What's new in Consumer Reports: Home content from the December 2009 issue

The December 2009 issue of Consumer Reports is loaded with coverage of items that will make practical gifts or spectacular additions to any household. (Some items below are available only to subscribers.)

Low-cost, high-performing coffeemakers. We found excellent coffeemakers that cost $20, $40, and $70; the top-rated model topped out at $100. And for $80, you can buy an excellent brew-station type that lets you fill cups directly from the machine.

Lack of versatility dogs pet-hair vacuums. Many vacuums are specifically marketed as the solution to pet-hair problems, but we found none provided a universal panacea. Instead, two mainstream Hoover models stood out for being excellent against pet hair, very good on bare floors, and excellent at cleaning carpets and limiting emissions.

Microwaves that do more. Want convection and speed cook modes? Countertop models from Kenmore and newcomer-to-the-field Cuisinart and an over- the-range model from Samsung offer both; the Cusinart and Samsung also offer grill modes for a taste of summer during the cold months. We also took a look at the innovative Sharp SuperSteam Oven AX-1200[K].

Ranges that make the grade. Induction models are hot, but our tested ones remain pricey at $3,000. Instead, we found four under-$800 ranges from Kenmore and GE that outscored pricier ranges from Dacor and Viking. Move up to the $1,500-to-$2,000 price point, and you'll get a range with a second oven or cooking drawer.

Paper towels in store. Our tests confirmed a similar trend among foods, where store brands outperformed national brands. So you might want to pick some up when you're buying wrapping paper. We also found something for greens to celebrate: One brand of recycled paper performed very well overall. Watch the video on how we test paper towels (above).

Light's (you should toss) out. Discard holiday lights after three seasons. Here's a checklist of things to look for and safe practices to follow when hanging holiday lights.

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Putting carpet shampooers through their paces

Last week we told you about a scary-looking tool our technicians are experimenting with to embed pet hair into carpeting as part of vacuum testing. This week, for our scheduled March 2010 report on carpet cleaners (online and on newsstands in early February), other testers have been using a big roller that grinds topsoil into panels of off-white carpeting. This device is designed to replicate the abuse the carpeting in your home might be subjected to by a gaggle of dirty-sneaker-wearing kids.

The testers let the dirt set for 24 hours then vacuum the panels with a conventional upright vacuum. Next, they use a carpet cleaner (shown) filled with the manufacturer-recommended solution. To determine how well each appliance cleans the carpeting, testers use a colorimeter to measure the color change from the cleaning process.

Known by a variety of names—carpet shampooers, extractors, carpet cleaners, deep cleaners—the 11 different machines we're testing include a rental model and two handhelds. Among the messes these cleaners have to tackle in the lab are coffee, red wine, and tomato sauce. And since wet carpeting can develop mold or mildew, testers also weigh the panels before and after each test to find out how much moisture remains. Beyond that type of quantitative analysis, testers also look at how convenient each machine is to use and which features matter most.

We're aware that many of you are deeply interested in carpet cleaners, so we'll continue to update you on our testing.—Kimberly Janeway | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Our free buyer's guide to carpet cleaners offers helpful shopping advice. If you're looking for a new vacuum, check out our ratings of canister, upright, and stick and handheld models (available to subscribers).

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Which vacuums make pet-hair cleanup less of a nightmare?

The menacing-looking device in the photo (right) isn't a prop from Saw VI or some gruesome Halloween slasher film, though it could play a part in Nightmare in Yonkers: Pet-Hair Perils. The photo is actually a shot of John McAloon, a project leader in our Technical department, holding a new device he and his team created to embed pet hair into the carpeting we use for vacuum testing.

About three years ago, we instituted pet-hair testing, having recognized that so many readers were looking for the best vacuums to deal with their dogs' and cats' (furry) droppings. We decided to use hair from Maine coon cats because it's especially long and provides a rigorous test for the dozens of vacuums we review each year.

