We have a Dyson DC25 Ball, and it's superb, for about £200-ish. But it's louder than God snoring. Incredibly powerful, but takes a bit of looking after (filters etc) and has a plasticky, slightly cheap feel to it.
Otherwise, get a Henry - a true working class hero. I used to work in a factory that processed polymer powders, by the tonne. This powder, like washing powder, got EVERYWHERE. All we ever used was a fleet of Henry's to clean up. They rarely failed, and if they did, you can fix them with string and a hammer. The AK47 of vacuum cleaners.
B-b-but uprights have beaters!
As per molgrips, so do decent cylinders.
We have a Dyson DC25 Ball, and it's superb, for about £200-ish.
£330 at John Lewis!!
How much should I be looking at spending? I naively thought hat £150 should get me a good cleaner, but they seem to be a bit more than this. I suppose its because they're mechanical rather than digital products...
I think we paid £225 for the DC25 from Amazon.
Aha... it might be worth saving the vouchers for something else then. That's a massive saving. Cheers.
I'd say Miele. our vac's been great for about 5 years now. My mums got a Miele washing machine, been going strong, maintenance free for about 15 years or so. Find a hotpoint owner that can say that!
Look no further than Tesco. They have a bag-less upright for £36ish
Comes with our usual British Guarantee and warranty etc. Had mine a couple of years then i took it back to exchange for a new one!
Nothing special, but for the price it actually cleans quite well. My mum...who cleans more than I do was on her way to buy a dyson...i pointed her the way of tesco and she's chuffed to bits!
FWIW, Henry every time. They just don't ever go wrong, and you can buy spares like nozzles very cheaply because they've been around for so long.
But more to the point, what's this place coming to? Is it Singlevacworld now? 😉
Our Tesco has wet & dry K'Archer in this week for £50.
Miele Cat & Dog here, picks up more than them Dyson things.
Henry - great for workshop and building work type mess, the type of dust that will choke and kill a Dyson. I know, I have done it. Just keeps going with rarely more than a bag change.
Dyson upright- Beats Henry every time for normal household carpet vacuuming type work. You need the beater brush to get the carpet nice and clean I think.
All IMHO based on owning both, I'm so flash with all my vacuum cleaners:o)
Adrian
As a joiner I get to try loads of peoples hoovers (have my own but if people offer...). I would say that Dysons clean by the brush going round very fast, they produce almost no discernable suck whatsoever and bits are forever falling off them.
Henrys don't brush but suck very well and will work for plaster dust etc.
Miele ones are very good as well as long as you change the filters.
Miele every time. Even my wife can't break it and when PeterPoddy tried to use it once it sucked so hard he had trouble pushing it across the carpet (it does have adjustable sucking and he had it on max)
Don't buy an expensive one, waste of money, especially Dyson.
My dad had one, lasted just out of warranty and died.
In my last office they had a Henry which was used everyday and was still going strong after 5 years. You can get them for under £100. They are also great for cleaning the car.
Or just pic up a cheepy from Tesco.
The Hoover we got from there didn't cost much and does the job.
What's with the Miele fan club - great for 30 secs then the bag clogs with dust and its like an asthmatic child. Gave mine away and bought a DC-05 Motorhead - much superior. Have a Henry for building work, but the pickup is no where as good as the Dyson and it blows back half the dust it picks up.
Henry only last a long time because they are crude and don't have extras like bagless or turbine heads and such. This may or may not be a good thing, depending on how stingy you are and how much dirt you actually want to clean up.
[i]What's with the Miele fan club - great for 30 secs then the bag clogs with dust and its like an asthmatic child.[/i]
Not our experience at all, with 3 cats, one dog and two long haired ppl in the house. We run ours for ages without changing the bags (dark blue carpet and white dog hairs - you can tell if it's worked) and have yet to figure out where the replacement filters go... Miele are ace
(just don't get the upright, almost gave myself a hernia trying to lift one in the show room)
ask these girls: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/tayside_and_central/10524648.stm
used to have a DC01
now have a SEBO - much better
- or so I'm told 😀
A Miele with a HEPA filter is the ultimate IMO. I have two Miele vacs. One 18 yrs old and the other about 7, but we bought the second just for the HEPA filter (my then 5yr old daughter had bad asthma).
Neither have ever broken, they run very quiet, have variable suction and a host of attachments that just work (without breaking). An understated design which is a triumph in ergonmics and durability.
Dyson's however don't seem to last and are therefore contributing to uneccessary landfill. I hate short life products, they are the scourge of western consumerism. We shoudld value resources and make tangible products, not flush it all away!! I know a few people who have had Dysons and blindly swear by them, but are on their second or third units - good business for Charles Dyson!! Baffles me why they keep going back for more! How much do a few vac bags set you back?!? The bagless cyclone concept is appealing, but the suction with these vacs has been proven to be inferior to Miele. The Dysons I have used have been bloody noisy and the hose that is part of the handle is an example of fashion winning out over function - clunky and awkard to use. There is no auto-recoil for the power lead and to use the unwieldy hose attachment, you have to completely unwind the power chord. Just a faff.
