Vacuum Cleaner, Few Important Things To Remember Before Purchasing!

Vacuum cleaner plays an important part of house cleaning nowadays but most of the time because of the lack of knowledge, consumers just end up not with a "bad" product, but to be precise they end up with the "wrong-kind". So rather than just blaming the manufacture, if you can keep few of the following advices in mind while purchasing them... then most of those "wrong choices" can be avoided.

Well it's not that complicated!...

Don't be fooled by the price tag

Well just because a product costs a lot more than another doesn't mean it will always clean better. If you look with the proper knowledge then you can actually find a product than can cost as little as $100+, still it'll be able outrank a high cost competitor. So don't judge the performance only based upon the price tag.

Concentrate on the cleaning head/nozzle section

For instance, if you have large rooms, then by buying a vacuum cleaner with a wider looking head will help you to cover more grounds faster. So the bigger rooms you have, big head ( ;-) ) vacuum will be the best choice.

However remember if the head is too wide and you have a lot of furniture, etc then you will have some navigating problems (a 360 swivel head feature is a must in those situations). So remember that also. Make sure the head is a slim looking one (meaning it has as little height as possible). This will help to glide it under beds or other tight "under" places, etc as well.

Although the ones that have larger widths usually won't exceed 15" (usually)  and a 8-9 head (as comes with this bissell steam mop for instance) are considered as the lowest possible "usable" widths. Try not to go for anything that has a width of 8" or lower, unless you're looking for an automatic cleaner or a spot remover.

Consider your floor types

If have installed a lot of carpets then consider a dedicated carpet cleaner or can use an additional nozzle attachment such as a turbo tool (handy for deep-pile carpets), etc. And if they have the microban technology
it can help to reduce some of the germs/dust mite activities on carpets/rugs which helps to reduce stain expansions.

For cleaning lot of stairs or have to maintain more than a single floor, then lightweight canisters are usually the best ones since they have a longer + elastic (hose) type handle. Also make sure they have the ability to "stand up" on the stairs without falling down which can come in handy while cleaning stairs, even after the hose has reached its maximum length.

Are HEPA filters a must?

Well if you have asthma or allergic to dust... then choosing a device that comes with HEPA filters is a must. Since they aren't that pricey, even if you don't have those health needs, still you can benefit from the better filtration the HEPA filters bring.

Bag or Bagless?

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Vacuum bags used to be such a pain in the *ss, but no more. The never ones are as good as the bagless ones to be honest. And from a user point of view, vacuum bags can even help to avoid some of those vacuum motor related breakdowns (according to experts) as I explained in this henry vacuum cleaner post.

About the motor power

Yes, still you can get an idea about its power from the "Watt" usage, but most of the time, air-watts will give you a better idea of its power. This again however may not be the best measurement of the power of the motor.

So, again be careful that a certain air-watt figure on an upright (let's say 100 air-watts) won't be powerful or effective for a canister model (because of the physical design).

For an upright - 100 or 100 + air-watts are the powerful ones.

For a canister/cylinder type - 250 + air-watts is pretty decent. Although there are the top notch 350-450 air-watt "versions" but will cost a little more.

Is variable speed is a must?

This depends on your floor type/s. If you have a lot of different types such as wood, hardwood, tiles, rugs, carpets, bamboo, etc then go for a vacuum that has variable speed settings since a brush rotation speed that gives better results on hardwood won't bring optimum results on carpets for example (unnecessary speeds can even damage the carpets or the rugs especially). And another benefit of having multiple speeds is that it helps to reduce some of that noise as well.

Height Settings

This can also improve the dust removing process on a multi floor house. For instance, when moving from tiles to carpets a product with multiple height adjustments will bring better results.

*. Now there are the ones that automatically adjust the height and also the more conventional ones that makes you do it (manual).

Indicators?

A bag full and the filters clean/dirty indicators will always be useful from a user point of view. Some bagless ones has these "see through" type dust cans but when the dust gets into it and if it don't have an indicator then you'll be having some hard time trying to figure out whether its full or not.

So this is may not be a huge concern but not a useless feature by any means to have around.

Noise

This is another important one. The most quietest ones have noise levels of 71-73 dB (will cost more) . Still a moderate noise cleaner with a reasonable price tag will be enough for most . Try to avoid the ones with heavy noises.

Self propellers

Self propelled ones will be the easiest to use while pulling and pushing because they do most of that for you. Still depending on the surface type the ones that don't have this feature won't have significant effects (tiles for example). But if you have a lot of deep pile carpets and need to deep clean them frequently, then go for a self propelled one.

Edge-to-edge cleaning

Well if you want to clean your edges better, then make sure they have this feature.

Additional tools

Most of these products come with a crevice/upholstery tool, dusting brush, etc and they are always welcome. You can purchase them separately according to the needs afterward as well.

So the list maybe a bit longer but if you can remember the key things and use your common sense a little (where applicable) then buying the best vacuum cleaner which meets your needs isn't just another dream after all!.