Until I moved to North Carolina, I'd never suffered from allergies. Well, that's a lie. When I was a child in Texas, I had really bad allergies, as well, I was just too young to remember them. I do, however, remember the trip to the allergist when I was 5 or 6. My mom told me that they were going to poke me "a whole bunch-a-times" with a needle to help figure out what I was allergic to, and if I was a good boy and didn't scream or cry, I'd get a pair of cowboy boots. I remember walking out of the doctor's office, hand in hand with my mom, in a brand new pair of boots, a brand new straw cowboy hat and a big ol' grin. After a few more visits to get the booster shots to increase my immunity to god-knows-what, I didn't have an allergy related sniffle, itchy eye or cough for 20+ years.
When I moved to North Carolina, after living in West Virginia, Germany, Virginia, Costa Rica and traveling all over the US for a job as a software trainer, I started having inexplicable headaches. I'd wake up in the morning, one or both sinuses would be painfully swollen shut, my eyes would be gunky, and I'd have, what I later found out to be, severe sympathetic swelling from the base of my neck through one or both shoulders, down my back, into my hips, thighs, knees and calves. The worst of these "headaches" kept me in bed for three days. After working with several doctors, I found out that they were "only" allergic reactions to something in my environment. It took another panel of 72 pokes to find out that I'm allergic to three things: dust (specifically mites, but that the silica in the dust here aggravates that allergy), something called "pig weed" and penicillium. A nose swab revealed a significant amount of penecillium and candida in my sinuses. A four week course of Diflucan cleared that up and I feel better now than I have in quite some time.
In doing an inventory of things around the house that could be causing me problems, I noticed, randomly as I gazed out the back window one afternoon, a huge amount of dust in the air. This bugged me, and I threw an absolute hissy fit, stomping about - the dogs went outside and wouldn't come back in until I petted them in the yard. I pay roughly $20/filter for the really good 3M Filtrete 1900 MPR filters for my A/C, I run one of the best indoor HEPA "air purifiers" I can find - the Idylis from Lowes, I own a steam cleaner(it had been used in that room specifically to clean the entire floor not one month prior), I vacuum daily with my Dyson DC14, and I still have that much dust blowing around in the house? I walked over to the door (six glass panels) where the sunlight is streaming in and stomp my foot, only to see a puff of dust come up from the ground. I almost fainted. Heh - picture that: me, 6'4", 240lbs, passed out on the floor when my son returns home from school, explaining that I fainted because of dust on the floor.
I started looking at every vacuum by every manufacturer. I began plotting ways to save thousands of dollars to purchase a Rainbow vacuum (they're supposedly the bee's knees), for a 648 square foot house. Then, today, I was out and about in Lowe's and saw this cute little vacuum with a tag on it that says "I'm better than a Dyson." I snickered. Then I read the fine print. This machine surpassed the DC14, DC17 and DC25 on all fronts. It was a third the price of the DC25 sitting five machines away. It was a Eureka. The vacuum beside it boasted it was better than a DC25 and a DC41, at half the price (it was actually less than a third the price of the DC41 at Lowe's). So, being the loyal Lowe's customer I am, I went to Best Buy and purchased the machine for $20 less and got the two year "bring it back for any reason and we'll replace it" warranty for the difference in cost. I spent $179 before tax on the Eureka Suction Seal Pet AS1104AX.
I decided I'd put the new Eureka to an unfair test, because, well, I could just return it tomorrow if it failed. I assembled the vacuum and adjusted the carpeting level to level 3, not reading the manual. I vacuumed the entire house (to be super-fair, twice, as I do with the Dyson) and was pleasantly surprised at the amount of crud that it pulled up (about 2/3 of the container). I noticed about halfway through the first run that I had to switch on the brush separately, but was VERY impressed with the power it delivered. Then, I went behind it with the Dyson, vacuuming the same areas. The Dyson picked up a fair amount of crud (about 1/8 of it's container). Super disappointed, I put everything away and decided I'd box the Eureka back up and take it back tomorrow. After getting other chores around the house done, I decided I'd put the Eureka back in it's box, when I noticed the manual. I sat down to give it a quick once-over, when I noticed the carpet height settings suggestions. After comparing the chart to my carpet pile height, I noticed that I needed to have the machine set on height 2, not 3. I was a little too giddy to have to vacuum the house again. I vacuumed the house once on height 2. The machine picked up another full container of dust and animal hair, that the previous setting and the Dyson had missed. I'm not exaggerating - a full fricken container. I'm keeping the Eureka. For the price, the performance is so far beyond expectation that I can't even begin to fathom it.
Within an hour of the final run of the Eureka (approximately the amount of time it's taken me to assemble this post), my sinuses have opened back up (on their own), I have no crud in my chest and the air in the house actually smells cleaner. Eureka, you've won a new customer, with that teeny little sign saying nothing more than "I'm better than a Dyson".