Avalir Platinum

I have two GSD, females, 9 & 10 years old and I grew up with German Shepherds. I have a Royal, (Kirby), and a Rainbow water base vacuum. Rainbow is expensive, but will last 30 years, no joke. My mother had one for 36 years. After 36 years, my dad took it over and used it in his garage. I bought a used Rainbow from E-Bay 17 years ago. It works great on dog hair. Great suction! Good luck.

These vacuum are incredible in my opinion - they have excellent suction, they are ridiculously repairable, and parts are the easiest to find of anything out there. My mom bought one new 35 years ago and my sister still uses it. This one was built around 2010. They are TERRIBLE deals brand new (like $1500+ dollars) but what is so amazing about these is that you can find them on Facebook marketplace for $20-$100 all day, every day. Usually when I buy a used one, I'll get a package of bags, belts, and a new brush for about $60 combined. Very often people break the belts and think the whole thing is broken and throw it away, which is why you can get one for $20. I have fixed up used ones like this and given them away for three wedding gifts and every one is still running great. I always see people recommend Miele and Sebo; those might be great, I don't know. But these are much more affordable and I think are the best value out there.

Yeah I wouldn't buy one new or even invite a salesman into my house. But this is one of the very rare cases where an MLM actually makes a really good product behind it

Yes they are! Plus I think I replace the bag once a year or less - as opposed to the canister vacuums I've had where they needed to be dumped constantly

Yeah they are pretty heavy. I'm considering getting a second one since we moved into a three story house

There might be a fix for that, if you take the brush out of the head and look at the end there are three markings on the plastic piece that holds the brush bearing. If you rotate that it alters the height of the brushes relative to the head itself. If you set those brushes up a little higher it might help

That is an outstanding gift! 🎁 The Kirby Avalir Platinum Home Cleaning System is the type of vacuum that makes you look forward to cleaning.

In another life I was a Kirby service tech and I serviced machines on a number of occasions > 40-50 years old. At the time they had parts available for all machines. They ARE expensive (and the sales process leaves a lot to be desired) but are generally built like tanks. If there's a weak point, it's the fan. Even if it is Lexan, hard/heavy enough debris (eg bolts) can shatter the blades. The nice thing about the design is that instead of putting the bag inline with the fan, the bags fill from the top so it's able to maintain airflow. We have one (though it was a gift) but generally use our Dyson cordless day to day.

Are we talking upright or canister vacuum? If upright and mostly carpets, I'd go with a second hand Kirby machine. Something from the later Generation series up to the Avalir (they are all fundamentally the same machine) If a canister, then yeah probably a Shop Vac. Although if he has no patience for being able to fix the vacuums I don't like his chances of dealing with the Kirby, as far as maintenance goes. Also, sounds like the bf needs to do some growing up, if he's breaking stuff regularly because it doesn't work I think he needs to learn some emotional regulation. Sounds like a spoiled child to be honest. If he's breaking them he should be paying for them, and if he doesn't have a job, well you guessed it, he should be working if he wants to break shit. Sure he may have some mental illness or problems, and I can relate, but that doesn't excuse him from acting like an idiot? This is not cute behaviour and it only gets worse if validated. EDIT: Just went through your post history.....get rid of this fucking deadbeat. I'm sorry he had a rough upbringing but he's still alive and he's fucking 33. It's time for him to take responsibility for his own life and stop blaming his past. None of this behaviour is endearing or worthy of any sort of coddling or admiration, it's just plain toxic. You DO NOT owe him a thing and it's time to move him on and find someone more aligned with you, and the fact that HE gave you an ultimatum some time back about moving in or he would leave, I'd have called his bluff and taken that opportunity to leave.

Get a Kirby if you're actually not concerned about price. Kirbys are corded, but you will never have to charge or replace your vacuum. It will outlive you.

Buy a used Kirby vacuum on FB marketplace. Go for a Heritage 2 or later G series Kirby vacuum and you'll be quite satisfied. With the G series, Sentria, or Avalir models, you can find a lot of attatchments for them. They made the same basic vacuum and attatchemts for 30+ years so they are interchangeable. You can still get parts for all of them. The Heritage 2 and older ones are great vacuums but parts and attatchments for them aren't as easy to find. They're still out there though on ebay a lot. Any vacuum store is more likely to carry parts for the newer ones. These Kirby vacuums are a bit heavy and bulky but they have so many uses and last forever. I have one from the 1950s that still works great! You can't buy a better vacuum for longevity.