Vacuum for a hard floor surface.

[zibazinski]

I have hardwood and tile floors and my fancy Dyson doesn't cut it when it comes to kitty litter and cat fur. I've been sweeping with a broom but want a vacuum that works.  Suggestions?

[Happy prose]

Mine doesn't work too good either. I've been using a Swiffer, which works great.

[chiver78]

what model Dyson do you have? I've got their "animal strength" roller ball, and it works great with my hardwoods. between MY hair, the golden and then the wiry fur of the pit mix, it's no easy task. 

[zibazinski]

Swiffer doesn’t get a lot of the litter though. I have a Dyson with the orange ball. It just doesn’t do the job.

[Knee Deep in Water Chloe]

I have a Shark that we purchased at Costco. 
I'm pretty gosh darn sure it's this one.
It works well on our hardwood floors and on the carpets; it has different settings for each. It's easy to carry around also.

Our dog doesn't shed too much though, so I'm not sure I can speak to that portion.

[Happy prose]

Dec 31, 2017 16:07:15 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

Swiffer doesn’t get a lot of the litter though. I have a Dyson with the orange ball. It just doesn’t do the job.

You're right. My problem is more the cat hair. I have a mat, 'litter grabber', in front of the box, and it keeps the litter from scattering. I just brush that off with a dustpan brush.

[mroped]

We have central vac and from what I can tell it will suck in the couch if you are not careful!😀
Ofcourse, I’m not the one that uses the thing very often so my experience on the subject is limited.
I’ve built a few chimneys over the years and I have a few customers that call me once a year to inspect and clean them. For the process I’m using a Soot Master II that is in fact designed for cleaning furnaces but for the little that I use it for it works just fine.
Why I mention this is because this vacuum cleaner sucks through anything up to one inch in diameter and when I got mine about 12 years ago I paid somewhere around $300.
hose attachment for the traditional vacuum cleaners fit on this thing too.

[Shooby]

  I have a Miele.  It's a cannister vac so not sure if you prefer those or not.

[zibazinski]

At this point I don’t care. I was hoping for something less expensive than that bloody Dyson that doesn’t work. I guess I’ll look st consumer reports too.

[Blonde Granny]

I love my stick Dyson and it picks up everything. QVC frequently has them at a really good price. Shark has come out with one very similar to the Dyson stick. You might look at both of those.

[zibazinski]

Thank you

[Shooby]

I am happy with my Miele.  It was a bit pricey but cheap vacuums are pretty crappy and dont last.  I have the C2.  

[chapeau]

I have an Oreck that I mostly love. It’s great with the dust rabbits on the hardwood floor in my office. When DS’s cat came to visit, that’s where we kept her litter, and it did fine with that, too. My only issue with it is no attachments, so we still have our old vacuum, too, for vacuuming the couch and so on. It was an unregistered-for wedding gift, so I’m not sure how much, but 8 years later it’s still working well.

[azucena]

You might look into roomba and its knock offs. I have an ilife a4s and run it every other day on hardwood and it gets the cat hair. Litterbox is in the small bathroom so I can't speak for it but would imagine it would work on litter because it gets all the kids crumbs.

Get a litter mat and put it in front where they jump out to help stop it from spreading like someone else suggested.

[chiver78]

BB&B is having a big Dyson sale right now. some models are $200 off, including the "big ball" animal/allergy one. 

BB&B

[empress of self-improvement]

I have an ancient Sears Kenmore canister vac. Still sucks that cat litter right up, since that's my primary use for it too. Dust busters and those things suck for cat litter.

[Anne_in_VA]

We have an older Sears Kenmore canister vac that I love.  It sucks up the cat hair and litter with ease.  I’ve had a couple of the upright type vacs over the years, but keep going back to the canister type.  I just think they do a better job.

[tallguy]

I like mine.  It's a Kenmore Intuition canister where the bare floor nozzle fits into and detaches from the powered carpet nozzle.  Goes from one to the other instantly with a toe switch to release it.  Motorized pet hair tool, illuminated wand, full bag light, and dirt sensor.  Makes it easy.

[dee27]

I have a SEBO canister vacuum w/attachments that I can use for rugs and hardwood floors, and it is the best vacuum that I have ever purchased. It's 15 years old and still works great, and it is fairly lightweight.

