Vacuum cleaners are getting to be too much of a hassle. Are there any good manual carpet sweepers for removing crumbs, threads, etc.?
JOE from PHILADELPHIA
I have an old Bissel carpet sweeper that I have use all the time. Great for quick pickups of pet hair, crumbs, etc. Although it will not do a "deep" clean on carpets, for most small jobs, it's wonderful! Bonus....it's easily emptied.
I used to sell Fuller Brush products and thats where I got my sweeper and I love it. I have level loop throughout my house and it is great for in between vacuuming and after the grandkids have been to my house. My advice is not to get a cheapie! You'll have to pay around $50-$80 for a good sweeper that hugs the floor and gets against the wall real well. I have had a couple of cheaper sweepers and I got rid of them. They weren't worth taking out of the closet. Look in a commercial cleaning catalog or restaurant supply if you aren't happy with what you can find locally. Try it out. The cheapie sweepers I got rid of were a popular name brand (Bissel) but even name brands have different levels of quality/price for the same type of product. Good Luck.
I have an Oreck XL carpet sweeper I bought at a garage sale for 1.00 It works wonderful on short knap carpets.
Oreck sells an old fashioned carpet sweeper or "Hokie." They have two different models: a regular one and a commercial one which holds up to much more abuse. The "restaurantuer" (commercial one) costs about $100.00, but works great. I've been using mine for about 17 years so far with no problems. My son even took it to college with him where it was used by all his friends, and he accidently left it at a club his band was playing, where they used it for a few months too.
my husband recently bought me one of those swiffer carpet flick thingies ($16) and a box of refills ($6), I have to say I love this thing (and my husband too but some days the carpet flick more lol).
I use it once a day on the carpets and then once I week I break out the big vaccum and do an overall clean, you cant imagine how wonderful it is not to have to haul that big bulky thing around so much... I strongly recommend trying one out if you can
I used BISSELL Carpet Sweeper, it was good, however, this company do not have any replacement parts for this item.
A replacement Brush was ordered (very expensive for 18 dollars, including shipping & handling) still it was not delivered. When contacted Customer service, the reply was that company stopped replacement parts for this sweeper. It is recommended NOT TO BUY a product from a company if they cannot supply replacement parts.
ACE Hardware sells a Bissett for $26.99 and it is just like the one my grandma used to use, way back in the 1940's. She only got the men folk to move the area rugs to the yard and hang over a clothes line where she would beat them with a "Rug Beater" once a year during Spring Housecleaning!
I bought a sweeper from Target for only $14 that was called real simple or something like that that was great! It was better than the higher dollar ones that I got later because my grandson broke the handle on mine and I have not been able to find one again! I would love to know where to buy another one.
People today don't know how products (including carpet sweepers) used to be made--strong and long lasting.
In the early 1980s I bought a Bissell manual carpet sweeper. It finally broke--in Feb 2009--having lasted almost 30 years. It had a steel body heavy enough to not get dented, two rollers with boar's head bristles, 2 heights--for carpet or floor; it picked up most dust and pet hair as well as larger trash. Unlike plastics, it was not a super dust magnet.
As its owner says, "it really sucks!")
I bought a replacement--no need to mention the brand. It's one of those modern "made to break" items like most of what's made today. It's smaller, made of flimsy plastic, with one roller of cheap nylon bristles, the mechanism to open the dust pans doesn't work and I don't dare force it since it's obviously it would break. It only picks up larger trash. I'm going to return it--and now what can I do? I urge "green manufacturers" to start building products like they used to be made--built for durability and of simple, functional design.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I'm looking to purchase a good and reasonably priced sweeper that will last and do a good job.
June from Kent, WA
I have recently purchased the new and improved Swiffer Sweep and Vac and I love it! I got a $3 coupon out of a local newspaper and got the vac for $27! It picks up all the big stuff and the sweeper cloth gets all the little stuff and dust.
I have a Bissell Powerforce that I bought about 2 years ago at Wal-Mart.
It was on sale for around $50.
It is the best sweeper I've had in a long time.
I like it much better than the Oreck I had bought for $300!
I needed a sweeper for a house with no electricity and decided on a cordless vac.
The Oreck cordless, the Bissell, and Shark didn't pick up everything.
Finally, I bought the Eureka Cordless Quick-Up (grey one, not the yellow one from WalMart). I hesitated to buy this because the battery was only rated to last 15 minutes. I had a whole house to do. It turned out to be a 3 lb. dynamo. As long as I change the setting for carpet or floor, it picks up everything. The dust cup is easy to remove and the handle detaches so it becomes a "dust-buster" for stairs or furniture or car. At about 3 lbs., it is light enough to carry anywhere.
So far, I've never run out of power although I often forget to put in on the charger more than once a week. When the battery starts to go, an extra battery is inexpensive.
It now cleans my house, including the ceramic tile and grout lines that nothing else cleaned satisfactorily. My throw rugs no longer have to be shaken outside. And I am no longer exhausted from lugging the heavy vacuum around, or dragging the electric broom cord from plug to plug, only to be aggravated when it takes so many passes to pick up about 1/2 of what it should. (It never has conquered my ceramic tile grout lines.) I'm sure this little guy doesn't "deep clean" carpets but it keeps them looking nice enough that I can vacuum with my heavy duty vac when I get to it.
Oreck is expensive and it is worthless. Okay, it will pick up little "dust bunnies" on a hardwood foor. I have to vacuum carpets with my old Hoover before I run the Oreck. I purchased this because of the weight, but save your money. I will go with the Dyson as my future big expense. My neighbors rave about them.
Jennifer
Northern Virginia
I bought the Swivel Sweeper. Loved it because it picked up everything, was incredibly easy to maneuver, and lightweight. However, after less than a year of usage, my Swivel Sweeper motor suddenly died on me. Up until then, I was ready to vote it best invention of the year. What's more, the warranty lasted only 3 mos and replacement parts are ridiculously expensive--almost more than what the whole machine was worth.
