Exciting news everyone! I’ve finally bought a new vacuum! …but not just one. I’ve bought two. And a half. Sort of.
Listen, this is just what happens when Kay leaves. I go out into the world and decide it’s a good idea to buy multiple vacuums and carry them home on the bus by myself. I lead a very exciting life, thank you.
Thankfully the employees tied the packs up with little handles so I could manage, and they weren’t Dysons so they didn’t weigh a bajillion pounds.
Meet the old vacuum. An obscure Miele given to us by friends.
I’m not sure how old the Miele was, but I was sure that it wasn’t great at vacuuming anymore. This vacuum also drove me crazy with how hard it was to store. Below is the best you could do to hook the head into the body and usually the huge tube was flailing about everywhere.
I used to store it on it’s end, extend the tube all the way and lean the tube and head against the wall but it would fall down all the time. Cursing, I swore at one point that our next vacuum would be an upright but after a few years living in Europe I conceded that the canister vacuum is more practical for apartment living.
We don’t have so much floor space that we require an upright to push around. It would quickly run into our coffee table, dining set, etc and would probably be much more of a pain to use the attachments for cleaning under the sofa and in the corners than just using a canister vacuum with their handy hoses.
Kay and I went looking for vacuums in the new year but we were a bit overwhelmed by all the options and prices so we chickened out. I have been thinking more and more about the vacuum situation and finally found a solution that should work for now.
This is going to be our “main vacuum”. I had a few requirements for the vacuum: Bagless, Small, Affordable, High Power
I wanted to go bagless because Kay and I are both lazy about replacing and buying new bags and it seems like emptying the canister will be easier than dealing with bags. I have heard that bagless vacuums are not quite as good at suctioning, but for 69.95CHF I am willing to give it a shot.
The Tristar seems like it is a little better about storing itself. It’s not as good as those Dyson’s that wrap around themselves, but its footprint is not too large and it seems easier to tame the hose than the old Miele.
Another plus is that there are new attachments to use! The Miele didn’t come with any and the two small ones above have attachment points on the vacuum so they are always handy! I already used them today to help clean the dust out of the bottom of my wardrobe and I am a fan.
I chose the Tristar not only because it was 50CHF cheaper than the Dirt Devil I was contemplating buying, but because the canister was a lot easier to get in and out. You just grab it like it’s a coffee mug and out it comes.
And see this? The head and hose profile are so small that it fits underneath our TV stand, something the Miele was incapable of doing. Score!
This right here is why a canister vacuum is invaluable compared to an upright. If I had an upright, I would just be down there with a tube and hose as well, hoping that they fit under the table. The canister vacuums are just so much easier to maneuver the whole vacuum body around. You don’t have to worry about the canister because it just rolls along with you.
In addition to the main vacuum, I also really wanted to try out a handheld cordless vacuum, which surprisingly was more than twice as much as the main vacuum but still way less than the 399CHF Dyson cordless vac.
ELECTROLUX Ergorapido ZB2933: 179.95CHF (It is SO 20 bucks cheaper online too, argh!)
The Electrolux is so small and light, and it is 2 vacuums in one! You can pop out the mini vac below:
Maybe the novelty of this will wear off if I decide later that it doesn’t do a great job suctioning but for now I’m really excited to either pull this out and run it quickly in the kitchen or pop the handheld out and use it instead of our sorry dust pan. (Which is really due for an upgrade too… the brush is ridiculous.)
And this one comes with attachments too! Maybe I am overly excited, never having owned my own vacuum attachments before…
You can store them inside the stand. I am a big fan of the stand as well, which is like a docking station for power.
See, I was so eager to use it when I got home that this picture you can already see it has dirt in there. Woo. Cleaning.
I thought the Dyson is probably better and has more power than this, but honestly the cordless Dyson’s do not maneuver on the floor as easy as the 180º swivel in the Electrolux and you have to hold the trigger down on the Dyson the whole time you are vacuuming. The Electrolux works more like a normal vacuum cleaner with a simple off-on button so that you don’t strain your trigger finger while cleaning.
Together I feel like these two vacuums take up about the same floor space as the old Miele and I don’t have to worry about any vacuum hoses falling over and attacking me or my limited laundry room floor space. They still cost at least 300CHF less than a standard Dyson vacuum would, which leaves us more in our budget for getting a nice robot vacuum. Three vacuums for the price of one Dyson that give me the ability to vacuum my floors, hand hold and have a robot do it for me too? Yes, please.
When we move we are looking into buying a robot vacuum to clean our floors while we are at work, but for now I’m really happy to have a new vacuum and a handheld. Maybe, just maybe… having two vacuums will spur us to hoover a bit more than we normally do. 🙂
…as for the old Miele, we’ll be moving it to the cellar in the new place where our laundry room will be so that we can use it for cleanup down there from time to time. (But it better keep out of my way… or else!)
How many vacuums do you have?