5 Stops on my Search for the World's Best Vacuum

We needed a new vacuum - not earth-shattering, surely. But all the same, it was an investment. As we'd had our previous Hoover since we got married in 1995, I figured shelling out a couple of hundred bucks for a new picker-upper was justified. We've just moved into a new house, and I want to keep it looking good.

So the search began. In the old days, a mom might take the question of the World's Best Vacuum to her neighbor over the backyard fence. But seeing as A. It's the middle of January and backyard chats are few and far between and B. I don't know my backyard neighbors yet, I took my query to the 21st century equivalent of the coffee klatch: Twitter and Facebook. (As much as I've claimed to dislike Twitter, I must admit it's perfect for situations like this -- wide reach with no real emotional interaction).

In a matter of minutes, I had a a few dozen more responses, including ones from a Dyson dealer. Here were the frontrunners:

 1. The Dyson Animal. This one came highly favored by those with (wait for it!) animals. It's known for sucking up the hair and dander that comes with four-legged friends. Susan summarized the love of the Dyson Animal with, "Three dogs that shed all year long haven't killed it yet!" But I can't justify the $599 pricetag if I don't even have shedding animals.

  

2. The Yellow Dyson. This Dyson was about $200 cheaper than The Animal, but still was highly recommended. I was tempted... but the $300+ hit to my wallet still gave me heart palpitations (not the good kind!).

 

3. The Eureka Big Boss. Several people recommended the Big Boss from Eureka... but I couldn't find it anywhere! The picture above is the Eureka Boss Capture Upright... not nearly the same, but maybe the Big Boss isn't made anymore? This one is green (a plus!) but refurbished (ick) at less than $100 (hurrah, but not worth the risk).

 

4. Dyson DC24 Ball All-Floors Upright Vacuum Cleaner . Virtually everyone who has a Dyson loves it. There were a few comments about some people having trouble, but most people were happy with their purchase. I looked at the new "ball" technology while I was at the store, but I just couldn't get into it. Plus the ball gets all ratty-looking, and I have to ask if it's just a gimmick or is it really necessary? For $400, I wasn't going to be the guinea pig!

5. Shark Navigator Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner. I love the bagless, and I love the uprights (I also considered canisters, but after trying them out at the store, I couldn't get into them). Kim told me on Twitter that the Shark is built on the same technology as the Dyson, but at a fraction of the price ($188 on Amazon, $199 at Bed, Bath & Beyond -- minus a 20% coupon).

So I came home from Bed, Bath & Beyond with my new Shark Navigator. I put it together in a matter of minutes, and was soon whizzing it all through the house, sucking up errant pine needles and dust bunnies. As I posted on Twitter, I vacuumed my living room rug and... EWWW! What is all that crud? Despite the goop I'm picking up, vacuuming my stairs has to be the most fun I've had in weeks! (Yes, I live a very sheltered life...)

In sum, the Navigator is light, compact, sturdy, easy to use, relatively inexpensive, and efficient. And if I have trouble with it, the Shark headquarters are only about 5 miles away. I figure I can dump it on their doorstep and make them fix it for me. :)

Tell me - what kind of vacuum do you have? Love or hate? 

  

Comments

[Maureen]

I like my Dyson. It works well on my hard wood floors and my area rugs. I went with the smaller one because it is easier to carry up and down stairs (and cheaper to boot). Bed, Bath and Beyond regularly sends out 20% off coupons which is a nice little savings on such a big purchase.

[52freckles]

Thanks for the review as I am in market for New vacuum. Its a toss up between the Shark + the Boss,I did see one at walmart. The price may be the deciding factor.

[Caroline]

I have a Dyson and I have to empty the cannister every 2 minutes because of the dog hair clogging it. Kind of a pain because it's not that much hair.

