On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:18:13 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I fancy a decent hand held vacuum for doing the carpeted stairs here -
but it must be as powerful as my existing Panasonic upright when using
the hose. Purely for convenience - lugging the Panasonic around on the
stairs is a pain.

I've seen the Dysons - but I'd be quite happy with a mains one since I
have plenty sockets. And it's a big big price for such a basic device.

Any recommendations?

We recently purchased a Electrolux Z61A for doing the stairs.

It has a rotating brush which helps with picking up pet hairs. Makes a
fair job of the stairs, has a decent length cable and is not too heavy.
Can't comment on long term reliability as we haven't had it very long,
but fine so far.