Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Shark is going after the Dyson Ball pretty hard with the Navigator product.  It claims no loss of suction and claims its just as easy to maneuver as the Dyson Ball.  After acknowledging Dyson as the first to offer no loss of suction, they go for the throat.  They do a direct comparison to a Dyson Ball and state that they are equal in all ways (easy to maneuver, no loss of suction, 5 year warranty) but price.  For less than $200 you can get a Shark Navigator with a free steam cleaner thrown in to boot. 

CarmineD wrote:

I've had an Eureka/Lux intensity on the sales floor for 2 years and can't sell the thing, (though I'm not down to $90 dollars). Seems like it would work well, but has a very small bag and I think the electronics of all the Eureka/Luxes I have dealt with, are POORLY done. As for the Art I have 1 on the floor and 1 in carton. I've sold a few and have used it personally on my wood floors and liked it. Small bag as well. They are both cool stylewise in their own ways. I would say the Elux (when working) would be better on carpet but I seriously doubt long term reliability. The Art seems very well made in comparison.

SEVERUS The Electrolux Intensity wasn't much cop here in the UK. Sold at £299 before being dropped like a hot potato. Not only the appearance put it off but the actual fact that owners have to bend down to change the bag, pull the cord out and pay through the nose for the small capacity bags. Miele Art is the same; it may have done well in consumer testing companies, but sales have been flagging and Miele discontinued it a couple of years ago because of a lack of power (1000 watts) and no roller bar assisted brush rolls. Pure suction and very poor on carpet pick up. Miele Art seems to be a favourite appearing on EBAY by previous owners and the tool storage/hose thing seems to get broken easily too. Artistic yes but not very practical for both "uprights." On another note the heavy Electrolux Professional upright arrived 2 years ago selling at £199 but it has dropped in price massively to £59-99. Styled very clearly in the form of Sebo's BS commercial uprights, UK consumers have been slow to pick up on its Arm and Hammer coated dust bags too.

vacmanuk wrote:

vacmanuk,

I've been fairly pleased with the Arm and Hammer dust bags that I bought for my Royal Powercast.   I have a long haired dog, and the exhaust was fairly stinky with regular bags.  The Arm and Hammer bags seem to do a good job of absorbing the stinky dog smell.   I haven't noticed any drop off in suction, but then again I think the dog hair likely turns into extra filter material. 

Severus wrote:

I've used the Arm & Hammer in several bagged vacuums and am duly impressed.  Enough to recommend along with the original brand's paper bags.  Excellent products and widely available among retailers.  Paper bags have made huge strides in product reliability and performance in recent years.  Finally. 

Carmine D.

In the UK wehre we have Kim and Aggie's How Clean Is Your House, there's been a few episodes where theyve recommended adding baking powder manually to dust bags in vacuums. Thus and on the basis that online bicarb of soda powder is mentioned for a myriad of odour control solutions I and others have done the bicarb of soda in bags manually. It does keep odours away but I would'nt imagine many buying the upright on that basis just because bags may well come with the stuff added into the layers. I think the reason to why the Electrolux Professional has done badly is because of an online "independent" test that was shown recently in the UK. Having read Kim and Aggie's Ultimate Guide to Cleaning where no manufacturer is actually listed to vacuum cleaner brand preference, on TV their cleaning companies use a mix of Henry canisters and Sebo's BS commercial uprights. If you're interested in watching the video shown here's the link: http://fwd.five.tv/gadget-show/videos/jon-test/jon-tests-vacuum-cleaners You'll see from this that the Professional model gets the thumbs up from Kim but the carpet tests reveals that pick up wasn't as successful as the two bagless uprights shown.

Tried to watch the videos but unsuccessful.  Warning message says unable to watch from location/country.

Carmine D.

vacmanuk wrote:

Did all Vacuums tested have a Brushroll or were they suction only?

vacmanuk wrote:

What kind of test dirt did they use in their tests?  

If Dyson's were more sturdy, I would think they would make a good commercial cleaner for low pile carpeting.

Severus wrote:

Agree.  The bagless venue if properly constructed offers an ideal product for the commercial cleaning market.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

I would think they would want to copy some of the features of the Windsor/Sebo line as well.   The long hose could go, and be replaced with a better set up - like the Shark Navigator's.