If you use the right sized funnel to seal on the ball, you can probably pick one up with your mouth! Sealed suction cups are how heavy panes of glass are carried (with no motor whatsoever!). So, anyone bragging about this "bowling ball" trick is playing on our ability to be dazzled by marketing ploys
Over ½ Of All Discarded Vacuums Could have Been Fixed For Under $20.00
Vacuum cleaners have belts. Most belts are rubber. Rubber wears out and breaks (or worse yet, they slip, so when a good-intentioned consumer checks it, it's not broken, so "it must be fine". When a stretched belt is put on the floor, the carpet stops or slows the brush, & you say to yourself, "there's no suction!" A belt is a few dollars and a few dollars labor and a couple minutes of your time, so do it at least once per year (twice a year is better). We sell a lot of belts to guys that find vacuums in the garbage - a belt was all they needed!
Buying a vacuum cleaner without trying it first can be costly.
I know it's hard to resist buying things on the internet or infomercials - it's just so easy. They all look pretty good online, but there's no way to know how well they work or hold up, let alone if they'll do the things you want them to do. When you find out the hard way that the thing is no good, it's a hassle to send it back (you have to dis-assemble it to get it back in the box, etc.) but there's really no human accountability on the seller's part. They really don't care that you're dissatisfied. We do, and we'd rather avoid you returning ( in person! ) with problems and dissatisfaction, so we let you see & try product, and ask you the questions that you should answer before you can make a good decision. We fix a few vacuums per year, so we get a pretty good read on the repair histories of the various machines out there, and try to provide the best vacuum available in a given price-point.
P.S.: Some of the better vacuums cannot be sold on-line anyway, or the MAP (Minimum Advertised Pricing) allowable by the manufacturer is much higher than what it may sell for in-house. So what's left to peruse on the web is never all that there is, & many retailer & e-retailers are mostly offering medium-to-lower-quality machines. Thanks to The Henry Co.
Using allergen doggy bags will greatly reduce the amount of doggy dander and odors being exhausted into your homes.
We also sell some really neat smelly stuff to keep doggy odors to a minimum.
Change the stretch rubber brush roll belt every six months for maximum results.