I have two of the Shark sweepers and they are nice. Can be used with the wand and hose too. I got them from Sam's Club. One for upstairs and one for downstairs. Both are the Shark Lift Away. I have no carpets in my house.

Sue

Vacuums used to last for a long time - I don't know how long the new ones may be expected to last (but recent experience with some new stuff encourages one to harbour some suspicions).

Do you enjoy garage ... yard ... estate ... sales?

If you could find a gently used one there ... even with a few years of service on its record of operation it might last longer than a new one ... and cost a lot less.

Plus ... it might last longer than your need.

ole joyful

I have a Meile and LOVE it! Like this one, but grey. The different colours are different models. I couldn't find mine in a quick google search. One bag lasts a long time. I used to have a bagless but hated the dust when I emptied it. I couldn't wait for it to break down. The Meile is a bit pricey, but I have had mine 3 years now and not had a single problem with it. Mine is made for low pile carpets, hardwood/laminate and lino floors. Mine also came with a TWENTY year manufacturers extended warranty at the time of purchase.

Also, if you're on Facebook there are a lot of buy and sell groups. My niece got a free Dyson vacuum. The person she got it from didn't want to fix it. It only cost my niece under $5 for the part and it works like new again.

Hoover. Upright and canister. Both use bags. Affordable, dependable, timeless.

I would not purchase a used vacuum, even one of quality. You never know what that vacuum has run over, in, collected. Some folks vacuum more than dust, crumbs, and hair.

Mine are bagless too, but I like them..a Shark Liftaway and Shark Rocket, both from Bed Bath & Beyond plus I used a 20% off coupon.

Shark here too--no bags--best ever.

Without knowing what type of flooring/carpet you have any suggestions are irrelevant. Sears makes a good upright for carpets and deals well with dog hair. I use that on my carpeted areas. Lightweight canister vacs with bags can handle hard surface floors just fine. I like my little Panasonic.

Because of Raven, I bought a Shark. After using it for a while, I bought two more (3-level house needs 3 vacuums). They are wonderful!!! After getting the Sharks, I gave away a like-new Electrolux and a Hoover Wind Tunnel. I am sold on Shark...and will never have another one with bags.

We have what Debby has. Awesome piece of equipment. My wife has to fight me for it.

I got this Shark when I got out of the hospital. Was tired of pushing...pulling..lifting heavy vacuums. This lightweight jewel is an answer to all my problems. It's very light...8 lbs. It has the rotating head. Has all the attachments. Great on carpet and floors. Can be used as a small handheld little vac too. I didn't get the cordless as I have been told the battery doesn't last very long. I love this one. Mine looks exactly like the one pictured except mine is lavender and gray.

http://www.qvc.com/Shark-Rocket-Ultra-Light-Upright-Vacuum-w-Attachments.product.V33007.html?sc=V33007-User&cm_sp=VIEWPOSITION--9--V33007&catentryImage=http://images.qvc.com/is/image/v/07/v33007.001?$uslarge$

Thanks everyone! I may look into theShark.

I have a regular Dyson - works very well, especially for large amounts of carpet, but I hate how big and cumbersome it is, so I got a cordless Dyson. I use it 3X a week over the entire house, and for any "small jobs" and KP after dinner each night. This is the second cordless Dyson I've had (first one was reconditioned from Tuesday Morning and lasted a number of years and the second one was discounted at Sam's Club because it was a floor model), and between them I got a Shark and gave it to our son because I disliked having a cord again.

BTW, if you have pet hair to contend with, you may want to find a vacuum that works well on pet hair. I know I've seen ratings for vacuums based on just that - pet hair removal.

Dyson! I purchased mine on Overstock.com. No bag. Lots of suction! I have a DC65 animal, but this one costs a little less.

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Dyson-DC40-Animal-Upright-Vacuum-Cleaner-Refurbished/7893761/product.html?refccid=I7T5ZO5DG56JI72J4LJXUDIRKQ&searchidx=1

This is like a presidential election! So I'm here to cast my vote for Shark. Thanks to recommendations I read at the KT, I bought one and gave my Dyson (which had become too heavy for me) to a thrift shop run by the animal shelter.

Then

- I bought a second Shark for upstairs.

- I recommended Shark to a friend, who bought one.

- His cleaning lady liked it so much she bought one for herself.

- Two more friends bought them at my recommendation, and one of them has a cleaning lady who (you guessed it) bought one for herself too.

Shark should give us commissions!

I prefer a vacuum with a bag, Hoover wind tunnel self propelled upright that is probably a good 15 years old and the only thing I have had to fix is a belt a few weeks ago. I was looking for the belt and in the process I realized most of what is on the market now are bag less. I have a very small canister with a bag, for my hard floors- cheap kenmore that is about the same age as the Hoover.

I agree Susan I should be getting lots of money from Shark! But it is well worth the money for a shark. I have had 2 different cleaning ladies that loved mine and bought the same one for themselves. That's a good testimonial. My husband likes to vacuum for some reason and he was very happy with the shark purchase.

