Vacuum recommendations?!

[wallawallakids]

So my vacuum broke..again. And I am sick of buying one every 3 years and thinking about actually investing in a quality machine. Does anyone have any recommendations? For reference, I have 4 kids, 1 dog, and 2 cats...so it gets a LOT of use. I also have a strange shaped house (2500 sq feet but with two separate stairs that lead to two separate upstairs areas....an addition was put on over the garage by the previous owners). Those stairs are carpeted as well as all the bedrooms. We have hardwood in the main living area, tile in the baths, and laminate in the laundry. So I am looking for something that can do all surfaces. The biggest pain is the stairs. Anyone have a machine they love that works well on all floors and won't break in a few years? Thanks.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I have an Oreck XL that I love and have had for ages! I take it every year to a local guy who checks it over and makes any repairs as needed. (He puts a little reminder sticker on it like the oil change ones on a car.)

It's awkward on stairs, though. I do use a separate hand vac for those.

 

[wallawallakids]

I have an Oreck XL that I love and have had for ages! I take it every year to a local guy who checks it over and makes any repairs as needed. (He puts a little reminder sticker on it like the oil change ones on a car.)

It's awkward on stairs, though. I do use a separate hand vac for those.

Oh thank you! Does the Oreck work well on hard surfaces as well as carpet? I’ll check it out. What kind of handheld do you use on the stairs? Is it like one of those sticks? Thanks!

 

[kdonnel]

We have had a Kirby for 30 years. It seemed horribly overpriced at the time but that $1200 doesn’t seem that expensive now considering we are still using it.

 

[Travel60]

Love my Shark. Mine is a smaller one. DD has a bigger/heavier one that she loves as well.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Oh thank you! Does the Oreck work well on hard surfaces as well as carpet? I’ll check it out. What kind of handheld do you use on the stairs? Is it like one of those sticks? Thanks!

Yes, I tend to use it on high for carpet and low for hard floors.

My hand vac is actually a Dyson, which I would consider an unnecessary indulgence just for that - but I got it secondhand. It has the long nose, which I like for getting in the corners of the steps:

My only complaint is that it doesn't hold a charge very long.

 

[NYCgrrl]

I’ve a Dyson that works extremely well on soft and hard flooring. It’s been in use for at least 10 years with no complaints. Interestingly enough, a brand I’d never heard of before was picked over Dyson by Wirecutter.com. The company is called SEBO if you want to take a gander. Sorry, no stairs and I’m not in love with my handheld chargeable vacuum. Think it’s a Dust Buster.

 

[clappyclaps]

I've had a Shark for over 5 years and would never get anything else. Mine has the powered lift away which is a great help on stairs, the anti-hair wrap feature is a god send and comes with a pet hair attachment too. Is a bit clunky trying to pull/lift sometimes but I forgive that as I love everything else!

 

[DisneyHardin]

We have Dysons and love them. Over the years, I've bought 3 so that they don't have to be lugged between floors anymore and one just stays on each level.

 

[starry_solo]

Hoover. We still have ours from 20 years ago, self propelled. I do need to find a repair person to fix the handle though

 

[Southernmiss]

I have had a Dyson for over 20 years.

I used a Shark this week and would consider one if I were looking for a new one. The wand worked really well to pick up a sand like substance on several types of items.

I second a vacuum for different areas of your home.

We acquired extra vacuums as kids moved home from college and then left for other adventures and left their vacuums.

It's been nice that dh and I could each vacuum the house at the same time from 2 different places and meet in the middle and get the job done fast.

 

[Kathryn Merteuil]

I have an older Dyson, (probably 10+ yrs) it works well for me

 

[Grankm21]

I have a dyson ball and love it but rarely use it because I prefer cordless vacuums. I had a dyson stick that after about 8 years broke. To save money I purchased a Shark stick, which was still relatively expensive. The Shark worked great for the first two years but after that it started to have less and less suction. I would empty the canister and clean everything after every use, what a pain, but nothing helped. Last Black Friday I purchased another dyson stick. I use it at least once a day and I couldn’t be happier. It was sooooo worth the extra money. And for comparison I have two young kids and a very large husky mix.

 

[ClaraOswald]

Hmmm....well, I use different vacuums for different things so this may not be helpful.

But anyway...

I use a Riccar lightweight vacuum on my carpet. Bought it back in 2008 and besides belt replacements and needing a new cord, it's still going strong. I got the lightweight one with no attachments because our house back then had 2 stories plus a basement so it was a lot of hauling around. And 8 pounds was really easy to carry from floor to floor.

For our hard surface floors, I use Shark stick vacuum that is battery powered.

For stairs, I use a handheld vacuum.

 

[cvjw]

Another vote for Dyson cordless. Mine is at least 5 years old. I have 3 floors in my house and 3 full sets of stairs. I can vacuum the whole thing on one charge. It does carpet and hardwoods. Will buy another one when this one dies.

I do not have multiple vacuums on each floor. I just use the Dyson. Easy to carry up the stairs.

 

[LoveDaisy]

I have the Dyson Animal and love it. I used to go through vacuums every few years. My Dyson is over 10 years old and I’ve never had an issue. It does an amazing job with animal hair.

 

[DisneylandFreak2013]

Another +1 for Dyson. It works super well on hardwood and carpet.

 

[unrequited23]

We had a Dyson and after 10 years the beater brush stopped working--it became the basement vacuum because the flooring doesn't need the brush. We tried a Shark, then returned it for another Dyson. The Shark canister was so much smaller than I was used to I needed to empty it 3x's as much.

 

[SteveH]

We have 3 vacs. Our Shark robot runs Mon-Friday on our main floor which is mostly all plank flooring, it does great about keeping the amount of dust/dirt and dog hair under control. It self empties into it's dock so it's pretty hands free except for emptying the box once a week and cleaning the filter monthly

I also have a commercial Oreck that is pushing almost 25 years old and Dyson Animal. I've used Oreck for work and swore by them, but the Oreck of today is NOT the Oreck of the past - they are cheap junk now, I wouldn't buy a new one.

A few years ago I picked up a refurb Dyson Animal that sucks, I mean OMG this this sucks like nothing else, we have thick carpet up stairs and this thing does hand down the best job.

I did an Oreck new bag challenge fully vacumed our second floor, then ran a second time with the Dyson Animal, while the Oreck did good, the Dyson Animal still pulled out a lot more dirt/dust and dog hair out of the carpet by far. I will give some credit to the Oreck since its over 25 years old, but it still runs great just not as good as the Dyson Animal.

 

[PacificCoaster]

The Dyson cordless is the only vacuum I'd recommend. It's the best one out there. Buy one of the new models though.