the best vacuum??

[janet]

evening all. sorry i havnt posted much lately but it have been busy as heck. tomorrow will be my 8th day in a row at work. thank god i have off on wednesday.
anyway, so i m vacuuming the living room saturday morning before going to work (yes, im ocd i do it daily), and the damn vacuum started smoking. i guess it was its time. i actually started crying lol. i cant live without one. two chowkids, two human kids, and a cat. not happenning. my son was laughing at me. i laid it to rest in the garbage.
so now i am in search of a new one. what type do all of you use??? just curious, cause we all have the chow fur in common. im looking in to the bissell pet hair eraser. it doesnt seem too expensive and the commercial specified that its the best on pet hair pick up. has anyone used it?? or know anyone that does???
all comments welcome pppppplllllease!

[Jeff&Peks]

We had that best Vacuum discussion three Halloweens ago DC (During Chris) It's the Vacuum Pekoe is riding on in the picture. I think it starts with a D



I use a Dirt Devil Vision, 12.5 motor, you can watch the chow hair and dirl swirl around in the tube.

[janet]

omg jeff that is too cute.what i dont understand is why that vacxuum company doesnt use hrh pekoe in an ad??? its perfection.

and btw what do you mean during chris???

[Jeff&Peks]

.and btw what do you mean during chris???

No meaning, Chris's birthday is in Oct as in the 16th or is that Pekoe's birthday, I know its one of them... By the way I should give credit to the other Chow, thats Steel on the broom. Sounds like a band, Steel on the broom Pekoe on the vacuum, two Chows Jamming.

[Lisa_D]

LOL Jeff that picture is great! I just recently bought this same vacuum and it works great and doesn't cost a whole lot either. I am very happy with it.

[fillyok]

This is always a good topic...we discuss vacuums at work a lot...most of us have pets. There have been threads on vacuums before. I think several people (including myself) use Dysons (Pekoe is flying on one). Consumer Reports lists Kenmore (Sears) Progressive ($300) with Direct Drive (35922) as their best buy. The rating was 75 and is excellent with pet hair. Eureka Boss Smart Vac 4870 ($150) came in at 67 and is also excellent with pet hair. There's a Bissell Healthy Home 5770 ($250) with a rating of 63 only good with pet hair. Interestingly, the Dysons (there were 5 on this rating chart) didn't do so well on pet hair. I think mine is great, but I do think it's time to buy a new one. It works perfectly downstairs on the laminate, but it takes a few sweeps upstairs with the carpet. I've had it over 3 years and bought it second-hand, so I guess I got my money's worth.

http://forum.chowchow.org/viewtopic.php ... uum#p76976
http://forum.chowchow.org/viewtopic.php ... uum#p26188

[Laura]

If yall solve this issue please let me know. I have had Chows in the house for 23 years and upteen vacuum cleaners and none of them worth a hoot. Maybe because I refuse to pay $700-$1000.00 for one. I have a Hoover Wind Tunnel now that actually does well on my hard woods but not as good on the carpet in the bedrooms.

[janet]

jeff, either its a very strange coincedence or youre confused. my birthday is oct.16th. lol.

[Dogdad]

I use the Sears progressive canister, I love it. I vaccum everyday . It is really durable

David

[Sojourner11]

Electrolux. (now by Aerus) The cannister is more powerful than the upright model but also more expensive. If you visit your nearest Aerus store you can buy a reconditioned one for 1/4 the price of a new one. Besides the performance, they can be serviced by same store over and over forever. That means you never have to buy a new vacuum again. I bought a used one in 1997 for $300.00. I just took it in recently to get it a tune up and was told it has gone up in value and I could sell it for 400-500$ due to the new ones being so high in price. Now who wants to make that same claim with your Home Depot special?

AND....if you can get the Floor Pro shampooer/polisher (again go for a used one) with the Nap-Lifters you really will be set for life. The Nap-lifter attachments lift trapped dirt to the surface and stand the pile back up. Not to mention you can dry-foam shampoo your carpet in minutes anytime you want with a non-toxic shampoo. The brushes and shampoo work great on cars and upholstery. Did I mention you could clean and polish wood and tile floors too?

http://www.aerusonline.com/products/vacuumcleaners/

Only downside of owning a pair of these great machines is everybody wants to borrow them all the time.

The only thing of theirs I don't have that I need to break down and get is the Side-kick powerhead which would be great to clean the hair off of the couch, curtains, staircases, etc.

If you don't want to fork up the dough for a Lux, then go to Sears and get a good cannister. They might sell Lux's at Sears still, but just get the Sear's model cannister. Cannister's have two motors which is why they pick up so well, plus you can get it serviced (somewhat) at local Sears service centers.

Nothing will help old and saturated carpet, esp. if you have been beating it to death with a Walmart model. Most vacs are made to beat the dirt into the carpet not pick it up.

I hear a lot of Hoo-hah about Dyson's and have not seen one in action.

I do recommend using only Genuine bags, and belts which is some areas may offer free delivery.

