Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Curiously Overstock.com has been stocking refurbished Kirby vacuums for a while, and they have added Rainbow SE vacuums (along with Panasonic, Royal, Dyson, and Oreck offerings).  The Rainbow SE is "factory refurbished" (not sure which factory) and is offered with a brand new Wesselwerks 11" power nozzle and a 5 year warranty. 

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Rainbow-SE-Bagless-Water-Vacuum-Cleaner-Refurbished/3402181/product.html

If I recall correctly, during the Japanese real estate bubble of the 1990's, the unsold pet rocks were painted bright primary colors, repacked and refurbed to factory specs, and sold as 'paper weights.'   The price was set at a ridiculously high amount.  And Ebay sellers listed them for 10 times more than the MSRP.  This caused an unbelievable buyers' frenzy and Japanese retailers were shocked how soon the unsold pet rocks [I mean paper weights] flew off the shelves.   Sheer genius.  Made the originator a gozillion!

Carmine D.

Venson wrote:
Venson,
I enjoy the James Dyson story (from his carriage house to today), there are many life and business lessons there. Building a quality vacuum is not much of a story, anyone with the will can accomplish this. God given inventions only come to a select few, so I talk Dyson. I have seen every vacuum related patent application for the last year. Very little that is truly new (not a new twist) is coming, but when I see something (like the multi-cyclonic canister I posted from Miele) I'll post it and talk of it too.

DIB

P.S. Electrolux recently filed for cyclonic filtration (low and high efficiency) but with the addition of using their (existing or new) “self cleaning” pre and/or post motor filter/s.

@Venson, The original vacuum would also need to have absolutely no emissions what-so-ever.

A little food for thought,whats wrong with rebuilt vacuums that are rebuilt right with a warranty just as good as when they are new?.Are repacks reconditioned?

The price should be determined by the quality of the rebuild,who does the rebuilding,the reputation of the rebuilder,Is there a difference between rebuilt and reconditioned?

There is alaways the customer that only buys NEW, Has anyone on the forum ever used the KIRBY rebuild policy, They are without a dought the best in the business at this.Aerus/formerly electrolux,had a factory rebuild program,i've seen model XXX, model G's, model L'S, its a shame they dont do it anymore,i quess this is called progress?

Anyone remember the metropolitan rebuilt luxes?, Model R's, with new paint,attachments,hose,with 2 year warranty parts and labor for 69.95.

MOLE

Hello MOLE:

I took a shot at a response.  Let me know what you think.

Carmine D.

A little food for thought,whats wrong with rebuilt vacuums that are rebuilt right with a warranty just as good as when they are new?.Are repacks reconditioned?

Answer: Worthy rebuilts with the same backing as a manufacturer's guaranty are just as good. Technically, repacks are just that. Customer opens, uses and returns to manufacturer/retailer. The latter spruces up and repacks for sale with the caveat "repack." Some carry a guaranty. Some are sold as is. Obviously price varies depending on the latter.

The price should be determined by the quality of the rebuild,who does the rebuilding,the reputation of the rebuilder,Is there a difference between rebuilt and reconditioned?

Technically, no difference, just in terminology.

There is alaways the customer that only buys NEW, Has anyone on the forum ever used the KIRBY rebuild policy, They are without a dought the best in the business at this.Aerus/formerly electrolux,had a factory rebuild program,i've seen model XXX, model G's, model L'S, its a shame they dont do it anymore,i quess this is called progress?

I know many Kirby customers who have and are extremely satisfied with the Kirby results. I may be wrong, but I think I recall that Just's parents had a Kirby that was damaged badly in a home fire. Kirby restored/rebuilt/reconditioned the damaged Kirby to its original factory specs in accordance with its policy.

Anyone remember the metropolitan rebuilt luxes?, Model R's, with new paint,attachments,hose,with 2 year warranty parts and labor for 69.95.

Yes, from Sustern NY. Familiar with the Metro's rebuilt 30's. I was never very impressed with their results. Many were sold at auctions for new. But really were rebuilt with a guaranty. Metro stuck a past on label with its name on the underside and the rebuilt statement.

MOLE

Thanks MOLE for the post with the information and questions.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Hi Carmine, your response is right on the money,Spoken like a true professional of the trade.

Who sold the XXX for new?

The dealers are starting to open all the machines up put them on the sales floor and sell them as DEMO models at huge discounts,you gotta do what you gotta do,
The indys are more creative than the box stores,discounts,do their own financing,give aways,etc,they NEED and fight now more than ever,
The internet is slowing up also,too many scams going on right now,it has to be cleaned up,
As the master of the universe says  HOLD ON BOYS AND GIRLS THE RIDES GOING TO BE LONG AND BUMPY.......

