Canister Vacuum Cleaners
In general a canister vacuum cleaner is a better choice than an upright for your home. It is fairly obvious that upright vacuums are a more popular choice amongst consumers. A really good canister vacuum will clean your carpet and smooth surface floors better than an upright, will be easier to use and is more likely to offer lower emissions. This is a generalization but when you start to research the better quality vacuum cleaners you will find more than a few examples to confirm the truth in these statements. If simply do not like the idea of using a canister vacuum and prefer to use an upright than do so. If you do not have a peference as to whether you buy an upright or canister than you will find more and better canister vacuum cleaners options when you start to research the higher quality vacuum brands.
One of the most important factors in selecting the best canister vacuum cleaner for your home is identifying how the vacuum will be used. We cover these factors in an article about selecting the best vacuum on this site. Determining what you clean and how you prefer to clean it is step one in selecting a canister vacuum cleaner. There are a lot of different models that come with significantly different floor cleaning accessories and abilities. If you know think about what you are cleaning you will narrow down which canister vacs you would actually consider buying.
Homes with a lot of carpet or mid to high pile carpet would benefit from a canister that comes with an electric powerbrush. Some canister vacuum cleaners come with a suction powered, non electric powerbrush. Suction powered canister typically cost less than comparably featured models but are not ideal for mid to high pile carpet or homes that have a pet that leaves hair on your carpet. A lot of central vacuums use suction powered powerheads but a strong central unit is going to generate a lot more suction than a mobile canister vacuum. If you have pets, your carpets are heavily trafficed or you have tightly woven, mid or high pile carpet than an electric hose and powerbrush are your best option. A full sized heavy duty powerbrush is a must for homes with pet hair.
Canister vacuums in lower price ranges typically have very few and specific cleaning features. You will notice models that only reference carpet cleaning. That usually means they do sell the unit with a floor brush and you can not disable the rollerbrush from spinning while the vacuum is operating. Other models may offer premium hard floor brushes or a combination tool that is designed for hard floors and rugs. If a canister does not come with a roller brush it is only going to benefit a home that has very limited or no rugs at all. The quality of the floor brush is another factor. Does it have a swivel neck to maneuver in a circular motion. Is it made of hair or nylon. Floor brushes that use hair will last longer and are a preference if you have nice hardwood floors. Most canister vacuums in the lower price ranges use nylon bristles on their accessories. If you have a mix of floors in your home than a canister that comes with a powerbrush and a seperate natural hair floor brush is a preference.
Do emission matter to you? Does your home have small children, a pet or any residents that have allergies or asthma? If you answered yes to any of these questions than emission matter. A canister vacuum that uses a HEPA filter does not make the vacuum a HEPA vacuum. Just because a canister or any vacuum for that matter uses a HEPA filter does not mean that it produces low emission. If vacuum emissions are a concern then terms like Sealed or HEPA vacuum or important. Canister vacuum cleaners with low emission will cost more money. Probably a couple to a few hundred dollars more than models with similar features but lesser filtration abilities. Most vacuum cleaners that produce very low emission use a series of filters and are specially designed not to leak out any exhaust until it has gone through the full filtration cycle.
The less you need the less you should expect to pay for a canister vacuum. There are canister vacuum cleaners that can clean low pile carpet that cost less than 250 dollars. We find that most decent canister vacuum cleaners will cost between 250 to 400 dollars. There are obviously more expensive models and they are typically better for at least one reason but you may not want or need a high quality canister vacuum.
Before you start sifting throught numerous consumer and customer vacuum cleaner reviews it is important to identify your needs and budget. Searching through canister vacuum options gets confusing. Most vacuum stores limit the models they carry to avoid making it more difficult to select a model and because they do not want to carry excessive inventory. We have plenty of canister vacuum reviews and information on this site to get you compliment your research.
Canister Vacuum Cleaner Reviews and Ratings
Miele Vacuums - Miele has primarily been known in the vacuum cleaner industry as one of the highest quality canister vacuum makers. Miele was years ahead of most of the competition in terms of quality and features and continue to be one of the top vacuum brands in the industry. Currently the Miele S5 series includes some of the best canister vacuum cleaners in the United States. The Miele S4 and S2 canister series include mid to compact sized models for smaller to mid sized homes. Miele canister vacuum have a very low repair rate and offer some of the best and most useful features. The better models have very low emissions and are extremely quiet.
Bissell Vacuums - Bissell makes some of the lowest priced canister vacuum cleaners for homes. Consumers with limited finances or very small homes that do not require above average performance will find some of the Bissell canister vacuum cleaners to be very good bargain.
Kenmore Vacuums - There is almost always a highly rated Kenmore canister vacuum cleaner in a consumer review publication. Kenmore consistently produces durable but moderately priced canister vacuum cleaners for consumers in the 250 to 350 price range.