I have always used an Upright Vacuum except when I lived in an upstairs maisonette with a long flight of stairs and had an old fashioned Electrolux Cylinder.

Since 1995 I have had two Dysons (DC01 and DC04) both lasting five years with the dogs and kids and the last year I have had a cheap Argos own brand bagless pet cleaner that has been adequate but not great (but this is being killed by the present DIY mess).

Hopefully when I get done (if ever) downstairs will be tile and laminate and there will only be carpet on stairs and in the 3 bedrooms.

That means kitchen two reception rooms and hall all hard floor with maybe a rug (or non slip Vet bed more likely), doormats around.

Now my family love the Henry, but I am adamant I want bagless vac.

they are also totally biased towards cylinders as in Europe they hardly know uprights.

Now for me with an upright you can stand it in a corner and it sits there neatly with no need to stash it.  What has always put me off cylinders is dragging the monster and the hose.

So do uprights so a decent job on hard floors and if so which, or is there a neat bagless cylinder without a tiny dust container?

Experiences please.

Does anyone know anything about the new quiet Phillips bagless cylinder that looks mighty good up to the dyson?

I love Dyson but they are so dear, and I am not sure they are all they are cracked up to be since he took the making of them abroad.

'Which' report says that cylinders clean better than uprights.  I have a Bissell which 'lifts off'' to act like a cylinder.  Not having used a cylinder for years I can't say whether it is better.  It has a very small dust container but it is see-through and easily detached to be emptied without taking the whole cleaner to the bin. The one real downside is that when it was sold to me I was told that all filters were washable.  That isn't true.  There is one long filter that no-one seems to stock.  It is not cheap to replace either - £11 to £15.  The machine is heavy and noisy too.  I still think it is better than my Dyson was.

You're right about us not knowing uprights in Europe -I call them Quackies because I SERIOUSLY believed the design I saw drawn in cartoons as a kid, like Donald Duck, was intended as a JOKE! Vacuums don't look like that but Donald Duck's does......bit like his car doesn't look like a real car. I have one Quackie for carpets (bedrooms only) but it's impossible to use on floor without carpets (rest of house) so I always have 2 vacuums; one proper and one Quackie. :D

I bought a bagless Panasonic cylinder a few months ago after having used an upright (bag type) for many years.  The cylinder has better suction power but I've found that the filters need cleaning much more often.  And, I agree, an upright is definitely easier to store than a cylinder.

Yes I must agree I will not have a bagless ever again -the are so messy to empy, dust goes everywhere, and the filters were a right pain. Those with bags tend to keep the filters cleaner by far. I don't understand why the filter in so many bagless cleaners has to be right in the MIDDLE of the canister??

The filter in my bagless is at the bottom - easy to access, and only needs washing twice a year. The canister lifts right out and can be taken out to the dustbin to empty - pull a level at the top and the bottom hinges open and the dust drops straight in without any mess. :)

I still have my old Philips cylinder vacuum, which is still going strong after 22 years (yes, really! :)) - but finding a stockist of the bags is a nightmare, which is why we bought the upright bagless 5 years ago. And I haven't regretted it for a moment.

I had to use an upright for a few months in a rented house (all our stuff, including hoover was in storage). I swore then that I would never buy one. So bulky and awkward.
Our present Miele (cylinder) is great. Coming up for 7 years old, never had a problem and storage is easy, pretty sure it takes up less room than an upright. The cable retracts inside and the head/attachment fits into a slot in the side so it's very neat and tidy and stands up on end.
We didn't buy the Cat&Dog version - the salesman in John Lewis pointed out that if we bought a 'normal' version it had the same power anyway and we were able to buy the Turbo brush (which at the time was what came on the C&D) separately and it worked out cheaper !.
Our old Bosch cylinder is now 18....yes 18 years old and is kept in the garage to use in the car. The only reason we bought another one is that I knotted the cable accidently - then managed to get it stuck inside so the cable length reduced by about 10 feet !. Probably could have got it fixed but it gave me an excuse for a new one !!.

I don't really have a preference, though my last few have been uprights. The problem I have is with my back. I can't really use a cylinder one as you have to bend over so much. With an upright I don't have to use so much pressure.

Having been raised with uprights I bought my first cylinder, a Miele about 4 years ago. When I got the dog I bought a new vacuum so I could go bagless and I went back to uprights.
Cylinders:
Great for under furniture
Great for stairs
Great for cars
Didn't like watching out for where I was dragging it (what I was crashing into next)
I would use a bag a week with my hair-bear

Uprights
Easier for the main floor
I like it better for carpets
Rubbish for stairs

I was going to sell the Miele on ebay but as they weren't going for much I decided to keep it. Best of both worlds now.

