I was in the exact same position as you a few months ago. I needed something for both carpet and tile. After agonizing over this, compulsively researching, and hounding my friends for their vacuum experiences, I bought the Kenmore Progressive cannister. It is not quite the one-step I thought it would be to switch from carpet to tile (you really need to change the attachment), but it's no big deal. I find the sucking power is very good, expecially on the tile floor and the retractable cord is awesome. I was used to an upright, so going to a cannister definitely takes some getting used to but I really do like it and think it cleans very well.

My home also has carpet and tile and wood floors with Oriental carpets, and to make it more challenging I have two large dogs who seem to shed non stop. Previously I had always used Hoover uprights, but 2 years ago I bought the top of the line Kenmore canister. I looked at Miele and Sebo but couldn't accept the higher price. I love this canister and have since purchased another one for my vacation home.

You can use the same power head for both carpet and tile. You just push the 'bare floor' button on the handle to shut off the motorized brush. However I usually take the power head off and use the bare floor attachment on my ceramic and wood floors. One added feature that I looked for and which might not be important to you is that there is a suction control on the top of the wand. It's just a ring that slides open and reduces the suction power. It's handy when vacuuming throw rugs so that the power of the vacuum doesn't lift the carpet off the floor.

I can even vacuum my draperies and underneah the beds. When I bought them they were the top rated canister vacuum by Consumer Reports. I only wish the bags were bigger - my dogs really shed lots of hair.

I have the same situation and after my $300 Hoover self-propelled died I opted for the Sebo X4. At $500 it is priced high, but it has been well worth it. It is relatively easy to push on carpet even without being self-propelled, the suction is great and it does not throw things around my tile floor. Top this off with the fact that it can be taken apart if necessary without any tools (to clean the brush etc.) and with the good filtration, it does not smell everytime I start it up after the bag has been used like all my old vacuums. I have two dogs and this vacuum does a great job. You see these online for $700+, but my local vacuum store sells them for $500 with a box of bags included. I really like it and it is well made. No bells and whistles, just a sturdy machine.

Hope you don't mind me getting sidetracked - but mcmann, I have a question. When I am going to vacuum my kitchen tile floor and I switch at the top of the wand from "carpet" to "bare floor", it seems that the suction is greatly reduced. The rotors stop going, which I want, but even if I adjust the "open/closed" thing at the top, it hardly picks anything up. I just switch to the flat floor attachment, but I'd love to skip that step . Does yours do the same thing?

Thanks for the input. There are so many choices it is hard to decide.

I looked at Targ et last night and they have a shop-vac on clearance for $27.98. It is 6 amp 1.5 gallon AllAround Shop-Vac. It is so tiny and cute.

I picked this up to possibly use for the tile and a vacuum for the carpet (Maybe the Eureka Boss). I need a small shop-vac anyway to use to keep my AC drain clear. Clogging with algae is a problem here in hot Florida. I found that out first hand earlier this week. aaarrgh. The AC guy recommended using a shop vac to suck the gunk out of the drain a couple times a year.

The disadvantage of the tiny shop-vac is that the floor tool is only 10" wide. (Which is about the same size as my ineffective broom.)A larger shop vac would have large tools, which would be a lot quicker to use.

The advantage is that the tools from my dead vacuum fit on the tiny shop vac perfectly. They also had a Micro Cleaning Kit on Clearance. It is perfect for my keyboard, sewing machine and serger.

I don't want a huge shop-vac taking up space for twice a year use. And a big one would just be too cumbersome in the house. This one is small, comes on wheels, but is light enough to just pick up and zip around the house with.

Any thoughts on this? Does anyone use a shop-vac in the house? I don't have alergies, so hepa filters aren't necessary.No kids, No pets.

I have tile and laminate in most of my house, with carpet in 3 bedrooms. I've been very happy with my Eureka Boss Supervac. I had read somewhere that it did great on hard floors, great with cat litter and cat fur, and I have to say it's lived up to my expectations. All the little dust&fur-bunnies just come tumbling across the floor racing to get sucked up by the vacuum. I've had it about a year now and still like it.

I've had a Dyson for a year. It does exactly what they say it does IF you follow the rules and empty the dirt holder when they say. My house is less than 2,000 square feet and sometimes I can start with an empty dirt holder and will have to empty it before finishing. That makes me wonder how I could have gone so long with a bag type Hoover without changing it. If I had changed the bag every week I would have never lost suction either!!! At least the Dyson dirt holder is SUPER simple to empty. And the dust it picks up is a lot like talc. I am very favorably impressed with the performance.

