[Closed] Vacuum recommendations (yawn)

I've got the cordless Makita. It's pretty handy and I'm far more likely to use it due to the convenience but it doesn't have the suck of a Henry. The new compact Henry looks quite good though.

The EU directive was a drive to make vacuum cleaners more efficient. Good for the environment and good for cleaners like Dysons who have always been about efficiency, less good for Henrys that use brute force.

For your use I'd go Henry.
Get a used one (with the switch for high power) off eBay.
And use proper Henry microfibre bags.... Really good.

Edit:
Or maybe a Miele cat and dog - but I've killed ours hence now having a Henry for proper mucky stuff.

What are you cleaning up?

Everyone I know who had a Dyson has had problems with it, not very reliable at all.
Current work and both previous works have had Henrys which have been much more reliable, never missed a beat and they have done huge areas every day, not just a small house once a week. Kirbys also last ages but probably too big for you

For your use I’d go Henry.
Get a used one (with the switch for high power) off eBay.
And use proper Henry microfibre bags…. Really good.

Edit:
Or maybe a Miele cat and dog – but I’ve killed ours hence now having a Henry for proper mucky stuff.

What are you cleaning up?

Thanks, this is what I'm leaning towards. Unless anyone can really vouch for the cordless Milwaukee. Just seems too good to be true. I'll be using it mainly on carpet, general hoover up duties, nothing hardcore. Plus the car etc.

Miele!

Ours died after 11 years (of very heavy use- house refurb & 4 kids!) , rang up miele about a repair and they offered me 50% off a new one. Despite being 8 years outside warranty!
(my parents on their 3rd Dyson in that time)

I asked about it being less powerful as its rated lower, but assured me it's more powerful, just uses less leccy.

They were right, it's brilliant & definitely more power (corded) sad that a vacuum gets me so excited

Check out their factory outlet

Trade use mainly, so bashed about a lot. It's not a general hoover recommendation thread. I'd definitely get a Miele for home use. Great hoovers. Likewise, Dyson - hateful things.

So, old/reconditioned Henry it is.

Most professional cleaners seem to use a Henry. Once had a Dyson and it was about as robust as an Airfix glider.

Don't know if it was all Tesco's but the one I use had Henry's on offer.

Have you tried phoning Ed at Best Quality Vacuum and asking

I need a dust filter for a Hoover Max Extract Pressure Pro model 60. Can you help me with that?

Never had an issue with any of Dysons they were only replaced due to upgrade and were over 10 years old when I did. Currently have a shark cordless, so much easier than a corded vacuum, they don’t like larger items though.

Our old Henry (higher powered one) recently bit the dust after 10+ years of abuse. The replacement is one of the new ones - albeit the commercial model - and I’ve not noticed any difference in the amount of suckage. If anything it seems more powerful (but the old one may have just been old and decrepit).

The new one has a place to store the attachments and the hose wotsit stands up properly when clipped to the body. And the cable is longer.

It will hopefully survive many a tumble down the stairs like the last one. RIP.

I hate our Dyson, it is totally crap. I am forever checking there are no blockages as you have to will it to pick stuff off hard flooring !

Our old Henry (higher powered one) recently bit the dust after 10+ years of abuse. The replacement is one of the new ones – albeit the commercial model – and I’ve not noticed any difference in the amount of suckage. If anything it seems more powerful (but the old one may have just been old and decrepit).

The new one has a place to store the attachments and the hose wotsit stands up properly when clipped to the body. And the cable is longer.

It will hopefully survive many a tumble down the stairs like the last one. RIP.

This is interesting. when you say the new one is the commercial model? Which exactly?

Shame Dysons are so crap now,we had a D14 that was excellent (14yrs) .We replaced it with a Henry ,but recently inherited a Dyson DC19.Don't know how long it will last but I always choose the Dyson over the Henry.

Never had an issue with any of Dysons they were only replaced due to upgrade and were over 10 years old when I did.

Our experience to, but for this kind of use, has to be a Henry

Miele. All our family had Dyson. We bought a Miele. Twenty five years later they have Miele and we STILL have the Miele. In truth I had it refurbished to new by them on their servicing plan. We have an 18 year old Miele washing machine and a 13 year old tumble drier too.

Everyone I know who had a Dyson has had problems with it, not very reliable at all.

Funny that, everyone I know who's had a Dyson hasn't. Anyway I've just got a new hoover as the wife managed to break the Dyson (hose got blocked and she carried on and burned out the motor!!) and replaced with a Shark on the recommendation of our cleaner (she's used about every vacuum cleaner out there and is a bit of a Shark fanatic, so knows a thing or two about vacuum cleaners so trust her judgement) and it's pretty good. Kind of copying Dyson a bit and does some things better and some things not quite as well. Build quality is better, but hey, people get all hot under the collar on these things and over think it...Its a vacuum cleaner for crying out loud. Just buy one and crack on - if you don't choose 'THE BEST VACUUM CLEANER IN THE WORLD' its not really a disaster is it? Does it really matter if you have to go over a patch of carpet twice instead of once unless you're trying to hoover around Buckingham Palace before elevenses?

