Advantages: Consideration of all features will make the search easier.
Disadvantages: Vacuuming is still a useless and horrible task, regardless of what you buy.

...KIND OF VACUUM CLEANER DO YOU NEED? Well, that depends on your house. UPRIGHT • An upright is best if you have a lot of carpeting or area rugs. • They have beater bars in the cleaning head that dig up dirt from deep in the pile, where it can do real damage to the fiber if left undisturbed. Even microscopic dirt and dust is angular, and if you walk on it, over time it will chew up the fiber. Those beater bars help loosen the dirt from deep in the pile. • Their suction tends to be much stronger, because the motor where it’s created is right there, at the operational end of the machine, as opposed to at the end of a long hose that diminishes the sucking power. After the dirt has been loosened by the beater bars, the suction of the machine gulps it down. • It's terribly inconvenient to drag an upright up a staircase... Read review

Ciao members have rated this review on average very helpful

Advantages: No bags to empty, motor to pull or push along. lightweight. efficient. Lasts a lifetime.
Disadvantages: best fitted whilst building your house. fairly expensive.

...is all that is needed for the whole of the house. The motor can be situated in the attic or cupboard, or even in the garage if it is attached. Using these all the time in the U,S.A. it was nothing new to me, but totally fascinating all our friends when they come to visit. If you are doing a self build, it is very easy to fit. I can strongly recommend it. If you have a completed house, then a small area boxed in up the corner of the room or hallway and it can be fitted then by removing a small amount of floor board it can be done, not so easily though, so do consider the work involved before purchasing one of these vacuums. Also recommended , a visit to one of the shows, where there might be one demonstrated, is advised. The cost of these vacuum cleaner is approximately £700 to £1,000 depending on the size of your house... Read review

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Advantages: Cheap
Disadvantages: Useless on carpets.

...Bought this as a quick replacement for a broken upright vacuum cleaner. Knew that cylinder vacuums weren't ideally suited for large carpet areas, but not too bothered as I only vacuum about twice a month. I have used many different vacuum cleaners over the years, and I can honestly say this is the least effective vacuum cleaner I have ever used. Am puzzled by one of the earlier reviewers praising it and then describing spending 30 minutes vacuuming one room and building up a sweat. I have had the same experience - spending ages and hard effort to vacuum a carpet and it not looking much cleaner at the end. Unlike them, I feel this defeats the purpose of vacuuming. The build quality looks fine, and the loud motor certainly sounds as if it's halfway decent, but there's virtually no suction. When it does suck up some fluff... Read review

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Advantages: Exactly like the big version
Disadvantages: Expensive

...My daughter had a toy vacuum cleaner and it broke and she was pretty upset as she loved playing it. Well along comes Christmas and my daughter is opening her presents when she gets to the one from my aunt and it was a vacuum cleaner, but not any vacuum cleaner but a Henry vacuum cleaner. My aunt then explained that she was buying a vacuum cleaner for herself, a Henry of course and as she left she spotted this little version in the window so rushed back in and asked if it was for sale. The sales assistant explained it was a toy and not a mini version, she informed in she knew it was and just wanted to know if they sold them, which they did. You guessed it she brought it so that was why my little girl got one. What do you get? A Henry vacuum cleaner, the obvious item, which looks exactly like the proper Henry. Inside you get... Read review

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Advantages: Easy to use, lightweight, good suction
Disadvantages: Hair/ string buildup on underside

...of a Featherlite®. The Dirt Devil 85500 Upright Vacuum The vacuum stands about three feet tall, and weighs around eight pounds. The cord measures 25 ft., with an extra hose for those hard to reach places. There are also extra attachments for different cleaning needs: brush roll:for auto 18" extension wand: used with extra hose for hard to reach jobs shaped 8"crevice tool: used for cleaning baseboards and stairs. The extra hose fits easily into the base of the cleaner through a specially shaped insert hole. The power switch is located in the rear at the bottom left side. Just to the left of that is the handle release switch, which allows you to recline the unit. The Dirt Devil 85500 Upright Vacuum requires Type D Bags, and Style 4/5 Belt. It is equipped with a 12-amp motor for power on those hard to clean spots.It picks up dirt and dust... Read review