We're always looking for ways to improve and enhance our testing. In this case, we're experimenting with a different way to embed it into the carpet.

That’s where the rolling rake above might come into action. Basically a row of washer and spacers attached to a handle, the rake weighs more than 19 pounds, heavy enough to create furrows that are more representative of how pet hair works its way into the carpet fibers in your home. The vacuum testers simply roll the rake back and forth over the pet hair they’ve laid down. 

If you don't own a cat or dog or other furry creature, you might not care so much about pet hair. But as anyone with a shedding animal can tell you—including folks on our vacuum forums—removing hair from carpeting or furniture can be a real nightmare.—Ed Perratore | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Check out our free buyer's guide to vacuums and read other Inside Consumer Reports Tests Labs coverage of vacuums designed with pet owners in mind, including the Bissell Lift-Off Multi-Cyclonic Pet 89Q9, $180; the Eureka Whirlwind+ Pet Lover 3276, $120; and the Eureka Pet Pal 4716, $80. To see how well vacuums do with pet hair and our other tests, look ay our continuously updated ratings of canister and upright vacuums (available to subscribers).

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Reviews of new vacuums from Eureka, Miele, Panasonic, and Electrolux

Hoping to save the world as well as your carpets? Looking for the ultimate vacuum for pet hair? Our testers weigh manufacturer claims as part of testing for our continuously updated ratings of upright and canister vacuums (available to subscribers, along with our October 2009 report on vacuums), and what they find is often less than meets the eye.

Eureka says its EnviroVac 3041 upright, $72 (shown), "delivers powerful cleaning results while using 33 percent less energy than a typical upright vacuum." We judged this 16-pound vacuum very good overall, especially for cleaning bare floors and picking up pet hair with low emissions, though carpet cleaning was only good. The energy-use claim didn't bowl us over either. That's because using an 8-amp upright vacuum instead of the typical 12-amp model would save you only about $3 a year—assuming you vacuum an hour a week and pay the national-average price for electricity.

When it came to pet hair, another newly tested Eureka, the Pet Pal 4716, $80, wasn't so friendly. “Plastic teeth loosen it, rubber strip grabs it and bristles remove it” is how the manufacturer details the pet-hair process, which may be how the stair and upholstery tool works, but on two models of the Pet Pal 4716 the agitator brush jammed and quickly wore the belt to breaking when picking up large amounts of cat hair, earning it a score of poor. This upright also scored a poor for airflow with tools.

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Electrolux UltraSilencer EL6986 canister is quiet, but does it clean well?

Most vacuum cleaners whine or whir their way through our noise tests without getting loud enough for us to recommend that you wear hearing protection during regular use. Still, countless reader letters and user reviews tell us that noise is a big concern among consumers.

So we were pleasantly surprised when one of the six upright and canister vacuums we just tested aced our rigorous noise tests. Claiming "whisper-quiet cleaning that a baby can sleep through," the Electrolux UltraSilencer EL6986 canister, $300 (shown), wasn't quite as quiet as a whisper. But this Electrolux is the quietest of the canisters in our continuously updated ratings of canister and upright vacuums (available to subscribers).

Most consumers also want a vacuum that does a strong job cleaning carpets, but those that do the best at our carpet-cleaning test tend to have a larger, noisier motor and, on canisters, a powered head that adds to the noise. The UltraSilencer lacks a motorized powered head and is geared more toward hard surfaces. The combination of a nonmotorized powered head and quiet operation seem to impact carpet cleaning, for which it earned a good. That's typical for many canisters but below the best for this key test. The UltraSilencer EL6986 scored impressively on bare floors—ideal if you don't have rugs or carpeting at home. Its airflow with tools, used when cleaning drapes and upholstery, was mediocre.

Manufacturers are obviously aware of the noise issue: The newly tested Miele S 7580 is one of only two uprights judged very good in our noise tests. (The other is the Dyson DC24 Ball All Floors). Unlike the Electrolux, the Miele was among the best at cleaning carpets, with fine bare-floor performance, excellent pet-hair pickup, and low emissions. A swivel-steer handle is supposed to make handling and turning easier. But at 22 pounds, the Miele S 7580 is among the heavier uprights in our ratings, and it costs a pricey $800.