In my experience and opinion Henry's and that form factor of hoover take up alot of room and the long hoses are just a PITA to manage. But they do a as good a job as anything out there I guess. I did a holiday job cleaning up in office buildings as a student many moons ago and the company I worked for used Henry's. Fine if you're vacuuming up an open plan office, but manoeuvring around corners and doors and up stairs in a normal house then they're a PITA. Dragging a thing on wheels around, bashing into doors, furniture, getting snagged on things and having to continually go back to un-snag it.

Anyway I just got a B&Q own brand wet and dry vacuum for the garage, car and outdoor stuff. A bit like a Henry in form factor and size. Only £40. Uses a bag for dry vacuuming which you swap out for a foam filter for wet vacuuming. Only used it a couple of times when tidying up the garage, but seems pretty good and for £40 you can't go far wrong. No reason it wouldn't do as well as a Henry for the home.

I’ve got a Bertie (slightly different Henry) and the abuse they can take is astonishing. Used as a shop vac and will pick up anything that’ll fit the nozzles!

However for the house carpets I have an upright Sebo which I picked up for £20 off eBay (£350 new!) new bags and filter and it runs beautifully. Every part is replaceable and it’s what a lot of commercial places use.

For carpets you need a beater bar for sure to agitate the carpets fibres, suction alone won’t do what needs to be done so you need an upright cleaner. I was told that by a carpet expert, someone who cleaned carpets for his brothers clients - his brother made very very high end custom carpets - we are talking tens of thousands per room. He knew his stuff.

We've had most and now nearly everybody I know has a Shark, including us.

Henry (with the turbo button) is the garage hoover but was rubbish in the house.

Dysons fell to bits and a Miele Cat and Dog cylinder thing was the worst of the lot. Got blocked nearly every time and when it needed spares, Miele would only offer a return to base complete service 'like new' for £150 is. Great if it was toast but I only wanted a £3o bit.

Have you tried phoning Ed at Best Quality Vacuum and asking

I need a dust filter for a Hoover Max Extract Pressure Pro model 60. Can you help me with that?

😉

We have had:

Dyson - shit
Shark - less shit than above but not great

Henry - why did we bother with ^. Ours is the new lower power thing but still miles ahead of the cordless jobies.

This thread sucks (Sorry)

Ideally, small, reasonably quiet and capable of sucking the chrome off a trailer-hitch. Okaay...

However for the house carpets I have an upright Sebo which I picked up for £20 off eBay (£350 new!) new bags and filter and it runs beautifully.

This is what I've just done.
Sebo X4 for £49 delivered, bought new (OEM) filters, bags and a brushbar and it's, frankly, excellent.
Going to buy another!

Sebo for the carpets, while our Henry is strictly for brick dust and garage duties.

We also have a cordless Dyson which has now been relegated to quick tidy up jobs as I don't think it cleans as well as the Sebo, but is easy to grab, use and put away.

Does it really matter if you have to go over a patch of carpet twice instead of once

Well yes it does matter because it takes twice as long as it should do!

Our Dyson DC3 is getting tired. I never thought it sucked up very well but the missus liked it as it’s light. It’s had a lot of superglue (with activator) on cracks the fragile plastics over its life. However, to be fair, it’s still going and has been since ‘98.

We have a local dealer for Miele, but they only seem to stock the cylinder type with a carpet beater/brush that is air turbine powered.
Surely there’s no way that's as good as an upright on carpets?
I’m from the “beats as it sweeps as it cleans” generation. Makes sense, right?
The stair carpet head I bought for our 20 year old Henry has a similar “turbo” brush which turns very slowly and is easily stopped. Not a great proof of concept.

The “trade” (hotels airports etc) seem to use Henry (portability perhaps) or the Sebo upright.

I too care to buy decent kit. A vacuum is a tool with a job to do and it’s nice if it does that well. And lasts. Always good to get the hoovering over with, eh!

The Sebo X7 “pet” version is looking tempting. Or a similar Miele. (I too am a Miele fan). They seem well made and sturdy, kinda XT level.
Expensive though.
I’d love to get a decent Sebo for £50. Maybe there are refurbs around for a bit more than that

Happy Easter Monday all
Neil

I got a recon Sebo X4 (the pre EEC power limit model) from Manchester Vacs & I am very pleased.
It sucks harder than my 25 year old Henry which rather surprises me.
Of course, on carpet, it beats our old Dyson DC03 into a cocked hat. That Dyson lasted 25 years with a few repairs but was poor on suction.
Having read this thread and now as an owners, the Sebo x4 does seem the ideal vac.
And another plus is that the Dyson is going into a shops vac museum in Sheffield.
All good.

Miele great for house, we are on our 2nd. However first died after about 8yrs a when we use it to clean up a lot of DIY dust etc

I just don’t think they are designed for hoovering up lots of building dust where as Henry’s are

Having read this thread and now as an owners, the Sebo x4 does seem the ideal vac.

I've now got some weird obsession with Sebo's having bought the first one. I've now got another X4 for our other place and retired the Henry there to the garage.
This one looked almost new and came with the extension hose and bags - £41.

