Experience should be your first source in the search for a good machine! Ask people!
Apr 02 '00 (Updated Apr 12 '00)
First and foremost determine what you are looking for: price or performance? Of course, we want the best for the least, always! But keep in mind that ya git what cha pay for! And don’t fall for the sales trick where they clean a square of carpet with your old machine, then theirs, and show you what yours didn’t pick up. You could go over the carpet a third and fourth time with the new machine and keep picking up dirt every time. I have not found any machine, new or old, that will get it all the first or even the second time. Unless your carpet is clean to begin with, that deep down dirt is hard to get out!
Next you have to decide what you want the machine to do.
Do you need one mainly to clean the carpet? Or do carpets and wood or tiled floors? Suck up water? (A great feature when the washer runs over all over the laundry room, or the toilet overflows. Who has not ever had that happen?)
Canister or Upright? Canister cleaners tend to have stronger suction than uprights, but are not as easy to pull over carpet.
It might help to make yourself a comparison chart:
1. Motor size: Every machine sucks; how much it sucks is largely determined by the size of the motor. So that is the first thing to look at.
2. Accessories: What accessories come with it. The number and variety of the attachments determines how many different jobs the machine can do.
3. Assembling and dismantling: Take apart and put together every machine you look at. Especially if you have arthritic hands. Was it easy to do? Difficult? Or not important?
4. Dirt storage: Bags, canisters, or water? Consider this: Bags contain the dirt fairly well, but you never can tell if you’ve picked up something you didn’t want to, like that favorite diamond earring. And the fuller they get, the less efficient the machine works. Canisters are okay, but messy to dump, impossible to keep the dust motes from flying around. Water machines are a pain to wash out, but are great for trapping the dust when you have an allergy sufferer in the family.
5. Price: Everyone’s consideration when buying. Our pocketbooks are not bottomless, unfortunately. If they were, we would probably be letting someone else make the decision.
Next talk to everyone about their vacuum cleaners, especially your relatives. Your mother or grandmother probably has had any number of vacuums, and almost certainly has strong opinions about them. I certainly do, and for what it’s worth, here are mine:
Panasonic: relatively inexpensive, good all purpose vacuum, a little better than some others in suction on carpets, but not a machine that lasts very long. Life span when heavily used was about two years when I had one. I have gone through two of them.
Also had a couple of shop vacs. Great for the shop.
Kirby: Vastly over-priced, heavy, I have not found it to be anywhere near what they claim. Spoken to many, including my very meticulous (uses a toothpick to clean the corners in the windows) sister-in-law, who had it a year and traded it in. Too costly and not worth it. My mother had one for as long as I can remember, so I have to say they do last a long time.
Hoover: Comparable to the Panasonic Had one of these also.
Rexair Rainbow: Very expensive, uses a water canister to trap the water. Must be cleaned thoroughly after each use, and stored properly so it will dry well. But very efficient, easy to use machine. I have ended my search for a good machine with this one. I know many who have one, and they without exception would not change to any other. Vacuums carpet, sucks up spills, cleans upholstery, I even can spot clean my carpet with solution (got pets or kids?), suck up the stain, step on a towel, and Voila!, stain gone. The accessories are great, I can blow out my computer with it, clean my mattresses, get the dust (thick) out of my refrigerator coils, vacuum my curtains and walls, even used it when the toilet and washer overflowed. The water makes it a much more efficient air cleaner when allergies are a problem. A lot of people are allergic to house dust.
Biggest con is the price, which is high because of the middlemen. But it is not available any other way unless you find a rebuilt one. They are not too hard to find, from a Rexair salesmen.
Two very crucial things to remember when you do get a vacuum, that I had to learn and have seen so many people fail to do:
1. Whatever kind of machine you get, remember that any vacuum needs to be kept clean – full bags drastically reduce the power of any machine!
2. Most people make the mistake of going over the carpet much too fast – SLOW PASSAGE OVER THE CARPET WORKS MUCH BETTER THAN 2,3, OR EVEN 4 FAST PASSES OVER THE SAME AREA! Give the machine time to do its work.
My last comment: I wish I had all the money back that I have spent on all the other vacuums I have gone through in 43 years!
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Epinions.com ID:
nlleigh
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Member: Nancy Leighton
Location: New Mexico
Reviews written: 14
Trusted by: 8 members
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