Rechargeable vacuum cleaners - recommendations?

ancient_mariner

ancient_mariner

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5 or 6 years ago I bought a Dyson lightweight vac - V5 or V7. It's functionality is acceptable if not great, but the battery only lasts a couple of years before it needs replacing. Once again it's failed - last time it was £70 - and so rather than just get another consumable I'd rather buy something that will last a bit longer.

What's your experience? Will a shark be better (which one?).

*edit*
Just been back down to look for a model name - apparently it's now working. :rolleyes: This just reduces the urgency for replacement, rather than suspending it.
 
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We've had one of these Sharks for several years...

Shark Vacuum carpet cleaning head Ixus 70 IMG_4446.jpg

It still charges in less than an hour and holds enough to do 5 rooms and the stairs (the charge indicators are on the right).

Shark Vacuum Charge Indicators Ixus 70 IMG_4445.JPG

There's a newer but similar model and they're less expensive than Dyson.
 
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My only suggestion would be to avoid the VAX Blade range, ( I've got #3)
They claim a 3/4 of an hour run time, I've never had more than 15 mins from mine.
Even when It was new.
I've had it a couple of years and just had to replace the battery, at just under 50 quid.
Being a light user ( just me) 15 mins is just about enough time to do the whole house.
 
You can buy an aftermarket battery for a dyson for £22 on Amazon.
 
We've had several Dyson handhelds and been very disappointed by battery issues.
We've just bought a Bosch Series 6 Ultimate Pet thingie with the long bendable nozzle for doing floors as well as other attachments, and very pleased, it is very powerful on full chat but low power is still very good, battery seems to last about 30-45 minutes depending, and takes an hour or so to recharge. Time will tell whether it was a good purchase as we've only had it about 2 weeks.
 
I’d never buy a battery powered main vacuum. While battery power suits some devices, cars and vacuums is not one of them.

We’ve had a Gtech handheld that lasted just over a year before the battery was shot, then bought a cheap replacement on Amazon for less than a new battery, that lasted a year and have now bought a Shark handheld, so we’ll see how long that lasts.

Our main vacuum is a shark (mains powered) and it’s great. We’ve had a number of Dyson in the past but they don’t seem to last very long considering what they cost.
 
Our other vacuum is a Miele that's probably around 20 years old, but still completely fine if a little heavy. Just needs frequent bag changes, rather than being bagless like many modern vacs.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Our other vacuum is a Miele that's probably around 20 years old, but still completely fine if a little heavy. Just needs frequent bag changes, rather than being bagless like many modern vacs.
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They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

My first washing machine was passed down to me from my folks. They’d had it 20 years and I used it for a good few years before buying something new.

I think we’ve gone through 3 washing machines in the last 20 years.
 
Generally I seem to find decent kit still lasts, but the cheap stuff is disposable. We're on our secong Miele washing machine, the first doing about 14 years for a family of 4 before the drum bearings went. Dishwasher is a Neff and after 1 fix under warranty at 2 years old is still fine - now about 8 years old.

My FiL used to work for Philips, but their stuff was never very reliable even back in the 80's, and a staff discount wasn't always helpful. Some things are also always going to be trouble, like a combined washer-dryer that lasted just 4 years.
 
In a previous life I worked for a Miele dealer, Miele gear is really good and was then at least well worth the money.
 
ecoleman said:
I’d never buy a battery powered main vacuum. While battery power suits some devices, cars and vacuums is not one of them.
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You could be missing out, there.

Our Shark is efficient and very light. As I wrote above, It'll do 5 rooms and our stairs on a charge and it cleans very well indeed.
 
AndrewFlannigan said:
You could be missing out, there.

Our Shark is efficient and very light. As I wrote above, It'll do 5 rooms and our stairs on a charge and it cleans very well indeed.
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I can’t see how I’m missing out. My shark also works very well, I plug it in and I can vacuum all day long if I want to.

I fail to see why we need battery powered appliances when we are using them in houses with electric sockets. The only reason they exist is because manufacturers know you’ll be replacing batteries or even the appliance in a year or two.
 
ancient_mariner said:
Maybe I'll look into that. It's never been especially impressive, but I'd rather not bin something still functional.
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You can also get adapters so that the take your preferred flavour of power to battery (DeWalt, Makita etc).

The most annoying thing about a Dyson is that to swap batteries you need tools. It would be much better if you could just buy spares and swap like pretty much every other battery tool.
 
Never been impressed with Dyson, bought one and would not buy another. (the cyclonic dirt extraction was not a new innovation, it has been around since the late 60s - early 70s at least)
We had a battery vacuum cleaner for quick run throughs downstairs where dust and leaves tends to come in the front door, it lasted about 5 years.
We now have one of those stick vacuum cleaners to replace it, it has a 700W motor and sucks like crazy, and fits easily in the broom cupboard, ideal for quick use.
 
ecoleman said:
I’d never buy a battery powered main vacuum. While battery power suits some devices, cars and vacuums is not one of them.

