> For carpets, I don't think these tiny vacuums can compete with the powerful standard ones
They never did. Even the best vacuum plugged into your standard 120v receptacle will have trouble removing all the crap that's accumulated in the average carpet. A small, battery powered vacuum can't either.
They do help in reducing the amount of stuff that accumulates in between hand vacuums. Back when I had carpets, because of my wife's allergies, I'd vacuum with the "old fashioned" vacuum every weekend. A Neato would run every day (and would have to be emptied every couple of days, it picked so much stuff). Then I'd actually _wash_ the carpets every month. Every single time, even with all that, the water would come out black. This helped, but ultimately we had to move. You can never really clean carpets.
If anyone in your family has allergies, get rid of carpets if you can. Just because they may not be displaying symptoms that are really obvious right now, doesn't mean they aren't having a constant allergic response.
Yes, washing the carpet is absolutely necessary. But: how the heck did you find time to wash your carpets every month?? I'm guessing your apartment was pretty small... I takes me a whole day or more to wash all my carpets.
I try to do the bottom floor every 3 months and the upper floor every 6 months. If I do it more frequently I start getting clean water out of the machine, especially in the upper floor.
That said, we don't use shoes inside our home. I think that makes a great difference.
They never did. Even the best vacuum plugged into your standard 120v receptacle will have trouble removing all the crap that's accumulated in the average carpet. A small, battery powered vacuum can't either.
They do help in reducing the amount of stuff that accumulates in between hand vacuums. Back when I had carpets, because of my wife's allergies, I'd vacuum with the "old fashioned" vacuum every weekend. A Neato would run every day (and would have to be emptied every couple of days, it picked so much stuff). Then I'd actually _wash_ the carpets every month. Every single time, even with all that, the water would come out black. This helped, but ultimately we had to move. You can never really clean carpets.
If anyone in your family has allergies, get rid of carpets if you can. Just because they may not be displaying symptoms that are really obvious right now, doesn't mean they aren't having a constant allergic response.