Hivemind - vacuum cleaners

rick_chasey

I'm looking for a vacuum cleaner.

It needs to be canister so I can clean the hardwood floor, rugs, carpets, sofas & beds.

I'm in the hunt for one because my girlfriend suffers from allergies, bad skin and asthma.

So, i'm looking for one that will be powerful and has an excellent filter, so all that dust and those minuscule bugs don't stand a chance.

Now, I (we) don't mind spending big whack on an expensive vacuum if that's the only one that will do the job, (it's her health ultimately) but I want to know i'm not just buying it for the brand.

Everyone raves about Dysons and i've found quite a few refurbished dysons for around the £100-120 mark on ebay, and I've also heard good stuff about the mighty mite.

Anyone an expert or know much about this?

meanredspider

Getting the right HEPA filter(s) on it will be the most important part of the air quality. Personally I hate Dyson cleaners - I think that they are fragile and incredibly noisy. I'm a great fan of Miele products in general but have no experience of their vacuum cleaners.

rubertoe

Get a new Girlfreind.

But failing that, get a dyson with the right HEPA filters, IMO they are superb.

goonz

In my experience of vacuums at my family home and my own home buying cheap means buying twice, or thrice. I now have a Dyson and wish I had bought it much much earlier.

Great piece of kit.

bompington

I live on the edge of very muddy countryside, I have a dog, three children - and a Dyson. Expensive but has seen a lot of use for three years, no sign of fragility, quality of cleaning is superb.

UndercoverElephant

We've gone through a couple of Dysons in our time, they both died somewhat prematurely, IMO. Good while they work, I'll grant you, but they don't seem to actually work for long. Also, emptying the cylinder is awful for someone with dust mite allergies, believe me, so you'd be doing it. Every time. Emptying a cylinder into a bin, and getting all of the dust blown back into your lungs is not pleasant at the best of times.

We have now had a Sebo Felix for the past five years (several years longer than either Dyson lasted) and it is very good indeed. Constantly at the top of the Which? best buys and rightly so. You do have to shell out once in a while for a new load of bags, but they can be sealed before removal so they don't leak dust at you.

The Rookie

We still use our first (UK built) Dyson for doing the cars, it is the very first model produced and keep on top of the filter changing and they are excellent, we also have the later one and it's now 2.5 years old and working perfectly, (get the 'animal' one as it has better filtration), ours are uprights, but I think the same range is available in cylinder.

Escadrille Ecosse

Not convinced about hydrocylones with after filters (ie Dysons). We have a Miele. Bought the first one for my parents about 6 years ago, did so well we got one for ourselves which has been doing an excellent job for the last 4 years. Has a bag and filters which do a first class job (our son has similar pet allergies).

tetm

Try here, Rick.

The savings aren't as massive as they were before Christmas when I bought mine, but would vouch for build quality and suction power so far. 6 year gurantee isn't too shabby either.

bigmat

We've had loads of vacs over the years, all rubbish until we forked out a bit more and got a Miele. So refreshing to get one that actually works. Never going to be an exciting purchase but its really annoying when they keep failing all the time...

meanredspider

UndercoverElephant wrote:

We've gone through a couple of Dysons in our time, they both died somewhat prematurely, IMO. Good while they work, I'll grant you, but they don't seem to actually work for long. Also, emptying the cylinder is awful for someone with dust mite allergies, believe me, so you'd be doing it. Every time. Emptying a cylinder into a bin, and getting all of the dust blown back into your lungs is not pleasant at the best of times.

We have now had a Sebo Felix for the past five years (several years longer than either Dyson lasted) and it is very good indeed. Constantly at the top of the Which? best buys and rightly so. You do have to shell out once in a while for a new load of bags, but they can be sealed before removal so they don't leak dust at you.

Sebo was a name I was trying to remember

rick_chasey

Cheers guys.

Seen £100 off a dyson DC 28c at John Lewis. (Still £200 though) with 5 year warranty.

UndercoverElephant

Rick Chasey wrote:

Cheers guys.

Seen £100 off a dyson DC 28c at John Lewis. (Still £200 though) with 5 year warranty.

Don't go bagless if she has allergies, seriously.

rick_chasey

Yeah.

I'm happy to empty them outside tbh. That solves that issue no??

UndercoverElephant

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yeah.

I'm happy to empty them outside tbh. That solves that issue no??

So long as you're going to be the one emptying it, every time. Somewhat limiting if, for example, she's off and you're at work when you have visitors coming round.

asquithea

I have a Henry vac, which I'm happy with. Very robust.

