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Longhairs swept up in a ratings race? Well, not exactly.
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It took Consumer Reports six months to stockpile enough bags of Maine coon cat hair to do its first-ever ratings of how vacuums sweep up pet hair. In the March issue, the magazine tested the fur factor of 65 upright and canister models by dumping what they were told was the most stubborn pet hair -- the long, fine coon cat variety -- on carpeting.
"We had lots of requests from subscribers to test vacuums for pet hair removal," says James Nanni, Consumer Reports manager for appliances. Groomers were asked to save hair from this specific breed. Testers examined how much hair the vacuums cleaned and how much got caught in the brush.
The results were no surprise. Uprights and canisters that performed best in regular cleaning trials also were best on hair. Kenmore models, in particular, earned high rankings. One buying tip: Cat hair is harder to empty from dirt bins of bagless vacs than from models that use bags.
Jura Koncius
![[slate.com logo]](http://media.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/09/27/GR2007092701096.GIF)