I've also bought the hose adapter kit that Manchester Vacs sell which allows the use of Dyson attachments (which are pretty good). I bought one of these off eBay to try and sort dog hair on the stairs - best £6.00 I've spent in a very long time!!

It's all really quite sad !!

I wanted a vacuum for my garage that would suck up all kinds of crap - plus also extract dust from tools (sawdust etc). Bought one of these - seems built to last and I’m not precious about it. Seems really powerful so far - takes either bags or you can use it with the foam filter supplied to suck up water too.

https://www.cleva-uk.com/products/vacmaster-multi-20-pto?variant=33093296750626&gclid=Cj0KCQjwytOEBhD5ARIsANnRjVhQrgMSX8t9-0rBtqXIkWNFJPYaaGgtSPRpc28dFlz9Uu3eBb1ieREaAkLhEALw_wcB

I'd a dyson DC04 i think. Found it at the bin, took it home, discovered it was blocked with a cleaning rag, removed that and it worked perfectly for a further 6 years till I replaced it with a dyson small ball one(i forget the exact model) it folds down small.
Utter crap. Not only did the head have a habit of stopping working but it eventually stopped altogether. Turned out the motor had burnt out, and I must have used to 20 times max.
I have replaced that with another dyson (2nds), a full fat model like my original one. A DC14 I think(Recommended by sister) Which has so far worked pretty well.

I only pick dyson due to my first one lasting so well, the collapsible one i got next Im not put off by it failing, it didnt appear robust, and only got it due to its collapsible nature. But I dont really have any experience of buying hoovers and go with whatever's recommended.

I got a wet and dry vac with power take off from a recommendation on here, it’s been great but the bags a expensive if you are using it as a vacuum.

Second choice was one of the super compact trade Numatic ones, pretty much indestructible and with a brush head good on carpets as well. Only about £100, accessory clips and a simpler cable wrap rather than a cable drum with a handle.

https://www.axminstertools.com/numatic-psp-180-11-vacuum-cleaner-508317

Does it really matter if you have to go over a patch of carpet twice instead of once

Well yes it does matter because it takes twice as long as it should do!

Well here's the rub...you do go over the same bit of carpet twice anyway so having a better vacuum cleaner that can do it in one pass is useless because you'll do two passes anyway. most people push the cleaner out, pull it back and change track then repeat so two passes. Maybe the overlapping manoeuvre, where you push out then alter course slightsly when you pull back but half the track you've gone over twice so repeat and you end up covering the area twice anyway so no time saved if you had a better cleaner.

Over thinking it. Get the form factor that suits you better...upright, silly Henry style that bashes into everything or hand held and make do.

Trying not to sound like a doorknob and failing.

Ours broke and our nanny, who has done loads of domestic jobs over the years, requested a hoover whirlwind one.

Wouldn't have ever thought about one but it's powerful, bagless, small, lightweight and cheap. I'm sure something like a Dyson is "better", but life is too short and it was both reasonably priced and available in my local Carrefour.

Well here’s the rub…you do go over the same bit of carpet twice ... blah blah blah... so no time saved if you had a better cleaner.

Hmmm.
If vacuum A extracts {say} twice as much dirt from the carpet as vacuum B - then vacuum B needs to be used for twice as long to remove the same amount of dirt as vacuum A.
(If it's even able to)

"Making do" isn't really an option for me - do a job once and do it properly.
But I absolutely understand that different people may have different standards.

Nothing sucks like a henry, you can get spares and repair them, they go on for ever.
I promise you, don't bother with anything else.

Nothing sucks like a henry, you can get spares and repair them, they go on for ever.

1) Possibly maybe
2) Yes
3) No, otherwise why would you need to be able to repair them? And we threw one out last year as the motor was dead - not worth fixing.

Henrys are probably the best option for proper dirty jobs (brick dust, garage duties, etc) but frankly they're crap on carpet. No "suck only" vacuum can complete with a powered brush bar vacuum on carpet.

So it all comes down to what your requirement is:
Lots of hard floors: Henry maybe (but they're a pain to drag around, bump into everything and are a pain to store) or a cordless with a hard floor head (our Dyson cordless is very good for hard floors)
Lots of carpet: Upright with a brush bar (Our Sebo's are way better than our Dyson upright)

If you really could only have one vacuum I'd now go with a [used] Sebo upright and fit a new brush bar when it tells you to.

But every garage should have a Henry sat in the corner.

Edit: Two things I have learnt is that bagless def isn't all that and when you empty it out the dust flies everywhere!
Always use the proper/best bags on bagged vacuums - Henry and Sebo now both offer a microfibre bag that's way better.

And we threw one out last year as the motor was dead – not worth fixing.

Thats crazy talk, there is place near us that do exchange henry motors, ours died when my then 3 year old tried to empty the sink with it.. 5 min job to change it, 37.99 for the motor.

Other than that we had to change a switch that got a hammer dropped on it.

I've got an upright Sebo which is great but I'm lazy so I've bought a robot from Eufy. It vacuums the downstairs once a day and can pull a little dust up even after I've used the Sebo.
https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07DDDB34D/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Henry with the Turbo head.