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Advantages: Good for role play
Disadvantages: Some pieces cant be removed

...and opposites. Musical fun: There are four fun songs to sing along to. There are also a variety of sound, sure to make your child smile. Imagination: Push the vacuum along for great role-playing fun. It makes a realistic vacuuming noise, which is great fun. There is a volume switch to adjust the sound levels-very useful! OTHER DETAILS This little vacuum is bright yellow with two large purple wheels on the back, while the handle is blue. The upright section of the vacuum has a drum that spins when the vacuum is pushed on the floor -the drum features lots of small pictures that are shown as the toy is pushed along. The back of the upright features moldings of a hose and accessories but nothing that is removable-this is quite frustrating for children when they discover that they cant remove it. On one side the vacuum has an on/off switch... Read review

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Advantages: 4 levels of surface thickness. Bagless. Light. Good value.
Disadvantages: Tends to tip up.

...of the Cylinder which can be removed and cleaned. The instructions tell you which parts can be cleaned. To put cylinder back in the vacuum, just place cylinder on the inner stand and push the cylinder back. It will click into place letting you when it is in properly. You can then do the same for the front casing. Underneath the vacuum is a rotating brush which really helps lift the dirt off any surface making it easier to suck up the dirt. Although this is the part of any vacuum which causes the most problems. The brush tends to get clogged up with hairs, which is a big problem in my house. 3 females and a lot of brushing in the morning makes a big problem. The hairs will need to be removed quite regularly if you want to stop any major problems. We have already learned this when the motor burnt out. We had to replace the whole rotating brush... Read review

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Advantages: Picks up brilliantly, even on wood and tile flooring, good value for money, easy to use.
Disadvantages: A little heavy, hose is too short for stairs

...I always buy very cheap vacuum cleaners, so its no surprise really that they seem to give up after about 6 months! I bought this vacuum from a discount website, and it was still less than £90 with postage! It came to me with very simple instructions, and I had it together within 15 minutes. I had been without a vacuum for about 4 days (a long time in the world of pets and children!) so tried it out immediately. Being 1700w, I had expected it to be quite loud, but was pleasantly surprised to find it was no louder than my old cleaner, which was only about 1400w! It picked up everything effortlessly, and the crevice nozzle took care of the skirtings, under the sofa and between the cushions with no problems at all. I found it to be a little less effective on ceramic tiles, but not terribly so, and it was still much better than other... Read review

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Advantages: Small, light, quite powerful
Disadvantages: very small dustbag

...was called inside to the phone. I returned to my task just in time to see said child squirting the contents of his jumbo-sized water pistol into the motor housing of my dust-sucker. I will not go into the details of the ensuing "conversations" with the child and his parents, but suffice to say they did little to help establish friendly neighbourhood relations in these parts. And so endeth the first chapter. (And the useful life of the vacuum, we just use it as a decorative doorstop now). Obviously, with the season of wrapping paper, glitter, pine needles and crushed mince pies almost upon us, I had to act quickly. I was seriously lacking in the finance department after shelling out on everyone's presents and enough food to feed the procession of the aforementioned visitors, so when I saw this dinky little (v. little - measures approx 15"x... Read review

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Advantages: effective cleaning of carpets and upholstery etc.
Disadvantages: At 8.6kg slightly on the heavy side if you need to carry it about.

...jumble out of sight in a cupboard) and run the vacuum cleaner over the floors. Somehow, callers at my home may think that I keep the horse in the house as I have an unending trail of bits of straw and hay and lumps of dried mud throughout my home. This is because, certain people don’t take their wellies/outdoor shoes off at the door after they have tended to the horse! One of my reasons for changing to a Dyson was because I am absolutely fed up with bags that split and tip dust all over the place, getting down my throat, up my nose and making me cough. When I moved home 5 years ago, I purchased an Electrolux Glider Upright 600w vacuum cleaner. Now, this machine, having only a small motor was clearly not up to the job that I had in mind for it; and over the years it has become less and less effective. So, it is about to take... Read review

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