Need advice on Backpack Vacuum's
Corded or cordless?
Which do you have which do you recommend?

Mike

Personally I do not recommend any backpack vacuums. You may be young now but you wont always be! A backpack vacuum puts an enormous strain on both your back and your neck, so matter how light they might be. When I see photos of people using backpack vacuums, they are always, ALWAYS bent over forward, in order to carry the vacuum. This is NOT good for your neck or neck!!!! If you use one of these, you will pay for it in your future, trust me. You will end up with terrible back and neck pain and even may need surgery to fix it. Nothing is worth going through that! Find a good vacuum that is lightweight, easy to maneuver and gets the job done well. Backpack vacuums are nonsense if you care about your future.

I worked for many years on an orthopedic unit in a major hospital. We dealt with patients who had performed many "menial" jobs for years. And they paid for it most dearly, with arthritis, joint pain, back and neck pain, etc. Well, now I am one of those people. I clean houses now and I am 68 years old! My health is good and I want to keep it that way. NO backpack vacuums for me. I vastly prefer my Sharks with the super bright headlights. The vacuum head is detachable, so I can use that bright light to see what is truly there. This saves me a lot of time and helps me do a much better job. If I used an ordinary vacuum, I would not have that bright light which helps me so much. My Sharks weigh under 10 lbs. Easy to carry and easy to maneuver into tight spaces. The attachments help me, too. One is a super long wand thingie that reaches into tight, small spaces - especially in bathrooms.There are other wand type vacuums out there, and only you can decide which type will work for you best.

Depends on where you would use a backpack vac. I have 1 account with 6-8 flights of stairs, in this case a battery backpack would be great as it is I have 90 ft of cord to deal with + all the doors.
If it is just vacuuming an office space or other large area, then a corded model works. I use a corded backpack for a museum combined with a 18" sidewinder floor tools--goes f-a-s-t.
Brad BD Janitorial

People, please think about your own health! Using a backpack vac is a big strain on your back , shoulders and arms. You may be young now but you wont always be.

I suggest you cordless vacuum cleaners are lightweight, upright stick-shaped vacuum cleaners which use battery power to suck up dust and dirt. Most include accessories for cleaning stairs, upholstery, crevices and even your car.

Ordinary cordless vacuums have a lot less suction than corded plus they have a limited amount of time before you have to recharge.

Backpack vacuums: I want to remind you that you will not always be young! That sort of equipment is awkward, NOT light and will put a strain on your back and shoulders. You may pay the price for this in a few years! Your back will go out on you and you will not be able to work. Think about this. I am speaking now as a nurse who worked on an Ortho unit for many years.

I prefer the bagless vacs and the 1 I've been using for 10 years minimum is the Hoover T-Series WindTunnel Rewind Bagless Upright Vacuum, UH70120. I get it from Wal-Mart and the price always goes on sale for less than $100. VERY easy together and I LOVE that it has a push of a button cord rewind. It's always rated (or the last time I checked) in the top 5 vacuums in the yearly Consumer Reports. I've also been asked which vac I used by 2 different clients that owned Dysons which they obviously, were not happy with.

How heavy is that model? They look enormous to me. I am only 5'3' and weigh 110 lbs! Cant carry something enormous. I love my Sharks because of those wonderful LED headlights. Ever since I first bought one with headlights, I was so impressed. Those darn lights show me things about a house that the owner NEVER knew was there.
I'll give an example. I used to clean the fairly large home of an elderly couple. They have a dog they adore. Both had health problems and neither one could clean well. It became obvious quite quickly that neither person could SEE well either! LOL! Those headlights showed me huge mounds of dust all over the place. It was actually kinda gross. The bathrooms were COVERED in dust and cobwebs, but if you didnt have a bright light, you would not have seen it.

You have to laugh about some of the stuff we see routinely. I could go on and on about this. I wish other people here would share THEIR funny moments, or mistakes, or some of the gross things they see. Gayelynn, seems like only we two do this. LOL! Maybe everyones elses customers live completely cleanly and neatly??? Kind of doubt that!

I'm 5'4" and 100 too and don't have a problem but looks can be deceiving . I'm also used to only up-rights. But this particular model rates right up there with Magic Erasers to my standards. I couldn't do my job without both! For my apartment sized apartment, however, a smaller model would suffice!

