Vacuums Reviews

This unusually warm winter didn't seem to have the necessary bite to kill of many of the box elder bugs that start to swarm in great numbers around fall. This led to *many* of them invading my home and staining some of my trim with their, ahem, droppings. I got tired of squishing them, wasting a tissue for every 2 or three of the buggers and decided to drop the cash on this vacuum.

It's impressively effective. Turn the thing on, place the cup over the bug, and give the bug a nudge to dislodge it. Let it run a few seconds to zap the critter and then simply dump the recently deceased insect into the trash. Sometimes a toothpick is necessary to dislodge the corpse, but usually some vigorous shaking will be sufficient.

Don't expect to hear much "zapping", although there have been a couple of cases where I have heard some electrical snaps. There will often be a bit of a burning odor as the insect is being shocked. This might be the least pleasant of the side-effects.

The device is simple to use, effective, and is a nice, non-toxic alternative to pesticides or messy smashing. It will not replace standard chemical methods if you have a serious infestation and it won't work well on very small insects such as sugar ants, but it's great for the bugs you might encounter throughout the day.

I am disappointed in the Fein tool kit for the following reasons: the devices are lacking a basic positive-lock connection feature (often incorporated in the form of that classic little round-topped chrome button that springs up into a hole on the mating piece), and they generally are (aside from the floor attachment and chrome tubes) very light gauge material. I have a ... little Eureka "Mighty Mite" compact vacuum, and its tools are actually more substantial than the supposedly "industrial grade" Fein products. Ultimately I imagine these accessories will work fine, but I am actually amazed at the high price relative to what is provided. ... Final complaint - I really can't imagine that anyone who orders the Fein vacuum cleaner wouldn't want the tools - they should come with the machine. Separating them out seems to be a way of keeping the machine's cost down - ultimately an artificial savings.

I have owned my Turbo II vacuum for a number of years now, and I will admit that I was never willing to spend the money for these attachments. It is true that there are many lesser vacuums out there that include the tools, but I always told myself that I would rather have an awesome shop vac and no tools versus a so-so vac with tools. Recently, I finally coughed up the money for these attachments and I am thrilled to have so much more versatility when using a favored tool. I have had absolutely zero problems with any of the attachments. It is true that there are no "positive lock" mechanisms on the mating pieces, yet I have never had the attachments come apart even after hours of continuous use. I have cleaned our cars, sucked up sawdust, and vanquished cobwebs all to my great satisfaction. The adjustable "bristles" on the floor attachment make pulling stuff off of carpet (such as dust/dirt/woodchips in a car trunk) a painless task.

If there is a downside, it is the lack of a convenient way to store these tools "onboard" the Turbo II machine (as some other shop vacs offer). For now I am keeping the attachments in a drawer and the metal extension wands lean in a corner. But I guess this is more my problem than a criticism of this tool set. Overall I am thrilled with the performance of this product and I recommend its purchase without reservation!

The Wet/Dry kit works great and was produced with a higher quality material than I imagined. I was also leary about buying from Amazon and using the free shipping but, the kit shipped within two days and arrived within five days. All in all, shopping at Amazon couldn't be easier and the Fein Wet/Dry kit is worth every penny.

I finally found a shop vac that has enough suction to clean my vehicle carpets. I recently broke some glass on a cement floor--this shop vac made short order of cleaning up all the little sharp edges. The very best shop vac I have ever used.

I am extremely pleased with the service, delivery and the ShopVac has already paid for itself in savings. I am delighted that the shop vac has such power and the attachments are wonderful. If there has to be something wrong it would be with the on/off switch begin push button and it would be better if it were a toggle. This product exceeds expectations and far out-performs the Rigid alternate.

