what kind of vacuum cleaners are you guys out there using?... obviously you want something that works well but is sturdy enough to not get broken w/ all the moving.

so what do you guys use?
thanks
mark

Dyson vac

Dyson, great all around vac. Easy to use. Buy it on Ebay, buy the DC-14 red or yellow around $250 to $280, same vac in stores runs $500

I've been using the Oreck Commercial. I used to work at the oreck store in my town and the owner gives me deals on their vacs and we usually do barter for bags and anything else I may need that she sells. (I'll cover the store for an afternoon if I'm free occasionally and she lets me tune up my vac for free and take some bags)

It is a decent vacuum, and I like how light it is. Works on stairs. With the Oreck, a lot of your older customers will ask questions about your vacuum, since they see the commercials all the time. (I imagine that happens with the Dyson too, possibly with a different demographic) It would be interesting to have a bagless vac just to see what it collects in the dust cup... I shied away from the Dyson as consumer reports continues to state they don't pick up as well as most others, but it seems like people here have had positive experiences with them.

Yeah, sure. Thanks Jim. Where were you when I spent $480.00 for my red Dyson at Wal Mart a month or so ago.

Even Superman shows up in the nick of time.

LOL

Sorry Joe, I must have been taking a drink break!

bagless is kind of neat, we have one in our house... like a $150 bissle or something like that... also has a hepa filter which i think is something i'd find important if you are going for the "green" type of people...

any word on like kirby? i know they are heavy as crap but how do they preform and stuff the G6's and stuff are fairly inexpensive on ebay now

found this... intresting on the orek and dyson

http://magazines.ivillage.com/goodhousekeeping/consumer/appliances/articles/0,,284519_290094-1,00.html

As I see it there's two ways to think about your vacuum: you can become acquainted with the folks at a vacuum repair shop and buy a good vac that they tell you they will stand behind. Then whenever anything happens to it they will fix it for you so your vac will last for years. The other way is to buy a cheapo $100 vac that works well, but isn't worth the cost of getting fixed. Maybe you get one year of use out of it then you replace it instead of repair... just my thought.

If you use your vac to groom the just-cleaned carpet, including the pick-up of little bits of pad, carpet fibers, etc, then you want to own a vac which doesn't quickly get all plugged up with this stuff. Two lines of vacs which have often been reported on c.c. boards and forums to have this ability are Dyson and PowrFlite. With whatever vac you are using to post-vac, use it adjusted to the higher brush setting, rather than the lower.

i can attest to what Mark said...my DC07 (yellow Dyson) never clogs up for post-vac'ing. the HEPA seems to work great, never smell dust or foul smells when i use it. and the Hepa filter is foam and washes up easily...no buying paper filters.

big drawback is: you can not work on it yourself! if you need to replace the belt or brushroll, you've got to have a repair shop do it...

the bagless thing is GREAT tho.

that said, i just ordered a Lindhaus that has a bag. should be here tomorrow. brush-roll rotates at 5,000 RPM, the highest in the industry! should rock on CGD which is what i mostly do.

i then have a Bissel CleanView (green model) and it clogged up on the only job i used it on. but that was my fault for leaving the height adjustment too low.

then there's my 17" Hoover Conquest. i don't keep the dust-cup clean and it blows some dust on start-up. doesn't have attachments / wand, so i use a Sandia SuperRaven BackPackVac for that on commercial jobs.

then i have 1 canister vac and 1 more BPV... i'm ordering another canister tonite matter of fact.

the vacuum man --- Derek

Derek where did you order the Lindhaus from?

Thanks
Joe