But ow many lbs does it weigh?? At 68 I dont need to be lugging heavy vacuums. LOL!My Sharks weigh maybe 10 lbs. Light but have good suction and clean up okay.
They are super good on pet hair.

I got a new customer for every other Monday. She lives 15 miles away, not ideal. But because I lost several good customers, I have to take this job. She sounds picky. She seems to be elderly and older woman tend to BE picky/ They do not want to give up cleaning their homes but HAVE to. You know what I mean.

Do you havepets, Gayelynn? I have one cat, a big one who sheds a LOT. It is amazing how much hair I vacuum up in here! Kinda funny. His hairs gets everywhere, including in MY hair! LOL!!!! Life with pets.....
Annie

I have a 19-year-old cat and I agree, I comb my hair and it has more of his hair than mine in my combs. I'll look into a Shark cause I love vacuuming but like I said, mine is too big for my small floor plan. I don't have any accounts as small as the place I live cause it doesn't take much to clean it. lol

I use Shark Rockets. Wand vacuums. NOT all models have the headlight! Look for it being mentioned or shown in the picture. I know onre thing about Sharks: WASH ALL THREE FILTERS REGULARLY. I burnt out one motor because I neglected to do this. There are, on Rockets, two suction filters, and of course they get the dirtiest. But there is also an exhaust filter and it quickly will look black, due to carbon bits from the hot motor. If you dont clean that one, the filter wont allow the Rocket's engine to let out heat. And that will kill the motor!

I tried a Shark cordless model. Didnt like it. Battery ran out way too fast. All I used it for was kitty litter clean ups and small vacuuming jobs.

I have had awful like with all Bissell vacuums. I bought one of their wand vacs, and really liked it but it broke after only about 3 months. I complained to Bissell, and they sent me a new one. It too broke way too quickly. Now I wont buy Bissells. I own an upright Oreck but its too heavy to go to work with me. Plus it doesnt get into tight areas like a wand vac does. I also have a Euro Pro but it has no beater brush for carpets and rugs. Plus its a pain in the rear cannister. Sharks are my go-to's.

My Bear, a 3 year old huge kitten, sheds awful. He always visits me in the bathroom, and when he leaves, there is a trail of Bear Hairs! I always think of that kid in Peanuts, the messy kid. If I dont vacuum often, I will get what looks like half a cat in the vacuum dust cup thingie.

Tomorrow I clean a new home. A mobile. The woman sounds a bit deft, maybe elderly...? Its just her, her husband and a small dog. You know how houses can APPEAR clean until you actually clean it? I am betting this will be true tomorrow. LOL!

Gayelynn, do you have any suggestions on oven cleaning?? I posted this as a thread but no one has answered me.

What model do you guys recommend for cordless?

For the last year I have been using this model:
https://www.amazon.com/Hoover-Commer...CkL&ref=plSrch
It has been a great tool that has taken the strain off some of the larger properties I regularly clean. I have even used it in my own home and use the small attachment to do couches and the interior of my car. It came with a 50 foot cord and I had to buy a crank to wind it up to make it a little easier on myself. But the bent handle that it comes with is designed to get underneath furniture and to prevent hunching or bending over. My part-time coworker is only 4 foot 9 and has no issues with the weight of the vacuum. it has a great support belt that will secure it in place while you are working.I am a plus-sized woman and was concerned when I first purchased it that it might not fit around my belly, but it has not been an issue. It's fairly easy to clean and after a year I'm only now at the point where I'm probably going to have to replace one of the heads that I use mostly but the damage was from my doing. The price has also seemed to have gone down since I purchased it. So that's cool I guess. Hope this has been helpful

I will stand by my feeling about backpack vacs. As an old orthopedic nurse, I can tell you that even carrying only 10 lbs on your back will, over time, cause back troubles. No doubt in my mind.

But I do want ask you something: Why exactly do you prefer this type vac???

Its easy to maneuver. I like the angled pole, it gets under furniture really well. And it has a long reach too so I can vacuum high fans that I can't reach to dust. The HEPA filter is easy to clean out and doesn't give me any dust troubles. It came with a super long cord too so I may only need 2 different outlets through a home.

Battery is just going to add weight and as others have said will cause additional back damage. I would stay away from it. I run a window cleaning business and taking care of my workers is top of mind.

Aaron
Top Notch Window Cleaning

Yes! You are right. Whatever you use corded or cordless both are not good for your health. Now a days so many vacuums are available on the market. Why you take that?