OT: Vacuum Cleaner Survey

Hope you enjoy your Miele as much as I have enjoyed mine for the last 13 years

Dee in Oz

WELL, I've just purchased a Dyson DC08 - suctiion is unbelieveable, no bags to clean/buy/chuck, washable filters (once each six months) fantastic. Mind you it cost - $739 but worth it. And has the best filters for asthma/allergy sufferers

The one I had before I bought my Dyson was a Miele (pronounced Mee-Lay), made in Germany. They do make very good machinery, I just thought the Dyson had the edge when I was buying again. The Miele lasted about 14 years hard labour - including clearing up after several severe bouts of redecoration that included removing part of a wall, replastering another wall, and removing 60 years remains of wallpaper!

Wendy: German word, not North Carolinian. ;) In German pronunciation, when there is IE or EI together, you pronounce the SECOND vowel. When word ends in e it is pronounced lah, almost same sound as the end of Angela, but don't drag it out. Thus, Miele is pronounced Mee-Lah, as several have mentioned.

I've been following this thread carefully, as we need a new Vacuum. Have a Hoover upright, but it does not have onboard accessories. Would like to have a second machine for upstairs anyhow.

PAT >

Shucks, Pat, I know how the vacuum makers pronounce it (I didn't sleep through 2 semesters of German for nothing, you know!), but if I go buy one here, I'd better say it just like they do in the shop, or what we will have here is a failure to communicate!

Don't buy the Rainbow vacuum! It is a complete waste of money. Consumer Reports runs tests on vacuums periodically and it always finishes near the bottom.

We made the mistake of buying one and regret it to this day.

If you're not familiar with it, it operates by sucking air through a pan of water. You have to fill up the pan and dump it every time you use it.

Negatives

• The salesperson will make a big deal about not having to change bags. That's right. It's even worse, you have to dump water out EVERY time you vacuum. (Instead of merely throwing away a bag every couple of months. The water is disgusting when you dump it and clogs your drains if you're not careful.

• It's a pain to have to assemble the vacuum every time you use it. With my old vacuum, if my daughter spilled something, I would just take out the vacuum and clean it up. Now I have to take all the parts out, fill the pan with water, vacuum, dump the pan, let it air out, then put away.

• The reason Consumer Reports rates it lowly is because it doesn't suck very well.

• The salesmen will tell you about the filtering properties of the water. Consumer Reports should it wasn't true. In addition, you can easily buy a vacuum with allergy bags.

Questions to ask yourself:

• If vacuuming through water was so effective, why doesn't Hoover use the same method? Answer: it isn't effective. They'll tell you that the reason is because of patents. Don't believe them. They'll also tell you that Rainbow has been in business since the 30s. Since patents only last 20 years, that'll tell you that the patent reason is false.

• If the cleaner was so effective, why not sell it in stores? The reason is the high pressure sales tactics, which got us before we gained a backbone.

Don't buy a Rainbow.

I splurged a few years ago & bought a Kirby.

Growing up, my mom & all of my Aunts had them. I never saw or used a Hoover until the one I got for a wedding shower present. Lasted a long time, 15 or

20 years maybe, but was never as good as a Kirby. Replaced the first Hoover with another, designed a little better, but still didn't suck that well.

Then, by a stroke of luck, a salesman called one day, and offered a free carpet cleaning. I agreed, because it needed it, and I would save some money. Normally, I would have hung up.

When the young man arrived & I realized that it was a Kirby he was trying to sell, I was in heaven. DD's that were @ home were amazed. It is so powerful it gets everything up!

Now, this was a new carpet that I wanted to last longer than the last one. You know that carpet freshener that you sprinkle on your carpet & vac up later? Well, when we tore up the old carpet, that stuff was all over the floor underneath. The Hoover never sucked it up, it just beat it down into the carpet. So, where do you think all of the regular dirt went?

The Kirby lifts the carpet off the floor! I have 5 cats in the house & until recently, a Husky. When guests come in the house, they can't believe we've had all of these animals in the house.

The old carpet always had that pet odor, because it wasn't getting thoroughly vacuumed. Recently, one SIL who hadn't been here since we changed the carpet & vacuum, thought we had gotten rid of all the cats, because she & her son didn't have their allergic reactions to the cats that they used to. The next week when we were all at another SIL who only has 2 cats, the same SIL & her son couldn't go in the house without a reaction.

SIL wanted to know what was I doing different. It's the Kirby Vacuum. It was expensive, but I'm worth it, my family is, my pets are, and so is my carpet.

Also, it's a very heavy item, but it's much easier on my back, because of the drive system & the height of the handle is designed for real people, not vertically challenged ones. The warranty is wonderful also.

My son in law was here one day recently when I was using it, and was surprised to see it. He & his parents owned a cleaning service several years ago, and that's what they used, as they are commercial grade. They sold theirs with the business, but he wishes they still had one.

I kept the price a secret from DH when I bought it, because I was working then & making the payments. When he eventually found out what I paid for it, he was flabbergasted. Then the girls & I gave him a demo & had him use it. He has the same herniated disc as I do BTW. He hasn't complained since.

-- Royce A day hemmed in prayer is less likely to unravel.