Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

We recently purchased a Sebo Felix from Costco.com and my wife does not like it at all.  It runs hot and was heavy/akward to carry as a canister.  Luckily Costco has a great return policy!  The most important feature for her is light weight and she really likes our 10-year old Oreck.  I've gone to both the Oreck store and an independent vacuum store to look and compare.  The Oreck and Simplicty Freedom seem very similar.  I like the high end Simplicity Freedom model F3700 [priced at $399] without the companion canister and $499 with the canister because it has a metal brush roll.  The lower end freedom models don't have two speeds and frankly don't seem as good as the Oreck to me.  At the Oreck Store I tested the Magnesium, which was interesting, but costs $399 as well [$499 with canister].  Also, not sure about buying this new and unproven model although it was incredibly light.  Costco is running a special thru January 15th, where I can purchase the Oreck XL & Canister companion for $248 [$50 off costco price].  At the end of the day this seems like the best value to me, but I'm curious as tot he opinions on this forum.  Thanks very much!  

Well, if you go by what you say that suction is always lost due to design, and onto the twists, turns and tubing that promote friction…thus leading or at least contributing to possible air leaks, you will agree that some brands buck the trend. A low energy vacuum cleaner that has sealed suction - one brand I can think of is the SEBO X / Windsor Sensor series. They don't sell on high power - they're not that powerful - but they do sell on the reliability, design and longevity. If you've repaired them then you'll know they aren't the best for accessing the belt if it does go - but beyond that the X is a pretty serviceable machine that the owner can do themselves. I bet there's a numerous amount of machines where the same can't be said.

As for the Junior, yep I forgot the U.S had the Lark. You guys had the best of Hoover of course being U.S origin and we had the same model as your Dial A Matic, albeit in simpler form called the Junior Compact/Junior Deluxe that lacked the variable suction dial at the back. There were UK Dial-A-Matic's too but they sold in low numbers. The adaptor to the fan was the best solution for suction but Hoover UK went and dulled the design on their last Junior U1104 models by giving it a flat adaptor that snaps onto the permanently moving brush roll plate, thus the suction would have to travel further for it to meet the dust channel on the suction plate and being farther away from the fan. Dust inevitably just used to lie on the surface of the adaptor plate and not being sucked up into the machine.

Certainly if I lived in the U.S I'd probably find life very easy - your homes are naturally bigger than ours, most have Air con where we don't and compared to the U.S, the U.K is a very damp country. As a vacuum cleaner enthusiast however, I'd probably find it harder to keep one vacuum due to the myriad of brands and models you've had through the years and where pricing is concerned, mostly cheaper than the UK, although our previous posts on here show that the German brands are cheaper in the UK than the U.S A fact of life, probably for the moment.

However, whilst you meant to convey that the individual lives of consumers move at different paces, the young generation today are displaying a very lacklustre attitude to mostly everything unless it's offered up on a plate, that they do very little work to get where they need to and in terms of cleaning, I've had some real eye openers. From watching a girl hunch over with a cylinder vacuum because she didn't know the suction pipes could be adjusted for height, to a male worker who thought running over the power cord with an upright (and its brush roll turning) was always safe to do.

Interesting info about your Aunt - my mum was taught very similar to you and my mum taught me. I was training up a young man the other day about washing dishes - he was taught to wash the dishes in hot water and washing up liquid before letting the dishes drain. Not for me - because even after you let the dishes drain, there's always the chance they'll still have washing up liquid coated on them - and I've fried up onions before in a frying pan that had the most unusual smell of Melon enhanced detergent and olive oil - NOT NICE. He was most surprised when I asked him to rinse the dishes in a separate basin before drying them or letting them sit to air dry.

Similarly, when I was his age, living away from home and studying i had to live with a set of guys, one of whom was the worst for cleanliness and used to (without a word of a lie) boil wash his underpants in a stove pot on the cooker and used the microwave to dry the clothing!!! My point is this - even if lifestyle products are taking over from standard means of appliances that were once seen as labour saving - many UK buyers don't go for upright vacuums that don't have a hose on them. The U.S are different, U.S buyers are different and it's not a bad thing or a good thing - but at least we all have a choice as to what we can buy. It just so happens however that the U.S has a larger amount of older, dirty fan low wattage vacuums than the U.K.