MOLE

mole wrote:

Hi MOLE:

Auction houses in the 50's and 60's on the Jersey shore would sell the Metro rebulit lux 30's as new in a box for whatever they could get.  If the buyers ever looked at the underside of the Lux [after it was out of the box], they would see the Metro rebuilt paste on labels.  Some never did see the labels until I pointed it out.  Lux tried to put an end to it, but couldn't.   

Carmine D. 

Venson wrote:

I certainly wouldn't class IRobot's Roomba as lessening the effort of floor cleaning. They need quite a lot of hands-on maintenance to keep the brushes free from hairs which can cause the bearings and gear boxes to knacker up. The cheap plastic that makes up the Roomba seems to attract the dust excessively. Carpet fluff gets into inaccessible areas; you have to hoover it out. Complete waste of time. It is basically a motorised carpet sweeper, with a separate suction intake.

No, if you want a decent robot cleaner, the Electrolux Trilobite is a much cleaner machine. All the fluff released by the agitator goes up the suction tube, because the suction port is within the agitator cavity. The Trilobite's plastic seems to be far more anti-static than the Roomba's. The Trilobite has a far better filter system too.

Trilobite wrote:

Hi Trilobite,

It was not my intention praise one one brand above another nor do I know all the particulars between brands.  I also have to admit bias regarding either as neither is a match for a full-sized vacuum.  However, they are a beginning and who knows where they'll be in five to ten years.  As for maintenance, there's many a full-size vacuum that presents the same problems.  The issue is that robotic vacuums -- regardless of brand -- to some degree do make floor cleaning less labor intensive as regards the person keeping house.

They do not "deep clean" but can help a household look presentable with less effort.

FWIW, Consumer Reports gives the nod to iRobot Roomba over Trilobite and others on the market today.  Probably due in part to its price and affordability [$330 for the iRobot Scheduler vice $1800 for the Trilobite].   While comparable on most features, iRobot beats Trilo on weight [6 vice 12 pounds] ;  Noise [Excellent vice Very Good] ;  Run time [70 minutes vice 50] ;  and obviously a biggie:  Edge Cleaning [Excellent for iRobot vice Poor for Trilo].  So do the big box USA retailers give iRobot the nod.  Ironically, one of the ONLY bright spots today for big box retail stores and new vacuum sales is the iRobot.  Despite the complete collapse of consumer buying and confidence. 

And apparently investors like the stock too:

iRobot Corporation (NASDAQ)
13.11 +0.66 (5.30%)  Oct 17 4:00pm ET
Open:  12.02 High:  14.11 Low:  12.02		Volume:  0 Avg Vol:  181,000 Mkt Cap:  323.68M
Disclaimer

After Hours: 13.11 +0.00 (0.00%)  Oct 17 4:15pm ET

Main Street and Wall Street in agreement.  That's highly unusual in the present financial environment. In the spring of 2005 when iRobot went public it sold for $12.50 a share.  Albeit 3 plus years later and a precipitous drop in market value of over 30 percent, iRobot has maintained its high/low range well.

Intro'ed in the fall of 2002, the iRobot robotic sweeper has sweeped USA households IMHO.  Roomba made the sweeper, as well as its sister the scooba [for washing floors], affordable to the masses from the start.  To its credit, while iRobot's follow the leader competitors priced their products high to recoup R&D quickly, iRobot priced theirs low to recoup R&D slowly.  Long term view rather than short.  iRobot had the background for making robots but lacked the vacuum cleaner expertise.  Electrolux had the vacuum expertise but lacked the robotic expertise.  Obvioulsy the latter is more pricey and untested from an R&D perspective than the former.  I'll vote for the robotic experience first then the vacuum cleaning experience second.  And I'm an old school vacuum man through and through.

I suspect 5 to 10 years down the road, the iRobot will improve.  Its quality and performance has gotten better with each successive generation: Now in the 5 th generation models.  Not worst like some.

Robots are the latest and greatest vacuum product/technology in the industry in over 100 years.  One of the few/only niche vacuum products doing well in the big box store venues.  While some here post all interesting vacuum news for a certain brand, here's one that's been conspicuously overlooked:

http://robotstocknews.blogspot.com/

BTW, I'm guessing that Consumer Reports will do a more thorough review of the robotic vacuums soon since the October 2008 CR did not.

Carmine D.