best dog hair vacuum that's not a dyson? - eta: I got a Dyson anyway!

I like my Dyson, and it's a cinch to empty.  Push a button and the bottom detaches.  Just make sure you do it into a trashcan!

We have a roomba and I swear by it. They recently come out with one specifially for Pets and I noticed a brush and brush cleaner upgrade that I havent tried yet but plan too. The best part of the roomba is the multi tasking part - you can walk your dog and vacuum your house at the same time. Also, if you get the scheduler all you have to do is set it up and it will vacume once a day, every other day or what ever you like so instead of letting allot of hair build up and then vacuuming it will do it daily.

There was a similar thread here a little while ago so Ithought I would post the thread for you so you can take a peek at what some of us said...
 
[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=219423&mpage]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=219423&mpage[/link]

ORIGINAL: Presley

We have a roomba and I swear by it. They recently come out with one specifially for Pets and I noticed a brush and brush cleaner upgrade that I havent tried yet but plan too. The best part of the roomba is the multi tasking part - you can walk your dog and vacuum your house at the same time. Also, if you get the scheduler all you have to do is set it up and it will vacume once a day, every other day or what ever you like so instead of letting allot of hair build up and then vacuuming it will do it daily.

We've been considering a roomba because we have a robotic lawnmower and love that. Does it work well if you have lots of small areas within a room? Like our family room is sort of broken up by the couch, so the available space to vacuum is more like an L. And does it work well on wood/vinyl? We don't have a carpet.

Sorry for the temporary hijack, back on topic: What we do for the dog hair is sweep and swiffer every day, and furminate the dog when she's blowing her coat. One of the many reasons we got rid of the last of the carpet in our house (except for an oriental rug in the dining room, which nobody is allowed on!) was the dog hair issue. I'd think it was clean, then one of my kids would crawl around with fleece pants on . . .Lordy, I thought we had a new dog! It's so much easier to know it's clean with the other types of flooring.

ORIGINAL: jjsmom06

There was a similar thread here a little while ago so Ithought I would post the thread for you so you can take a peek at what some of us said...

[linkhttp://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=219423&mpage]http://forum.dog.com/asp/tm.asp?m=219423&mpage[/link]

thanks for posting that!  I did a quick search but for some reason it didn't bring up that thread...
 
egads!  Now I'm more confused than ever!

I have the Eureka Boss Smart Vac and am very happy with it. With all my previous vacuums including the Hoover Wind Tunnel, hair would wrap itself around the roller brush. Getting it off is a major pain, and if you don't it puts a strain on the belt. With the Wind Tunnel the rollers just quit working after a year or two.
 
For some reason the Smart Vac does not collect hair on the roller. And it has some Serious Suction. To the point that if you don't have the carpet height adjusted right it will just suck itself down onto the carpet and be hard to push.

Well... how much do you want to spend? I spend about $250 on a Hoover Windtunnel about three years ago. Got the bagless so I wouldn't have to buy bags. Worked GREAT for about the first year or so. After that, would clog constantly on the littlest things which meant I'd have to take out FOUR screws and tear the whole bottom apart to clear it out. Spent $100 on new HEPA filters and at least $20 on new belts in the three years I've had it. About what I would have spent on bags.

Told the in-laws I needed a new vacuum for Christmas after the Hoover finally committed suicide by sucking up it's own cord and blew the motor. Told them I wanted a Dyson Animal. They went to a vacuum clean shop who said the Dyson was junk and that you had to buy expensive filters that could only be changed by a repair shop (lie). They DID recommend a Sebo. It *only* cost twice as much and uses bags AND filters that have to be replaced (do you think they work on commission?) I didn't really want to go back to bags. But my MIL had a Sebo already and loved hers. She claimed the bags took a long time to fill up - so they wouldn't be terribly expensive. Well, I have two adults, two kids, two dogs and two cats living on 30 year old carpet at my house. I might *possibly* go through bags faster than she will with the two adults and one cat on brand new carpet.

I looked up reviews on it, though. And it seems many in Britain are turning to the German Sebo after being let down by the quality of the Dyson. Well, I was skeptical about this thing, but have to say...

I ADORE MY SEBO!!!! I has wonderful features like the ability to adjust level automatically and it really does work on hard floors. It's supposed to have a light that warns of clogs, but I haven't clogged the thing yet. Saw myself headed towards a penny and cringed, waiting for the chattering and grinding while it chewed that penny up and spit it out. All the happened was a quiet "blurp" and the penny got sucked right in. And a couple legos. And the milk cap tab that the cat got out of the trash. NOTHING clogs this thing up! The Hoover used to clog on one of those tiny little plastic juice box wrappers! It's also super-easy to push and maneuver. AND has a fabulous hand tool. Right before Christmas I Hoovered and SteamVacced the couch for neaarly two hours. There was still dalmation hair embedded in the upholstery. After Christmas I tried out the motorized hand tool out and got nearly all the hair off in about 10 minutes.

