Kirby

G5 Basic

Kirby G5 Basic

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Overall

#222 in

Vacuum Cleaners

according to Reddit Icon Reddit

Sentiment score70% positive
7
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Top Pros

Top Cons

Last updated: Oct 17, 2026

Reddit Reviews

Reddit Iconawooff
5 months ago

With allergies, vacuuming is frequent especially with large in door pets for over 30 years! - have only owned preowned older well maintained high end vacs - only 1 vac has ever burned up motor wise which was a kirby g5 in all those years! Getting ready to pull out a 1977 rainbow "chrome dome" which was given to me free and came from a resale shop - it had a new motor and a newer eureka powerhead. Fabulous vac!

12 months ago

Kenmores are a dime a dozen on marketplace. Likewise, a light use kirby can be had for 60 bucks.

Reddit IconMysterious_Use9671
8 months ago

The Kirby G5 is your best bet. It’s a beast of a vacuum but will out clean and outlast anything from bissell or shark by decades.

8 months ago

Congratulations! Kirby should last you a very long time with just general maintenance and upkeep.

Reddit IconNit3fury
8 months ago

Kirby G5 here. Kirbys can be had cheap used on FB Marketplace.

Reddit IconClean_University_642
12 months ago

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. 

Reddit IconGapExtension9531
12 months ago

Just get a $50 Kirby at the thrift store. My mom would buy those cheap vacuums and they always just vaguely worked then would blow up for the dumbest reason. I got a G series Kirby at Goodwill for $18, a Royal for $20 and a Dyson DC46 cannister vac for $20- so if you look, you can find a nice vacuum for cheap.

Reddit IconCosmo_1967
5 months ago

Definitely not an impossible request to find something superb on a budget, especially when you are talking about used Kirby models which can be found on Facebook Marketplace or similar types of sites. Sometimes people are selling the units for a low as $10 for older models, which are still excellent, but something like a Heritage II or newer you can find with all the attachments for $100 (I would look for a Sentria or Sentria II which is from this century); new models are like $1600 and people get rid of them on the cheep because they are bulky and not trendy like a Dyson or Seebo but they are absolute workhorses and will outlive you (I have a 1952, 1975 and 1987 model than runs flawlessly along with my recently factory rebuilt Sentria II that I bought from new). If you are a DIY person, repairs are easy to do and parts are cheap and plentiful. When it comes to carpet cleaning, Kirby is tough to beat; They are heavy and bulky but models that are newer than a G3 have a transmission that make it featherlight to push. You can also buy attachments new or used and the vac becomes a canister vac, a carpet shampooer, an inflator, and more. You could return that Hoover and buy a much better overall vacuum in the Kirby and save your self some money ( if you are still in the return period).

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