With Landis' post on managing dust in the home, and Cambria's tips on how to seriously improve indoor air quality, we've got cleanliness on the brain. Having a good working vacuum cleaner is key for removing smells, sucking up pet hair and demolishing dirt and dust. Leave it to the experts at Consumer Reports to determine the latest, greatest and affordable vacuums to do the job.
The Consumer Reports trained testers tried 91 leading small, upright and canister vacuums to see which ones made the grade. They based their evaluations on these characteristics: performance, noise, handling, and cycle times. Here are the types of vacuums they tested, what makes them stand out, and the top Consumer Reports picks:
Canister Vacuum Cleaner: Compared to upright vacuums, full sized canisters can be heavy bulky and more expensive. These models combine impressive deep-cleaning with strong airflow through the hose for use with tools for cleaning upholstery and drapes, however carpets remain their toughest challenge.
Small Vacuum: This is the most affordable category. According to Consumer Reports, the best small vacuums tend to be ideal for cleaning carpets, but when it comes to needing to deep-clean carpets, it's best to consider them as backup vacs.
Upright Vacuum Cleaner: These models are great at cleaning bare floors, but carpets can be their biggest challenge. Beware of echo sounds when using on bare floors and make sure you choose a model that is easy to carry and handle.
Here are the Consumer Reports Best Buys for the vacuums tested:
- Kenmore Intuition 31100, $250 (Bagged Upright)
- Bissell CleanView Helix 21K3, $100 (Bagged Upright)
- Dirt Devil Featherlite Bagless M085845 (Target), $50 (Bagged Upright)
- Hoover Platinum Bagless Canister S3865, $365 (Bagless Canister)
To see all the reccomendations in each vacuum type and for the full report, go to Consumer Reports online, or check out the latest print issue.
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I have allergies and the Hoover Platinum Canister; it is OK, but I wouldn't rate it higher than that. Very few tools come with it; I had to pay extra for an extension wand and a few attachments. I'm not knocked out by it, and I don't think I'd recommend it to anyone. I wish I'd gone with the Miehle.
I have really bad allergies. My last vacuum just blew up, so I bought a Dyson at Costco. I figured with Costco's return policy, if it doesn't work out, I can take it back.
It was worth it. I paid under $300, and it's by far the best vacuum I've owned. I vacuumed for the very first time without having an allergy attack last week. Not even when I emptied the cool bagless bin. I was totally grossed out by how much crap it got out of my carpet. Just thinking about laying on that junk makes me shiver.
you wrote "best buys for each category" and then showed us 3 bagged uprights and 1 canister. what gives? what happened to the rest of the categories?
My mother bought a Dyson when she moved back to the US six years ago... its an older model, so its much heavier than the new ones, but it does its duties without ever complaining, and catches a ton of stuff. one of her friends just got the dyson ball (but the smaller model) who new such a light, tiny thing pick up so much crap... downside is emptying more often... miele is 900 bucks for a vacuum... if you have that kind of money to burn on an ugly appliance you still have to buy bags for, be my guest...
I have the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser and have nothing but good things to say about it. The attachments work great, I love that it's bagless, and it really gets the job done (I can't believe how much hair and other stuff fills the canister every time I vacuum)!
My mom has an older model of the Pet Hair Eraser that she's had for quite a few years now; she's never had any problems with hers either.
http://www.bissell.com/pet-hair-eraser-vacuum/
the polish chick -- CR has 2 categories: 'Best Buy' and 'Recommendations'. Best Buy is typically the best value and they only give a few per rating, so in this case there was no indicated 'Best Buy' for the small vacuums, but there were several 'Recommendations'. This is probably because the small vacuums were all relatively inexpensive to begin with (under $50) - you can read the full CR report for the full list of all the recommended models. Sorry for any confusion!
We have a similar Bissell (not the same model, but it is also a Bissell CleanView) and it is fantastic. We've had it for over a year and it is still going strong (and we live in a super dusty city apartment, so it gets a lot of use and definitely sucks up a lot of dust and dirt)!
Rainbow. A little bit expensive and heavy with his airplane engine, but, as a person who is living with lots of books, a cat and a allergic boyfriend, I can say that it's perfect.
Seriously Consumer Reports? I rely on them for a NUMBER of purchases that I do, but this should have been a no-brainer. A Kirby is by FAR the best vacuum you can buy. My mother has one that she's had for almost 25 years. In fact, I'm a Dyson owner, and they are almost worthless compared to a Kirby. If you are looking for THE BEST vacuum, get a Kirby. If you just want to get the crumbs off the top of your carpet, get something else.
Actually, I have that issue of CR. As I read it, there are 4 categories (not two):
1. Bagged Upright
2. Bagless Upright
3. Bagged Canister
4. Bagless Canister
CR then identifies "Best Buys" and "Recommendations" within each of those four categories. Going back to polishgirl's comment, it would be helpful to list "Best Buys" and "Recommendations" of each to give a more well rounded summary.