Best vacuum cleaner, best place to buy one [Greg Laden's Blog]

This is a blog rant. But first, a bit of blog appreciation to the select number of individuals who suggested to us that the Shark was the best vacuum cleaner for us, in a recent Facebook Discussion.

I have to say, that when I saw S.H. suggest the Shark, I figured that the chances were pretty high that we would end up with a Shark, S.H. has always given me the very best advice on everything.

Anyway, the main point of comparison for us was between various models of the Dyson and various models of the Shark. Side by side they ended up being pretty similar but the Shark actually has some better specs, and is way way cheaper. I’d rank the following vacuum cleaners in order as specified:

Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away TruePet (NV752) for about $350

Shark Rotator Pro Lift-Away Vacuum (NV501) for about $180

Shark Navigator Lift-Away Professional (NV356E) for about $145

Dyson DC50 Ball Compact Animal Upright Vacuum Cleaner, Iron/Purple – Corded for about $350

I should add that we had ruled out a canister, but the Shark that we got actually can be a canister if you want it to be.

Now, where to buy it? On line would be smart, and the links above actually go to Amazon. But we decided to get the machine at a nearby store for various reasons. So we went first to Sears, then to Macy’s, and here is how they compared: