Anyone care to advise on vacuum cleaners? Not the most riveting subject I know :)

Son has got a Dyson cordless upright, which you can use as a small handheld for stairs etc. it's good, but you have to keep your thumb on the switch all the time to keep it going, which I find tiring.

I've got a Roomba but I worry that it roughs up the surface of our Berber types carpets. Read somewhere you should use a suction only cleaner on Berbers. I am often glad to say 'dammit' and just use it anyway.

My main cleaner is a Miele, but it is heavy.

I've gone down the low weight options now...bad back plus prolapse. So am a big fan of the GTechs air RAMs and have both sizes. But we still have our upright Sebo and husband uses it now and again - they are very good just too darn heavy for me now.

We have a Roomba - and wish we had bought one years ago. It is a robotic cleaner and whizzes around carpet and hard floors to brilliant effect - and neither of our bad backs is put under stress - they are cheaper than you think!

We also have a dust buster style hand held for the stairs.

I have the Miehle Cat and Dog, but if I could afford it I would have a lightweight /handheld one upstairs as well for the occasional spill.

I have a Dyson Animal and find it very good, I have a mix of carpet and wood and long hair rug, its fine and even with my decrepit bones I can manage perfectly well taking it up or downstairs. I've had it a long while and when we had cats it was great on animal hair.

I would have two, if possible. A robotic one for downstairs, and a cheap cylinder for upstairs and the stairs. Although I do take the robot upstairs quite often. My back and my sanity have been saved.

I have a big Vax, which I use for upstairs and the stairs, and a Neato. The newer models are supposedly very good if you get the model with pet hair brush and filter option. I have a cheaper older one, too much hair means fiddling about with the drive belt rather too regularly, but as a cleaner I can't fault it.

One up (old Hoover cat and dog), one down (lightweight Vax)
Both have extension hoses for the stairs.

I just went in to a shop and wandered around trying various makes then ordered the Vax on line with a hefty discount

Get one upstairs and one down . I have a Sebo which is good for hair and a Dyson animal for light sweeps when there is a breakfast crumb trail(glaring at DH)