A neat and clean home fits perfectly well with a perfect home, but the stubborn dust and dirt particles that remain on the sofas, carpets, curtains and all other unimaginable places, make your home not-so-perfect. Unlike the normal dusting done by your maid, vacuum cleaners sucks out the dirt and dust from hard to reach places and thus truly cleans your house.

Different types of cleaners are required for different tasks. There are variety of cleaners available - like uprights and steam vacuum cleaners. Uprights are a good choice if you have carpeted floors. Steam vacuum cleaners have self-contained steam cleaning features, for deeper cleaning and sanitizing of your floor.

TYPE OF VACUUM CLEANERS

Handy – Handy or Handheld vacuum cleaners are small and light vacuum cleaners and are usually cordless. Handy vacuum cleaners are used to clean nooks, corners and other such spots that a larger vacuum cannot access e.g. car seats. This can cost you anywhere between Rs 650 to Rs 2,500.

Compact – These are also useful for room-to-room touch up dusting as well as car cleaning. Compact vacuum cleaners are the small sized vacuum cleaners. They are low powered and the dust bags need to be emptied often. These are especially designed for quick spot cleanups or dry spills, and are best used in cars and room-to-room touch-ups. They are not as light as the handy ones but are still very portable and ideal for a small home. The price of a compact vacuum cleaner ranges from Rs 2,250 to Rs 9,990.

Canister – Canister vacuum cleaners have the suction motor and the filtering system in a square or a rectangular container. They come with a strong suction but are much heavier, have heavy attachments and can be very cumbersome to use around. Although, they are all-purpose, they are best for hardwood and vinyl floors and thick carpets. The price range of canister is anywhere between Rs 2,690 and Rs 21,500.

KEY FEATURES

Cord length
This refers to the length of the vacuum cleaner cord. Its always sensible to choose a long cord; at least long enough to span your room. Otherwise, you will find yourself wasting a lot of time plugging and unplugging the cleaner just to clean one room. You might also want to keep you eye out for an automatic cord-winding feature, so that the cord is quickly and easily stored.

Dust bag capacity
Dust Bag Capacity refers to the amount of dust that can be stored by the dust bag. A higher capacity dust bag would save you the trouble of having to empty or dispose the dust bag often. You would also want to consider the dust level indicator feature that would save you the trouble of checking on whether the dust bag is full or not.

Dust level indicator
It indicates the amount of dust collected in the dust bag of the vacuum cleaner and indicates when it is full.

Air filtration
Some vacuum cleaners come with air filters, which filters even the tiniest particles of dirt. If you have pets or suffer from allergies, you might consider vacuum cleaners with special filters.