[TJordan]

I love my Dyson!!! I have had it since I had Butters!!! Best vac I have had so far. Without spending a ton of money!!

[threedogjeep]

Sears Progressive here. Very happy with it getting up three kinds of dog hair

[Jeff&Peks]

jeff, either its a very strange coincedence or youre confused. my birthday is oct.16th. lol.

I checked the Chow Calendar, Pekoe's birthday is Feb 16 so its you and Chris that is getting older not Pekoe, Phew.

Dyson is the Vacuum I was trying to think of, thats the Vacuum in the picture.

[Sojourner11]

If you are happy with your vacuum then I still suggest getting the Floor Pro shampooer. First time users are often disgusted by what this will bring out of their carpet. Especially after letting them vacuum with their own vacuum.

Also take a look at what your vac is pulling up and see how much carpet fiber is turns out to be. This means you have sand/grit in deep cutting away at the pile.

For pristine carpet (not that it will last or anything) but I first Nap lift with the shampooer. This lifts out deep down filth and stands the pile up straight. Then I vacuum, shampoo and let it dry. Then with clean nap lifters I go back and nap lift again. This breaks up the dry foam and fluffs the pile. Then one last pass with the vacuum for finishing. It will be all bright and shiny like new and you won't want to walk over it.

While my cannister was in the shop I bought a commerical upright Lux (used) for a loaner and to use for quick passes over the floor. I'll never have to buy any more vacuums for the rest of my life, lol.

[Piff Poff]

When I still lived in the UK my dream vacuum (yep, this sad muppet had a dream vacuum) was a Dyson and they have only got better over the years.

Now I live in the land of ice and snow, I have hard wood floors all over the house and a central vac a Dyson is not really needed.

My friend used to 'Dyson' her dogs. Henry won't even let me anywhere near him with the handheld.

[pfordeb]

We borrowed some friends' brand new fancy Dyson Animal 17 and blew it up before we even could even finish the living room (and we did vacuum before our friends brought it over, to try the Dyson test). Seriously. Fortunately, Dyson repairs everything for free for like the first five years, so my friends got it fixed. However, the three hairy amigos have blown up many a vacuum over the years. Right now we're using one of my mom's from the 60's -- Seriously, and it does OK. It's a good old Hoover. Oh, and I tried to get in touch with the Dyson customer service people to ask how/why it wouldn't pick up our dog hair and they never responded. That Sear's machine sounds intriguing though.

And, until Dyson actually invents something that DOES work, you'll probably see fur bunnies in photos within our house. I'm probably the only person in the whole world who prefers carpeting to hard wood (it's a touch and sound thing for me, and I think it's easier for dogs to walk on).

[janet]

well.........drum roll please.................... i bought a vacuum. the highlight of my month.lol. maybe my son is right and i am a little ocd.
actually mom and dad bought it for me. an early birthday present. yes, its what i really wanted.
i did end up getting the bissell pet hair eraser. that thing works so good, if it did laundry too i'd marry it.

[Sojourner11]

I have a friend here in Atl that I knew in college. He sold Filter Queen vacs and I sold Electrolux so we always had this sort of rivalry. Now he has two children and a house with very light carpet, not white but close. For years he went the steam cleaning route to get up all that spilled chocolate milk, koolaid, and God knows what else they could find to stain it with. I would hear the complaints of the idiots that come over to scam him over steam cleaning his carpet. Classic bait and switch basically. I of course would reply tauntingly that if he had my Shampooer and Vac he'd still have that $125+ and a cleaner, drier, and safer(no chem) carpet. So after a while he broke down and asked me to clean his carpet which I happily did to show off my carpet cleaning superiority. I had to break it to him that despite the results he could never keep it that clean as you really need to own the machines to maintain that pristine look. So the requests came in from time to time to clean it which I did until I felt I had them trained enough (ok I really just was showing off and rubbing it in) to use it on their own. Finally he conceded that my machine rocked and accepted defeat. He went to the Lux/Aerus store and found a reconditioned Floor Pro for around $250. He still uses non Lux vac, but even with that by using the Nap -lifter attachment he can keep the crud from ending up down deep.

[Piff Poff]

I have just bought a Shark Navigator Lift Away Pro. I have used it today. WOW! Brilliant, super happy with it. For info, I have laminate, tile and shag carpet. It has brought my shag up beautifully. I was previously using a Hoover piece of junk that cost way more money and has already been for repair once (only a year old) and now amount of pass overs brought the carpet up as well and my Shark.

[chowpups]

Glad you like your Shark, there was another thread on vacuums and a few of us have now gotten the shark and I think most are happy with it.. Believe me Piff Poff I now have a golden retriever that sheds 3x more than my chows ever did.. and it works great and I have had no problems with it, and I too have tile, low carpets and shag. Its nice how with a push of a button you can go to hard floors or carpet..

[Cocoa]

I've had my Shark (same one as Piff Poff) for a couple of months now and I love it too. The hair is one thing but I also find that it gets way more of the dust out of my carpets than my old Hoover ever did.