Heartily Recommended (Kirby GSix Vacuum)

Member Name: tstaddon

Product:	Kirby GSix Vacuum
Date:	02/03/04 (1836 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wide range of attachments, Shampoo facility is brilliant, Power steering!

Disadvantages: Weighs a ton

My parents have a Kirby. Big, heavy monster it is. But in a house with two kids and a mud-loving labrador, it worked better than the alternatives. They only stopped using it because it was too heavy.

The weight alone put me off buying one for a few years - but when we bought a house that had been used as a builder's crash pad, the entire place was so filthy that every other cleaner we tried, simply didn't deliver the goods.

I can't help wondering if there's some kind of knack the salesmen use to demonstrate the kit - when we had the GSix demo'd at our house, the results were astounding. It lifted out so much concrete dust, sand and mud out of the carpet, we discovered for the first time that the front room carpet (a Wilton) actually had a three-tone pattern to it!

We've never yet managed to replicate this process so spectacularly, but there is still no doubt about how good it is - even in standard vac mode, the Kirby runs rings round every other cleaner we've ever had.

Kirby have obviously listened to concerns about the weight of the machine. The latest ones have powered drives on them - simply put it in gear, and cough. instantly, it becomes as manoeuvrable as a Flymo on a hillside. Even my 6 year old son can push it around the front room.

You still have the weight problem when lugging the monster up and down the stairs, but I'd defy anyone to tell me they've had any cleaner that could wipe the floor with a Kirby.

As for the cost of accessories - do me a favour!

ANY *foaming* carpet shampoo (1001 for example) works fine with it. don't buy the foam-free (3-in-1) stuff because that will NOT work.

We pick up our replacement hoover bags up down the local market for absolute peanuts, so even those cost roughly the same as bags for any other upright.

And if you've been "pressured" into signing up for one against your best judgement - m
ore fool you. Of course, salesmen will sit in your front room until your give them a compelling reason to leave, this does NOT mean you have to sign up, and (for UK residents anyway) you have a statutory right to cancel so long as you do so within 14 days.

You can be really nifty with this - convince them before they even start that you want one, get them to shampoo your carpet, sign on the dotted line, and then cancel during the cooling-off period.

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