[Barb]

Oh Lain, only YOU could make vacuum cleaner reviews sound so interesting! :P

[Melissa Stinson]

I have the Dyson Animal, and I have to tell you that it's worth every penny I paid for it. Don't forget that you can use a 20% off coupon for them at Bed, Bath, and Beyond. :)

Seriously, though, we paid $475 for our animal after discounts, and that was 2.5 years ago. Previously I would buy a new vacuum every year for about $100-$150. I have three indoor cats plus an indoor me with long hair, and we'd just kill normal vacuums. The Dyson comes with a 5 year warranty, so I figured that even if it died right after 5 years was up, I was still ahead of the game.

Since purchasing it, we have seriously abused it and it still keeps going. I've used it to vacuum up cat little that gets tossed out of the cats' box, drywall dust from home remodeling (oh, and sawdust, too) and dragged it out to my car to vacuum up gravel out of the floorboards. None of that has phased it. We recently moved to a house with all hardwood floors, and I still use it just as much as I did when I had carpet. In fact, I don't sweep any more, ever.

Did I mention that it comes with all kinds of great attachments for cleaning furniture and drapes? :)

[Melissa Stinson]

Oh, and if you think that your vacuum picks up a lot of crud, just wait until the first time you run a steam cleaner over the carpet. The water comes out looking like mud, I don't care how clean your carpet looks!

[Joyce]

I love my Rainbow. It was pricey and it's bulky, but it gets the place sooo clean. And after I vacuum, I fill it with water and a few drops of scented oil and let it run on low so the air gets freshened.

With all the attachments I can suck out the build-up in the lint trap of the dryer, dust off the tops of the kitchen cabinets, remove Pug hair from the couch cushions, and sweep up the tile floors.

[Olivia]

I have the yellow Dyson, and I love it! We don't have animals in the house, so I don't have the issue with pet hair. I used it the other day to vacuum up the needles from the shedding Christmas tree, and it worked beautifully.

[Ann]

How funny!! We just got a new vacuum too. My mom bought us a really light weight Hoover that came with this tiny brief case canister for doing the stairs. Well, we have very very plush carpet in our family room and it took all our strength to push and pull the darn thing. So it went back and we are the owners of the Yellow Dyson. Well it is slightly easier to push on the plush carpet, but makes this HORRIBLE noise when the beater bar can't move--the instructions say it is okay for the noise but OMG who wants to listen to that while vacuuming?! I think it is going to get returned as well and off to find a "power drive" that will work on our plush carpet.

Anyone for suggestions for plush carpet vacuums?

[Lee]

We have a central vacuum system and it STINKS! Fortunately we have hardwood and mostly area rugs so it's not too terrible. Not enough to justify the expense of another vacuum.

[Tamahome Jenkins]

All vacuum cleaners suck (pun sort of intended) so I got a Roomba so I never have to deal with it.

[Michelle W.]

Love my Dyson!! I have the purple (I think it is the animal, though the only animals in this house have two legs) but it was a great purchase and I have been so happy with it!

[Brenda Benjamin]

We have a Riccar, middle of the pack model, and we love it. We've had it for 7 years now and it works like the day we got it. It picks up pet hair like it's nothin, and has a decent set of attachments. We get it serviced about once every 18-24 months (new belt and filters etc, about $30)and it cleans like a dream. They are in the $500 range new, but well worth the money as they last FOREVER and cleans so well we've never considered replacing it yet.

[Tiffani]

I LOVE the Dyson Animal that we invested in a little over a year ago. My friend let me borrow hers for a few days to try it out before I purchased, and with a 30% off coupon at Kohl's and it being on sale, got it for about 1/2 of the price you stated above. They have great customer service (my husband ran over a large glass bead necklace in the girls room and thought he'd killed it, but they were able to tell us how to fix it quickly over the phone, and our friends had a similar issue, but were sent a replacement part quickly at no charge, etc.). I actually like vacuuming now that it is possible to tell that I've done so!

[FuzzyCricket]

We have a cheap little Dirt Devil. LOVE it! I don't get along with vacuums. The last few I've had didn't suck, er, lost suction. Or they were too heavy to haul around. But then, I haven't spent more than $120 on a vacuum. Ever. Perhaps I need to.