Now on to the floor. When I use just the regular rotary head on tile floors, I have noticed the dust scooting out of the way. I felt around and there is an exhaust leak at the bottom of the dirt holder. I'm not sure if that is the place where the air is designed to come out or not. If so, that's the only flaw I can find with it. I have adjusted the pattern I follow and no longer see the dust jumping away from me, so I have compensated for the problem.

nicole

We must have the same vacuum (Progressive 25914/5). I agree it is easier to leave the power head on rather than switching to the bare floor attachment, especially since the floor brush is so much smaller. If I'm in a hurry I just use the power head, turn off the rotating brush and drop the height setting to extra low and vacuum. I think there is a slight reduction in suction even with the ring on the wand completely closed. But mine does pick up all the dog hair and most of the crumbs. The floor brush does a better job and is easier to maneuver under the table and around the chair legs. I only wish the flat floor brush and bag were larger - it's amazing how often I change bags. And that's probably because this machine picks up more than my old Hoovers. I wish I had a better suggestion for you.

Well, I went out and purchased a Eureka Boss Smart Vac. This is what I found.

The foot pedal used to release the handle requires a lot more pressure than any vacuum I have ever owned. I just compensate by using my heel. No big deal.

The vacuum is heavy, but I did not find it difficult to push. It glides forward effortlessly and when I pull back, there is some resistance from suction. I experienced the same thing with my old Hoover. However, something happened to the wheels on my hoover and I could not push it in a straight line. I was talking to my neighbor and she said she had the same problem with every hoover that she ever owned.

To test bare floors, I shook a rug out on the floor and made sure that I got dirt in the corner of my kitchen under the cabinet toe kick. I was able to vacuum without everything blowing away. However, the profile was a bit high for running under the toe kick in a direction parallel to the cabinets. I found that I needed to vacuum perpendicular to the cabinets to do a good job and to avoid bumping and banging along on the cabinets.

The vacuum is also a bit wide and did not fit between chair legs and such.

I used the hand attachments and found the hose to be a bit too short. I have found this to be true of every upright vacuum that I have ever owned. The tools worked fine except the Power Paw. That thing is useless. I used it on a chair that doesn't get used often. There was some dust on the back of it. I went over it with the power paw and it picked up some of the dust. Then, I switched to the upholstery attachment and it did a much better job. I won't be using that attachment again.

Perhaps I would have been happier with a canister, but I grew up using one and hated it. The canister always seemed to be tipping over.

The vacuum seemed to have really good suction, but it didn't produce large quantities in the bag like the dyson cup shows on commercials. Perhaps, dust and dirt in the bag is compressed and more dense or else it isn't as effective. I'm not sure which is true.

In general, I'm please with this vacuum. It's not perfect, but perfectly acceptable. The $148 price tag makes it more appealing than the super expensive choices.

mcmann - thanks for the info. You know, I don't think my vacuum is defective, I was just hoping for more power when I switched from carpet to hard floor (without changing the attachemt) but it sounds like yours loses a little suction too. Oh well, overall I am very happy with this model. Does great on the carpet and great on the tile with the flat floor attachment. I still think it was a great choice.

Well shoot..................

Last night I went to vacuum one of the extra bedrooms and I couldn't get the brush roller switch thingy to engage the brush roller. Died after one days use. Not good. Back to the store this Eureka Boss goes. aaaargh.

This sucks and not in a good vacuum way.

Well, I packed it up and took it back to Lowes. No problems or hassles w/ the return.

Now back to the drawing board. What to buy.......hmmmmm....

KMart has the Kenmore Progressive Canister 25512.

There is a Miele dealer not too far from here.

Dyson all floor. Someone in our office swears by it, but they have a big dog that sheds constantly. I don't.

Decisions.....decisions..........

Every vacuum seems to have both glowing reviews and bad reviews. No one vacuumm is everything to everyone. So true in so many things I guess. LOL

Here's another vote for the Kenmore Progressive Cannister. It's my first cannister and took some time to get used to, but I like the way I can easily vacuum up dust from under the beds without using an attachment. I have never had problems with the suction on my wood floors, unlike a couple of the other posters. I think it's pretty easy to shift from carpet, to tile, to wood, or whatever, with the switch on the wand that goes from bare to carpet. It picks up more dirt than my last upright that I got from Costco (can't remember the brand).

