Ah, come on - you have a $4,000 bike(s) and won't spend some on a quality vacuum that you won't likely replace for 15 years?

Check out Miele (german) - awesome. I just love engineering masterpieces: I can talk to wife (who is of course vacuuming :) with no problems the thing is so quiet, yet works perfectly. Sealed. HEPA certified.

If I'm not mistaken, Tom D. asked this very question about 6 months ago?

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

Love my recently boght kenmore canister. Blows my old upright away. About 250-300 bucks if i recall.

The Dysons are supposed to be awesome. But for a triathlete, the Roomba would seem to be the best, since it will vacuum while you are out training. :)

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"Non est ad astra mollis e terris via." - Seneca | rappstar.com | FB - Rappstar Racing | IG - @jordanrapp

I got one of those English made yellow jobbies- a Dawson I believe. I bought a factory remanufactured one and saved over $100. I have three cats and am pretty tidy when I can afford to be.

It is a very powerful vacuum, was cheap, handles rather poorly in terms of getting under furniture and using the tools but it certainly does a stellar job on the carpeting.

I'd recommend it.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

.....there is a very big different between my lust of bikes and household appliances...I splurged on the stainless steel kitchen outfit....the vacuum cleaner just needs to do a job and stay in a closet:)

and Tom bought a Dyson if i remember correctly...that's why I am asking...is it worth it? I'd like to buy a Bissell to support a sponsor of US Cycling....but again, function rules here.

wow...i threw the 'for Triathletes' in the subject line just to make it On Topic...but you win for best answer...

...wonder if it can climb and do stairs too....?

Dyson... that's it. I like it, Sarah likes it. It's good.

The yellow color makes good things more and bad things less.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Ha - I like that answer Jordan! Nice one ")

And Madison, Miele makes a nice stainless steel version to match your kitchen ...

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Fatigue is biochemical, not biomechanical.
- Andrew Coggan, PhD

The one attached to the maid's hand?

clm

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clm
Nashville, TN
https://twitter.com/ironclm | http://ironclm.typepad.com

I"ll second the Dyson recommendation: we have two dogs , an Aussie sheperd, and an English springer spaniel, and they shed like a MOFO, the Dyson ANIMAL worls beautifully. Caveats: you have to empty the canister frequently, but basically it is incredible how much it pulls up consistently, compared to other brands I have tried.

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Tony Verow MD
Durango, CO 81301
Averow@bresnan.net

Unless you're planning on straddling it and riding it around the living room, this topic is definitely for the Lavendar room. ;)

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Adrian in Vancouver

Actually, that's absolutely true. I bought one just about a month ago and set it to automatically do it's thing Saturday AM. By the time I get back from my ride, the house (well, the downstairs, anyway) is spotless. Not sure how it would do if there were a huge mess (I'm relatively clean, don't have pets, etc.), but it does a heck of a lot better job than I thought it would.

Put in hardwood and ceramic tile floors. No vacuum needed.

I have 5 dogs and a Roomba. We have hardwood floors so I haven't tried it with carpet but I consider it along with my Nano and Tivo my 3 most important training aids.

Pat

My vacuum cleaner costs me a bit more than $300, but she does a whole lot more than just clean the carpets. They come in all shapes and sizes, and a few different colors, too. Mine's 5'9" and blonde. You can teach them to do cool tricks, too, even walks the dogs.

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Elivis needs boats.

I'm with CLM as in the best one is attatched to someone else's hand!

Two friends with pets and kids have the Dyson and they LOVE it to the point where they vacuum more than ususal. I guess it does and amazing job of getting up the pet hair. You will be shocked and disgusted at how much it will pick up.

We bought an Oreck about 5 years ago and its been great. We have 2 cats that shed like crazy and it gets up all the pet hair. Its very light too. I think we paid about $400 for it 5 years ago. The only drawback is that the cannister that comes with it sucks. I end up just putting the regular vacuum cleaner right up on the couch cushions and vacuuming them off that way.

does anybody know if Dyson sells in Canada somewhere? I am looking for a really good vacuum myself (slightly allergic, have a cat) but their website says they don't sell in Canada.

Other alternatives would also be nice to hear.

Ok - I'll expose myself- I sell vacuums for a living. No not door to door, I sell industrial vacuums, big ones think suck a bowling ball up big, but we also sell very specialized small units as well. I can sell a vacuum that can be put in a class 10 clean room, Intel has hundreds on my units in their semiconductor and chip clean rooms- these are the cleanest places in the world. We also sell units that can pick up potent pharmaceutical compound class 3 and 4 and 5. These are chemicals that can have very serious negative effect on you if you are exposed to just a few micrograms. To put it in perspective cocaine I think is only a class 3. Basically if something goes wrong with one of our vacs people can die, or a multi-million dollar clean room is contaminated and millions of dollars are lost.

We do have a family vacuum, which is essentially a cheaper version of our GM80 (the clean room vac) check it out here

http://www.pa.nilfisk-advance.com/product_lines/consumer_vacs/product_line/nil_family_vac.html

If you want I can get you some pricing- if you want the best by a Nilfisk

There is a reason why companies and organizations like Pfizer, Lilly, GSK, Abbott, Intel, ADM, USPS (think anthrax and paper dust), US Military only spec Nilfisk Vacuums.

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I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike

We're going to have so much fun at the girl's weekend.

> There is a reason why companies and organizations like Pfizer, Lilly,
> GSK, Abbott, Intel, ADM, USPS (think anthrax and paper dust), US
> Military only spec Nilfisk Vacuums.

being a top performer in those markets doesn't necessarily mean that you'll be a top performer in the "consumer models" as well, it's like comparing apples and oranges.

Not to mention that the prices on that page are way way way out of my league in terms of consumables ($175 for a HEPA filter? yikes)

Took Demerly's advice about 6 months ago and bought a Dyson - remanufactured from ABC Vacuums over the net. It works great and I love the attached hose wand. My friend came over and asked if I had the carpets cleaned after using said vacuum (they are older carpets mind you) - that's what I call major suction!!

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"Life is pain, get used to it."

The HEPA you priced is for a GM80 not the Family Vac, additionally the HEPA you priced is DOP tested and certified as well considerably bigger (4-8 times) than typical consumer vacs. In the world of filters (assuming same media types) bigger is always better. It translates to longer life. If you are looking at purchasing 2 HEPA Filters one cost $20.00 and is 2 Sq Ft and the other cost $40.00 and is 8 Sq Ft which is the better deal? The $40.00 one because it should last 4 times longer than the $20.00 one.

Another point on Filtration-HEPA is fine to advertise and a very expensive media, but what is in front of the HEPA? The Family Vac has three graduated filters prior to the HEPA. This means that the HEPA will see very little dust, as result the most expensive filter in the system gets the least use and is only used to capture the ultra fine particulate (the most dangerous also) in the air stream somewhere around sub 2micron. This is compared to other vacuums that may only have one filter bag prior to the HEPA running some between 20-5 Microns in capture (not sure of efficiencies). So in addition to the fact the our HEPA are considerable larger than almost all of our competition our HEPA see less exposure also resulting in much longer life.

The bottom line is being a top performer very demanding markets does translate down to less demanding markets and we are a top performer in the consumer market.

Look at it this way -Would you be more comfortable buying a $900 Cervelo (Trek, QR, Lightspeed, Cannondale Ect.) or a $900.00 Huffy? I'd bet the prior because you can bet that some the high end features and know how have trickled down.

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I'm just a 10 cent rider on a $2,500.00 Bike