There's a new Shark on TV where the brush just snaps in and out, but I already have 2 (Liftaway and Rocket) so I don't need a new vacumn right now....

Well, I can't decide which one is better! I have a Shark Rotator Powered Lift Away TruePet Model for upstairs (so I can vacuum easily under the beds) and a Dyson Animal DC41 Complete for downstairs. I have 7 (yes, seven) cats in the house, so I thought the TruePet and Animal were appropriate. Both are new and I feel they both have comparable suction but the Shark is a bit more difficult to control but I can get most anywhere with it. So I think it's a toss-up. To me, they both are a bit on the heavy side, but I don't think it's possible to get a good quality vacuum (especially for my needs) that is also light in weight. It probably just depends on what is most important to you.

Hi again, I should add to the above post that both of the vacuums that I have are bagless. It seems to be the trend now, and I like it. These are both very easy to empty without making a mess. I just hold them over the trash (first, I make sure it isn't too full) and dump them out of the bottom. Now that I've switched to bagless, I really don't ever want to have to deal with bags again!

My Miele is almost 20 years old now, and still works fine. You may have to pay more than your $200 budget, but since they last such a long time, it's worth it. Before I bought the Miele, I was buying a new vacuum cleaner every year.

I had a Hoover wind tunnel self propelled upright and hated it. The suction was horrible and it would never pick up thingies from the floor. Finally I purchased a Shark Lift Away Navigator Pro. Love that vacuum. My daughter's vacuum quit working, so she borrowed my Shark to use one Saturday (she didn't have the money to purchase a new vacuum just at that time). She fell in love with it and when she could purchased one for herself. I am sold on Shark!

I decided the answer was to get something from Costco so if it died prematurely, I could just return it. Got a shark three years ago and it works very well. It is bagless though.

I have a Miele that's at least 15 years old too. I prefer not to have to keep throwing my vacuum cleaner out, which was happening before I bought this one. Had to bit the bullet over the cost, but it's been well worth it.

So I'm assuming that the Shark inventors have made it to where there isn't a nasty foam filter that you have to take out and wash? This has been my experience with all bagless vacuums and I have decided that I HATE bagless vacuums. But if someone has actually made a decent one that you can just dump the dust out then that would be great.

I even have one hand held cordless bagless vacuum that I have to vacuum the filter off just to clean it. Crazy!

Yes, there is a foam filter, and it can/should be rinsed clean occasionally. But even in this dusty house (I live on a dirt road), I don't do it very often. And I've never thought of the filter as "nasty" because it's not much of a job to rinse it.

I guess I didn't read your original post very carefully (if at all), SusanWV, because I didn't realize you didn't want a bagless vacuum. I can't imagine having to buy bags again; I haven't done that in decades. I don't know how you empty the contents, but I find it isn't at all messy if I dump it into a plastic grocery bag, closing the bag carefully so the dirt doesn't puff out. Like I said, I've been doing this for decades (beginning with a bagless model with a name I can't remember), and have had no problem with it. I do it in the kitchen near the trash, but I suppose you could try doing it outside if you think there would be less chance for mess.

good choice here girls!

I need proper vacuum cleaner!

Susan:

Just this week bought a new canister-type vac. While I wound up spending more than your $200 budget, I did a fair amount of research on less expensive models.

I'd be happy to share the research but I'm not quite clear whether you are looking for:

(1) a canister-type vacuum --- the kind with a separate motor unit, a hose and various fittings --- for which you want a bag system that won't be messy when changing bags

or

(2) any kind of vacuum cleaner as long as it has a bag-system because you are tired of cleaning out the messy canisters (a/k/a "dirt cups") in a bagless vac? (That was my situation.)

In the meantime, I'll suggest a couple of sources for research that you may find helpful if you have not already seen them. There is "sweethome" at:

http://thesweethome.com/reviews/which-vacuum-should-i-get/   

There also is the now somewhat famous/infamous long-running vacuum guy (Brian Driscoll) on three Reddit AMA's (Reddit "Ask Me Anything" blogs). The most recent is here:

https://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/316tx6

If you haven't seen Driscoll's AMA, be warned that there are some of the usual internet trolls who think raunchy, juvenile comments pass for humor and a fair number of folks who seemed obsessed with a character on "Breaking Bad" who was a vacuum cleaner repairman.

Anyway, to summarize briefly, Driscoll, like Sweethome, prefers bagged models for reasons he lays out in his opening comments. For budgets of $200 and less, he usually suggests Panasonics for bagged-canisters and some of Hoover's "Windtunnel" models for bagged uprights. IIRC, the Panasonic model he suggested was the MCGC902. It includes a powerhead for use on carpets which will be useful if you have carpets and/or shedding pets. (It is available from Amazon if you can't find it locally.) I thought pretty hard about this model and its Kenmore equivalent, but was put off by the number of reports of durability issues. (I should add that there were other factors that also affected my choice, )

Another suggestion: visit your local vacuum cleaner store. Checking out what they have in stock and what their repair folks have to say about what they see in the shop for repairs. I found it very helpful to figuring out what I liked and didn't like about vacuum cleaner types after test driving some of the models.