Would *I* spend $650 bucks on it? Probably not. If I was spending that kind of dough, I might go all the way and install a central vac. I do love that my in-laws bought me this vacuum, because there is NO WAY I'd be able to afford it myself.

Saveastray:   I'll sell you my roomba!  I bought one before I had dogs.  I went around making everything "roomba" proof (moving and tieing up cords, etc), and used it.  It did work well. And, I might have used it for 6-8 months.  But,  ummm, then I got the dogs. I then spent soooooo much time cleaning out the dog hair from the wheels and suction area that I deemed it took more time to clean out the dog hair than to vacuum myself.  It's been put up since then.
 
Would love to hear more about that robotic mower!  I would one day like to have zoysia grass.  There is a particular strain that is supposed to be easier to mow than the older strains (there are a number of "types" of zosia).  I wonder if the robotic would mow the zoysia.  How long have you had yours?  How much did it cost?  Any complaints?  What brand is it?    Gee, I've never met anyone who had one of these before!
 
Back to the topic:
 
I have two Kenmores.  Both top rated. One upright and one canister.  The canister is really nice b/c I can get under most furniture and the bed.  One thing I don't like about it is that you can't quit for a second and walk away from the canister handle, or it won't keep standing on it's own, and it falls down.  I suppose I must do that alot for some reason or another.  But, still, I use this one the most.  I admit to not vacuuming as much as I should,  [],  but the bags on these don't really fill up fast at all. I've had the canister for a year, and I remember changing bags once.  See, told you I don't vacuum enough!
 
I prefer bags b/c I hate all that dust going up into the air when I empty a bagless unit. (Although I do have an inexpensive, cordless vac that is bagless which is perfect for those super quick touch-ups).
 
 

chasza, I'll start a thread tonight in NDR about iMow, with a pic or two and actually let DH talk about it, it's his baby[], but I love it too! I know they keep improving the roombas, sounds like the one Presley has is more recent than yours.

The roomba works great for us. I do have to clean the hair out of the brush's every 5-10 uses but most of the hair in there is my wifes! LOL Presley is a short haird dog - maybe thats the differance. Also, they came out with the new pet roomba with the special brush's and cleaners.
 
As for the area layout and hardwood floors - it works as well as any vacuum I have had on hardwood (have a Hoover wind tunel) and it never has a problem with odd layout's. it; sjust goes along until hits a wall, coach or what ever, turns, and goes about it's business...
 
can't wait to hear about the imow!!!! lookign into bying house (in a condo now and have a baby on the way so mor espace and a yard for Presley is in call) and frankly, I'm not looking forward to all the yard maintenance...

Yeah, they have them now where they will go back to "base".   I really do need to put mineon e-bay at least! 
 
But, I didn't want you to waste your money on buying a roomba.  I haven't seen the new ones for pets, but I still do not think it would work well.  The area to hold the dirt must be small since it is a small machine.  Dog hair takes up a lot of room.  So, I don't think any roomba could deal with the amount of hair that most i-doggers get in their homes.  Now, it probably would work for someone who had average shedder cats.  But, dogs?  Sorry, I just don't think it will work since most dogs give off a lot of hair.
 
Well, I guess the new one (if it doesn't tangle the hair on the wheels) might work if you used it everyday.  That way, there wouldn't be much hair to collect.  But, gee, who's really going to use one of those things every day?  Not many people.  Not me anyway.  That would be another thing to remember to turn on and clean up everyday.
 
Thanks in advance for starting a new thread - when you have the time.  Ask DH if he thinks it would work on really, really thick grass.  This zosia I am looking at is supposed to be easier to mow b/c the grass blade is supposed to be different from the other types of zosia.  But, it would still be super thick grass.
 
Thanks again!

I have the Dyson Animal and it's super easy to empty the canister and seems to be doing an excellent job.  I'm constantly amazed at how much it picks up.  My only complaint is that the thing is HEAVY.  Oh, and I accidentally ran over a throw rug with the brushes still turning and it just about ate the darn thing [8|].  It does a great job of picking up the dog hair though.

I have that version of Eureka Boss and it cleans VERY well. Dog hair is GONE. It was way cheaper than a Dyson, and in consumer reports testiong, was superier in performance as well. It is heavy though. I really wish it was lighter.

ORIGINAL: RebeckaK

I have that version of Eureka Boss and it cleans VERY well. Dog hair is GONE. It was way cheaper than a Dyson, and in consumer reports testiong, was superier in performance as well. It is heavy though. I really wish it was lighter.

 
thanks!  is it hard to push b/c it's not self propelled (or so I think I've read?)