DavidH

I have been a Consumer Reports subscriber since the mid-eighties (and I read my parents' copies before that).  I have also owned a Rainbow since about 1992 (I bought it through DirectBuy (then United Consumers Club), so I didn't have to deal with a salesperson and I got a bit of a deal.

Shortly after I bought it Consumer Reports said how terrible it was.  But if you read Consumer Reports' methodology, it's clear what went wrong:  they didn't use real house dust, but rather simulated dust with sawdust.  Since the Rainbow uses water, and sawdust is made from wood, which floats, it shouldn't surprise you that the dust emissions were high.  We have been fairly happy with our Rainbow and, as far as I can tell, it works as well as it did new.

That said, it's not our only vacuum...it is heavy and a pain to fill the water and dump the gunk down the toilet, so we also have an older Panasonic upright (that she is also complaining about now...which is how I found this forum).

Currently considering the Oreck at Costco,  but I'm still not convinced it's worth the premium price--it's nice and light, but we're not housekeepers taking it from home to home.  The top-rated on at Consumer Reports got terrible reviews from actual users on their site.  More research is needed. :-)