I have had an Oreck for years and while it did okay I am not in love with it. We recently changed carpeting in most of the house to a twist or frieze carpet as it is now called. The Oreck does not do a good job on it at all and it takes all the strength I have to vacuum the carpet. I called my local Oreck dealer and he said the way the Oreck was designed it did not do a good job on the type of carpet I had installed. He said he could do some retrofitting which might help.

The Oreck is 10-12 years old and I would like to replace it but I want something which would work on my kind of carpet. Do any of you have the twist carpet and, if you do, what kind of vacuum cleaner do you have?
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

all I have is a cordless Shark....I don't even use my big vacuum anymore. :wink:

shark is good. mine is not cordless and i have hard wood floors now, but i've heard good things about it and it works for me

I have a rainbow, and altho expensive I have had mine for 15 years & took it in only twice for maintenance. Would not own any other kind personally.

I love my Rainbow.

I have a Shark and it is wonderful!!!

I have a Dyson. LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!
Friend of mine has an Oreck and she borrowed mine one day because she wanted to try it out. She fell in love with it too and went and bought one. Gave her Oreck to some people that needs a vacuum. lol

My next one will be a Dyson! That is of course if we don't build and install central vac. :wink:

I too have a Dyson... The Dyson Animal. I LOVE it!! I am telling you, if you buy this one, you will wonder why you didn't before. I just can't say enough good things about it... I told my g/f about it and she bought one (of course she buys just about everything I do). *LOL*, and my Sis, she bought one too...

I am a big fan of Dyson. We have hardwood and tile floors with big woollen rugs....two cats and two dogs (all live inside) and lots of people in and out. I have had the upright model for 8 years, parts are reasonable and the motor is still as good today as the day we bought it. It is one of the few vacs. endorsed good for asthmatics and it removes pet hair really well. Oh, the only reason I needed spare parts was because I rather stupidly tripped over it one day and broke the container.

Glad to hear the advice--We're getting ready to buy a new vacuum and have two big black dogs that think their job in life is to shed fur so Mama has something "to do". I had been leaning toward a Dyson anyway....

Perhaps the dealer might have a suggestion?

Oh yes...if you have animals that shed, the Dyson Animal is the one to get. That's the one we have. I just love it!

I have a Hoover. My first one was around for 13 years. And since my cleaning crew consists of people 12yo and under... Let's just say it was abused. Sucked up water (accidentally) and after drying out ran GREAT! Sucked up toys, pieces of denim (I had to take it apart and pull the denim out of the motor with a pair of pliers). And soooo much other stuff. I retired it and replaced it with a bagless model which I LOVE.

They have them at Lowe's--don't know if they have the best price.

The vacuum cleaner repairman in Dade City, FL said to avoid Dysons because parts were expensive and hard to get. So - I have no personal experience with them.

I like my bagless Hoovers, but I don't have the kind of carpet you are talking about.

They do a good job of getting the cat hair up. Mine are between five and 10 years old, but what I was not impressed with was the very short attachment hose.

Have heard nothing but good reports on the Dyson I saw some at Lowes

I have a Dyson too, and wouldn't part with it. My daughter has the one with the big ball near the base, and she loves it. Over here, QVC (UK) have just started selling them so you could check out the USA version

I have a Meile. I love it, but it is very spendy. Don't know if I would spend the money again, but I don't think I"ll have to. It's a workhorse and the best thing is it is very quiet. I can actually hear my little phone ring when I'm operating it. It's very lightweight and doesn't bother my shoulder the way my old blue Kirby does when I use that beast.

M

Thanks for all the replies. I am hoping to receive more replies before I decide what to do. I am so afraid of making the wrong decision and being stuck with something I don't like and/or doesn't do the job. I keep seeing this quote flashing in front of my eyes "Paralysis by analysis". That's me in a nutshell.

do you have any scraps left of your carpet?

if you do, maybe you could get it as loaded with stuff (dirt, sand, thread, hair, etc) as possible and take it to the store for a demo???

I'm not at all sure if they would, but better a dirty scrap than a whole carpet?

We bought our Dyson at Sears. My daughter bought hers at Target and I've seen them at Costco.
We absolutely love the Dyson vacuum. I always thought I was fairly good about keeping the house clean but after that first trip around with the dyson I had my doubts! What a bunch of dirt we'd been living with. No more! We live with a black cat and we could knit another cat with the fur the dyson manages to find.
I'd give the Dyson a 5 star rating out of 5.

have any of you had to have a Dyson repaired?

I have a Sears Kenmore cannister and I love it so much that I got another one.