It comes in a HEPA-filtered version: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Numatic-HVR200M ... d_sim_kh_2

Cost is about £120

rubertoe

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yeah.

I'm happy to empty them outside tbh. That solves that issue no??

So long as you're going to be the one emptying it, every time. Somewhat limiting if, for example, she's off and you're at work when you have visitors coming round.

UCE,

How much dust do you generate....

goonz

I would steer well away from Vax. Keep breaking down.

dhope

BigMat wrote:

We've had loads of vacs over the years, all rubbish until we forked out a bit more and got a Miele. So refreshing to get one that actually works. Never going to be an exciting purchase but its really annoying when they keep failing all the time...

+1 for Miele over Dyson

arthur_scrimshaw

BigMat wrote:

We've had loads of vacs over the years, all rubbish until we forked out a bit more and got a Miele. So refreshing to get one that actually works. Never going to be an exciting purchase but its really annoying when they keep failing all the time...

+1 for the Miele, also have tried loads of vacuums and this is the best so far. Get a turbo brush if you've got pets, sorted!

rjsterry

goonz wrote:

I would steer well away from Vax. Keep breaking down.

We've not really had any problems with our upright Vax Dyson-clone. It has a good suck on it, but I'd agree that emptying the cylinder is a messy job - I always do it outside, straight into the wheelie bin.

bucklb

+1 on Miele. Still going strong after many years - outlasted the cats in some cases.

roger_merriman

rubertoe wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Yeah.

I'm happy to empty them outside tbh. That solves that issue no??

So long as you're going to be the one emptying it, every time. Somewhat limiting if, for example, she's off and you're at work when you have visitors coming round.

UCE,

How much dust do you generate....

For work, most care homes have the Henry, which are more robust than the dyson's I'd agree with UCE that emptying a dyson if you have allergies is not going to be pleasent. At work robust and capacity win out hence the Henry's

MonkeyMonster

miele here too - right filters and job done, used a dyson at parents and the bagless can be a pita if it fluffs about and doesn't seem like that much of a suction loss v the miele.

davis

Miele, like everyone else here who's got one. Their stuff's expensive but it can be (and is worth) repairing.

leeefm

SEBO+1. I've used VAX and Dyson. VAX are just utter rubbish (other than the very first one - that was great) and Dyson build, IMO, is not as solid. I've got one of these

Quite quiet, light, excellent build, very powerful and has hospital grade filtration.

Monkeypump

Sebo all the way. Ours is excellent, superb power, all the filters for wife's allergies and all the parts can be easily replaced if required. So far, it's been very durable so no need yet. We've just renovated our house so it's had very heavy use and still works prefectly.

Do NOT go Dyson/bagless for allergies for reasons mentioned about.

The Sebo machines might not look funky like the Dysons, but they work superbly.

hegyestomi

+1 Miele
Had it for about 5 years now, brother in-law for 2 months longer and it just going on and on without any sign of weakness even after the cleaner didnt put bag in there for a week or so (I still cant believe that she didnt spot the cloud of dust). Burnt one Sebo out (was loud, bag was full, just popped and went quite, I think they are also fairly expensive).
Miele bags are around 10 quid/5 bags and they do have a HEPA version.

rick_chasey

Well, I went to John Lewis and got the dyson 28. I managed to wrangle an extra £35 off which made it £135 off the original price which is almost half price (£165), so it was a bit of a no brainer.

Have to say, it's quite something. Very light hosepipe thing, extremely strong suction (the amount of stuff it picked up was impressive), and it's just well designed - the way all the attachments work etc.

Seems a fair bit stronger suction than the miele that I've used at my parents.

Do see what you mean about emptying it - definitely should do it downwind, but overall I'm pretty pleased.

Just need to be more careful about sucking up the inevitable hairpin that's made its way onto the floor than if I'd got a more conventional.

Anyway, cheers guys. Hivemind works as well as ever.

goonz

Just empty the bin outdoors should help with allergies.

Are the SEBO's solely suitable for hard floors? Each one i've seen recommended here has a picture of a fragile looking machine only being used on hard floors.

With thick carpet and a cat just dont think it would be up to the job...

rolf_f

Rick Chasey wrote:

Anyway, cheers guys. Hivemind works as well as ever.

Excellent but please stop it with the Hivemind crap - it's OK just to ask for advice. This is a forum. If you ask questions, people will answer. Sticking "Hivemind" on the thread doesn't get you any better advice but does make you look a bit silly.