If you live in a 2BHK or bigger house, every now and then, you will have an itch to go for a vacuum cleaner. There is so much of construction boom happening in cities like Bangalore that we end up with lot of dust in house, especially on furniture like sofas, tables and chairs. I did a thorough search for a good Vacuum cleaner and finalized on two products. Do note that I had a strict sub-10k budget. Read on to know how the search went. And oh, btw, the image that you see above is of an early hand-pumped vacuum cleaner (source: Wikipedia) used in 19th century.
Covid, cement road and constructions
Though we thought of taking a vacuum cleaner many times in the past, we never really took the leap as our maid is very good at keeping the house clean. Also, we stay away from main road so we never really had problem with dust in the house.
In last two years, our colony road had white topping done (turned into cement road), lot of construction work was happening around the house and this is causing lot of dust entering our house. I wash my car in the morning and by evening there is thin coat of dust on the car and in 2-3 days time, car is filled with dust. Staying in ground floor made matters worse. This year, we left for native and stayed there from March till November due to lockdown and high Covid case count in Bangalore. There was so much of dust (even after maid came and cleaned house few times over past 8 months) that it took (even after relying on maid to clean) lot of time to clean the house. On top of this, we had to rely on Urban Company (UrbanClap earlier) to clean sofa, mattresses and car. We ended up spending around 4k.
Still, within few days, dust is back and this has to do with the amount of dust generated by cement road and constructions. We decided to take the leap and buy vacuum cleaner to keep furniture and house cleaner.
Brands
Taking popularity, innovation, service/support into account, we decided to restrict our search to following brands:
- Philips
- Karcher
- Black & Decker
- American Micronic
- LG
You may say why Eureka Forbes is not in the list. Well, be it on Amazon or word of mouth, we hear bad service and reliability of new Eureka Forbes products so we decided not to go for this brand products. Also, we saw first hand the issues that Eureka Forbes water filters had and how our own Kent filter was so much better (reliability and service).
Wet and dry or dry-only?
Our initial thought was to go with Wet and Dry type vacuum cleaner like Karcher WD3 and American Micronic AMI-VCD21-1600WDx. Then, as we did more search, we understood that you get limited wet function and is not really helpful. Also, practically, using something like an easy mop is far far better to wet wipe our floor. Reasons are simple:
- Wet vacuum cleaner has lot smaller surface area and it takes lot more time to clean wet floor.
- The main purpose of wet vacuum cleaner is to wipe liquid spills on floor. For Indian households, we clean these spills faster by using dry cloth. By the time we pull the vacuum cleaner, remove dust bag, connect to power and start wet wipe, we would have cleaned the liquid spill and resting of sofa if we just use a cloth.
- Wet and dry cleaners come with lower suction power when compared to dry vacuum cleaners at same price range.
But but but but but…
Most wet and dry vacuum cleaners come with blower mode which is extremely helpful to clean car, PCs, mosquito nets etc. If you have a garden, you will find blower very helpful. But then again, you can easily buy a high quality blower for just 2k (Stanley). So, we decided to pick one very good dry vacuum cleaner and multi function vacuum cleaner and decide which one to go for.
With or without blower?
This was where we had the biggest dilemma. Should we go for one that has blower function as well. There are very few models that come with blower function as well. This is very helpful to clean dust off a computer or mosquito nets or garden area where you have lot of dry leaves on the ground. We do not have a garden, I keep my PC very clean and we do not use mosquito nets. Due to this reason, we left blower mode as optional.
The contenders
Philips PowerPro FC9352/01 bagless
- Dry cleaning.
- Adjustable suction power.
- Compact design meets king-size performance.
- Canister type.
- 1900W powerful motor.
- Sound power level: 82dB
- Suction power (max): 370W.
- Vacuum (max): 33kPa.
- Cord Length: 6 metres.
- Dust capacity: 1.5L.
- Dimension : 410 x 281 x 247 mm.
- Weight : 4.5 kg.
- Allergy H13 filter
- One touch cord rewind.
- Equipment: Primary hose, telescopic extendable pipe, turbo brush, multiclean nozzle, crevice tool.
- Warranty : 2 years
Black & Decker VM2825 dry bagless
- Dry cleaner, bagless canister.
- Cyclonic action moves dust and debris away from filter.
- American brand.
- Plastic body.
- 2000W powerful motor.
- Sound power level: Unknown
- Vacuum (max): 21kPa.
- Cord Length: 5 metres.
- Dust capacity: 1.8L.
- Dimension : 514 x 322 x 386 mm (L × W × H).
- Weight : 6.5kg.
- HEPA filter.
- One touch cord rewind.
