Vacuum Cleaner Shopping

I don't suppose that anything out there is funnier to shop for than a vacuum cleaner. I think there ought to be an entire psychology branch devoted to studying how consumers determine what to buy. First, there is no really great place that compares them all online for free. Consumer reports compares vacuums but you have to subscribe. There are many sites which "compare" but as you read them you discover that they are pushing one brand of vacuum specifically. And there are lots of places that compare a few but maybe not the ones you want. Also the prices very so dramatically from $100 - $2000. That also messes with your brain. Most of us naturally assume that more money means better quality -- but in the vacuum world that is not necessarily the case.

And then there is the anecdotal evidence. For every dyson lover there is a dyson hater. For every upright person there is a canister person.

So . . . how did I decide?

1. I prefer uprights. According to most things I read uprights do better on carpet than canisters. Canisters excel at also doing wood floors and stairs - 2. I was really tempted by the Dyson -- but $500 seemed like a lot. 3. There was a Eureka that claimed, "Works as well as Dyson for 1/4 the price" and there was an article testing that claim at Popular Mechanics. 4. The Eureka was on sale at Amazon.com for $109 -- I tried it out at Kohls and it felt sturdy and seemed very much like my old Hoover Windtunnel (which we have had for 10 years). As it is made out of mostly plastic I realize that it will probably break after a decade of use. 5. I decided for a savings of $400 it was worth it to try the Eureka out. If after a while I am not happy with it I am only out $100 bucks.

So far . . . I have loved it. My only complaint is that as you push the lever in the back to lower the handle from the upright position to the pushing position there is no "middle" catch. It is either upright (not in use) or it can be seamlessly lowere all the way to the ground. That means when vacuuming area rugs I would normally push down on the vacuum handle to raise the suction part of the ground so as not to suck up the rug. On this one you can't do that. But if you were wall to wall carpet -- this would be an awesome feature.

I'll let you know in a year if I still like it!