So any specific recommendations for a good bagless cylinder?

I have all laminate floors apart from carpet on stairs and in one bedroom, I have non-slip bits of vet bed around for the boys instead of rugs I have an upright Dyson animal (DC14 I think) and its fantastic much more powerful than one of the pull around jobbies sucks up everything (although its does spit out big bits of dog biscuit :rolleyes: ) its got all the attachments to go under things and do skirting boards and stuff. To empty it I just take it down to the dustbin, pull the lever thing and everything drops out into the bin :)

Dyson do bagless cylinders. I don't have one but I do have one of their uprights and it's been great so far. Took a brief look and Hoover do one too although it only has 230 air watts compared to the Dyson's 300. Someone CDer must have a bagless cylinder.

I have an ancient Dyson DC02 cylinder  that I inherited from a friend who moved abroad.  It must be 10+ years old now and still going strong.  It suffices in this house but only has to cope with carpet on stairs and landing as the rest of the house has wooden flooring/tiles. 

I have animal upright dyson, hate cylinders as they pull on my tummy and make my back ache.

Octobers Which? has just come out. It's got all the best and worst vacuum cleaners and has lists for both cylinders and uprights.
Interesting reading !!.

Well as I killed the cheapo bagless upright I bought the Electrolux cylinder bagless cyclonic and hate it. 

How anyone can say a cylinder gets things up better than an upright I don't know!!!!  It is completely naff on the dog hair on the mats, just collects in the bristles on the edge of the floor tool.  I did attach the turbo brush from the upright to it and that got them up.

It is an 1800 Watt motor and was £50 in the Argos sale, about the same as I paid for theiur own upright last year (granted it only lasted the year, but I did pucish it with plaster dust).

Will be getting a proper vacuum as soon as these house repairs are done.  As bad as I thought it would be, why my European family think they are easier to use than the nice uprights I don't know. :( 

To be fair I haven't tried the Henry, but with the volume of hair and emptying that goes on here I would be bankrupt buying the bags.

Well what did it say about the various ones?

Too much to tell really.
When it comes to animal hair it says ' ....Uprights have motorised brush heads that are better suited to lifting fur away from carpets. Cylinders don't have motorised heads but some have a turbobrush - a rotating brush.....etc' (that's what I've got - a Miele, not Cat&Dog but I bought the turbobrush separately because it worked out cheaper).

Best Pet Hair Pick-Up
CYLINDER
Miele Cat&Dog TT
UPRIGHT
Hoover Dust Manager DM4493

Worst Pet Hair Pick-Up
Dyson DC11 Allergy, Hoover Dust Manager TC5212, LG V-C6683HTU, Numatic James, Vax V-008U.

The on-test results are.

CYLINDERS
Top 5 are all Miele's with the Miele S4510 1st
6. Bosch BSG71800GB
7. Karcher VC6300
8. LG V-C6683HTU
9. Dyson DC11 Allergy
10.Hoover Dust Manager TC5212
11.Numatic James

UPRIGHTS
1. Dyson DC14 All Floors
2. Dyson DC15 The Ball
3. Sebo Feliz 1 Premium
4. DysonDC15 Ball Animal
5. Hoover Dust Manager DM4493
6. LG V-FA282FTW
7. Panasonic MCE4113
8. Bissell Lift off 3760-E
9. Hoover Purepower U3485
10. Morphy Richards Pets Bagless
11. Vax V-008U

The top 5 cylinders scored 74 down to 69 (all Miele's).
The top 5 uprights scored 67 down to 49.

Dysons still score worse on reliability - this year 31% of Dysons up to 6 years old needed repair.
Because of this, they now give a five year guarantee....(great, if you don't mind the inconvenience of your cleaner going wrong !).

Anyway, loads of stuff in the report - too much to tell unless you want me to check something for you.
It gives star ratings on each thing ie. reliability, floor types, noise etc.

Val

Well have just ordered the all floors DC14 from my catalogue so that I can pay over a year rather than fork out all at once (yes I know it is dearer through the catalogues :( ) 

Of course now I have used the useless Electrolux that cost me £50 I can't take it back.

Sounds like a job for ebay! Flog it to someone who doesn't have pets and will come pick it up.