I have an old but very powerful and reliable Miele vacuum cleaner. The problem is, it’s very heavy and very difficult to use in corners, on stairs, in tight spots, cars etc.
So we’re in the market for a cordless, upright vacuum without a bag and with lots of accessories. Anyone got any recommendations?
I know there are a fair few brands out there - Shark, GTech, Dyson, Vax, etc but need to know where to start… capacity, lightness and run time are all important factors, as is the ability to use on both wooden and carpeted floors, stairs, high corners etc…
We have had the Gtech upright and handheld for about 4 years with no problems👍. We have a large heavy Bosch mains powered that rarely gets used. Apparently a friend of our has a Shark cordless and loves it…buts its new, so not easy to say it will last. We had a dyson and it just fell apart after a couple of years, the quality of the plastics used was poor imo.
All the usual suspects run out of suction power after 40 mins. We kept our old Miele vacuum for when a deep long clean is needed every month or so, then using the Dyson for everyday bits.
We use the Dyson V11 absolute cordless cleaner, very powerful, best vacuum we have ever had, light and easily manageable, ours came with a variety of power heads and normal heads. Loads of suck, it makes you want to vacuum. We use it a couple of times a day, where as the old corded Dyson cleaner was lucky to see the light of day once every few weeks.
Our Sebo has a stair extension with a spinning brush. It’s great for stairs, obviously, but also corners and the car. I wonder if Miele make such a thing. The Sebo is built like a tank, unlike Dysons which have the structural integrity of a box of tissues.
We have both a mains powered & a cordless Dyson. The big 10-12 year old mains powered does most all the big area downstairs duties. The baby cordless V6 with all its attachments is for upstairs, the stairs themselves, small rooms, around & behind the various hifi boxes, TV & around the backs of furniture & the cars.
Bottom line is we are an all Dyson house. If when the big old mains powered lump gives it up, no hesitation to do it all again, question is do we go for a big cordless.
Watching this thread with interest
We have a couple of cats and our downstairs is all wood floor and carpet upstairs. My wife does not work and was getting hacked off hoovering every 5 mins with the cats. We bought a couple of the dyson robot jobbies and they come on twice a day (you can program them or set the off automatically, even via your phone) and they do the bulk of the work. We have one of the Dyson V whatever things and that prob comes out once a week max. Ease of use they get 10/10 for me ! We are pleased with the Dyson’s though. As said the build quality is not that great, but there is enough spares you can buy and they are easy enough to pull apart and repair.
We have a Sebo, after a couple of Dysons and other makes. I do most of the vacuuming and the Sebo, even with bags, is by far the best cleaner I have had…
We also have a Black & Decker cordless upright/handheld, which is quite good for hard floors but we are on our second as the first ones battery failed.
As a salesman in a local shop said ‘if you want to see all the Dyson models in one go…just go to your local dump’
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Dyson vacuum cleaner that doesn’t have a bit broken here or there and that includes in John Lewis!
Before I went to Spain, I did use a Bosch Athlet for a while. Didn’t get on with it at all. It was fine for normal vacuuming, but it has the most awkward arrangement possible for connecting the tools for vacuuming corners etc. It’s super stiff and after injuring a thumb several times I just gave up. You also have to careful that you stand it up just right otherwise it will fall over. Sold it before I went to Spain. Have now gone back to a normal corded cylinder with bags - a Sebo which I’m a lot happier with. Sebo bags are a lot cheaper than Miele ones.
One of the best things about the Sebo is the attached cleaning hose, which you can whip out of its holder in seconds, ready to deal with those cheeky bits of crud hiding in the corners.
We have had a Dyson V10 cordless for a few months. It was very expensive but it is excellent and although we have a Miele bagged mains cleaner as well, which is also extremely good, we tend to just use the cordless Dyson now.
Best
That Sebo, splendid as it must be - still looks like a big heavy dog to get around. More so than the little but still big Miele. Those uprights remind me of the shake and vac advert from the late 70s early 80s.
We’ve got a Kirby. Had it >40 years. Service about once every 3 years, new drive belt once a year. Built like a tank, heavy, not the easiest thing to change attachments, but excellent results every time. Expensive, but was worth it.
We’ve had Dyson’s and all of them lost suction after a couple of years and eventually despite having their repair service out they ended up in the skip. I’ve also used Hoover and Electrolux etc and they were more reliable than the Dysons.
For the past 6 years we have used a Henry. It’s still got incredible suction, you can even hoover up dirt in the garage with it, it’s got all the attachments you could ever need for the car or small spaces and replacement parts are easy to come by (not that we have ever needed them). Henry can service every vac they have ever made (just like naim do) and it’s not unusual to find 30 year old models still in daily use.
There’s a reason why they are the vacuum of choice in airports, hospitals etc and that is that they just work and are totally reliable.
They’re still made in the UK in Somerset with the HQ in Camberley and owned by the same guy that set the company up in 1969. They now offer cordless as well as corded vacs:
We have a Bosch one that measured up reasonably well against the alternatives (in Which tests). It’s cheaper than the Dysons. It performs well. The attachments are a bit fiddly to swap over, but we don’t seem to do that too often.
Another fan of Henry (and friends) here. Mine has taken a hell of a beating over the years but it still works just as well as ever. And the one time I did manage to almost kill it (I managed to drop it down the stairs) I managed to fix it easily with a new £5 circuit board and 10 minutes with a screwdriver.
Jonathan, one extra attachment that I have found is very worthwhile with the Henry is the Airo brush. Only issue is if you have anyone in the house with long hair - It then needs disassembling every now and then to be cleaned out, but is very easy to do.
