Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Hi,

I was web surfing and thought I might share info on some of what's going on in other markets vacuumwise.

The following link is to a PDF brochure of LG's latest offerings in the UK. Please note the blurb claiming that one-third of Brits like to vacuum every day. True?

http://www.lge.com/uk/products/documents/LG-Cleaning-2009.pdf

Best,

Venson

Nilfisk is offering its standard fare but I did make special of the Nilfisk Extreme Eco. This cleaner is calimed to be a low energy machine that is 95-percent recyclable at the end of its life. Comes with a five-year warrranty.

http://consumer.nilfisk.co.uk/Products/VacuumCleaners/ConsumerVacuumCleaners/ConsumerVacs/QuickOverview.aspx

Venson

The Lux 1 is more of what I always felt American Aerus should have ended up as. Note the link to the "PB1" power nozzle. To all appearance it is designed for low pile carpeting.

http://www.luxinternational.com/products/bright_home/vacuum_cleaner/

Venson

Hi Venson:

Good links, thanks.  The Nilfisk pictured here reminds me of the Universal Jet 99 cann of the 50's.

Carmine D.

Hi Carmine,

I think this machine is called the "Family". Unfortunately, though a good vacuum this has nowhere the elegance of the Jet 99, one-and-one-half of which I have in my little collection. (See below.)

Nilfisk gave the Family as it offering of a household vac instead the more spiffy looking "King" or "Extreme" model series to the USA. (The GS 80 fits well in both household and commercial environments.

The Universal Jet 99 was one of the most intricately put together vacuums I know of and I'll never understand how service men ever fixed it or its Lander Frary cousin the Atlas.

Nonetheless, I plan to run it up to good friend MOLE and to learn if he can some of what he does for his race cars for it too.

Best,

Venson

Philips appears to be back in the vacuum business again. I think there was a period that it left off vacuum manufacture. What I am learning is that many multi-makers for the world market (producers of electronics, houseld appliances large and small, etc.) often place varying styles country. The Philips vacuum you find in one country may not not be similar to models sold elsewhere under the same brand.

Note: No uprights, no electric PNs.

http://www.consumer.philips.com/consumer/nl/be/consumer/cc/_categoryid_BAG_VACUUM_CLEANERS_SU_BE_CONSUMER/#

Venson

Roboclean, still the spitting image of Rainbow is hanging on and in at the market place.



http://www.roboclean.de/

Delphin, another water-type vac, is also still in the running.

URL=http://img2.pict.com/92/92/e7/1466514/0/delphin33255b1255d.jpg][/URL

Venson

Hi Venson:

Thanks for the pic of the Jet 99.  And the info about the Atlas, which I believe came on casters.  Red and white and chrome?  If memory serves me.

Carmine D.

Venson,

  Thanks for your thought what you thought Aerus should a been but infringement on other's patents is not one of things that a good company will do.. The PB 1 is designed for the foreign market and not the U.S. carpet. Aerus has the right to Lux in U.S. and Canada and other areas in this hemisphere. What did you think of the Turbo Tool?  Back in the late 80's Electrolux had such a tool- Americans didn't go for it. I have two. Things you may like from other markets in the world won't always work in the U.S.  I am sure Aerus has researched that. Aerus is taking tried and true products and improving them from the inside. Styling and color and what people like is what will sell in this market. 

   If you want an example of  using a body people liked  and see improvements insde and minor details outside look at the AMC Hornet. $80 million dollars to bring it out in 1970 and the body was in use for 15 years in modified looks. Sure it came from the smallest of the Big 4 but it made money and there are still people wishing they still had them.

                                                                    Procare

procare wrote:
Hi procare,

I really wanted a Lux 1 (still do). It's had better features -- filtration set-up, etc. -- all along. For the USA all it needs is a beefier PN. As well, I past also liked the Canadian Electroluxes -- now no more -- like the Model 89, which I think beat the Model G hands down because, cord reel and all, they worked in an exhaust filter. The front end is hinged. You just undid a latch and there was the exhaust filter. The clean air quotient had to be a lot better.

In any event, I had some money to mess around with and I tried like all get out to make the acquisition of a Lux 1 happen for me about a year or so back. The very first thing that I learned was that there was indeed some kind of agreement between Lux International and Aerus. I stll don't quite get it. If Hyla, Delphin and even Roboclean have distributors here why not Lux International? But that's another discussion . . .