I am definately going to have to check out the Kenmore Progressive then. I wonder how it compares to the Dyson for suction. Feature wise, it sounds more flexible. I'm just getting woooed to the Dyson side by the talk of how much gunk it pulls out of carpets. The Eureka Boss had great suction for the one day. Does anyone know how the Dyson and Kenmore Progressive Canister compare as far a suction goes?

I went window shopping for vacuums at Sears this evening and looked the Kenmore Progressives. They showcased two models. One a $500 model on sale for $450. The other was the Model 24615 on sale for I believe $250.

The more expensive model had stickers on it that said rated #1 by a leading consumer magazine. (It didn't say which magazine.) I believe that it was the cheaper one that was supposed to be consumer reports #1 canister vacuum. Maybe an older report. They must have created a newer more expensive model. It looked more sleek, had some sensor that let you know when the carpet was clean, but everything else seemed pretty much the same. I'll have to look a little closer at both now that I realize that the cheaper one was the actual recommended model. I'm not sure this newer model is worth $200 more.

I love my Oreck. It goes seamlessly from my kitchen vinyl and hallway laminate to my oriental rug without having to change or do anything. It picks up the tiniest particles from either hard or soft surfaces. Unlike other vacs I've used, if I want to clean under tables or cabinets I can lower handle practically to floor level without releasing the handle. It's great!

what model and what was the cost

Get the Shark Rocket Powerhead (blue one). I have hardwood and carpet and hardly ever use my Dyson anymore.

The best thing about it is it has a special brushroll for hard floors. So, it will clean your grout lines better than suction only.

You do have to manually change out the brushroll when switching from carpet to hard floor but it is seriously worth the trouble. It cleans my hardwood much better than the Dyson does!

This vacuum also lays almost flat to get under beds. I love it!!

i have a Panasonic cannister. it works well on carpet and bare floors. it got lots of good reviews -- everyone seems to agree that for an inexpensive vacuum cleaner (around $200) it's a good deal.

Had a Miele for almost 20 years before it finally died. Wonderful vacuum. But now that i'm retired, i couldn't afford anything that expensive anymore. Am happy with the Panasonic -- it is an MCG902, and available at Amazon.

I am having this same dilemma in 2017--my old vacuum died, so I need to replace anyway, but I am moving to a new home that is PREDOMINANTLY tile but still has a fair amount of low-pile carpet (i.e. two large bedrooms) and would ideally like one vacuum to address both, since I have a pretty small space (a 2 bedroom condo) . I am kind of a neat freak and have long hair so vacuum often and anticipate getting a cat, so wondering what a good dependable option would be ? I don't have a lot of money, but am willing to pay more for something that does a really good job -- my past experience is that dual use vacuums tend to blow things around when used on hardwood or tile, even when settings are adjusted--and I HATE that! Appreciate ANY input that Houzz users and experts can provide!! Thank you in advance...

My Panasonic worked well, but was too heavy for me. I got another Miele, and I'm glad I did. Check their website for details about the different ones that are available.

Thanks for the suggestion-- I will check it out!

I have hardwood, tile and carpet in my house so need a vacuum that works well on all surfaces. I bought a Hoover Anniversary canister and have owned it about 7 or 8 years. It works on all the flooring surfaces and is easy to move from a hard surface to carpet.

A year ago, a couple days before Christmas, the power nozzle stopped working correctly. It was my fault as I jammed it on at a weird angle in my rush to get the vacuuming done.

After searching online for a good replacement I found very few canisters, at a reasonable price, with motorized/powered brush rolls. Most canisters just suck the dirt up without the brushes being powered or motorized as they are with an upright. I decided to take it to the vacuum shop to see if it could be repaired. Fortunately for less than $50 they were able to repair it. The shop owner did tell me as I looked in the store that very few motorized nozzles are made any more. Not all Hoovers are great anymore, but he did say this was a really good vacuum for the original price and worth fixing. He said he'd not had one in that needed a motor replacement and most of his customers repair them because they work so well. Hoover sells 2 canisters that look similar. Most similar is one called the Envy for about $200.

I personally think that a small wet/dry "shop vac" is a great choice for hard surfaces because they can handle both dry and wet spills and can be used to vacuum the garage floor, the car or suck water out of a clogged sink. To boot, they are relatively inexpensive.

Some of the tool manufacturers offer cordless shop vacs but to me they would only make sense if you're already using that manufacturer's battery system.

We discovered that a shop vac would satisfy all our needs. They are cheap, portable, tough, and do the job.

Canister vac. My equipment of choice: Miele.

We love our Dyson V6 motorhead. It's purple and pink in color.