If you want an affordable vacuum that cleans well and isn't too noisy, consider that the better a vacuum cleans, the fewer passes you'll need to make with it and the sooner you'll be done. Among the canisters and uprights we've tested, you'll find several reasonably quiet models that do a fine job with carpets and bare floors.—Ed Perratore | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: If you're in the market for a new vacuum cleaner, check out our free buyer's guide and our latest Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs posts.

Cold War Cleanup: Soviet agent Elizaveta Mukasei used a vacuum for more than just housework

James Bond's arsenal of missile-firing Aston Martins, exploding attaché cases, and other spyware might not have included a vacuum cleaner, but this utilitarian tool has played a prominent role in the undercover adventures of some real-life covert agents.

Former Soviet agent Elizaveta Mukasei, who recently died at 97, apparently hid a radio transmitter in a vacuum as she and her husband, Mikhail, searched Los Angeles for secrets at the outset of World War II, according to her September 30 obituary in The Wall Street Journal. Even as the clandestine couple sucked up to tinsel-town glitterati of the day, including Charlie Chaplin and conductor Leopold Stokowski, the Soviet duo spied for Stalin. (The Mukaseis are shown below.)

Vacuums have played a leading role in fictional spy capers, too. In Our Man In Havana—a 1959 classic film based on the novel by Graham Greene—Alec Guinness' character James Wormold, a vacuum-cleaner salesman, leads a double life as a British spy in pre-Castro Cuba. (Watch the video here.) Stuck for any useful leads for Her Majesty's Secret Service, Wormold instead sends sketches of vacuum-cleaner parts he purports to be a secret military installation. Directed by Oscar winner Carol Reed, the film also featured Maureen O'Hara, Ernie Kovacs, Noel Coward, Burl Ives, and Sir Ralph Richardson.

Even if you don't particularly care about vacuum cleaners, be sure to watch Our Man In Havana. It's a captivating film, and at the very least, you'll get to see what Sir Alec did long before he played Jedi knight Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977's Star Wars. 

If you are in the market for a new vacuum, check out our ratings of upright and canister models (available to subscribers), along with fall-cleanup tips that can make housework a little less sinister.—Bob Markovich | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Read our October 2009 report on vacuums to get the latest news on these appliances.

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Reviews of vacuums from Oreck, Garry, Bissell, and Eureka

As part of the testing for our continuously updated ratings of upright and canister vacuums (available to subscribers), our testers come across all kinds of claims from manufacturers.

The Oreck Halo, $600, whose claims we covered in this June post, uses the same UV technology the company bought from Halo Technologies, maker of the Halo UVX upright we tested last year. "Halo Technologies," we reported then, "says its uprights, including the $400 UVX, kill dust mites, flea eggs, and germs using UV light. We didn't test those claims because the UVX was only so-so at the more primary tasks of cleaning carpets and picking up pet hair." So was the Oreck Halo, which excelled only at cleaning bare floors and keeping emissions low. What's more, the Oreck Halo weighs 19 pounds, more than Oreck uprights we've tested in the past.

Among other recently tested models are the Bissell Lift-Off Multi-Cyclonic Pet 89Q9 (shown), $180, and the Eureka Whirlwind+ Pet Lover 3276, $120, both designed with pet owners in mind. The Bissell, like earlier Lift-Off models, has a modular motor/bin assembly that detaches for use as a canister vacuum or a heavy handheld. As a standard upright, however, it fell short of the Eureka in carpet cleaning, vacuuming with tools, and some other tests—including pet-hair pickup, for which the Eureka was excellent.

