this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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I'll say a vacuum.
When I was a college kid in an apartment I bought the bottom-shelf, bagged Dirt Devil vacuums and dealt with it. All the clogging, hair in the brush, cheap quality/you get what you pay for, etc. Then I moved into a house I got a mid-range Bissell to help deal with all the pet hair. The thing was questionably designed, still got a bunch of the hair in the roll, and needed regular upkeep to make sure it functioned properly. When that one went out I wasn't going to pickup the same thing even though it technically lasted for years.
I recently picked up a Shark Rotator and it sucks in the best way possible. Was it expensive? Yes. Was it worth it? Absolutely. I can vacuum my whole house knowing I'm getting as much dirt, dust, hair off the floor as possible. And I'm not going to have to deal with even half the problems the low-end vacuums have. It pivots and gets right up against walls. There is a clear window to see the brush roll from the top. It also uses fins that just don't collect hair anyway. The whole canister comes off in one easy motion and I can dump it without spilling all over the now clean floor. There are two roll speeds for hard floors and carpet. The brush roll doesn't spin when it's locked upright so it's not flinging stuff around or grinding into the carpet while I try to clean corners or the couch. And even though it's one of their "heavier" models it's still lighter than the Bissell I lugged around for years.
This is a case that better design and features comes with a price. And those design choices can directly make your life easier. So if you can afford it, go for it.
Sure, but I'd also avoid Shark at all costs because they're not really made to be serviced. Also bagless, which generally suck in a bad way. I'd suggest something like a Sebo model with the electric brush head. Easy to service, last a very long time, use bags which are just cleaner and avoid needing to think about cleaning out dust storage areas to keep airflow up, and have great canister options.
Yeah, ask anyone who uses a vacuum regularly (like a custodian) and they’ll tell you that bagged vacuums are far superior to bagless. Go get a Sanitare commercial, or an Oreck commercial. It’ll last forever, never break, be easy to service, and it’ll suck a fucking golfball through a garden hose. My Sanitare commercial literally lifts the carpet up off of the pad, and virtually every single part is replaceable, (though I doubt I’ll ever need to replace anything except the brushes, bags, and belts.)
Commercial vacuums lack a lot of the bells and whistles that home vacuums have, but that’s because they’re laser focused on two things: Reliability and suction power.
I could rant about vacuums forever. So many people complain about vacuums not working well, but also never pull out and clean or replace the filter.
If you're getting a BIFL buy-once-cry-once vacuum, I'd go straight for the Miele cannister vac. I went into an ADHD deep dive on vacuums a year ago when my own Shark needed replacing. Splurged on one and it completely changed how I feel about vacuuming. Of course, I'm 4'11, so ymmv on that, but using a good cannister vac that is lightweight VS pushing around something big and heavy makes a world of difference.
Plus, I like that it uses bags instead of a cannister; I was tired of emptying the cannister and getting a face full of dog hair and dirt that I then also had to clean up (again). That may also be personal preference, though.
I picked up a karcher shop style vacuum for my home, cost a bit more than the cheapest home style vacs, but a lot cheaper than the expensive home style vacuum, and boy does this baby suck (in a good way). I feel like most of the home vacs are only expensive to make them small and maybe a little quieter. But if you don’t care about that, you can get a very good vacuum for relatively cheap.
Some are expensive for filtering reasons. It can take some engineering to build HEPA or similar filtration along with seals that actually have the filters work, plus managing motors or filter designs that aid in the high speed airflow needed for a vacuum.
We have a Roomba for so many years now and what it taught me is that consistent daily effort > heroic occasional effort. It's not a great vacuum at all but it runs every day for a couple of hours and that keeps the floors so much cleaner than any good vacuum. No way am I going to vacuum every day everywhere like it does. Two dogs, two cats, three girls, so much hair, and clean floors.