Epic 8000

I have a Sebo K3 and an old reliable Electrolux Epic 8000. I bought a Dyson V10 and a V15. Both were returned to Costco. Yes, they are convenient, but otherwise they are crap. Not gentle on rugs or wood floors either.

Used Sebo on Marketplace. Another option, if you can find an Electrolux Epic 8000 that has been refurbished or well cared for. Heavier than the Sebo, and louder, but a really well built reliable long lasting vacuum.

I bought a V10 and I had brand new solid hickory hardwood floors. They market the head as being safe for hard floors. I started vacuuming away, thinking how convenient it was. Then I noticed the finish being rubbed off on some of the edges of my brand new hickory floors! So I bought a V15 thinking that would be safe for my wood floors. That fluffy head sits so close to the floors on the laser side, and It was wearing on the bottom corner, so I knew that was scraping at times on my floors. They are lightly sculpted and hand scraped floors, so they have that slight texture to them. Possibly that helped to contribute to the damage, but it still should not have happened. So the Dysons were returned to Costco, and when they asked me why, I told them they were damaging my wood floors. Also, the first V10 had a battery problem after 2 weeks. And the V15 seal broke after about 6 weeks. That is my crappy experience with Dyson. My regular Vacs are an old reliable Electrolux Epic 8000 and a recently purchased Sebo K3. I now will never trust anything but a horsehair brush for my wood floors. Wish I had never bought those Dysons.

I have wool area rugs and runners. Two of the runners are 80 percent wool and 20 percent cotton, and they are looped style. The instructions said suction only, but that is not enough with 2 Goldens shedding on them. I was using the lowest setting with my old Electrolux 8000. Recently bought a Sebo K3 and switched out the brush roll for the green one. The brush roll on my 8000 was softer than the Sebo standard blue brush roll. The Sebo green brush roll is even softer.

I'm currently using a Kenmore 600 and it works as good as, or better than, my former Electrolux Epic 8000. I have three German Shepherds.

Uh, what? I grew up on Electrolux canisters and have owned nothing but those or Mieles ever since. My point is that Dysons are junk, and people dump them in their Airbnbs because they don't want them anymore.

My Electrolux canister has a non-powered rug attachment with no brush and it works great on the washable rug.

In some ways, not much would change! Avoid bagless (filter queen, messy to empty), cheaper models would have more reliability problems though vacuums were simpler and easier to repair then. Good quality canister vacuum such as an Electrolux if you have a mix of hard floors and rugs. Electrolux also had better than average filtration for the time and was a bit more compact and easier to pull around than many competitors. Compact/tristar similarly a good option. If you had mostly carpet or prefered to sweep hard floors, a quality upright such as a hoover convertible would be hard to beat. Back when consumer reports was truly excellent (they're hit and miss now), Electrolux usually earned the top rank for canisters and hoover at the top for uprights.