I think I owned an original Swiffer Wet Jet. I know I have had it since we moved into this house. While it did the job, so many significant improvements have been made since the Wet Jet was launched.

At the Social Luxe Lounge at BlogHer, Carrie, Andrea, and I had a little fun at the Swiffer Wet Jet Booth. Our true identities have been exposed, this is how we dress up to clean. Feather boas make anything more fun, even cleaning!

After the conference, I was sent the new and improved Swiffer Wet Jet Impossible kit from My Blog Spark. It included everything you needed right down to the sticky jelly to let dry to floor. Shhh….but I didn’t need any extra sticky substances. We have four kids so no extra stickiness required, we had plenty of that to give the Swiffer Wet Jet a good spin.

Some things about the new improved Swiffer Wet Jet I like:

• Feels sturdier and more flexible.
• Scrubbing pad REALLY works. My Previous Swiffer WetJet didn’t even have a scrubbing pad on it that is how old it was!
• Dual Nozzles – so you get a double action spray instead of one long stream.

A little confession, while cleaning, I had the opportunity to test out the scrubbing pad and I don’t even know what I was cleaning but it was stuck to the floor good but with the scrubber pad it didn’t take too much effort to clean it up off the floor.

Be careful with your new power.  I slipped on our floor after it was so clean and smooth! You can see my view from the floor at the end of the video. I just happened to be walking across it with my Flip Camcorder and went BOOM!

Last January, I decided to cash in some Amazon Gift Cards and buy a new hand held vacuum. After doing a little research, I decided upon the Dirt Devil Kurv.

A family member owned one and seemed pleased and the reviews online seemed complimentary so I thought it was a safe bet. Plus, isn’t it so stylish!

Our main use of a hand held vacuum is for the kid’s to use it to clean up their messes. Especially for the messes after dinner! My first complaint, of course, was from our 10 year old daughter, who said the suction area wasn’t large enough. It is just a hole and our old Dust Buster had a wider suction area.  So it was a little more time consuming for them to clean up their messes.

I do like that it is lightweight and seemed to hold a good charge. Even our then 2 year old could manuever it without much trouble.

My final straw. The filter. Our filter is gone and no one seems to know what happened or when it happened. I did notice when I would empty out the dust in the trash, sometimes the filter would go in the trash as well. What kind of company makes it that easy to accidentally throw out a key element! The working theory is that a good intentioned child or adult was emptying it and the filter went into the trash.

Obviously, since it had happened to me I  should have warned the kids or Bryan. But I didn’t even think to do that since I’m usually the one who empties it.

So now the filter is gone and the vac is unusable since it is blowing OUT the dust instead of sucking it up. It has been gone for several months and we now have an item collection dust instead of vacuuming up dust! I’m now going to finally break down and buy $9 replacement filter so at least we can use it.

I’m not happy about it as a product shouldn’t be built so it is that easy to accidentially throw a vital piece, like a filter, out. Plus, it was not cheap. Regular price it is $69 but I was able to at least snag it on sale for $39. Currently, I saw one as low as $29 on Amazon…can’t imagine why the price is so low! ha ha!

I can’t recommend you buy this product…so what have you found to be a good hand held vaccum?

Update: Here’s the response from Dirt Devil after I emailed them about my problem. Apparently, they didn’t actually read my entire email because my problem was not a dirty filter it was with the design of their product and who really reads the owner’s manuals?  Of course, there is a “No reply” email box. Ugh. Wonderful customer service.

Hello, Thank you for your recent e-mail. I am sorry to read of the situation As listed in the owners manual, the filter requires removing for cleaning the filter and to clean out the dirt cup. 3DN0980000 F17 FILTER KONE AND KURV $6.83 1DN0980000 FILTER ADAPTOR KURV $5.67 The part that you are inquiring about is available from the manufacturer by calling 1-800-321-1134, online at www.dirtdevil.com/shop, or inquire at the dealer(s) listed below.