Need a New Vacuum Cleaner before the Holiday Season?

The Holiday season usually means an increase in social activity. The extra house guests can lead to a desire to have your home just perfect when guests arrive. So, even though a new Vacuum is not on the list of Holiday gift purchases, it is often a necessity when it comes to being a great host.

There have been a lot of developments in this market in recent years. As a result, options available to you now have never been wider. Here are 5 significant qualifiers to help you choose the right cleaner, and some product suggestions as well.

1) What Surfaces do you Need to Clean?

The main surfaces tend to be Carpets, Hardwood Floors, Hardwood Floors with Rugs etc, Tiles, Soft Furnishings
or all of the above.

Whatever you need to vacuum, there are highly rated Vacuums, specifically designed for the purpose.

2) Do you need to Deal With Stairs?

The treads on a staircase are most likely going to be either hardwood or they will be covered with a carpet of some kind. With stairs, the covering is less significant than the fact that the stairs themselves exist.

3) How Large is Your Space?.

The size of your home will impact the choice.

4) How Busy are You?

It might be that the Robotic cleaners now available are your best choice, especially if you are a busy person living in a smaller space.

5) Pets

If you have dogs or cats in your home, your choice of cleaner will change again.

So let’s have a look at some of your options based on these considerations.

Dealing with Carpets.

If you have a home that is mostly carpet, an upright cleaner such as Bissell 9595A is a good, inexpensive solution. This bagless cleaner offers excellent suction and has Turbo brush for cleaning stairs a furniture.

Hardwood Floors and Rugs.

The best rated Vacuums for Hardwood floors have superior suction because they cannot rely on a spinning brush head to extract dirt. Those brushes, along with the wrong type of wheels, are the two things on a Vacuum most likely to scratch Hardwood surfaces. Ideally you want a cleaner with rubberized wheels and a head which can be changed at the touch of a switch to go from wood to rugs. A lightweight cleaner like the Miele C2 or a canister vacuum like a Shark Navigator Liftaway, are great choices here

Dealing with Stairs.

Good options for stairs are the “liftaway” style canister cleaners like the Shark Navigator or an upright canister with an onboard stair tool such as the Dyson Ball Multi-surface vacuum.

The Size of your Home.

If you have a smaller space, and storage is an issue, a good quality cordless, or stick vacuum like the Hoover Linx Cordless might be the answer. These cleaners operate from rechargeable, interchangeable batteries, last about 20 minutes between recharges, and require little space top store.

Too Busy to Clean?

The newer Robotic vacuum cleaners are ideal for busy people. You determine areas to be cleaned and cleaning schedules. From there the cleaner takes over, moving under and around furniture as needed and returning to its charging base as required. For carpets, the iRobot Roomba 880 is a good choice. For hardwood try the ILife V5s Robot which even has an onboard water tank so it can wash your timber floors as well.

Coping with Pets.

Pets in the home add another layer of complexity, as they shed hair and dander which is an issue. Not just unsightly, these can trigger allergy issues for your guests or trigger Asthma attacks.

The best solution here is the Dyson Animal Complete. (link to video) This cleaner is the best Dyson make and combines all the features of their other cleaners in one. It cleans everything, everywhere. Another great option is the Shark Navigator Liftaway TruePet.

All product images courtesy of Amazon.com