If pine needles from last year’s Christmas tree are still hanging around, lurking behind the couch, secreting themselves in the corners of the room, turning up, mysteriously, in the bathtub (!), then it’s time for a serious, merciless cleaning of your house before the next tree goes up. And down.

The Dirt Devil Swivel Glide may be your only hope for ridding yourself of those needles and anything else sitting around—or, heaven forbid—growing, in your house, including ordinary dirt, rock salt, dog I-don’t-know-what, children’s little unidentifiable messes, coins and more.

Though I loved my previous heavy-duty vacuum cleaner, it appears to have gone to Heaven, so I needed another one, and fast. I paid a relatively low $147 at the local hardware store for this item and got the following:

*Upright design
*A convenient carrying handle to ease trips up and down stairs
*Lightweight style
*A light to make spotting dirt on the carpet a little easier
*A Hepa filter, good for those suffering allergies

*No bags. That means the canister has to be regularly cleaned out. It is removable, though the first couple of times might be a little difficult. But it beats buying and emptying the smaller bags most machines use.

*Attachments that fit just above the handle, so you’re not left searching for them when you need them.

(Attachments go into hiding, you know, with the missing socks, the batteries and the ice scraper).

*Great power. The thing seems to have a life of its own and it takes a little getting used to. But it’s worth it.

I knew my carpet needed serious work after the heavy-duty machine went on the fritz. Visits by large numbers of tweeners in recent days, not to mention the dog trotting through the house, plus the onset of the oil-heating season all contributed to serious mess, even without the tree. So getting this vacuum into operation was essential.

It more than did the job. A couple of passes over the area rug in the living room yielded more dirt than I care to admit to, but suffice it to say, my carpet is back to its original shade of blue, instead of something approaching brown midnight. A couple of passes required the emptying of the canister, which as mentioned previously, takes a little getting used to but is easy enough after a couple of tries.

My complaints are these: The cord could be a little longer, and it would be really nice if it would pop back into the unit, like a measuring tape does, when it’s not needed.

And doesn’t anyone ever assemble products anymore? Couldn’t even a couple of pieces be put together for the design-illiterate?

How could I enter a writeoff with a 666-word limit and NOT write about something with the word Devil in it?

This is part of sleeper54's mean and lean writeoff. Please go to his page for more details, and read the other writers.

http://www.epinions.com/user-sleeper54


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 147