The Garry Ultra Light vacuum, $200 without shipping, sold through infomercials and at www.garryvac.com, was also among the latest batch of tested models. The manufacturer touts that this vacuum can cut cleaning time because it picks up everything on the first pass and that it can clean the air and kill germs. What's more, the maker's current pitch promises free bags for life, a free (before $30 shipping) steam mop, and a no-hassle guarantee of a free replacement vacuum if you ever have a problem, no matter what.

Get more details on this model by reading "Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: The Garry Upright Vacuum Is a Lightweight . . . In More Ways Than One."—Ed Perratore | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: If you're in the market for a new vacuum cleaner, check out our free buyer's guide, which also includes ratings of hand and stick vacuums.

Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: The Garry upright vacuum is a lightweight . . . in more ways than one

The $199 Garry Ultra Light vacuum is a "professional quality" vacuum that "loosens stubborn, even hidden ground-in dirt from your carpets" and other surfaces "the first time you pass over the dirt," touts the company's Web site.

But our recent testing found that the Garry doesn't live up to some of its performance claims or the hype you'll see in the infomercial for this upright vacuum. (Check out the discussion on our forums for reader reviews of the Garry Ultra Light.)

The Garry earned only a fair for deep-cleaning carpets, the lowest score among the uprights in our continuously updated vacuum ratings (available to subscribers). Even most rated canisters, which as a category tend to do less well on carpet cleaning than uprights, were better carpet cleaners than the Garry.

The Garry did excel at pet-hair pickup, was very low in emissions, and is most suitable for cleaning bare floors. But we also found that airflow was weak through the vacuum's included attachments, important for cleaning dust from curtains, upholstery, and the like.

The Garry's stated 9-pound weight would put it among the lightest uprights we've tested. But, unlike other 9-pound models we've tested, that weight doesn't include the hose, attachments, or power cord. Add in those elements, and the Garry weighs 12 pounds.

One appealing item you'll see on the Garry Web site is the promise of "free bags for life." But you have to pay $9.95 for the shipment of eight bags, and unless you cancel, the bags will keep coming every four months. Still, that $1.25-per-bag price is less than most replacement bags we see, and some microfiber bags cost up to $5.50 each.

Garry also offers a 30-day refund on the vacuum and, through its "Zero Maintenance No Hassle Warranty," no-cost replacement of a faulty vacuum—even if you caused the problem—for as long as you own the product. As with the bags, free isn't exactly no cost. You'll pay to ship the vacuum back to the manufacturer and $40 for shipment of the new model. All that on top of the $40 you spent on shipping in the first place.
 
The Garry might be appealing, but a better bet would be to consider a higher-performing vacuum from a brand with established reliability, such as the Dirt Devil Featherlite Bagless M085845, $60, or the Eureka Altima 2961, $80.

A final thing to keep in mind: When you buy a Garry vacuum, you automatically agree to resolve any dispute with the product's seller related to the Garry vacuum through arbitration. (Check out the site's terms and conditions for more details.) Consumers Union, the nonprofit publisher of this blog and Consumer Reports magazine, doesn't believe you should have to sign away your legal options in order to buy a product even before a dispute arises. Consumers Union also supports advocacy efforts to eliminate mandatory predispute arbitration clauses.—Ed Perratore | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Our free vacuum-buying guide and October 2009 report offer lots of helpful shopping and usage tips.

Retro Grade: Appliance spotting on AMC's Mad Men

In "My Old Kentucy Home," the third episode of the current season of AMC's hit show Mad Men,  a vacuum is the pivotal prop in a scene between Joan Holloway (Christina Hendricks, shown), the buxom office manager at Sterling Cooper ad agency, and her fiancé, the inadequate Dr. Greg Harris (Sam Page). The two are tidying up their apartment ahead of a dinner party. In a telling (for the time anyway) role reversal, Greg is working the vacuum, although once finished he asserts his manliness by yanking the cord from the wall. "You'll break it," Joan admonishes. "No I won't," Greg fires back. "And even if I do, I'll just go grab my screwdriver and put on a new one."

