If you need a hand vaccum, then this Dirt Devil is the one.

Don’t even waste time looking at all the hand vacs on the market. Dirt Devil is the best even though there are a few minor things I don’t like about my new friend the Dirt Devil Ultra Hand Vac M08230.

I had the Original Dirt Devil when it came out eons ago. That was one great hand vac, but the Navy crunched it on the overseas move. That was 8 years ago, and I have been hand vacuum-less since that time. That’s not to say that I couldn’t have used another hand vac, but with two little boys needing shoes and jeans . . . well . . . that went to the bottom of the priority list.

I finally decided to break down and get a hand vac. With the two little boys who do make some gosh awful messes plus the dog, cat, and bird, I do tend to have a lot of droppings around the house not to mention the ghost t*rds which are those floaty balls of fuzz that magically appear and disappear usually under the bed. There are those spider webs in corners too which might work for Halloween but not year round.

Someone had a hand vac revolution since I got my old red Original Dirt Devil, which was put out by Rival and one of the best sellers they have ever had. Now they have those sleek, lightweight models that screw on the wall and are quiet and don’t even have a cord. Well, all that sounds good. I hate to turn my back on an old friend like Rival, but I hate to look like a dinosaur. I figure I’ll get one of those newer ones and be a modern sort of Momma.

I go down to Bed Bath and Beyond. Since I don’t know what I’m doing, I ask for help. The poor boy in household does not know a thing about hand held vacs. We take them out of the holders and try them on our clothes. This is not very scientific to be sure. That Hoover comes out of the holder pretty good and seems to suck OK. I pay my $39 and take that baby home and screw it on my wall.

You can read my review on Hoover Hand Vac to see what I think of that deal. The only good thing about all that was that I got my money back. That is one thing I will say about BBB—they were fine about the return.

After being burned, I decided that I should do a little research. OK. I know it a good idea to read the directions first, but I tend to jump in. When the bird playpen looks funny, then I check the diagram and figure out what I did wrong. This seems to be a guy thing, so I guess I caught it from the neighbor boys.

Here is what I learned . . .

There are two basic types of hand vacs. You can get the plug in kind like Dirt Devil or the battery charge to fit on your wall. When you look at the pictures, then the plug type tend to be big and bulky looking while the rechargeables look higher tech and smaller. You start to think that a battery charge would be so much nicer, since you can take it anywhere and don’t have to plug that in. That sounds great.

The problem here is that the recharge types work off that battery, so you only get so much sucking power. Those plug types have bigger motors running off the electricity. That does not seem like such a big deal unless you need to suck up some dirt. That Hoover would not even pull in spider webs while the Dirt Devil Ultra cleaned up the cat litter, cat food droppings, bird seed shells, and all manner of other stuff that ends up on our floor.

When I made the second run on hand vacs, I tried out a whole bunch and tested the pull power. I did not want another suck-less model, and all those battery hand helds were really low on pull. When you think about it, you will know that a little battery is not going to pack the punch that your wall socket will.

Another major difference in hand helds is the beater bar. Just look inside those machines. You will see that the battery types do not have that vacuum looking thing that runs around and around with some brushes attached. The hand vacs just have air pulling while the Dirt Devil has that spinning thing. Again, it may not sound major.

When you begin using your hand vac, then you will see that a little airflow is not going to pull like something beating on that carpet. If you are lucky, you will get the very surface dirt with the battery vac. The Hoover did not even do that. The Dirt Devil will pull up the deep dirt. It is kind of like beating the rug over the clothesline. It is doing the job.

When you’re looking at the hand vacs, be sure to see if they are good for carpet and hard floors (like kitchen linoleum and hard wood). Well, I guess you may have one type of floor, but I have all three. I am not buying two hand vacs—one for carpet and one for flat floors. Most of the hand vacs are one or the other while the Dirt Devil is good for both and delivers on both. Although the Dirt Devil may blow some of the ghost t*urds, it does a good job on the flat floors and is the max on carpet.

Here is the downside of the Dirt Devil . . .

1. It is larger and bulkier.
2. It is louder.
3. You have to plug it in.

But . . .

The Dirt Devil picks up dirt which is the whole idea.

The Original Model in Dirt Devil is good. That is the one I had before the Navy trashed my hand vac. Unfortunately, that model has been discontinued. It is not available now at Wal Mart Com, but my local Wal Mart did have it for $24.

I considered the Original, since I loved that old one.

In the end, I went with the Ultra. This is the same basic machine, but it has the attachments to the side. You hand turn the roller over the beater brush to get the side part (which is very simple—my 8 year old has that down pat). The side part is a hose and the extension for cracks. This helps a lot in corners, cracks, and for the car to get in those hard-to-reach spots.

What I don’t like about the Ultra . . .

I wish this was a smaller and more sleek looking model, but I am more than willing to go with a slightly bigger machine that really does have “the suction of an upright in the palm of my hand.”

It would be nice if this machine were not so loud. You have this right near your ear. But, I would rather hear a roar and pick up some dirt than to have a quiet little thing that is not doing a thing.

The cord is not so nice as grabbing the machine off the wall, but again I want something that will work. A drop cord is not a big deal if I get some results, and I do. Plus, I know my battery will not go dead, since I don’t have one.

Bottom Line

This is a no brainer.

If you don’t have a dirty house, then you don’t need a hand vac, and the rechargers are OK. Those battery types really do not clean. They just pull up stuff you could hand pick up easy. Even if they tell you that they will clean up wet messes, they are pulling your chain. You get some wet stuff in there, and then you have mud pies. Trust me on that. It is not pretty.

If you do have some spot dirt, then get a Dirt Devil Ultra. The original is fine but is not as versatile as the Ultra, which has the hose for cracks, which are everywhere when you get to looking.

I tried these babies out, so I hope you do not have to go through the hand vac blues. Just get you an old, loud, plug in Dirt Devil and you will have a good machine that does what it is supposed to do.