I’m not sure how we did it, but Cindy and I have managed to survive years of furry, shedding pets with a small yellow vacuum the size of Casper. That little champ held its own against cat hair, dog hair, poofy hair, curly hair.

However, I knew it was time for an upgrade after I sat on the couch last week, lifted up my foot, and noticed a huge mound of fur sticking to the bottom of it.

Simply delicious.

After reading some online reviews, we decided on the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser. People who bought this thing raved about it–and with good reason. I could not BELIEVE how much fur it picked up from the carpet…and we’ve only been in our new apartment for two weeks!

Basically, the vacuum is specially designed to push hair up out of the carpet, and then it gets sucked up. It also comes with a bunch of cool little attachments that suck up hair on stairs and furniture.

We paid about $140 for it, so I’m guessing it’s roughly in the medium price-range as far as vacuums go.  The downside: The thing is a freakin tank. Make sure you have some room in the closet to stash this thing, or else find a way to make it fit in with your furniture scheme.

Pros: Gets up just about every bit of pet hair from your carpet. Handy attachments.

Cons: Really, really big.

[ratings]