Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Hello,

I'll be honest, I know nothing about vacuum cleaners except that I need one. I have 4 criteria for selection:
1) Works well
2) built well/will last me a long long time (serviceable)
3) Made in US, Japan, or Western Europe
4) Hopefully no more than $350

I think Oreck may end up being my choice since it's made in the US and I haven't found any others that aren't manufactured in south east Asia. But that's why I'm here! To tap into your brains :)

OK my question about riccar supralite/simplicity freedom has been partially answered by my discovery that the Riccar RSL4 model has a "SQUEEGEE for bare floors."

The Riccar RLS3 doesn't seem to, not does the Simplicity Freedom as far as I can ascertain.

So: does this squeegee improve performance on bare floors, even if you still can't shut off the brushroll?

C

christine wrote:
The Freedom F3600 has a squeege.
It weighs 8 lbs

The Dyson Slim is 15.5 lbs

The original post was for specific requirements and the Dyson did not fit those: weight, cost, location of manufacture.
Maybe your needs differ. Would a canister be a better fit?

My requirements are different from those of the original poster-in my first post i explained that lightweight is my first requirement.
Also not $#%*bersome and easy to manouever.

I've always felt canisters were a bit $#%*bersome to use and difficult to store. But everyone says canisters are better than uprights for a mainly-bare-floors situation like mine. And now i have been to the vac shop, i might change my mind.

There's a tiny miele canister--carina (seems same as the antares, recommended here earlier) --which seems very light (14 lb) and easy to use, doesn't have brushroll at all but good enough suction (and variable suction level and motor speed) for my low-pile rugs.

So after all my anti-canister protestations, I am seriously considering it!

They only had the 3300 and 3500 Simplicity Freedoms--wonderfully light weight. But no squeegee--so some dirt did fall back at one's feet but a couple of passes seemed sufficient to deal with it on bare floor.

I didn't bring baking soda though as recommended by someone here! actually the salesperson says this would clog the machine (any vacuum) anyway...

The caveat mentioned by the salesperson is that if you vaccum up a coin or screw or similar object--which could so EASILY happen in my house!!--it could get sucked into the works and damage fan and/or motor. What do people think about this?
Same danger with an Oreck, apparently.


They don't yet have the dyson 24 or 25, I'll have to look at those elsewhere.

C.

christine wrote:

If baking soda damages the vacuum then you should not buy it.  It will not harm the Dyson.

I think the salesperson thought you were going to spread the baking soda all over the floors at your house and vacuum it, which would make a mess and clog ANY vacuum (yes Dyson too).  The higher end Freedoms do have the squeegee on the nozzle so they can be used on bare floors.

Vacuuman wrote:

Do you think Capture would clog these vacuums?

Vacuuman wrote:
Vacuumin:

Dyson vacuums do not clog under this situation AS LONG AS the test substance is picked up deliberately and slowly from an even surface.  I've vacuumed various clogging substances off of both carpets and bare floors with my DC21, and each time the suction and airflow remained constant.  If you just put the hose into a bucket of Capture or large pile of baking soda and expect the machine to inhale all of that at once, of course the pre-motor filter is going to get dirty, and in some situations, yes, clog.  The key is to let the machine take in AIR as well, so the cyclones can effectively separate the test substance.  This can be applied to ALL Dysons, both Root Cyclone and Level 3...there's a limit to everything.  No vacuum is perfect, yet, although I have to admit that Dyson comes pretty damn close in terms of constant, uninhibited performance.

-MH

Motorhead,

You nailed it, having fast moving air is crucial.        DIB

Hello Vacuuman:

I think you nailed it.  Doesn't the dyson manual make some caveats for the users about fine dust resutling from wall board and plaster?  I thought I read that somwhere, and may have to take a another look to verify. 

Carmine D.

Motorhead wrote:

I know from experience that the Dyson will not clog with Capture.  I have also used a Dyson to vacuum an unfinished that had years of dirt and dust accumulated.  No problem.

I previously suggested taking the baking soda to an Oreck store.  They have no hose so it should be a good test to sprinkle it on a bare floor to see how Oreck handles fine dust.  My bet is that it will blow the baking soda across the room.