Anyone who lives in a rural area with spring run off and a high water table can find a thousand uses for one of these. With five very active Labrador Retrievers, my basement floor can get grubby and messy in a hurry, especially when I use it as the main entrance for them during bad weather. This unit will pick up snow, slush, mud, and all the other sorts of organic and inorganic matter with amazing speed, and it is easily and quickly drained and cleaned, as well. This is a powerful machine, yet is fairly quiet in operation. It is sturdy, quite mobile, and packs away in the corner of the basement unobtrusively after using it on the area like the wet and grubby area around the wood stack after bringing more wood in from outside. I've had mine for a couple of seasons now, and it still operates just as if it were new. It is effective, efficient, and well priced. In my opinion, it is a very good buy for the money. Enjoy!

For hardwood floors, it does a good job. On carpet it'll clean up light spills and it's convenient on stairs. For what it costs, and without the expectation that it will do the same as a "regular" vacuum cleaner, it serves its purpose well. To me, it's basically a Dustbuster with a motorized brush. I think the Dustbuster "Dirtbuster" vacuum is better and has a stronger vacuum, although the Dustbuster doesn't have the motorized head.

We got this to use in our 32 ft. motorhome. It does the job on the small carpet areas and gets in between the furniture easily with its small head. I use a small brush to remove the dust and fuzz from the catcher area when I empty it.
This doesn't take much storage space which was important to us.
Minor complaint: the catch that slides up and down to remove and replace the dust catching chamber is difficult to move.

These little vacuums are the greatest thing since sliced bread. For people like me who can no longer lift heavy things it is just ideal for doing my cleaning.' I am amazed at the pick-up power it has. I highly recommend it for anybody with sore shoulders and neck or sore legs and knees. It makes vacuuming so much easier and it is just as efficient as by big heavy Electrolux!!

We recently purchased this vacuum from Bed, Bath and Beyond. While we were a little uneasy about paying this kind of money a 20% coupon helped lower the cost to make it a little more reasonable. We have a shedding labrador and were amazed at the amount of hair that we picked up the first time that we vacuumed. The Dyson offers instant gratification in that you can see the dirt and hair going into the bin. It also offers a no-mess emptying that works at the touch of a buttom and emptys all of the dirt into the trash.

The various attachments work great and the vacuum works well on all floors. The pet hair tool is of great use on our cloth couch which is a magnet for our dog's hair.

We were torn between the regular animal model and the ball version but decided to go with the ball version since it has a much smaller head assembly and fits beneath chairs and cabinets easier. The ball makes vacuuming almost fun in that just a flip of the wrist allows you to steer it into all areas and make tight turns. We strongly recommend this model if you have pets in your home.

Without a doubt this is the best vacuum we've ever owned. It picks up much more that any other. It's also easy to move through tight spaces.

Exceptional quality and performance. Upon opening the box you can see the quality of the machine and with only a few minor assembly steps you are on your way. Even though I had just cleaned my house I had to "test drive" it's performance. I was amazed at the dust and hair it picked up! The new ball design made turning around furniture and getting into tight spots easy. Well worth the price tag.

I WAS HAD. The blurb mentions attachments (plural) Where are they? I got one!!! I called and was laughed at. Sort of a "Sorry, sucker" laugh. I wanted to know where the instructions were and got snickered at again. I guess that one page bit of nonsense with typos was all I was going to get. No explanation of how the automatic turn on off works. Called the manufacturer's distributor and got laughed at again.
While this may be a fine piece of equipment (I gave up and gave it away) it is totally lacking in (1) the attachments that are needed to use it (oh, did I mention that for nearly $100 "they" will sell you an accessory kit. Yeah, right!) and (2) the user's manual is all but useless and there is no on line help that I could find.
Save your money and buy one of the noisy but well equipped and instructed Craftsman marginal pieces of equipment.