- Equipment: stainless steel telescopic tube, 1.5mtr 360 degree swivel hose, upholstery brush, crevice tool.
- Warranty : 6 months
LG VK53181NNTY dry bagless
- Dry cleaner, bagless canister.
- Adjustable suction power.
- Cyclonic action moves dust and debris away from filter.
- Trusted Korean brand.
- Unique ‘Sani punch nozzle’ is tailor made for pulling dust and mites from sofas, mattresses etc.
- Plastic body.
- 1800W powerful motor.
- Sound power level: 80dB
- Vacuum (max): 21kPa.
- Cord Length: 5 metres.
- Dust capacity: 1.5L.
- Dimension : 435 x 258 x 282 mm (L × W × H).
- Weight : 5.2kg.
- HEPA filter.
- One touch cord rewind.
- Equipment: pipe, dusting brush, crevice tool, carpet/floor nozzle, sani punch nozzle.
- Warranty : 6 months
Karcher WD-3 wet and dry with cloth bag
- Wet and Dry cleaner.
- Blower function.
- German design and engineering.
- Plastic body.
- Use and throw paper bag.
- 1000W motor.
- Sound power level: Unknown
- Vacuum (max): 16kPa.
- Cord Length: 4 metres.
- Dust capacity: 17L.
- Dimension : 388 x 340 x 503 mm (L × W × H).
- Weight : 8 kg.
- Special cartridge filter.
- Equipment: 2 mtr suction hose, removable handle, 2 half metre suction tubes, wet and dry floor nozzle, crevice nozzle, 5 paper bag filters, upholstery nozzle, suction brush with soft bristles.
- Warranty : 1 years
American Micronic AMI-VCD21-1600WDx wet and dry
- Wet and Dry cleaner.
- Blower function.
- Indian brand.
- Plastic body with stainless steel drum.
- Washable cloth bag to collect dust.
- 1600W powerful motor.
- Sound power level: Unknown
- Vacuum (max): 33kPa.
- Cord Length: 5 metres.
- Dust capacity: 21L.
- Dimension : 406 x 381 x 576 mm (L × W × H).
- Weight : 9kg.
- HEPA filter.
- Equipment: 5 mtr suction hose pipe, removable handle, 2 1.5mtr suction tubes, floor cum carpet brush, wet brush with two separate mouths, upholstery nozzle, crevice nozzle, washable dust bag.
- Warranty : 2 years
Black & Decker WDBD20 wet and dry
- Wet and Dry cleaner.
- Blower function.
- American brand.
- Plastic body.
- Washable cloth bag to collect dust.
- 1200W powerful motor.
- Sound power level: Unknown
- Vacuum (max): 16kPa.
- Cord Length: 5 metres.
- Dust capacity: 21L.
- Dimension : 406 x 381 x 576 mm (L × W × H).
- Weight : 9kg.
- HEPA filter.
- Equipment: 2 mtr 360 degree swivel suction hose pipe, 2x 47cm plastic suction tubes, sponge filter, 2-in-1 wet and dry brush, crevice nozzle, carpet and upholstery brush, washable bag.
- Warranty : 6 months
King of Dry Vacuum cleaners
When it comes to dry canister vacuum cleaners, the Philips PowerPro FC9352 is the undisputed champion. After all, this thing won iF design award. Philips PowerPro comes with better suction, looks, cord length, accessory management and it is unbelievable light (4.5 kgs). Runner up would be the LG VK53181NNTY. The Sani puch nozzle is tailor made for those who need vacuum cleaner to clean dust from sofas and mattress as it does punch and pull dirt action to pull dirt/dust from sofas and mattresses. Black+Decker loses out to both. Though this is a good one, it comes with just 6 month warranty and its 2000W motor delivers lot less suction compared to LG and Philips models.
Jack of all trades
Things get a little tricky when it comes to multi function Wet and Dry Vacuum cleaners. The best one amount the three models here for sure is the American Micronic AMI-VCD21-1600WDx. The 1600W motor produces 33kPa suction, has massive 21 litre drum, comes with truckload of accessories, has washable dust filter. Like Philips in dry canister vacuum cleaner category, this one has unmatched features and accessories. Karcher WD3 comes second. Though Black+Decker WBDB20 comes with better features, we just cannot accept the fact that it only has a 6 month warranty. Moreover, German engineering trumps American engineering any given day. Do remember one thing. American Micronic is not an American brand. This is pure Indian desi brand.
Jack of all trades or Master of dry?
So, it all comes down to two models. Philips PowerPro FC9352 and American Micronic AMI-VCD21-1600WDx. Keep following our site feed to know what we finally decided to go for and for our full review of the same.
