Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Looking back over the past year, one thing conspicuously absent from this forum is a rabid Rainbow enthusiast.  Perhaps it is difficult to justify the outrageous price of these door to door wonders.   To some extent, a Rainbow owner has to believe in the Rainbow sales pitch and doesn't want to be confronted with any negative information about the Rainbow.    I also noticed that overstock.com is no longer selling the refurbished Rainbow SE's with the Wesselwerks small power nozzles.    Given the economy, it's got to be tough selling $2000+ vacuums - even if they can purify one's home. 

Venson wrote:

Hi Venson:

I believe prior to your tenue here this FQ issue was posted.  Frankly I completely forgot about it when the HOOVER WT switch and Electrolus Pronto issues surfaced but Vacmanuk's posting jogged my memory.  Interesting too that HOOVER had about 100 plus of these defects reported prior to recall while FQ reports 44 thru May 2009.  Considering the mass sales of the HOOVER WT's one would expect many more vice the FQ.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Not too bad as the article says 44,000 of this model were put out between 2004 and 2006.  Statistically thinking, the number is quite low if the number of reports/actual incident is correct.  Nonetheless, the article is not very informative as far as offering a clear description of what overheated and where overheating occurred.  I've replied to that effect.

Venson

Venson wrote:

Hi,

Following is a link to FQ's website and a PDF regarding the issue.  I would note that it was not conspicuous nor easy to find as I had to do a search for "recall" at the FQ site.  The problem reported is stated thus, "The recalled cleaners’ wiring can overheat, causing electrical arcing and melting."

http://www.filterqueen.com/pdf/HMI_Press_Release_042909.pdf

Venson

Thanks Venson.

Carmine D.

It has been FOREVER since I have been on this forum. I moved and got a new computer and I guess I just forgot to bookmark it. I still have my Rainbow 2 speed that I have had since 2006. I still use it on and off. I did want to share something.......U know the hepa exhaust on my Rainbow is still brand spanking new looking.....I still am confused as to if the fine dust/dirt goes past the water and onto the hepa, then shouldn't mine be really gross by now. Still white and smells new.

I still think the vacuum repair stores that open up Rainbows and see mud and dirt on the inside are seeing Rainbows that folks would use and not change the water....and letting it turn to mud while they keep right on vacuuming..Thus, of course you're going to see a muddy inside of a machine and a muddy hepa....The key has to be changing the water often......The hepa five years later on mine speaks for itself.........

I used my Rainbow a lot the first two years......I would use it more if it weren't for the crappy PN that chokes off the airflow. I still use it at least once a month, but not everyday The PN is well built and attractive but something in the way that it's designed just doesn't perform as well IMO

At any rate.......I will be the first to say these are overpriced and somewhat of a pain to use......I only get it out when I do heavy duty deep cleaning up on high areas and places I can't get with the Kenmore can since I have the 14 foot non-electric hose.....As for the PN, I'm currently looking for one that is designed better but I'm not sure which one's will fit........But I'm sorry, if these things are used properly, they filter EXTREMELY well.......

I messaged Venson

But if anyone knows which PN's will fit the e2 with stainless wand and electric hose without any modifications, please let me know.


Thanks

Welcome back and glad you still like your Rainbow, except for the PN, a typical complaint by many Rainbow users/owners. 

Carmine D.

My family suffered through a 2.5 hour "no obligation to buy" Rainbow demonstration as a result of my wife signing up to "win" a prize.  Of course everyone wins the opportunity for a token prize.  Note - it's not really a prize when you have to do something to earn it.  Our "prize" was a Rainmate - essentially a small humidifier comparable to the $15 ones at Walmart.  For the low price of $20, we can buy some aromatherapy chemicals.   I wasn't particularly impressed with the Rainbow, and the nearly $2600 price tag plus $350 if you want to buy the aqua-mate (carpet cleaner - alternatively you can sell out your friends if they agree to suffer through demos and get a "free one.") 

I would agree with the posters who say that the power nozzle is poorly designed.  It felt clunky to use.   Forcing the consumer to hold a trigger switch to avoid having to include a safety reset switch is a design flaw.  Having the belt in the middle of the nozzle with a 1 inch or so gap in cleaning coverage seems like a major design flaw.  I wonder if that's the biggest reason for Rainbow's poor performance in carpet cleaning in CR testing. 

I was absolutely amazed at the attempts at deception and outright lies in the demonstration.   Perhaps the most blatant example is how they rebox the Rainbow after the demo so they can pretend that it is brand new for the next demo.  I happened to take the cover off the power nozzle to look at the belt protector, and saw remnants of red and brown carpeting - not from my house.)  

To beat it all, the SOB thought we could be bribed to give him names of our friends/relatives who might want to suffer through demos.   I like my friends.   Friends don't sign up friends for Rainbow demos (at least not without prior approval and warning).  

The smart tyrant writes his own story to ensure that it is favorable.  The lazy will repeat lines from the book without fact checking. 

Severus wrote:

Yes.

That Rainmate thingy is nothing but an air freshener. It doesn't clean the air. I mean, it's a cool little unit but only worth ten dollars or so.

Dumb question.

Can the E series Rainbow's be ran without the hepa filter? When I had the hepa off the other day it warned not to run without it. Wouldn't running an E series without the hepa basically be like using a pre-e series Rainbow? I was thinking about just leaving the hepa off because it's not really doing anything. Perhaps it would create more suction? I don't know.

I'm also thinking about getting the Eureka Express PN for the Rainbow. But I also wondered what anyone thought of these PN's and would they fit the Rainbow e series?



http://cgi.ebay.com/Central-Vacuum-Electric-Power-head-Nozzle-Vac-NEW-/160535449028?pt=US_Vacuum&hash=item2560a88dc4

mark40511 wrote:

Same same with the P/N.  Rainbow E series price for P/N is $279.  Eureka P/N $70.  And .....the fact that the Eureka P/N has an all metal agitator with beater bars and replaceable brush strips; the Rainbow brush roll is wood.  Extrapolate the same mark-up and product worthiness to the rest of the Rainbow vacuum and attachments too  IMHO.  As I said, after Rainbow was forced to come clean on its product overstatements and claims, it never kept pace with the rest of vacuum industry for product performance and price. 

Most of the Rainbow owners I know store the vacuum away in the closet and use another one as a daily vacuum.  Pulling out the Rainbow for sentimental reasons whenever they have pangs of guilt for spending so much $ to get so little bang.  Most Rainbows are kept in storage like this for years and years without any regular and/or even infrequent use.  They'll last a lifetime with that little use which is a product plus if there were some/any collectible value for them.  I haven't seen it yet in my liftime.  But there always hope.

Carmine D.