I know one person who recently gave me Dell coupons was probably expecting me to say Dell.
Sorry to disappoint.
Anyway, we've started a trend of buying one big ticket item per year, and last year I got to choose - so we got the camera I took these pictures with. This year, it was my wife's turn to choose, and she wanted to get a vacuum.
We kind of didn't think we'd really get around to it, but then the other day she was freaking out because the floors were dirty and she wanted to vacuum. So we fired up the green ghost, and voila! Smoke. So I cracked it open and discovered the belt was about to snap. So I replaced it. Two minutes later, we fire it up again and voila! Smoke. As I'm removing the cover again, I hear a snap. Yep, the belt melted and snapped.
Houston we have a problem. Well, our options are to take our inexpensive, destined-to-die-soon-anyway vacuum in for repairs with no guarantee of it being repairable, or we replace it. But we had decided that our next vacuum would be a quality one, we were tired of dealing with a vacuum that was sure to have problems after its 90 day warranty had expired.
So, to the internet I did go to research, and narrowed our choices down to a few choices, all of which were available at Sears. Ultra convenient. I do actually like shopping for vacuums at Sears, because there's a large selection, they let you test them right there, and there aren't many people in that department.
Of course we were instantly targeted by a salesman, especially after we picked up a $600 Dyson (not the one we ended up purchasing). And he spent the next 35 minutes demonstrating, disassembling, and sales-pitching various models. We did feel compelled to believe a lot of what he said about the Dysons because if he was just trying to get a large commission, he would push Kenmore where he gets twice the commission. Anyway, we took Elise out to the mall play area to burn some steam while we thought about which one we wanted, and settled on the DC18 slimline - weighing in at less than 16 pounds, it was light enough for my wife to handle going up and down stairs, had the ball design that lets it turn on a dime, and all the other features of the latest Dyson models.
Long story short, we made it home through the snow (I had to put chains on to get up our hill) and we instantly unpacked and assembled the unit. I began dinner while my wife vacuumed the living room and hallway. This is the result of about 10 minutes of vacuuming.
Yes, that pile of gray gunk is dust. A quick once-over of about 500 square feet of carpet produced this. I apologize to everyone who has had to breathe this in our house for the last three years.
Here's a picture of our Dyson, standing tall and proud at the top of the stairs. It is very compact, but still very powerful. If you're using the backpack in the picture as a size reference, don't. It's my daughter's backpack, which is about 1/4 the size of an adult backpack. The vacuum is small, but not that small.
Anyway, my wife is now inspired and wants to vacuum the whole house 5 times over. I expect we'll be breathing easier now.
-The Krunchy Krab
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