New Vacuum recommendations please

Bigphil1474

We have a few vacs for different things. Agree with others, cordless aren't as good:-

- Shark cordless, okay for light vaccing, and doing the stairs. Had ours a few years and might be on its way out due to intermittent motor issues. Bagless and easy to empty.
- Vax Air Pet long reach something or other - it's our second Vax vac cleaner and they are pretty good, Easy to strip down and give a good clean, pretty easy to get hold of spare filters etc. The model we have has a very long electrical cord and a long reach flexi pole too. Bagless and easy to empty.
- Vax Smart wash cleaner - got this to clean all the carpets when we moved last year. Okay for what it does. 
- SEBO pull along Vac (possibly S1 model). We inherited this a year or two ago. Recently bought a complete set of filters for it. Originally we were just gonna use it for DIY clean up, but it's a fantastic machine. Bit like a Henry but can suck anything up. Really good quality machine. uses a bag, and not as easy to empty.

diveunderthebonnet

We bought a cordless vac when our mains one died , it is a Vax Blade ,says it gives 45 mins running time on a fresh battery BUT this time drops when you switch on the brush bar and even more in boost mode ,does the job but forever switching batteries and having to remember to put the spare one on charge.

floppydisk1

if you don't mind up front cost - get  corded SEBO,it will last you for decades and it will work well

jimi_man

Miele Cat and Dog. Best hoover I’ve ever used. Don’t bother with cordless, waste of time as they aren’t powerful and the battery life will get less and less. 

jennifernil

We have an upright Sebo, excellent for a thorough clean of the carpets, a Miele Cat & Dog, very good on hard floors and carpets, with the powered rotating  brush, and cordless Shark pet, also very good for a quick everyday clean up and much better than our Dyson.    It is however much heavier than the Dyson so I struggle with it on the stairs.

Snowdrop08

Do other brands destroy carpets like a Dyson? The filter fills with different coloured layers as you vacuum various differently coloured floor coverings!

Spendless

We also have an upright corded Sebo. Have had it around 14 years and its the best vacuum cleaner Ive ever had.

Prior to this I had a Dyson (DC01) had it 7 years then a relative had it refurbred it and it lasted another 3. We replaced it with a Dyson (DC07). It lasted 2 years and Mr S who has worked for a bearings company for 40 years was not impressed with the quality of the ball bearing that flew out of it in its 'dying' moments. 

I dont like cylinders either including Henrys. I put it down to my Dad buying a cylinder vaccuum in the days when you could put the electric item onto your bill and pay incredibe interest! That he was still paying for it meant he'd 'overlook' only he had a firm enough hand to get any suction. It was the teenage chore I hated the most and I vowed when I moved out Id only ever own an upright and have kept to it! Id buy my Sebo again. 

ChilliBob

Another vote for shark, however, you're never gonna get the best suction power from cordless. I mean, we find it fine, but when I use my Mum's Dyson from about 20 years ago it's basically pulling the carpet up and feels more like a floor sander!

As a aside, some shark mop vacuum thing we have is great, it basically sucks like a hoover, and cleans like a mop. Our downstairs is all hard wood or tile so works a treat. 

rob7475

We've been using cordless Dysons for years and thought they were great until we got new deep pile carpets in the bedrooms. Within a few months, they felt grubby to the touch and the pile was flattening. 

We now have a Sebo X7 upright that we use for a weekly clean and it's amazing. The carpets look brand new and it picks up everything. You do have to change bags but ours takes nearly 6 month to fill and it's very easy to change the bags.

We do still use the Dyson for daily cleaning and it's fine on the hard floors.

casper_gutman

We also have a Shark - NZ691UK. It's a corded upright. It's relatively light and easy to manoeuvre, but works well, particularly on hard floors where our old machine (a Vax) just seemed to flick bits everywhere instead of picking them up.

We chose corded because the battery on the Vax gave us a lot of issues: it wouldn't charge properly, or it would run out at a crucial moment, or it would just fail to charge completely. We had it replaced under warranty, but the replacement was not much better and soon failed too.

A corded machine is marginally less convenient every time, but works much more reliably.