More About Vacuums

In a world of vomit, diarrhea, and endless loads of laundry...how does one relax? I ask because, after two hectic days during which my husband was home (and I was not exactly on my best behavior), while driving him to the airport, I asked him if there was anything I could do for him while he was gone. "Try to relax," he said. Humph, I thought. Here was a man who could probably hit the couch for a snooze during the onset of Armageddon, and he wants me to relax? OK. So what are the two things I haven't done for awhile? Oh yeah, pray and blog. Who knew?

So that's why I'm here to share with you some info from the vacuum-research front. This is big business, folks. My vacuum background is pretty scarce: you inherit some decrepit old thing from an old roommate or boyfriend or grandmother, ride it hard and put it away wet--no user's manual, no spare parts, and you don't even know what type of bag it uses since you never change it. But then one day it quits. And then you realize how much gunk is building up on the floor, so you hit Amazon and look for the vacuum that everybody seems to like.

Trouble is, human nature is subjective. My first instinct was to go for the Dyson. That's when sticker shock hit me. $500 for a vacuum! There seems to be a couple schools of thought on vacuum buying: the first school goes to Wal-Mart or Freddy's and buys what looks cool and is on sale--this kind of demand is what has been fueling soaring upright bagless sales. Day-Glo colors, space-age plastics, and look--! No bag. That must make things easier, right? Plus, these machines are cheap, cheap, cheap. Comparatively speaking.

The second school of thought ponders deeply and, checking the balance in their bank account (reasoning that you get what you pay for), splurges on a Dyson or a Miele or even--a Kirby (though I am convinced that people who buy Kirby vacuums just haven't done that much shopping around). However, after reading at least half of the 302 reviews of the Dyson DC07 on Amazon, one quickly sees a pattern: three or four satisfied customers followed by one or two with busted parts and spotty, expensive service options. I learned that it is not only what you buy--half the battle is who you buy it from and under what service agreement/return policy. I don't care if it is the best vacuum in the world...it is eventually going to need service, and you are not going to like throwing a two- or three- hundred dollar piece of plastic on the junk pile. While there are many wonderful shopping options online, and deep discounts to be had, I became convinced that to buy a vacuum from an online vendor was a mistake.

Then I pulled back from the individual model search (which quickly became confusing) and looked for some general articles about vacuums. Why are bagless vacuums so popular when they seem to break so often? Is there any reason to go with a bagged model anymore? What's best for allergy sufferers? Why do I keep seeing references to canister vacuums (people still use those?)?

It didn't take long to realize that bagged was better for allergies than bagless (why would you want to look at and handle the gunk when the bag was a cleaner, more hygienic way to trap it in the first place?). Canister-type vacuums are better for people who want to vacuum their hardwood and tile floors without eating their area rugs. And a brick-and-mortar store with an iron-clad extended service agreement, that you could find in any sizable town, was a definite plus. This narrowed the options considerably.

Finally, I did the one thing I should have done at the outset: I typed "#1 rated canister vacuum" into the search engine, and guess what came up: the Kenmore Progressive Canister Vacuum, model #25614, rated #1 by Consumer Reports (as of last summer). The model is currently on internet special for $279.99. The 5-year extended service warranty is seventy bucks, which brings the price back to retail. And the cool thing was that I could buy it online, then drive down to my local Sears the next day and pick up my vacuum.

So now that my new vacuum is sitting here beside me in its box (wonder of wonders, I've just been too busy to use it!), I wondered what to do with the old one, which didn't really break like in the hypothetical example, it's just Dean's 10+ year old Hoover Futura from the Navy Exchange which still sucks and hasn't croaked yet. I think I'll hang on to it, and just have it serviced. "It's lasted pretty well," Dean said when I commented on this venerable vacuum. "But then," I mused. "It probably hasn't seen much use." Forget what happened after that.