The Henry is a great utility vac. Not quiet in operation, but a workhorse all the same. Built to last and a 1st choice if you are on a budget.
For small vacuuming jobs, I have recently become aware of the great performance of a small handheld rechargeable [url= http://www.google.co.uk/products/catalog?hl=en&q=BLACK+AND+DECKER+DustBuster+Pivot+PV1205BN&um=1&ie=UTF-8&cid=7917027636041849668&ei=YmwzTPGdNciOjAf4-P2WBg&sa=X&oi=product_catalog_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CC4Q8wIwAw# ]by Philps[/url]. This great little vac really works (unlike other cordless units i've used before which don't have enough suction to pick much up). I can easily do a staircase and landing on a single charge. It has no bag, so there's no other cost apart from recharging. A great quick and convenient tool that i have found very useful, saving the faff of getting the big machine out for small jobs and it's ideal on stairs. I can do mine in 2 mins easily.
Wow, I didn't realize what a vacuuming annorak I was!! 😆
Hmm.
I've had two Dysons - one I gave to my sister cos it didn't have a beater brush and is still going - 10 years old. The other one is 5 years old and still works as new.
I bought it because it had two beater bars of different attachments and looked much sturdier than the Miele one I looked at.
I dunno about the handle being part of the hose - no idea what you mean. The handle on mine is a great piece of design, works really well. It does have auto recall for the power cord.. but then I suspect you are talking about the uprights.
The best hand vac I ever saw was.. Dyson, funnily enough 🙂 Amazingly good suction for a battery hand-held.. as good as a cheap mains one.
Dyson ball
there just cool 8)
Also there good for chasing cats or dogs round with because they turn at lightning speed!!
Had our carpets professionally cleaned today - what do they use (and have always used) for some of the work? A Sebo.
Very well made, no stupid bagless gimmicks, German made and last forever, very powerful and relatively inexpensive.
We have around 2500sq/ft of carpet and a further 500ish of tiled floors and a black lab (with cream carpets - DOH!) and it does the job admirably.
A no brainer IMO.
Bagless isn't a stupid gimmick - not only that, but it's not the only design feature of dysons.
Dyson's however don't seem to last and are
therefore contributing to uneccessary landfill. I
hate short life products, they are the scourge of
western consumeris
Spongebob: well one Dyson has lasted us more than ten years and is still going strong.
Motor packed in once after I foolishly tried to tackle building rubble with it. Quick call to Dyson, who helpfully stock old parts, and I got a new motor for £30 which I fitted myself without too much bother.
Handle is great. I don't need to let the cord out to use the hose. And my cord recoil works just fine. But mine is also a cylinder. Uprights may be different.
Bagless isn't a stupid gimmick - not only that, but it's not the only design feature of dysons.
Yes it is - they just fill the house with dust.
Dysons also break down - a lot.
Dysons fill the house with dust? Eh?
Yes it is - they just fill the house with dust.
Hmm as an asthmatic I specifically chose the Dyson because it had dual filters (one washable filter and one permanent HEPA filter). I believe it was actually recommended by the Allergy Foundation.
Dysons also break down - a lot
Like I said, one breakdown in ten years and that was user stupidity.
Miele. In fact Miele for all appliances. 8)
Definitely find the cylinder one easier to use, less weight to push around.
Mine was around £150, not everything made by Miele is mega expensive.
Another vote for Miele Cat & Dog - we have a couple of collies which shed hair by the bucket load and the Miele blasts through it all, along with chewed stick, ripped up toilet rolls and anything else that finds its way onto the carpet. It has a beater bar head, and a mini version for upholstery.
I bought a 20 pack of bags for £20 and a bag lasts about a fortnight. I'd reckon they'd last a month or more in a dog free house.
We've had a few Dysons at our work, and they've generally been very poor performance-wise. I'd not spend the money on one myself.
kirby g4 bought it in 96 still going strong sucks like an elephant, no repairs no breakdowns, not cheap though i paid £700 for the then outdated g4 (g5 was the new model retailing at more than £1100).
i paid £700
😯
think about it though 14yrs old and still going strong thats only £50 per year for a faultless machine that does an excellent job and comes with carpet washer gear too!.
We just bought a james - ie a simplified henry (if that is possible). The suction is so strong that we find it hard to push along the carpet even with the breather open. Definately a case of too much of a good thing.
Ditch jockey
Where did you get the Miele bags for £20? We have tried cheaper alternatives to the Miele bags but they just didnt work.
That would be my only critisism of the Cat & Dog that the bags dont last that long. Having said that we for the last year we have been using it on brand new wool carpets so I guess they do fill up quicker.
Sebo X4 - lasts forever, cheaper than a Dyson, mega powerful.
