Sanitaire - 7 Amp TRADITION 12 in. Upright Vacuum with Dust Cup - Red/Steel

This is a must have item for people who have houses with a good amount of carpets, not nice oriental or Persian rugs though—I’ll share why in a sec. This vacuum is manufactured in Mexico and is a subsidiary of Bissell (previously owned by Electrolux until 2018). The line was always focused on commercial vacuums and this Sanitaire is no different. Metal topper, robust metal housings and brush roll/beater bar. Rubber surround so you don’t ding furniture, walls, or the vacuum itself. The Sanitaire is a direct air motor and because of that very very well suited to carpets of all types. BUT, this is not something I’d recommend for delicate rugs due to the fact that this vacuum is very, very good at what it does and will do it to a commercial standard. In other words, it’s a little “rough”. But, we have a 50% wool low pile carpet upstairs and I haven’t noticed any damage. That said, the height dial is your friend; use it often, you’ll notice when the vacuum struggles to wind up initially. I love that the vacuum is VERY easy to repair and Sanitaire has a TON of replacement parts for high use things (like the fan, the belt, and more). Accessing the areas for replacing is very easy. The vacuum is designed to a commercial quality and you can tell: it’s heavy, but not when using it; it’s louder than Shark/Dyson, but not majorly so (really. And though it’s a little louder, the sound is actually quite pleasant). But the killer feature for me at least is that I don’t need to buy bags as this is a “hybrid” using the catch bag, but a container below. The container is easily removed and its wide mouth means emptying it is a breeze. A day before I bought this vacuum I had vacuumed upstairs with a well reviewed Shark. It picked up a lot and everything looks nice and clean. For fun, I tried this vacuum on the already clean floor and picked up an additional FULL container (we have two dogs, but they don’t shed this much). I was amazed. I did a little post-purchase googling and found a video on Vacuumwars that showed that this vacuum picked up 110% of the testers material, having picked up previous tests’ worth of testing material.