Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I am interested in buying an upright vacuum, bagged, and I am willing to spend up to, say, $350.  It will be used, not heavily, by an older woman who has a shedding cat and is not mechanically apt.  A longish cord and an attachment for a linoleum floor would be a plus.  I'll take any suggestion, but in the absence of any I am looking at a Hoover UH30010COM Platinum Lightweight Bagged Upright Vacuum Cleaner with Canister, which is sold on Amazon.  My concern with Hoovers in general is that according to CR they are highly repair prone.  Anybody have experience with this model in particular, recent experience with Hoovers in general, or any other suggestions?

Thank you all for your responses.  We wound up getting the Hoover, and from Amazon even though that's likely not the cheapest source, because if something goes wrong Amazon will take it back

HARDSELL wrote:

Sir James Dyson, 2006:  "Vacuum bags will become collectors' items." 

What happened?  DC07, DC11,  DC15,  DC18,  DC21 ....the actual collectors' items.

Crow

Carmine D.

eliot3 wrote:

Enjoy your new HOOVER bagged Platinum lightweight and compact canister. 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Carmine;

You really do not have any room to finger-point.  The ice is getting thinner.

eliot3 wrote:
Congrats on your new  purchase.  The HOOVER should perform very well for its user.

"Take care of your vacuum, then your vacuum will take care of you"

Mike_W wrote:

Nor do you!  No ice in the desert.  That's one of the reasons I moved here.

Carmine D.

Mike_W wrote:

It's not a good/bad guide per se.  It's a guide, period end of story.  How one uses it determines it worth.  If it is used as a starting point to acquaint and familiarize the uninformed vacuum buyers and users, then it is a good guide.  If it is used as a 'gospel' it is a bad guide.  My feeling is that the experts in the field are the final and best source of advice ALWAYS.

Disgree with your argument that CR include all the vacuum brands to be a good guide.  It would be a tome rather than a magazine and have to be called Consumer Repose because it would put readers to sleep.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Carmine;

I am so glad that you disagree w/me.  I have no objection to you continuing to do so.  Love it!

I will be responding to your last post, but I have to get back to work.  I will put together something really good for people to "chew on".

Mike_W wrote:

I find the CR results to be entertaining and somewhat useful.  There certainly are limitations, particularly since the vacuums are only tested on medium cut pile carpeting.   A suboptimal vacuum on medium pile carpeting may do an excellent job on low pile carpeting.  Who knows if the results are generalizable to other carpeting types.  I have also commented that the filtration scores are of very limited value, since almost every vacuum receives an excellent score for filtration.  If we are to believe Miele's advertisements and anecdotal evidence from allergy sufferers, we would presume that the filtration of Miele's is better than that of a Dirt Devil Featherlite Bagless.  However, the emissions scores are the same on these vacuums. 

I don't know much about Rainbow vacuums, but given that it is curious that they can be one of the worst vacuums for cleaning carpeting when they are sold by in home demonstrations in which they have to perform well enough to convince a consumer to part with over $2000 dollars.

Reasonable criticism of CR's methodology is good, because it forces them to improve.   I think it's fairly good for eliminating choices, but not necessarily for finding the best choice.

CarmineD wrote:

I will say it again, CR should only be used as a way to compare some vacuum cleaner’s features.  For countless years, I have found evaluations inaccurate.  These have been mentioned in past years, like saying one machine made by a manufacturer “feels heavier” than the same machine under a different brand name.  I have read comments from others, who could not understand why their vacuum scored low.  I have also heard the same thing when people post comments on CR’s website.  There are inaccuracies.

 Severus,  it is fine if you think CR is good reading.  I think it is quite funny reading sometimes myself.  I read it, but I do not read it for the same reasons you might.  I need to know what they are printing in regards to vacuum cleaners, so that I can comment when someone says a particular machine was highly rated.  Or, if a vacuum cleaner did badly in the ratings.   Vacuum enthusiasts wait in anticipation of the vacuum issue.  I noticed that you were the first to post a thread on its arrival.

A vacuum salesman/repairman should not be using CR for their business.  What I mean by that is that they should not be following what CR recommends, to promote their business.  Look at it this way, hypothetically, CR evaluates vacuum cleaners and the top choice is Aerus.  You, the Aerus salesman tell your customers,  “Look, CR even promotes the Aerus machine as the number one choice.  They know what they are talking about.  What a great magazine.”  A year goes by and CR does not give a favorable evaluation of the same Aerus.  The salesman then says CR magazine is a worthless piece of junk.  The same customers have heard the salesman after both CR issues.  What is the customer to believe?  The customer is going to think the salesman does not know much about vacuum cleaners, or his product, if he has to rely on CR to sell or back up his product.  A good vac salesman will be able to use his knowledge to sell.

If a salesman is selling a product, he should tell someone about the product and not that CR rates it “number two” or “thirty”.  The only time that I have ever used CR’s scores is to use it against someone.  It happened on one of the vacuum forums, when a person said they follow CR religiously.  That person put down one product and exalted another.  I showed that person the one that was put down was rated higher than her praised one.

Carmine, only using a few samples limits choices when shopping for a vacuum cleaner. We are talking vacuum cleaners in the U.S. and not the world.  CR is a U.S. publication.  What is worse, Good Housekeeping usually has a smaller selection.  For the longest times, people did not know what a Riccar or Simplicity was.  I highly promoted these two brands, because they were durable, good quality, good performing machines.  Yet CR did not always test these brands until more and more people heard about them. 

Carmine, not everyone knows that “experts in the field are the final and best source of advice”.  That is why they turn to CR and shop at big box stores. BTW, not everyone is an expert.  That is why people should visit a few places and not just one.