Thanks for help everybody on this forum, I found what I was looking for:)

uliya vod I'm curious, what did you finally decide upon? There are a lot of varying opinions here.

actually from what i have seen, i bought 2 , i will show you:

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Dyson-DC39-Animal-Canister-Vacuum-with-Tangle-free-Turbine-Tool-Refurbished/9312989/product.html?recset=80d42404-cf75-44f3-86ca-f0a3610206c0&refccid=WGMCSJ4NLSILT5CDHV26HS7N2Q&recalg=828,512&recidx=3

and

http://www.storesupreme.com/en/vacuum-cleaners/5424-rumbot-mini-robot-vacuum-cleaner.html

very happy with that anyway!

sorry for late response

Just in case someone else finds this thread while researching vacuums, I will mention that I have been very happy with my bagged Panasonic upright. Close to 15 years old and still works great -- strong suction. Still priced less than $200. My only complaint is that the hose for the attachments is too stiff, and I would like it to be longer-- but a more expensive model has a better one. I use a turbo head attachment for cleaning pet hair off the furniture.

Dyson did away with filters, Shark still has washable foam filters... but half the price. I just ordered a Shark actually because I want a lightweight vacuum and liked the sound of the Rotator Lift Away Speed, convertible to canister and 13lbs. Our Dyson upright (not a ball model) is at least 25lbs and lugging it up and down stairs while pregnant is not fun.

I'm sure Susan has already chosen a vacuum by now, but what about the Oreck? They use bags & are lightweight. I've never used one, but I think they are reputable.

I have a Dyson. It's a great vacuum but too heavy, in my opinion. When it dies I'm buying something lighter.

Could one say that expensive vacuums ...

are for suckers?

Oh, no - that's a different thread - the one about coffee makers.

As for vacuums ... I guess that all that some want is a good sucker ... but then, others want a bagless (but some ... not so much) ... and others want one not so heavy.

Different strokes for different folks, seems like.

(Speller advisor doesn't like my "bagless").

ole joyful

i needed a vacuum and checked Consumer Reports and a lot of other vacuum sites. i bought a Panasonic MCG 902. it was under $200. Works really well, and was exactly what i needed -- bagged, good filtration, HEPA filter, and is great for bare floors. i have a couple of area rugs too, and it does a good job on those. Definitely recommend it.

Pawprint, I don't see a lot of votes for Oreck, but I have two and love them. I'd had the basic model for years, and wanted to leave it at our former house when we moved while I did some updating and got the house ready to list for sale, then to keep it neat for showings. Upgraded to the Oreck Magnesium for this house and like it even more. When I did retrieve the first vac, I traded it in for a second new and have one at each end of this house now, both are bagged, hepa filtering. It takes about 90 seconds to change a bag ;)

I have their hand held model with shoulder strap that I use for furniture, lamp shades etc with the soft brush attachment. And all the Shop Vac brand attachments fit the hand held, available at any hardware store. I also own the Oreck floor steamer for hard surfaced floors - I suppose you could say I'm a long time Oreck fan.

Our central vac (Modern Day) has had zero repair in 15 years until this month. Needed motor replacement. I also bought a new hose. DH empties the bag from the canister in our basement -- four or five times a year. In addition to great suction, no mess, and nothing to lug but the hose, one of my favorite things is the *silence*. (I was a tad to early to have the Hide-A-Hose system installed.)

I thought there was a more recent discussion of vacuums, but can't find it. If there is one, please point me in that direction.

Raven, question for you: I was reading reviews of your Shark and one person said she got static shocks from the screws in the handle. Has that happened to you? As someone who has a real aversion to shocks, even the prospect of a shock, that would deter me.

I have three different Shark models (one for each floor), and have never gotten any kind of shock. I recommend Shark all the time.

My mother had an Electrolux canister vacuum. She used it for 48 yrs until she passed away. My sister has it now.

Alisande, thanks. It could have had something to do with where the reviewer lived (dry climate) and type of floor.

No never ever had anything like that happen. I use it on various flooring, carpet and tile laminate and rugs.

I have a Meile and love it!

Is this the Shark Pro Navigator Lift-Away you guys all like?

I just returned a very heavy (20-lb) Dyson Ball Animal (purple) that sucked so much--literally--that I could not move it, either forward or back, on my polypropylene area rug. Could. Not. Move. It. I ordered it online from Macy's and just returned it to the store. The saleswoman said she's heard they destroy carpets. It was awful.

Linelle, yes, that looks like one of mine. Go for it! :-)

Linelle. I have a Kenmore upright, bagless, direct drive (beltless) that does the samething, won't budge on certain area rugs and hard floors. Sears told me a long time ago it needed a repair, something was broken on it I can't remember what but warranty was out so it was never repaired.

In 1948. my mother bought an Electrolux vacuum cleaner (canister type). It had a cloth dust bag, and It was the only vacuum she ever owned. She used it until she passed away in 2002.