Dyson too expensive, what else is good

[Sandy61]

I would love to get an animal Dyson but think it is too expensive. What other vacuums are you happy with? What to stay away from? I am thinking bagless would be good.

 

[3Gsandme]

We got the Shark something or other that retails for about $200. We really like it and it does a great job of hard floors.

 

[kesha]

I have the animal dyson and my daughter has the shark rotator. Both do a great job. I don't like the attachments on either but I will say the shark attachments are better than the dyson's attachments. As far as price, Shark beats Dyson.

 

[crisi]

I have a $49 Dirt Devil that I got for a lot less than that at Target (on sale, $10 gift card and the 5% Red Card savings) that I bought to have a quick "upstairs vaccuum" for when I didn't want to haul my big Meile around. I adore my Meile, but for what I paid for it, that Dirt Devil is a wonder. Issues - the cord is too short and its bagless with a tiny canister. But it gets dog hair great, runs better than my Dyson ever did, and for $49, I can empty the canister and plug it in a few times while I vaccuum.

 

[funkychunkymonkey]

I bought the cheapest canaster vac at walmart. Its a hoover. It was like 40 and im in love with it. Sucks up cat fur and pig bedding like no tommrow. Its also lightweight. Only gripe I have is sometimes the canaster is a pain to empty (I tend to end up with fur everywere if I dont do it outside). I like the fact it has a allergy filter which seems to work pretty well, my allergies have been better controlled since I started using it!

 

[Deb & Bill]

I got a Eureka Boss several years ago at Best Buy (I think it cost about $75). I does the best job on dog and cat hair. I had carpet when I first got it, but I switched to all hard floors about five years ago and still use it. With the Power Paw it gets the hair off the furniture.

 

[acourtwdw]

If you can hold off until Black Friday, Dyson is usually a door buster at Best Buy. Last year it was $300.

 

[snoopy5386]

Shark Rotator. All the features of a Dyson at half the price. Love it.

 

[amie416]

My MIL got us a Dyson for our wedding present and it was TERRIBLE! It was totally out-performed by our old, worn out Dirt Devil. So we returned it and got a Shark Navigator Pro for $300 less that we are very happy with.

I took these videos with the Dyson and our old vacuum in case I had to prove to Dyson that the unit didn't work as advertised:

Dyson vs. Dirty Carpet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XmPp-omCY78

Old Vacuum on the same carpet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NekJIWlnHrE

 

[mrsklamc]

Eureka vacuums from Wal-Mart have been better for us than our Dyson was.

 

[MinnieLovesMickey12]

I have a Kirby and have had for years. They are the best vacuums I have ever had. You can buy a used one with a warranty off Ebay for about 250-300. New they are from 700 to 1000. They don't have attachments made on which some ppl find a PITA but I don't use attachments very often. They do have attachments ypu just have to hook them up.

 

[MommyBryn]

A couple of years ago, I searched with this same question for months. We have cheap carpet that is about 8 years old, and we're in a farmhouse, so it takes a good beating on a regular basis. I wanted a vacuum with crazy good suction...I wanted vacuum lines! LOL I had been using an old Electrolux, which I normally love, but this one just wasn't working well anyway and I wanted an upright vacuum (it was a canister one) because the layout of our house just made it difficult to tug the Electrolux around.

Anyway, after searching and searching I found reviews saying that the Eureka AirSpeed was the most comparable to a Dyson as far as suction. We found ours at Target for $75 (and I've seen it at Walmart for the same price, still). It has been AWESOME. And I am very please with the cost, obviously! I've taken good care of it by making sure to keep the filters clean and about once every few months I clean the whole thing out (wash and dry) and it's been running like brand new for over 2 years now. Not bad for a pretty cheap vacuum, I think.

 

[smokeyblue]

I just got my Shark Rotator on Thursday. So far so good. My old vac would never clean my area rug. I'd have to use the hose on my hands and knees to get it clean. I ran over it with the shark and I must have got a half cannister full of dirt and fur (so gross!).

I got a pretty good deal at Kohl's with 30% off, It was $186 and after adding another $15 purchase I got $40 of Kohl's cash. I did see that you can purchase from Shark (EuroPro) directly. They have a deal to buy the Rotator for $199 and get a Shark steam mop for free. I prefer just a regular microfiber mop, so the Kohl's cash was a better incentive for me.

 

[mhsjax]

I can't recommend anything, because I don't really have animals, but I can tell you that I have a Dyson, and I can't wait for the thing to die. We had once before, and you know the saying Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, well lets just say that I have been shamed.

I would NEVER buy another Dyson, they are horrible vacuum cleaners.

 

[Eureka]

I like my Shark Navigator. It was on sale when I bought it but I think it normally sells for a little under $200.

 

[Viva Las Disney]

I have a cheap dirt devil and a Rug Doctor steam cleaner, the dirt devil works well enough on pet hair and crumbs but IMHO nothing keeps your carpets clean like a steam cleaner. I clean my carpets every month. The cost for a cheap vacuum and a steam cleaner is comparable to the cost of just a Dyson.

 

[dreamin_disney]

The shark rotator is that the one on the informercial? Dh told me he saw the shark informercial and it looked like a good one?

 

[auralia]

you can get a refurbished dyson for around 200$ on woot.com all the time. That is how I bought mine and I have had it for five years and it is still going strong.

 

[GC&S]

I can't recommend anything, because I don't really have animals, but I can tell you that I have a Dyson, and I can't wait for the thing to die. We had once before, and you know the saying Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me, well lets just say that I have been shamed.

I would NEVER buy another Dyson, they are horrible vacuum cleaners.

I must be the only one who loves the Dyson. I've had the Animal Dyson for 11 years and it is still going strong. We had a Kirby salesguy demo his stuff a couple of weeks ago. We went over it with the Dyson afterwards and was amazed what the Dyson still picked up.

It was a great investment as I averaged a new vacuum every couple of years. I won't hesitate to invest in another one if I ever have to.

 

[Gracie09]

I must be the only one who loves the Dyson. I've had the Animal Dyson for 11 years and it is still going strong. We had a Kirby salesguy demo his stuff a couple of weeks ago. We went over it with the Dyson afterwards and was amazed what the Dyson still picked up. It was a great investment as I averaged a new vacuum every couple of years. I won't hesitate to invest in another one if I ever have to.

I love my animal too. As long as you do basic maintenance (clean filters etc) it will run forever and pick up just about every thing I throw at it