Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02030100000P?prdNo=1&blockNo=1&blockType=L1

It looks like Sears has a new Kenmore stick vac with power nozzle.  Price is $199.99 currently. 

Product Description from website:

The Kenmore Progressive Glide upright vacuum cleaner combines heavy-duty cleaning and lightweight maneuverability into a single stylish upright.

Ultra lightweight - 12.9 lbs - makes the Glide effortless to use, carry, and put away

Swivel+ steering system makes it easy to avoid obstacles and furniture

Electronic Dirt Sensor alerts you to the dirt that you can't see

Foot-activated Height Adjust sets the vacuum at the perfect height to clean your carpet

Fingertip Control allows you to clean multiple surfaces with the touch of a finger

Optimum Carpet and Bare Floor cleaning delivered by a 2 motor system

Vacuum contains recyclable plastic, uses 100% recyclable packaging, and uses 17% less energy than a 12 amp vacuum

(Let's see 17% less than a 12 amp vacuum - 0.83*12= 10 amps motor.)

SEARS is selling the Progressive Glide for $149 on sale.  Perhaps the one and only review has some clues to the reason.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_02030100000P?prdNo=1#reviewsWrap

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Ola Carmine,

Thanks I read the review. As before in my books, being what it is, I can see the Glide in use in small homes and apartments where it might serve, lending a sense of thoroughness because of the "big" motor, as sole vacuum for not overly fussy or trendy-type housekeepers. It might also serve as a high-powered supplementary vac in larger homes that already have full-size vacuums for regular duty.

Nonetheless, as it is an old idea that's been done long before, this vacuum is not supposed to have attachments. It's predecessors didn't either. Whether Hoover, Regina, Shetland or Bissell lightweights, with the add on of power nozzles their power was assumed a near to regular upright machines for rug cleaning and that's all they were intended to do -- clean rugs and maybe bare flooring too.

Users of the Glide should only expect to use it to do floors. For anything else, you spray some Pledge on a piece of paper toweling or a cloth, swat a table top with it and call it cleaning. However, that's all the more reason why it -- the "Glide" -- should be priced far more sensibly. There is nothing to this cleaner other than a larger than usual motor has been placed in a stick vac.

I can't believe the public has allowed itself to run so far afield that it can not see what is in front of its face and as clear and obvious as day. But I am probably mistaken since Sears is most likely cutting the price almost 25-percent in the effort just to move the darn thing. The designers who came up with the idea for Sears should have seriously looked at the Shark Navigator, which was already here, and attempted to come up with something better or snazzier.

Best,

Venson

Olah Venson:

The message in the buyer's review is that for $200 a vacuum, in the current economy and times, stick or not, has to have more capabilities than this SEARS Glide.  Interesting perspective. 

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:

Well, here's to those who dare to dream -- customers and dmanufacturers. Shoppers want something for their money even though in the today's balance a couple hundred bucks is considered nothing -- except to those who have to sweat some to get it. Product makers appear to be looking for a lot for even the least of their efforts.

This is why I hope people will start toughening up and learn to play hard ball with producers of frivolous product especially in hard times. There needs to come enough public knowledge re how things are made, where they are made, what it costs to make them and so on to allow for a consensus among consumer regarding fair prices.

Venson