ever spent.

The Miele White Star is in your price range. And, it can be ordered (and serviced) at Best Vacuum, on Lincoln Ave.

Look.

E.M.

Thanks Erik. I was contemplating a trip over to Best V. today. We got our last vac. there about 15 yrs. ago. Always lusted for a Miele but didn't think there was one in our range. ($479 + tax is still pushing it, actually.)

Was looking for testimonials like yours to push me further in that direction, or elsewhere.

Does Best Vac. have a secret menu I should ask for?

mrbarolo wrote:Thanks Erik. I was contemplating a trip over to Best V. today. We got our last vac. there about 15 yrs. ago. Always lusted for a Miele but didn't think there was one in our range. ($479 + tax is still pushing it, actually.)

Was looking for testimonials like yours to push me further in that direction, or elsewhere.

I choked when I first learned of the cost and, initially, I was very suspect of the HEPA filter technology. But, as someone who has lived with pets and allergies my whole life, I can tell you that this vacuum works miracles.

mrbarolo wrote:Does Best Vac. have a secret menu I should ask for?

You wish.

E.M.

I agree on the Miele. Ours is nearly 10 years old, and still going strong. We get it serviced in Evanston on Chicago ave, I have no idea what the name of the place is, but they are good Just N. of Main street, across from Cross Rhodes

A&A Moley's Vacuum Inc.
928 Chicago Avenue
847-328-5512


I have a cheap Oreck that my ex got for free with her 'spensive one. I think it rocks, hepa filter, light as a feather and cleans well.

Yes, Moley!

Ours is a small Miele with Hepa. You have to change the Hepa once a year. I also like that it is pretty contained, the air doesn't just fly around. We had a Hoover and I couldn't vacuum, I just had massive sneezing fits. This one, I can vacuum with.

Leek wrote:We had a Hoover and I couldn't vacuum, I just had massive sneezing fits.

Leek, was your Hoover hepa filter equipped? Or was it a much older model?

I have a Hoover bought within the last 5 years, which is hepa filter equiped and works like a dream. I bought it on the recommendations of Consumer Reports.

My old vacuum cleaner purchased in 1976 was a battle axe of a vacuum cleaner. I largely bought it because I saw it in every hotel I ever visited, though the name escapes me at the moment. It did not have the filters system of today, thus it did add dust to the air as much as it picked up. However, that was vacuum cleaners of an earlier era.

My desire to change vacuum cleaners occurred during a visit to my sister in NJ. We had helped cut down a tree, which caused us to trample quite a bit of dirt onto her white-ish carpeting. We left for movie and returned to find her carpet back in pristine condition. All the debris had been picked up by her Dirt Devil without a trace of our muck left behind. Impossible to imagine my vacuum cleaner doing the same job.

I immediately recognized there had been substantial improvements in vacuum cleaner technology, which I needed to tap into. Despite our faithful vacuum cleaner's willingness to soldier on, we parted company for the better clean.

P.S. If you really want to see dust recirculate. Do the stupid trick I did a few years ago: use your wet-dry vacuum to clean your fireplace! I'd seen our furnace man clean the furnace with one without realizing he had 2x or 3x the filters!

Cathy2 asks

Leek, was your Hoover hepa filter equipped? Or was it a much older model?

I have a Hoover bought within the last 5 years, which is hepa filter equiped and works like a dream. I bought it on the recommendations of Consumer Reports.

Consumer Reports is great in some respects, not so good in others. When I went to buy a vacuum, I read their reviews and went out to get the model they recommended - which was no longer made. And the manuf. had nothing comparable. So I asked a bunch of friends who said "Miele!" and it being near my birthday, I asked the family to chip in on a vacuum cleaner for me The old Hoover did not have Hepa and did a poor job on pet hair, which is why I needed a new one.



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What we have now is, I believe, an Electrolux. We got it from Best Vac. on Lincoln because we couldnt' afford a Miele 15 years ago. From the tenor of the thread, it sounds like we'd better get a Miele this time whether we can afford it or not.

What I was sort of wondering, in the back of my mind and as a subtext to my orig. query, was whether the Asian electronics firms who seem to also be in the vac. business had shaken up the market. Along with all the familiar middle and high-end vac. names, one sees Panasonics, Samsumgs, Hitachis etc. But as no one has mentioned any of these, I guess not.

Hi Barolo -

One of the Panasonic models was the one highly recommended by Consumer Reports that I couldn't find! Of course now with the Internet (tm) and all, that problem is easier to solve.

Lee

Sig. B, I'm on my second Miele (the original is still working fine after 17 years with only one hard failure. It now hides out in the basement), so I'm biased, but one of the guys at Best Vac told me the real reason to have a Miele is if you have wool carpeting or fine rugs. He recently said he'd recommend the Dyson for synthetic carpets, FWIW.

Since we just had our second vacuum death of the past couple of months last week, we needed a new one fairly quickly. We only use it for Persian rugs, and not that often, so I didn't want to spend a lot.

We just bought the Eureka Optima 431A and it's great. Lightweight, powerful, compact, and $59 at Target last week.

Best,
Al