Shopping Guides 5 Vacuum Cleaners

Date Published:

13/06/2008

Whether you do it wearing nothing but a smile and trilling the Shake n Vac song, or grudgingly with a scowl when someone is coming round, vacuuming must be done. So make it easy on yourself with a vacuum that can take some of the strain out of cleaning - and won't look too shabby either.

There's a surprising amount of stuff with your average vacuum these days - from bits to tackle your problem areas to bobs to help your health. Get the gubbins you need and welcome to a new world of clean.

HEPA filter/S-class filtration A breath of fresh air for asthmatics or allergy sufferers, these will prevent nasty allergens such as dust mites being blown back into the room after vacuuming.

Attachments Essential for getting into dusty nooks and crannies as well as vacuuming tricky areas like sofas, curtains and mattresses.

Heads Different flooring types demand different treatments. Cut-pile carpets will welcome a beater-bar brush (on an upright vacuum) or a turbo-head attachment (on a cylinder), while a suction-only cleaner is best for loop-pile carpets. Hard floors need a dedicated attachment while mini-heads are good for cars and hard-to-reach areas.

Bagged/bagless Bagless cleaners save you having to pick out the ONLY bag that will fit your vacuum from a selection of 50 in the shop, but bagged ones spare you from getting covered in a cloud of dust and hair every time you empty it. The choice is yours.