Vacuum cleaner hate

[supergolden88]

Stuck at home with baby and daughter for two days (both coughing and one MILKING it) and going slightly stir crazy. Decided to clean the house to placate daughter who was bored out of her mind and itching to clean the stairs (!) and lets just say using the Dyson with a baby in the sling was not super effective.

I hate this Dyson - it's a good machine but completely unsuitable to our house which is 90% bare varnished floorboards. Lets not even mention lugging it up and down the stairs.

Can someone recommend a good vacuum cleaner that can cope with floorboards, some carpets, cat hair, toddler mess (and soon baby weaning mess) and is not super heavy but powerful? I may as well go crazy on Amazon while stuck indoors...

[Saffron]

We have similar floors and some stairs, also cats and a toddler. I got a Hetty Hoover last year... Like Henry Hoover, but pink with eyelashes. :) It weighs 6.9 kg. You can get hepa bags for it. And the website offers free advice.

http://www.henryvacs.co.uk/acatalog/Hetty_Vacuum_Cleaner_HET200A_.html

[standswithfist]

I have an Animal Dyson which is and has been fab. I have one carpeted room the rest are floor boards. It has a special adaptor for animal hair which was the main reason I bought it (2 cats) but I really would not change it for anything... unless I bought a Henry - fantastic with both carpets and non-carpets. (my sister used to own a Henry and I stayed with her for a month when she had a baby and the hoover was brilliant with 2 dogs and a cat)

[dullified]

I had a look on the Which website to find their recommended best hoover (especially for floorboards) they recommended the Bosch BSGL5126GB Pro Energy Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner for ?130 from John Lewis. Had it for 2 years and it is very,very good. Scored higher marks than a Henry.

Edited to say also have a cat, toddler and DIY crazy partner - it copes with all their mess too. Sometimes even use it to clean up ash in the real fireplace but that's not recommended by the manufacturers.

[Mellors]

We are Henry lovers in this house too :)

[clux]

Another vote for Henry

[candj]

We have a miele, in fact we have two and love them. They have one specially for animal hair but ours isn't and works on slate, wood floors, carpets and rugs according to the setting. We went through two dysons in the past and kept breaking them (probably didn't help that we had a builder hoovering up nails with them).

[pebbles]

We also love Henry - and when our last one broke down and I asked our cleaner if she had any one she'd prefer and she said always Henry - we have floor boards downstairs and carpets up.

[hazelnunhead]

I am just about to buy a Henry but seem overwhelmed by the choices, can someone give me a model name of the HEnry that they use? Thanks

[supergolden88]

Henry sounds great almost 100% positive reviews on Amazon. But one thing does put me off - the various attachments dont store on Henry/Hetty but have to be put away separately? I have virtually no storage space and am pretty bad at putting stuff away

[sanity girl]

I've been researching this very subject and am about to get a Hetty tomorrow - on offer at Currys in Brixton at the moment. SG88 - let me know if you want me to pick you up one at the same time!

[Trish]

I've got a Henry too - fab!

[ellaj]

We are Hetty lovers too!

[Otta]

Just bought cordless dycem, and it's great! Got it for 150 quid on amazon.