Hoover U5140-900 Tempo Widepath Bagged Upright Vacuum

Despite the rave reviews here on amazon and on other sites, I was not expecting much with such a low price. My expectations were certainly rewarded with an amazing value, a great vacuum, and the usual Amazon speedy delivery. It is really hard to believe that such a good product could be so inexpensive, even if it is made in Mexico. The build quality is excellent. However, for someone tall, like me, (6'4") the handle is not long enough, the bag is on the small side, and the unit is noisy (but not any more so than other vacuums I have had that were 3x the price), but those are the only negatives after a week of use. Instead of smelling dust while vacuuming, the air coming out of the vacuum is actually fresher and cleaner smelling than the air in the room. Searching amazon, one can find belts for $3 or less and bags less than $1 in quantity, so the unit should be inexpensive to operate. If I get five years out of the unit, I will be more than satisfied.

Our Tempo works just fine and has been for months. We use it at least twice a week seeing how we have five dogs. Other than the bags being a bit small everything works great. We like this Hoover Tempo for these reasons:

1-No stink! With all of it's filters and hypo bags it doesn't smell up the house like many of our other ones did.

2-So much suction it seems to want to inhale the carpets...watch your small throw rugs because it Will eat them.

3-Edge clean is excellent. I can see it pull in stuff that is at least 3 inches away from the beater bar.

4-PRICE! We had a 500 buck vacuum and this one works better. Plain and simple.

5-Bag system is perfect. We went through that bagless thing with other vacuums. What a mess they were. Empty out the canister and get a bath in dust and dirt. Let the sneezing start. Then you had to clean that inner dust filter (Big pain in the butt) or buy new ones that cost as much as this entire Tempo vacuum. Odd thing about those "inner" filters...you need to use a vacuum to clean them, or beat them on a big rock. I found it really dumb to need another vacuum to clean my $500 one.

6-Price. Oh sure, some of the attachments seem a little lightweight but they do their job perfectly.

7-It's light. When we first got it I thought it wouldn't clean due to its being so light. This is a wonderful feature when you need to do stairs or just carry the thing around.

I could go on and on but, hey, it's just a vacuum right?
Well, I'm a 53 year old guy and this is the first vacuum that we have ever owned that I don't mind using. I used to hide when vacuuming needed to be done or felt like I needed a dust mask when my wife used our other high dollar vacuums.

Why no five star rating? I feel the extension hose could have been a bit longer and the cord winding "pegs" are in a weird spot on the bottom.

But to save 400 bucks? I thought it was worth a try and we haven't looked back since.

Also, bought one of these for my daughter a few months ago and she reports hers is working just fine too.

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iRobot Roomba 410 Intelligent Floorvac Robotic Vacuum Cleaner, Red

First off, I want to say - get this product through Amazon directly. The third party resellers don't appear to stock product inventory and it can take weeks to ship (had to cancel a previous order from a third party reseller for this reason).

As for the iRobot Roomba 410:

Awesome little device. I use it downstairs in my kitchen and living area. I have two cats and a stained concrete floor and it does a magnificent job picking up cat hair and other miscellaneous dirt, bugs, etc. The first time I ran it, after only 20 minutes, I stopped it and opened the dust bin - pulled out a massive ball of cat hair and dust I wasn't even aware was on the floor. Over time, the amount of debris I have extracted from the unit has decreased substantially indicating it is doing its job. Fantastic - exactly why I bought it!

The cats love it; they follow it around and jump out of the way when it decides to suddenly turn in their direction.

Like any mechanical device, there are a few quirks and things to be aware of:

1.) It can get hung on power cords and rug edges. Watch the unit for the first few times you run it and (if possible) modify your space to eliminate these hazards (I taped down my rugs in a few places which helped a lot). Afterwards, you can let it run without worry.
2.) It has a small dust bin and as such, may need to be stopped and emptied every 20 minutes or so (at least on the first few runs, or until the room starts to become clean).
3.) Let it run until the battery goes down (about 45-60 minutes). This maximizes battery duration and performance. Accept the fact that the battery will expire in a year or so (maybe less) and you'll have to buy a replacement from iRobot (50 bucks, big deal).
4.) The unit is made almost entirely of plastic. I estimate a life expectancy of approximately 4-5 years, maybe longer if I clean it regularly and replace the brushes, bearings, etc. when needed (all available for order in iRobot's website). By that time, I'm sure iRobot will have 4th or maybe 5th generation Roombas available and I'll definitely be in the market for a new one!
5.) Don't expect it to return to its charging base every time. In my case it usually doesn't. I just pick it up and set it on the charger (maybe one day it will find it on its own and surprise me).

Overall, I'd give it a 9 out of 10. It efficiently does the job it is designed for, has a great "coolness" factor and it is a heck of a lot of fun to watch!

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