Today I purchased a brand new vacuum cleaner, something I have needed to do for a while, but put off until I HAD to! I purchased a Hoover Air Canister Vacuum and just have to tell you all about it. I always say how much I’d like to devote a section of my blog to product reviews for items I use and love around my home. Well, here is the first! Over the years I’ve very much had a love hate relationship with vacuum cleaners. There is one brand in particular that I had to forever ban a future relationship with again, and I will leave it unnamed.  My last vacuum cleaner was a Hoover and it lasted the longest I have ever kept a vacuum, it survived 2 cats, 2 dogs one of which was a lab that shed beyond imagination, 2 kids plus all their friends, a move to the south and although it was needing to be replaced, it would have kept on running a bit longer had we not experienced a little situation this morning that was not at all Hoovers fault. We will get to that soon. I have always had uprights and while the house we own now is the first house to have a lot of carpet, I have always felt I could better benefit from a canister vacuum. I feel the canisters have better suction and the attachments for hardwood, vinyl and ceramic offer far better cleaning. Why did I wait so long to get a canister? Because I’m frugal…ok, I’m cheap.

This morning I had my trusty upright Hoover out going to town and, well, without being gross, our puppy had an incident on our throw rug that blended right in and momma ran it over with the Hoover. Not realizing what was causing the vacuum to feel “stuck”, I kept going back and forth thinking something of the kids was lodged under it (this happens often). I flipped the vacuum over to investigate the problem and a split second before my eyes saw what happened, my nose smelled it. It wasn’t pretty.There was definitely something lodged, worst case scenario. Poor Hoover got unplugged and thrown out after my frustrating attempt at cleaning it. It just wasn’t happening. I know this may sound wasteful, but hear me out. The cord was duct taped in several spots from me vacuuming it up over the years and from the puppy chewing it. It had many miles on it and really wasn’t doing the job I wanted it to do anymore, it had to go.

I did some product reviews of vacuums on line. To me, this kind of research is torture, here is why. First, my ADHD cannot handle this kind of information overload. There are endless brands of vacuums and far more endless reviews on them all. But more so than that, I often find that the people who are more apt to leave reviews are unhappy people. Rather than return the item and get their money back they seem to rather like to complain to the world on line and scar a companies reputation by leaving bad reviews because they expected a magical machine that would perform unrealistic acts. I look at reviews, but I don’t always base my decision on them. I like when I read a review that is honest, yet if there is a concern with the item they point it out in a manner that is not scarring to the company when unnecessary, is realistic, yet also points out the pros and cons of the item. I’m sure there are situations where an item is purchased and is a terrible item, so how about just returning the item for a refund, possibly even leaving a polite “watch out” warning? I always go with my gut instincts, with actual reviews of products from people I know and who have used that or a similar product from the company, and I keep the receipt so that if the item does not meet my expectations, I can bring it back and get my money back. I have gone against the grain several times, not only with appliances and such, but even with restaurants, and given an item or place a try for myself that someone has said is terrible and I have loved it. You just never know until you try something yourself.

This product had very good reviews, only a couple that were negative or semi-negative. I stood in the vacuum cleaner isle of target re-reading reviews for quite some time and finally decided that I felt good about this vacuum and was willing to give it a try. I was a little concerned when I read a couple reviews saying it’s great for small places, especially apartments. I have a 3000 square foot house with lots of carpet mixed with lots of ceramic tile. I need this machine to work! I’m glad I ignored that because it worked amazing on my carpets. I also read that you may have to empty the canister while cleaning if you have a lot of carpet since it’s a smaller canister. To me that wasn’t a big enough deal for me not to purchase this item and I’m happy about that because my canister wasn’t even half full after vacuuming my carpets and my tiles.

I LOVE the attachments! The power nozzle is smaller than some canisters, which did concern me at first, but not to worry, it does it’s job! It has very good suction and leaves your carpets with those clean looking lines that we all like to see after vacuuming, even if they don’t last long! I also love love love the hard floor tool. How amazing to have a vacuum that cleans wood, vinyl and ceramic! I cook a LOT and my kitchen floor is always messy when I’m done and needing sweeping. Now I can cut back on the sweeping with this cool little vacuum attachment. Not to mention, sweeping is not something that you want to do more than you have to when you have allergies as bad as mine. Dust, dander and all the environmental particles flying through the air wreak havoc on allergy sufferers, especially when you are allergic to the world such as I am. This attachment sucks all this stuff up and contains it in it’s bag-less canister. Yes, I said, bag-less canister! I’m so glad the canister vacuums now have more bag-less choices.

This vacuum is lightweight and seems very durable.Not to mention, it’s really cute (everything appealing to me is cute) It rolls behind you very smoothly, even on carpet. It also has an adjustable handle which is great for people who are taller because you can extend it. At 4’11”, I will never need to use that option, but my 6 ft husband may when he uses it! If I have to find a downfall with it, I have to say it’s the slightly shorter than normal cord, but really, that is not that big of a big deal. Most homes have many outlets throughout and it takes all of a few seconds to switch to a different outlet.

I cannot wait to vacuum again. I do sort of have a love for vacuuming because I hate messy floors, it’s one of my biggest pet peeves. When I walk on the floor and feel grit I get the feeling like I do when someone scrapes their nails down a chalkboard, it creeps me out and feels disgusting. My OCD loves the fact that I can get the instant gratification of “clean” simply by spending a few minutes vacuuming, it’s extra exercise, and I get a probably un-normal feeling of contentment seeing all that ick and dirt sucking up into the vacuum, into the canister then going into the trash. Another reason why a bag-less is a must for me, I need to see the dirt contained, it’s a sense of accomplishment. One of my friends says I need intervention, probably true. (I’m really not as crazy as I sound, if you know me, you know my silly, spunky, highly energetic personality and totally get me, I think).

If you are thinking of getting a new vacuum, I highly recommend this one, and highly recommend Hoover. I cannot and will not bring myself to spends hundreds and hundreds of dollars on other brands that claim to be the “masters of the vacuuming world”, draw you in with their name, take a whole lot of your money and only do the same thing as the less expensive brands. Spend your money wisely.

It seems everything I buy at Target comes in a box that is ripped, fortunately this time, the product wasn’t damaged. The “girls” were totally checking it out. (The white one is the culprit for and the girl behind securing this purchase)

This hard floor tool cleans beautifully.

It cleaned the kitchen chairs wonderfully that always have kid crumbs on them:-)