Ding, dong, dead...

We had a death in the household yesterday, may we have a moment of silence for our Dirt Devil vacuum cleaner (insert moment of silence here).

Okay, so let's say that I vacuum ALOT.  Matt and I both have allergies and of course we have a giant, shedding (but lovely) dog.  I wouldn't say that I vacuum everyday, but if my cleaning senses are tingling and the dog is particularly "sheddy" it has been known to happen. 

Our poor vacuum has been heading down this road for a while....doesn't it look sad?

You may have noticed the yellow band at the end of the hose.  That is tape...yes, shameful, I know.  Before the tape there was super glue (in full disclosure) in an effort to keep the hose hooked to the base of the cleaner.  The super glue failed and the "cap" started cracking even worse, so in came the tape.

Everything was working really well the last few days but then an unfortunate smoking situation happened while I was using it yesterday, so we had to go shopping. 

I've been purusing vacuum cleaners for a while (I had a feeling it would kick the bucket soon) so I had a good idea of what I wanted. 

• Something light
• lots of attachments to clean in nooks and crannies
• Something with filters
• Bagless (I hate having to run to the store to pick up more bags)

So I hit the pavement (or Google) and started searching.  Of course, the first thing that came up that met my criteria was this...

This is the Dyson Animal.  It would easily fulfill all of our vacuuming wants and needs.  It is light weight, bagless, has filters, and built-in attachments for easy cleaning.  Something I really liked is that it is certified to have an anti-allergen seal.  Very handy in our house.  Everything looked great until the $599.99 price tag hit me in the face.  I mean, come on...and with our middle of the road buying technique, this is a top of the line price, that we were simply not going to pay. 

On the complete opposite end of spectrum was this Bissell:

It's the Bissell Cleanview Helix, and it cost around $75.00.  It has most everything that we wanted, but it is a little bulky and we had something very similiar to it in the past (before the Dirt Devil). It worked for a little while, but started leaving more on the carpet than it was picking up, so I was hesitant to buy something like it again. 

So far, I wasn't sold on anything and then I found The Shark.  I think it came up while I jokingly typed "cheap dyson," into Google.  The Shark is something that you have probably seen in an infomerical.  I was a little skeptical, so I searched for product reviews and found that it was ranked the #1 affordable vacuum in 2011 and #2 all around vacuum cleaner, 2nd only to the Dyson!  Also, there were a thousand videos on youtube with real people using their Shark for the first time and being amazed by it.  I watched three of the videos (nerd alert, I know) and decided this is the vacuum cleaner for us. 

Irony of all ironies, it was on sale at Target.  I go there... a lot.  I remembered it was on sale, but what I didn't see was the $20 giftcard with purchase.  The Shark was 179.99, but with the $20 giftcard, it was $159.99.  A great middle of the road price that we were comfortable with and something that (hopefully) works!  An added bonus to all the criteria that I wanted, The Shark is Anti-Allergen also!

Oh, by the way, it works!  I had just vacuumed before we left.  Our Christmas tree sheds a lot, and since I had just taken it down (leave me alone) I needed to clean up after it.  This is what came out of the carpet, after I had just vacuumed the same day, from one room...

Amazing, and disgusting at the same time.  It is safe to say that I am vacuuming everything in the house.  I cannot believe how much it picked up, how easy it is to use...I could go on all day.  As Buddy the Elf would say, "I'm in love, I'm in love, and I don't care who knows it!" 

So there you have it.  Does anybody else have a Shark and just love it?  Did you do any recent searches and product comparisons?  Let me know!

**Dyson and Bissell images from Target.com.