I find the mini-turbo head on my Dyson works very well on stairs, but before that I used my small shop vac. I have lots of left over attachments from old vacuums, so I use the crevice and upholstery tools on the stairs. I still use it for cleaning along the baseboards and hard to get places, too, since it's light and has great suction. I add one (or more) of my left over wands to the end of the hose to reach up or down.

Any other suggestions? I'm interested in buying a hand held for the stairs too.

For Christmas, I got a Dyson Root 6. We got it at Bed, Bath and Beyond, orig. for $150, but I had a $50 gift card there, plus we used a 20% off BBB coupon, so it ended up being a really good deal.

The main problem I saw discussed in various reviews was that it only lasts for about 5 minutes, then it must be charged for a couple of hours. For me, that's not a problem as I tend to use it only for quick pick ups in the kitchen or for cleaning the stairs, which doesn't take any longer than that. It's got great suction and, w/ the crevice tool, does well getting in the crevices to pick up the dirt.

If I hadn't had the gift card to BB&B, the best price I saw was at Amazon.com, for $119 w/ free s/h.

Hope that helps!

Here is a link that might be useful: Dyson Root 6 Handheld at amazon.com

I have Dyson root 6 (aka DC16) animal since Xmas for my stairs.... and the power brush does work real good!

And yes, 5 min is more than enough for us to do the stairs and some spots clean up.... For all room jobs we've a Miele for those! :)

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I have a Eureka 71B Hand Held vacuum. (See the link below.) I bought it when we moved into a house that had carpeted stairs. The cord is really long - I can vacuum the stairs from top to bottom without reaching the end of the cord. Also, it has a brush guard that can be flipped up or down depending on whether you want to vacuum the step or the riser. It has strong suction, is easy to clean, is not very heavy, and is very small. You can pull the hose out if you want to concentrate the vacuum in a hard-to-reach spot.

I recommend this vacuum. In fact, my MIL just bought one for vacuuming her furniture (at my recommendation.)

I do not have a pet so I can't say how it performs on pet hair.

try_hard

Here is a link that might be useful: Eureka hand held vacuum

Your best bet would be to purchase a corded handvac with revolving brushroll like the Dirt Devil Ultra Handvac M08230X. It is a proven design, that has been around since the 80's in the plastic form. Royal made it in the metal form even older than the plastic design. With the corded models, you can clean the stairs or furniture with no time limit. It uses a shake-out bag or you can use a paper bag.

Dirt Devil also has a few other models that use pleated filter. With these, you will have to make sure that you clean the filter very well after each use. Check out the Dirt Devil Classic Handvac M0100 or the Dirt Devil Power Reach M08245X.

With the Eureka mentioned earlier, you will also have a filter that you muct keep clean after each use.

The Dyson's filter will do well, but you will have a very short time to clean before recharging, plus the cost of the Dyson is high.

You did not mention what brand and model of upright vacuum you have, but you can purchase a mini turbo attachment. This attachment will use a revolving brush, that will do well at cleaning up pet hair.

Here is a link that might be useful: Dirt Devil Ultra Handvac

We've had a Royal handvac, the corded metal variety, for over 20 years now that we use on stairs (and other small areas). Has worked great, just had to replace the cloth bag once and no problem getting a replacement. Just keeps on working, and works well.

Much better than the rechargable battery models that seem to last a couple of years, and then the battery loses the ability to keep a charge very long.

-Roger