I just, reluctantly, purchased my second Turbo II in six years. The first one started smelling like burned electrical patrs and overheating after four years of very light use (less than 100 total hours of weekend woodworking, dust collection from a random obrit sander, and general shop clean up) and I contacted the Pittsburg repair center. I was told that the motor was burning up probably due to dust getting through the filter and would have to be replaced. They sold me a new motor for about $90 and instructed me never to use the cloth dust bag by itself. I installed the new motor and dutifully used nothing but the 1 micron filter plus the Fein brand paper dust bags from then on. After a few hours use it began to smell again and eventually overheated to the point of warping the the housing. Funny thing, the suction stayed strong but it got louder. I sent it in to the Pittsburg repair center who gave me an estimate of $276 to repair it or $272 to exchange it for a new one. I talked to the technician who was baffeled as to why the thing had failed again because the motor was dust free. He said he understood why I was disappointed. They then offered to lower the repair charge to $160 with a six month warranty. I opted to buy another one from Amazon for $260 with a promotional offer. Fein is giving a three year warranty now with on line registration, a much better deal in my mind than throwing money into something that has already failed twice. Why am I buying another one? Because I already have a set of accessories for this vac. If I had it to do over again and I could stomach the price I would buy the Wap Attix 8/ASE. It is supposed to be a far superior tool and you can buy it for about $370 on other web sites (Roberts IMA Tools). The thing about the Fein is if you can't use the cloth bladder by itself and you can't use it in conjunction with the 1 micron filter or the filter bags (check both the Amazon an Fein US web sites to verify) what is it good for and why even supply it? If the filter bags must be used to protect the delicate motor as I was told(they are now touting the 9-55-13FB model I guess to signify the filter bag requirement)why not be up front about it? The filter bags are very expensive so you should fatcor that into the cost equation. This will be the last chance for Fein with me. It works very well when its working but shouldn't fail after such little usage. It is supposed to be high quality durable tool. We'll see this time.

I have owned a lot of tank style vacuums. They tend to fall over, are messy and very loud. I am restoring a house and there is a lot of clean up and mess. This vacuum is whisper quiet yet very powerful. I am always amazed at the things it picks up. It comes with a very long hose. It is not one of the cheap Kenmore style that you step on once and it is kinked or broken. It has an extra long extention cord on it. You can also hook it up to any tool with a dust collection system. Plug the tool into the vacuum then every time the tool is on the vacuum comes on to suck up the mess.

After 5 years this work horse is still going. I have not had a days problem with it. It cleans so well that I generally use it for all my vacuuming. It is solid construction and I think in the 5 years I have had it I have tipped it over once. My other tank vacuums always fall over. The hose has held up extremely well. I am always pulling the tank around by the hose. This is well worth the money. I will probably have this my entire life. I would recommend buying all of the various accessories.

The oxygen vacuum this goes in works great, I used to think the bags cost too much but the first 5 pack I got last me a year.

I was so excited about getting this product - i always wanted a "little helper" in the kitchen. instead i found this cumbersome appliance neither a broom nor a vaccum. poor decision on my part. i will be donating it soon to the sidewalk. very disappointed.

There are two types of housework that I hate to do--vacuuming/sweeping and taking out the trash. This totally helps out with one of them. My best friend suggested this to me after I complained about having to sweep up the hair in the bathroom and the dust and dirt on the kitchen floors. I can use this to get rid of the mess in one fell swoop. The battery lasts a good long time and to top it all off, it's down right pretty. The only problem I might have with this is it is a little loud, but not enough to be a real problem. Or to give it less than 5 stars. I highly recommend this broom vac!

Well, I don't know about dirt, rocks or some of these other items people are trying to pick up with this $50 broom, but we have a virtual carpet of pet hair at home thanks to our dog, and after using this broom we can finally see our floors again. We'd tried mops and those swiffer products to no avail, but this baby picks everything up in a heartbeat with little effort, and cleanup is a snap (the reviewer that said it was cumbersome - what are you doing? press the button, bottom comes off, empty and snap back on. done.)

Now, will it work as well as a serious vacuum? Of course not. "Everything" does not mean every single thing. It's a $50 broom-vac combo, come on - not a $500 Dyson model. It sounds like some people expect all vacuums to work alike.

For basic dust, papers, and certainly lots and lots of pet hair, this puppy more than gets my vote.