I had one before and was sorry I traded it in on a kirby (which was lousy) and got rid of it and went back to the Kenmore. Now I'm a happy camper again! :D

I've had my Dyson for 3 years and it still sucks great!
I do have a small cannister that is just for my sewing room tho. That's a Fanthom that I picked up at Kmart for abourt $50. We used to have the Fanthom upright and that was a workhorse too. Traded it for the Dyson. Ok, didn't trade it, just bought the Dyson and gave the other one to my daughter who loves it. She actually put the Kirby she had out on their curb and can you imagine, it was still sitting there after a week? She finally put it on Freecycle and someone came and got it.

My Dyson is 10 years old, never needed a repair. All I do is cut off the accumulated threads from around the brushed - I get a lot of those, and empty it regularly - i.e. before it is full up.

Love my Dyson too. Got mine at Sam's club. The new house only has carpet in the sewing room, though we will have area rugs, so may get another one for upstairs, as the dyson is heavy for me to carry.
This house has no wood floors - what is the best thing to use on wood floors since new house is all wood.

Yvonne, I understand there are several models of the Dyson. Which one do you have? It looks like Dyson's are getting the most votes.

If you have pets, you WILL want the one for animals. Trust those of us that have it. lol
I should vacuum my carpet for you...it's just an area rug and show you what comes up out of it. Mind you...it sits in front of the slider so it does get the dust from outside, but the cats just gravitate to it because of the cool air that will blow in on them. I vacuum it once a week and am always amazed at what comes up.

I buy the cheapest one with the features I want and use it up, then buy another one. Vacuums are revised every few months so I don't want to get stuck with a high dollar vacuum to have to use for years to get my money's worth. The cheap new ones sold now will out perform the expensive models of a few years ago.

DC-17 Mine's blue but they all look purple now. Must have changed.
Anyway,
It's designed for asthma and allergies and animals! I'm still amazed at what that vacuum can find to suck up! I also like the fact that I can change from carpets to wood floors with just the push of a button. Is also does a great job of clearing the "beach" from around the cat's litter box. Thank goodness!

I know most of the gal's said a Dyson was the best,but in fact it's one of the worst each to their own. I'll take a Miele over any of the vacuums out there. I have 5 dogs, dirt road and 7 birds.I have both an upright and a canister. The upright's head moves making it easy to get around things and it will clean hardwood floors as I have both carpet and hardwood. I've had the canister over 10 years not one problem.

I'll cast my vote for Dyson... I had a discussion with the local Miele dealer and was tempted... so I brought my 10 year old Dyson in to his shop and let him vacuum first fully expecting there to be nothing left for the Dyson. To my, and his, surprise, the Dyson pulled up tons of dirt left behind. When we reversed the test... the Miele pulled up almost nothing after the Dyson. I live with 3 Great Danes which freely roam 10 acres of dirt and mud and I wouldn't be without my Dyson. The Dyson also does and excellent job on area rugs and hard surface flooring and it makes very short work of getting the dog hair up in the SUV after a trip to the dog park

I have a Kenmore Cannister and it does the job just fine on all types of floors. It had a real good rating with Consumer Reports.

It is easy to maneuver and not very heavy. I like the telescoping handle. All those features are important because I have back problems.

The bags are easy to change and are available in paper or heppa filter.

I really appreciate all the feedback you all have given. I still haven't made up my mind so keep your opinions coming!

I purchased a Kirby about 4 years ago and it has carpet cleaner attachments with it. It is a dream and so easy to push. It is the best sweeper I have ever had in 35 years of marriage.

I have had Hoover's for years and love them. Have back trouble so the "self propelled" feature is great..... I have a friend that has a Dyson and hates it, so I guess it is all just a matter of taste. Our local WalMart carries the Hoovers and the last time I looked, the Dyson also. Good Luck

Like Ranny, I have always had Hoover's and been very satisfied. Recently bought a self propelled for myself and dd's BD gift was a self propelled one.
She has 2 dogs and a cat and really likes the hair pick up.
Have never heard of Dyson before but w/all the response, I will surely check it out for my next one. :D

I wish I could advise but my vacuum cleaner sucks! :roll: Oh--I guess that is what they are supposed to do, right? :? lol

Ok here is another recommendation - I have a Kenmore Progressive . Our house has wood floors and carpets. I LOVE it - it works great on both. It has this Inteli - Clean option which varies the suction and brush speed depending on the amount of dirt that is being sucked in. Also has Hepa filter.

I have a lab who has a problem standing still for brushing and I could easily "build" a new lab regularly (lol) from the fur left on the floor and carpet. I works really well. My only complaint is - it is bulky.