coryandlaurel's Full Review: Hoover S2200 Flair Upright Vacuum
WHY DID WE PURCHASE THIS?
We have 2 toddlers and a 200 sq ft tile kitchen floor that seems to be perpetually dirty as a result. Food crumbs and wet sticky spills.
POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS?
1. Sweep with dustpan and mop - doesn't get everything.
2. Use our current Miele cannister vac - amazing but a pain to get out each time
3. Sweep into a central vac kick plate - don't like central vac and don't want to deal with tough install of kickplate
4. Buy a floor washer - vacuum/wet floor washer combo requires chemicals, $$, large upright size again a pain to get out
5. Swiffer - great but generates a lot of waste, $$ and doesn't pick up big chunks.
6. Buy cheap stick vac and leave it permanently plugged in within the kitchen broom closet.
We opted for #6 and now had to decide on the model to get.
STICK VAC MODEL OPTIONS?
1. Hoover Flair S2200 grey - same as red model but w/o power head, only for hard floors and really short pile carpet. Reliable name.
2. Hoover Flair S2220? - more expensive version w power head, power head kicks crumbs all over tile w/o sucking them up
3. Older Hoover stick vac models, seem underpowered and flimsy in comparison w less features
4. Rechargeable hand vacs - bening over all the time with a wimpy sucker? - no thanks
5. Dirt Devil Flex Stick? Was $15 more but has hose which might be good or bad (getting in the way). Lots of great features and felt really good. Squeegee on bottom not brushes, hepa-like filter, bagless, quick release cord, hose w attachments, bulkier size but doesn't feel that heavy, split head for corners. Reliabile name?
6. Shark? - Might be ok, but not a particularly reliable brand.
7. Hoover - don't remember the name of the model but it's really powerful (12 amps or something) but makes as much noise as a shop vac!!!
We almost bought the Dirt Devil Flex Stick but opted for the grey Hoover Flair S2200. Walmart had it at a good price but we got it for less on eBay open box.
We figured that we would rewire the broom close with a switched receptacle that would allow us to leave it plugged in all the time and switch it on whenever we needed.
RESULTS?
Suction is not what we had hoped for and it has some trouble picking up larger chunks or pieces close to the baseboards(our other vacuum is a Miele cannister - a silent wonder sucker) but we may be spoiled. Suction is the most important thing in a vacuum and this is lacking it. There is a foot pedal option to click the stationary brushes down for tile floor but they keep popping up when going over the separations between tiles. The cord quick release is great and the bagless feature cuts down on waste but when you need to clean the filter bag you should do it in the garage or out in the yard because it creates a hell of a messy dust cloud. Syling is nice but it feels heavier than the Dirt Devil Flex Stick. We have resorted to sweeping crumbs to the side and then vacuuming them all up at the end. Not the double duty I had in mind. Spills and sticky spots are cleaned up at the end by the Bissell Steam Mop (also reviewed) that is AMAZING, after the crumbs are all moved away.
I don't think we would buy this again. I would like to try another one like the Dirt Devil instead. If the brush on the head was bigger and/or stayed in place, it might actually work.
*UPDATE* - Reply to Dawn's Q's thanks.
The cord is ~20ft. long.
The vacuum is fairly easy to maneuver and has a very flexible neck joint, but has cheap noisy wheels. When using it, it feels like a light upright vacuum. Actually, the neck is so flexible I am hoping it will not break. Another con is that this vacuum will not free stand. If you try this it will fall over, and if you lean it against something, it will cause excessive strain on the head/neck joint and will likely cause it to fail over time.
The dust bag is easy to empty and clicks off of the front of the body, the rubber gasketed cloth filter comes out like a Dustbuster, and you can dump out the big chunks, but the cloth filter IS messy. (see review)
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