When we owned Labs, we had upstairs and downstairs vacuums. The oils in the dog hair really clog the vacuum.

[bean29]

I have a newer Kenmore Cannister vac (3rd one I bought) imho, they ain’t what they used to be. We also have a Shark Annimal that I really like for utility. It has a seperate attachment for tile floors, works great, but I never bother to switch the attachments.

[Cheesy FL-Vol]

Dec 31, 2017 15:02:41 GMT -5 zibazinski said:

I have hardwood and tile floors and my fancy Dyson doesn't cut it when it comes to kitty litter and cat fur. I've been sweeping with a broom but want a vacuum that works.  Suggestions?

I use a cheap Dirt Devil stick vacuum for my tile floors. We have two cats, two litterboxes, and a short haired dog that drops hair everywhere. A few years ago we switched from Publix’s bags of litter to their scoopable. The granule size of the scoopable is much smaller and the stick vacuum has no problem picking it up.

[countrygirl2]

I have 2 Sears canisters, I got a cheaper one and not crazy about

it for dense carpets, so I bought the more expensive Kenmore

and its good. This is my 3rd one in 50 years. Well the one for

downstairs would make it 4. It's ok for down there for hard floors

and area rugs.

I got MIL an expensive Dyson, I don't care for it and gave it to

DIL, not sure she will like it, but she wanted one for upstairs and

downstairs. soooo.

I have a Shark and its great for the motorhome, and another of some

kind that is a stick one that is ok, but none other then the Kenmore that

does a great job on thick carpets, but I agree they are not like the first

2 I had. I wore those puppies out.

[nittanycheme]

I have a "real" vacuum cleaner, and I also have a roomba.  The roomba works well on cat litter, hair, and general particulate dirt on your floors.  I have mostly have hard wood and laminate, with just a couple of area rugs.  I have an older model, so I actually have to hit the button to run the roomba myself, but I run it most days since I can just hit the button when I leave for work.  Maybe at some point I'll upgrade to one of the ones with the scheduler, where you can set it to run itself at a certain time.  It picks up a lot of stuff, and I only have to vacuum with my regular vacuum occasionally.  Mostly because I hot water baseboard heat, and the little "edge brush" roomba has doesn't quite go all the way under the baseboard heat registers, and I have a bunch of stuff sitting around that the roomba can't get behind (plant stands that are close to the wall, etc).  It does get under my coffee table and such.  So, I really only use my bigger vacuum once or twice a month.  You just need to remember to empty the roomba's dirt container.

[bean29]

Consumer reports recommended a different (newer?) shark vacuum. They said the lightweight Sharks and roomba type vaccs are not for deep cleaning, so they basically agreed with Pat’s assessment. When I bought my 2nd last vacuum sears had a 30 day satisfaction guarantee. It might be worthwhile to see if they still have that.

[bean29]

Shark Flex Duoclean and Shark Ionflex duoclean were the other Sharks that were recommended (stick vacs). I originally wanted cordless vac. DH said if the vacuum had 10-20 mins of battery, I would run out of battery before my cleaning is done, also dependent on you recharging. He told me to get a corded one. I read reviews and went with his gut. DH opinion based on his use of outdoor power tools.

[skubikky]

iRobot

[lazysundays]

Love my dyson multi floor vacuum. I refused to pay full price, but the most you can hope for is 30% off sale. 8 years and still going strong.

Edit- it doesn’t pick up dry dog food as well as the roomba so that works better for daily cleanup.

[countrygirl2]

My Sears Kenmore needs a piece on the sweeper head, I ordered it in April and I keep getting backorder notices.  I have a feeling with their coming apart and closing stores I will never get it.  I'm going to call and cancel as I had to pay for it when ordered. My other Kenmore also has a problem. The little Shark just doesn't deep clean, it does great on the surface.


I'm looking at a Miele, but $1000, holy smokes.  They are rated with the way less expensive Kenmores but if I can't get parts, why bother with them now.  I like my Kenmores and would keep using them but can't, and may have to change.  Hubs said he doesn't care to buy it but can we get it serviced and parts if needed?

But I want the one for mid and heavy weight carpeting, not just hardwoods.

[Shooby]

What are you talking about?  I bought a Miele C2 cannsiter vac and it was like $399 new on amazon.

[countrygirl2]

Are you serious?  I haven't seen that price.  Is that one for heavy carpet and I want a canister.