Vacuum Cleaner Ratings – How To Make Sense Of Them
Article by Robin OBrien
When thinking of buying a new vacuum cleaner it makes sense to read as many vacuum cleaner ratings as you can. However, after reading them one is often left more confused than at the beginning of the search. The secret is not to completely trust personal ratings; for every person that loves the product, there’ll be one who hated it. The secret is to first know what you want in a vacuum cleaner and then find ones that match your criteria and then compare to find the most suitable for you.
We’ve all been there; we know nothing about something and so go and ask other people’s opinions and before we know it, we have dozens of conflicting advice. Some say ‘best product ever’ while some will only look at you in disgust if you mention the product’s name.
It’s all too easy to ask others’ advice when we know nothing but it’s harder to go and find out this information for our self. But this is what we must do if we are to make any informed decision about buying any product.
Therefore devise your own vacuum cleaner ratings and don’t rely on the opinions of others. No matter how well-intentioned, the advice you’ll receive will be biased in some way.
But how to begin? First, you should sit down and make up a list of your requirements. You see, there hasn’t yet been built a vacuum cleaner that is the best at cleaning everything. Some are good on certain aspects but are weak on others. To save yourself a lot of time and hassle you must know exactly what it is you’re looking for.
For example, do you have fitted carpets or hard flooring? Generally speaking uprights clean fitted carpets better whereas canisters clean hardwood floor and rugs better. Just asking yourself this question can eliminate many types of vacuum cleaner from your list.
Do you have pets? If so you’ll probably want one with a special pet-hair head. Only some vacuums, both canister and upright, offer this feature – the Shark Infinity vacuum cleaner being one such.
Do you want onboard tools? If you’re going to be cleaning drapes, sofas and window sills you do. So make sure the vacuum comes with them onboard. Be careful, many uprights come with extra tools but not onboard; it can be a real drag to have to go and get the attachment and then after you use it, to have to go fetch it again.
Bag or Bagless? The advantage of bagless vacuums is that you don’t have the ongoing expense of buying proprietary bags – if you prefer a bag version, check out the price of new bags first as you may find some are quite expensive.
What kind of filter do you want? All vacuums have some sort of filter. A simple charcoal filter is the cheapest option and is fine for most folks. But if you want better filtration then you should only look at vacuums that come with HEPA filters. If you suffer from allergies then consider a 100% sealed HEPA filter – this is the best filter you can buy but it costs more. Again, check out the price of replacement filters before you buy.
Do you want your vacuum to wash your carpets as well as vacuum it? If you have fitted carpets you need to wash them every once in a while. The Hoover SteamVac vacuum cleaner is expensive but it could save you money in the long term as you won’t need to pay a professional carpet cleaning firm.
The above are just some questions you should ask yourself before you even begin to look. Once you’ve got your list together you should grade you requirements, from ‘must have’ to ‘nice to have’. Then you can then begin your own vacuum cleaner ratings, quickly dismissing those that don’t come with the features you want and scrutinizing those that do. You should only end up with 2 or 3 models that fit the bill. You can then compare them and finally choose the one that’s right for you.
About the Author
Follow the links for vacuum cleaner ratings on leading vacuums like the Hoover SteamVac, Electrolux Oxygen 3 and the Shark Infinity vacuum.