[Kayla]

I Love my Dyson. Now I have to say this - if you get a Dyson - buy it at Costco. You get an awesome combination of a great vacuum and a killer return policy. The day before Thanksgiving my Dyson of four years died. We were leaving out of town that night. I had to have everything ready for a family gathering the day we got back when lots of people would be coming over.

Dyson said they would cover the repair. I went back to Costco and told them I could take it to the repair shop if I had to, but I was in a bind because of company coming and the shop wouldn't get my vacuum back for three weeks...

Costco looked up my purchase from FOUR years ago, refunded my money and I bought a brand new one right back from Costco. The craziest part? I ended up with $50 extra dollars in my pocket...

So definitely a BIG yes on the Dyson - especially if you buy it at Costco! :)

[Gaynol]

I bought the Dyson, the new animal one with the ball for the new place (I've got the older model animal for our other house.) Got it on sale for about 439 at Target. Worth every penny, light, easy to maneuver and the attachments work great. It gives me heart failure to pay that much, but it is cheaper than replacing the vacuum every two years like we were doing.

[Miss Niki]

My vacuum works just fine but it's old and I do question the air quality in the room after I use it (it's a Hoover Power Drive). It's heavy but has awesome power! I'd like to thank you for doing the research for me...I'm off to see if this one-horse town has a Shark Navigator!

[Crafty P]

So timely... I need a new vacuum with attachments. I'm not buying a Dyson though- I've been warned by all vacuum repair people to steer clear of them. AND the hefty pricetag will help, too. I love my current octogenarian of a vacuum- bagged hoover or maybe it's a eureka. It's a gem! Just doesn't have attachments though and my stairs are screaming at me to be cleaned!

[Rebecca]

I have the yellow Dyson and love it! I was so shocked (and a bit sickened!) at how how much it picked up the first few times I ran it. I mean, I vacuumed regularly...so, I guess that meant my old vacuum wasn't doing such a great job. It was a Kirby, purchased in 1991 and I kept it until about 2008, when we got the Dyson.

[Nathalie (famille1999)]

I agree with Barb! And you make me want to get out and find a new vacuum, and I'm not even the vacuum in the family! LOL There was a central system installed when we bought the house. My dh connected it to his dry/wet shopvac and that's it. We are pretty happy with it. :)

[Deena]

DO NOT BUY THE EUREKA! I had that one from Walmart, and it broke after a couple of months. I don't have a pet, but I am a woman who sheds...but don't we all. I replaced the belt, but it kept breaking (the belt). When I took it to a repair shop, the guy told me that with hair like mine, there was no way the vacuum would handle it. I have medium length hair a few inches past my shoulders. He recommended this old school Panasonic one with...get this...a box of attachments. Yeah, they're not even on board. Anyway, it's awesome. There's something about the way it's designed that makes it handle hair better. Ours was about $250.

My sister has a Dyson and loves it. She wouldn't buy anything else.

[Jennifer @ Simple Scrapper]

We have two canister vacs that I hate. The big one is supposedly fancy anti-allergen, but it spits out awful dirty air, even after changing the filter. The other one is fairly inexpensive from Sears, but it doesn't suck very hard.

Sadly, we use a shop vac most of the time to get all the pet hair out of corners and under things. Then the regular vac only comes out every few weeks to do our one rug. The rest of the house has hard floors, tile, vinyl and wood.

[kellicrowe]

I have the Dyson - yellow for all floors. It will loose suction if you put it back together wrong after cleaning. Imean...that is probably a given...but still. It is good - but the suction makes it heavy to push...like the first time I used it I thought my arms would fall off. I'm like...great, the kids will have to be 30 before they can use this thing! It either got easier because 1)I am so buff from housework 2)the less suction because I know it still isn't put together properly makes it easier to push. You've seen me. I think we both know it is the 2nd one:)

[Barbi]

I have the Dyson all floors and LOVE it. I have a short haired dog and I have no issues with that. It never looses suction, it is easy to empty and clean. I don't sweep with a broom, I find it just as easy to pull out the Dyson and I like that I know the dirt is really gone. I have carpet, hardwood and vinyl. I would buy another.