Who knew a vacuum could provide so much tension and innuendo? But what about the vacuum itself? Did the props department come up with an age-appropriate model? There's not a long, clear shot of the vacuum, but it's definitely an upright model and looks to be relatively lightweight. Sure enough, the October 1963 issue of Consumer Reports includes a report titled "Lightweight Upright Vacuum Cleaners" that observed that "the cleaners tested for this report are a species that has only recently achieved considerable popularity." It went on to say that the diminutive vacuums work best as a supplement to a standard upright or canister vacuum, and should be reserved for surface cleaning of pet hair, sand, and the like.

Fast-forward to the October 2009 issue of Consumer Reports. Once again we're reporting on vacuum cleaners. Although the story looks at all types and sizes, lightweight vacuums get special mention. The Hoover Platinum Bagged, $400, and the Dirt Devil Featherlite Bagless, $60, performed very well in our cleaning tests and weigh just 13 pounds.

In the report, we also look at several innovative new features, including a retractable cord for uprights. While this convenience is standard on canister vacuums, it's just now wending its way to uprights. And had it been around in 1963, the writers of Mad Men might have looked to a different device to develop dramatic tension.—Daniel DiClerico | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Visit our vacuum cleaners hub for buying advice. And read Can this vacuum be saved? to see whether repairs are really as easy as portrayed on Mad Men.

What's new on ConsumerReports.org: October 2009 home-related content

Tests that reveal the pros, cons and long-term costs of pellet-burning stoves and solar water heaters headline the new Energy Saving and Green Living Guide that we've published in tandem with these stories from our October 2009 issue. Among the key findings:

• Pellet stoves and solar water heaters. Our Alternative Energy overview reveals how both pellet-burning stoves and solar water heaters could reduce heating costs. But their high prices ($1,300 to $3,900 for pellet stoves; $2,200 to $6000 for solar water heaters, not including installation) and in the case of pellet stoves, higher operating costs (burning pellets is more costly and more polluting than burning natural gas) can lengthen payback times. Both also require upkeep and maintenance. Ratings of pellet stoves and an interim report our solar water heater testing are available to subscribers.

• Simple energy savings. Cut your Energy Bills lists more low-cost and cost-effective ways to reduce your utility bills, including specific tactics for heating and cooling, water consumption, and electricity use.
 
• Tracking federal incentives. See qualification criteria, installation costs, and annual monetary savings from the many energy-savings products and projects eligible for a 30 percent federal tax credit. We also describe how energy audits (done by private firms or on your own with help from government Web sites) can spot home energy wasters.

• CFLs now offer savings and style. Choosing the right compact fluorescent lights is another great way to cut your electric bills. They've been showing up in more and more fixtures, and our ratings (available to subscribers) include models that will work in conventional lights and recessed and track lights, outdoor and flood lights and porch/post lights.

• Readers share mattress ratings. When it's lights out, tap into the wisdom of 17,444 Consumer Reports readers who shared their ratings of the best mattress brands and retailers.

• Vacuums for tough times. Our report on Vacuums rates the performance of both the high-powered high-end and low-priced (but still well performing) models that manufacturers are rolling out during this recession.

• Standout shower towers. Our tests of shower towers revealed three models that could provide an invigorating spray while staying within federal water-consumption regulations and avoiding surcharges imposed by some utilities for heavy water use.

• The scoop on a robotic gutter cleaner. We unleashed the iRobot Looj 155 robotic cleaner on some sections of leaf-clogged gutters and found its promise exceeded its performance. Subscribers can read the full report here.

• Snow blower problem. We found a Toro snow blower that lacks an essential safety feature and gave it our Don't Buy: Safety Alert rating. But safe and cost-effective blowers did abound in our new ratings of 17 models (available to subscribers).

• Green dishwasher detergents wash out. Our tests of three phosphate-free dishwasher detergents also proved disappointing, although you can find capable phosphate-free performers in our August 2009 review of dishwasher detergents.—Gian Trotta | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: Find our more about upcoming increases in federal incentives for energy-efficient appliances.