Yes, the other issue of course was voltage. I couldn't understand how a company that claimed it sold throught Europe, Asia and AMOST all the rest of the world did not have a 120 AC version somewhere. Anyway, I perservered and tracked down a dealer in the Bahamas who could have arranged the purchase of a 120 volt model. After about three or four phone calls that lead me to believe I had a real chance, the fly in the ointment that time was that this gentleman's business was a small concern and he claimed he could not order just one unit. He suggested that I might get things arranged by a dealer he knew in Florida but I did not pursue.

Europe and other parts of the world appear to have a more practical approach to things. Low pile carpet with a little padding underneath feels fine underfoot and is easy to clean. Why we need the sensation of being up to our ankles in "rug" I can't say but I quess the American "more's better" sentiment is going to prevail for a long, long, time.

During the early '90s I spent four-and-one-half years out fo the country in Munich, Copenhagen, Istanbul and Ankara and the Grand CAries. Lifestyles were indeed varied but no one went overboard on carpeting. The one thing I noted was that carpet was generally low pile much as it had been in ordinary homes here in the 1950s -- at least it was that way in my neck of the woods Niagara County, New York.

In time, good synthetic materials, nylon for one, allowed for more luxurious yet affordable carpeting that just about everyone could own if they wanted to. But back in the day, I think deep pile carpet with a dense weave was more a thing for folks with money and lots of it.

I saw lots low pile carpet and also lots of straight suction canisters in use during my travels. Yet, I actually have no recall of seeing a upright vac or canister with a PN at work anywhere.

The Lux Turbo tool is interestng but it depends on suction to run. As well, the like here usually costs two times or more the price of a decent electric drill or sander. I liked the floor polisher that came with the early American Electroluxes (I have one I use now and then) and found them actually handy if you don't have a lot of ground to cover. I like the air-powered polisher Filter Queen made to but though it could be accessorized to drill and sand it too never seemed like much of a big deal.

I have never known quite what to make of some of the doo-dads that have been sold with vacuums. The big carpet disc thing from Interstate Compact, the hair dryer and the vibrator from FQ. And Kirby -- well forget it. Kirby fitted you out with so much stuff that you could have probably gone out into your yard and started drilling for oil. IF you had enough cord. My persoanl claim to fane is that I an the obly person I know that used their Hoover's demothing attachment.

Oddly, my clearest Electrolux memory is that for all those people that got the spray attachment, only once in my life did I see someone repaint her kitchen cabinets with one. All the rest I've seen are still in their boxes waiting eBay.

Best,

Venson

Well there's a perfect example of marketing at its best. LG are an Asian company and I wonder where they got the source that UK/Brits vacuum almost every day. Oh Look! It's from their own studies...Anything to make a bit of money, LG should be ashamed!

If you believe that Brits vacuum almost every day then it will be the collectors that do it for the fun of it rather than true cleaning. UK generally isn't a dirty country! However we are much smaller than the U.S in general; homes are generally smaller and upon buying a Bosch fridge/freezer the saleslady did say that most UK homes can't take the size of the American style double upright fridge/freezers and most owners end up putting them into their conservatories since they fail to go through our doors! What a pity LG don't mention this!

On another story, Philips don't sell vacuum cleaners in the UK generally; there are little to choose from this year from what is available and those who sell the vacuums would do it independently outside the Philips company (i.e. the likes of EBay). I've owned a Philips vacuum before, one made in Germany but it wasn't particularly special at anything and was quite noisy.

vacmanuk wrote:

Perhaps they meant that the Oreck owners have to sweep daily.   Er, I meant vacuum daily.

Not meant to prove/disprove the statement about daily vacuuming, and I am one who does.  Intuitively it seems reasonable and logical that inhabitants of smaller dwellings would vacuum more frequently if not dail than those with larger homes.  Think about it for awhile.  Have you ever moved from a large home to a smaller one?  Or the other way?  Smaller to larger.  Did your vacuuming schedule increase in frequency, decrease and/or stay the same?  I suspect its more frequently for the smaller living areas and less frequently for the larger.

Carmine D.

Hi,

A lot has to do with traffic, family size, etc. Regardless of home size, some may feel the need to vacuum more if they have kids and lots of company. Persons living alone, couples with kids that have flown the nest and those who don't do much entertaining may well see less need to vacuum.

Venson

Well Carmine, in smaller homes dust appears more regularly if it doesn't have the space to circulate. Since moving into a smaller flat I seem to be sucking up shelf dust more than I did in a larger flat. Mind you it means I don't have to take optional attachments with me such as a long extension pipe or extension hoses with my Sebo Felix; the ceilings are so low that the standard hose on the Felix reaches up comfortably and changing a light bulb (im 6ft tall) means no more ladders!