We’ve had a Gtech handheld that lasted just over a year before the battery was shot, then bought a cheap replacement on Amazon for less than a new battery, that lasted a year and have now bought a Shark handheld, so we’ll see how long that lasts.

Our main vacuum is a shark (mains powered) and it’s great. We’ve had a number of Dyson in the past but they don’t seem to last very long considering what they cost.
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Agree - had a Dyson cordless. Rubbish - if it was on max setting it would suck up but last minutes. Often it wouldn't work on that setting and lower one was rubbish - Went for Shark corded and a million times better.
 
ecoleman said:
I can’t see how I’m missing out. My shark also works very well, I plug it in and I can vacuum all day long if I want to.

I fail to see why we need battery powered appliances when we are using them in houses with electric sockets. The only reason they exist is because manufacturers know you’ll be replacing batteries or even the appliance in a year or two.
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Ease of use - no need to find a plug and keep moving it around rooms, plus no running over cable
 
I have a Miele mains vacuum cleaner which my cleaning lady uses on her rare visits to my house! When I'm doing cleaning myself I use a rechargeable Black & Decker cleaner.
 
Another +1 vote for the corded shark.
Manoeuvres well, powerful and does the job. Even I don't mind using it.
 
I got a light corded bagless one a couple of years ago. It's really quiet too. The cordless ones are all gutless compared to the mains power ones unless you spend a fortune.

The only things I don't like about it are the hose arrangement and storage on the unit is completely deranged and the power cord is shorter than a lot of other ones I've had.

 
We've had a Dyson V11 Absolute for a number of years now and it's been excellent. The battery has been fine and the suction is strong, although the top filter does have to be kept clean to ensure this.

Also have a Henry Cordless upright which is bagged, so very clean when emptying but can end up being expensive. Handy for a dusty environment where the Dyson would get clogged up too fast.

It also has a scent pod, but it's a bit of a gimmick. The suction power isn't as good but still acceptable, however, it has an annoying flaw whereby larger items seem to get trapped in the brush head attachment instead of being sucked up, so when you turn it off the bits fall out onto the floor.
 
gman said:
It also has a scent pod, but it's a bit of a gimmick.
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A drop or 2 of the scent of your choice on the bag works.
 
Might be a bit late to the party here but after a couple of Dysons that we weren't that impressed with frankly opted for the Henry Quick which is a worth a look at in my humble opinion. The 'traditional' Henry in my garage / workshop has been pretty much indestructible and thus far the handheld Qucik has been decent too. It's on special offer too at the moment.

All the best,
 
PeteSpringfield said:
Might be a bit late to the party here but after a couple of Dysons that we weren't that impressed with frankly opted for the Henry Quick which is a worth a look at in my humble opinion. The 'traditional' Henry in my garage / workshop has been pretty much indestructible and thus far the handheld Qucik has been decent too. It's on special offer too at the moment.

All the best,
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Re. my post above, have you found that issue where some stuff gets trapped in the motor head?
 
Different brands of rechargeable lithium ion batteries will ALL have the same battery lifetimes!
It is a known fact that lithium ion batteries ALL begin to lose capacity from the day they are made...CHEMISTRY at work, nothing more, nothing less.

So if you replace a Dyson with another brand, and they both utilize lithium ion batteries, the new brand will be no better than the Dyson!
 
In answer to the question above about the Henry Quick, I checked with Mrs Pete and her words were that something a like a small stone (presumably from our grown up kids that tread all sorts of crap through the house) would get sucked all the way into the bag so i guess the answer is yes, your point holds true.

In the garage I have a small bench vice wrapped in a plastic bag for protection and laying on the floor, the ’dirty jobs’ Henry got hold of the bag and picked the damn vice up. If I brought that in the house, I worry it would pull the floorboard up :)
 
PeteSpringfield said:
In answer to the question above about the Henry Quick, I checked with Mrs Pete and her words were that something a like a small stone (presumably from our grown up kids that tread all sorts of crap through the house) would get sucked all the way into the bag so i guess the answer is yes, your point holds true.

In the garage I have a small bench vice wrapped in a plastic bag for protection and laying on the floor, the ’dirty jobs’ Henry got hold of the bag and picked the damn vice up. If I brought that in the house, I worry it would pull the floorboard up :)
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That's odd, because the one I got is absolutely crap at picking up small stones, even with a fresh bag it kinda sucks, well not the way you want it too! lol But I think for domestic houses it would be good due to the disposable filter, as opposed to my Dyson where the filter does get clogged up eventually, especially if there's anything like fine powder/dust or dog related hair/dust.

Whilst Dyson recommends washing the top filter, I find getting my Henry (traditional 1200W) to suck the filter clean does a better and quicker job. I never though the day would come where I was using a vacuum to vacuum a vacuum.
 
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