Best vacuum cleaners under £100?

tesuhoha

I've got a Charles, its good but I really struggle with it up and down the stairs as its so heavy. Once all our renovations are finished I'm going to buy a small bagless cleaner but keep the Charles for heavy duty cleaning.

waynehayes

We have a Vax U90-MA-R:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B003MPA5GY/ref=gno_cart_title_1

And it is a really good vacuum cleaner. It's powerful and lightweight and very easy to use. Read some of the reviews on Amazon.
We bought one from Amazon Warehouse for £100.60, and Vax still honoured the six year warranty.

Margaret52129

I came on here to ask about vacuums and found this thread which answered the queries I was going to ask, so thank you 'The Mixer' for starting the thread!

I went to Curry's to get a Henry for £109.99 when I saw the Hetty's were on offer at £99.99 so I opted for that. When I went to pay I was told that the offer wasn't available (they'd forgotten to take down the sign) but they honoured it, so I'm now the owner of a cute pink Hetty.

I hope it lives up to it's name. Done the house over and it seems to have done a good job, and also grandkids are fascinated by it!

david39

We have a Miele cylinder model - about 6 years old and it has always performed well.

My wife bought a Dyson upright a few months back (the Jones's got one, you see) and the Miele beats it hands down, especially on uncarpeted surfaces.

I have kept the Miele in the garage for cleaning out the car, but sneak it into the house on the days that vacuuming falls to me.

macman

david39 wrote: »

We have a Miele cylinder model - about 6 years old and it has always performed well.

My wife bought a Dyson upright a few months back (the Jones's got one, you see) and the Miele beats it hands down, especially on uncarpeted surfaces.

I have kept the Miele in the garage for cleaning out the car, but sneak it into the house on the days that vacuuming falls to me.

Is she remembering to switch the brushbar off when using it on uncarpeted areas? Has she washed the filters (must be done at least every 3 months on Dyson pre-motor filters)?

rxbren

get a henry
dont know how people struggle with stairs with it, simply put it at the bottom do as far as you can reach then put it at the top and do the last 5 or 6 steps not rocket science
also the suction is pretty good with the boost on works well on all our flooring (laminate, lyno and carpet) and tackles all the crap from the van and car with ease

pimento

Listen up. I've spent my adult life buying cheap vacuums and none of them work. I finally saw the light and splashed the cash for a Sebo x4 Pet. from memory it was a couple of hundred quid but my god, can it suck! Turn it on and if you don't hold onto it, it will run across the carpet.

Forget all the cheapy hoovers, try a Sebo or a Miele and you will never go back.

smufflemuppet

tony6403 wrote: »

Just checked out performance of Henry vacuums on Which Magazine. Scored only 52% in their reviews.
The Panasonic MC-UL594 Eco-Max - which is shown at £120 scored 65%.
The best buy table is filled with Miele and Bosch but these are much more expensive.

Dont believe everything Which say. They said the a Miele model I bought wasn't as good on hard floors as the next machine up - even though I soon found out they both had the same motors, same floor heads and only difference was the filter and a different colour. Which adore Miele brands but they don't realise that the machines are identical save for a change of floor head, colour, different smaller cleaning tools or a different filter. Also buyers be aware that Miele hike up the price of certain HEPA fitted vacuums - ironic when you can pick up the separate filter for the same machine at John Lewis for a lower cost and buy the base models.

If you want a cheap pull along vacuum that lasts - Henry - its the simple reason to why schools and shops use them.

Uprights like the Sebo X series are fantastic - but shop online for them - they're not cheap but they're worth it - another industry favourite in department stores and hospitals.

suisidevw

Miele Cat and Dog - it's incredible as far as hoovers go!

smufflemuppet

Since the original poster did ask about Vax Or Henry I wanted to add a few more unknown things about Henry and the series from Numatic. I own Sebo and Miele vacuums but I have used Henry throughout my short- stint careers as a cleaner as well as a student living in halls and having to use Henry or other Numatic machines for most of my dorm/hall life!

The Numatic line is based on commercial vacuums - just like SEBO uprights - thus you get a bit more quality thinking and especially where Numatic models are used in schools, hotels and hospitals the spares are mega cheap and far cheaper than Miele who always sell 4 bags for £10 at base level. Henry/Numatic vacuums also have larger dust capacities than Miele can ever dream of (where their pull along cylinders are concerned) making it the most cost effective.

1) The entire Numatic line up have 32mm size tools. Now, this may be of no value to anyone who is a general average customer. However, 32mm tools are made by Hoover, Electrolux and others - the beauty of Henry is that you can buy a turbo brush for carpets and jam it on the end where the suction only floor head is supposed to go. Turbo brushes from Hoover and Electrolux are available online as well as Numatic's own "red" Hound tool and the performance is better if you require a cheap vacuum that's a general all rounder. The same applies to smaller cleaning tools if you lose your original ones - cheap tools from a Dyson DC01 for example can be used with Henry.

2) Henry can be a cheap investment - hoses are cheap if they break, there's a shorter 1.5 metre hose if the 2.5 metre hose is too long for your home.

3) Numatic machines can be used as a bagless variant if you run out of the dust bags (Miele and SEBO can't, they all use dust bags) but it can be a messy affair. At least the option is there if you run out of the bags.

4) Since the high strength HEPA flo bags came out, the previous green and brown dust bags are mega cheap to buy - EBAY prices or Amazon charge as little as £2-99 for a pack of 5 to 10 bags, or visit the copy bag route to keep costs down.

5) Henry vacs can take a real beating. Henry/Henrietta is popular because of the roller cable facility at the top and the 12 metre length long cable. James models (and Charles the 3 in 1 and James the wet model) don't have the roller cable winder - you have to lasso the cord up manually despite a new lift out cord partition on 2013 James models and not all models feature just the same long length of cable.

6) Although new buyers buying the 2013 models come with a red plastic-material bag to store all the tools in, I used to use an old back pack hung up on a wall - the ones with side pockets and zips are ideal for storing all manner of tools, filters and dust bags. Cheap back packs - you'll get them at Tesco!

7) The only downsides to Henry come down to his physical design - the overall size - even 2013 models that have a new park position for the floor head means the excess hose has to be twisted around to get the best space efficiency, plus Numatics can't be used on stairs unless you cope with the longer 2.5 metre hose he comes with as standard and leave the vacuum at the top or bottom behind a safe partition to minimise rolling towards the owner.

8) Another downside is that due to the age, there is no bag indicator - but you can just feel if there is a lack of suction or check the bag periodically to see why the machines aren't working to their fullest.

Hope all of that helps - the best prices on the high street I've so far found is at Tesco. Prices change all the time - certainly if you can afford to put up with manually winding cord and of shorter length, then James is the lower model down and priced around £70 compared to £100 for Henry.