Lastly your report link was a good read. Good to see a lot of different brands - but interesting that of those shown - none were bagless.

vacmanuk wrote:

HI vacmanuk,

Dishes should always be well-rinsed after they've been washed -- where is this kid from?  BUT, I have to admit, I've dried a pair or two of socks in the microwave.

I should mention that our "milk and honey" days dried up a long time ago -- we're just not ready to believe it yet.  Some do have spacious homes but lots do not and, whether owners or renters, lots of comprises over what you'd like as opposed to what you've actually got to work with are made literally by the hour.  There is indeed a wide choice of acoutrements for the home here BUT they have to be paid for.  Due to general climate, depending upon where you live, and also climate change for some an air conditioner is almost a necessity.  The height of that necessity is added onto if factoring in those more to susceptible to problems because of elevated heat --  the elderly and young children.  Nonetheless, the buck doesn't stop with the purchase of one.  In New York City, a hot summer while living in a small one-bedroom apartment cost around $150 in electricity per month to run a 6,000 BTU unit -- a small machine.  I can't imagine what it costs to run a home's central air conditioning through a whole summer.

Large appliances may be highly attractive due to being more energy efficient these days but most cost and arm and a leg to buy.  Imagine needing to shell out well over a thousand dollars, sometimes nearly $2,000, for a refrigerator, or  clothes washer or kitchen range when your job situation is shaky or you don't know where the next job's coming from. 

Though it wouldn't hurt them to bone up on cooking basics, our young people here are indeed facing all sorts of challenges though seeming a little too laid back but I think they're taking the sensible approach.  They're trying to make the best out of what they've got as they attempt to get by. They have a lot to worry about.  Fallout from the bad economy and job market -- which still is no great shakes-- remains a hard hit for kids and everyone else here from all economic strata.  I know lots of people, both the young as well as the more mature, who have been actively seeking work not for months but a couple of years and have still not found  jobs.  There's lots of kids, just out of school or leaving soon, wondering where are they going to go?

That said, average consumers' vacuum cleaner choices may be becoming more  limited than we might think not by lack of availibility but directly because of cost.  Take my word for it, coaxing encouragements to spend a little extra and "buy ahead" don't wash well these days.  As far as price goes these days it is difficult to get a lot of consumers willing to pass the $200 mark when looking for a new machine. 

Venson

The UK is pretty much the same - in terms of buyers for vacuums - they don't want to spend anymore than £100 on a machine ($153) and if they are pushed to buy Dyson then they'll go for it (up to $595 or just over $650) and treat it like an investment. Where our large appliances are concerned, washers and dishwashers start around the £199 price range and go all the way to £2539-00 ($304 to $3884) refridgerators go for completely different prices, thanks to your influence (not yours personally, but the U.S style "grande" sized fridge/freezer combination.) The most expensive and largest is a range from a company called Sub Zero and it costs £12,500 (you could buy a car for that kind of cash) equivalent to $19125.00

Our 3 month electricity bill usually amounts to £749 ($1149) on average (including power), and that's because Scotland continually has cold weather, rainy for most days and prevents clothing from being hung outside, or being frozen to the washing line. Also it's very cold all around the year but our summers are very short, so at least there's a good respite of not using any heating as it's usually warm enough to get by without it. But for the most part it's quite expensive to run. The cost of gas used to be cheaper but because it's more precious to get out of the ground, can be additionally expensive to run all the time.

I've managed to get the bill down to £400/£500 however simply by using as little electric light as possible, energy saving lights, low motor powered vacuums (even if the SEBO and Miele models I have have high power, they can be used in the lowest rating) and only using the dishwasher maybe once or twice a week. The washing machine now only gets used once every 2 weeks to try and go through all the clothing I have rather than stick to my favourites and ignore the rest!

vacmanuk wrote:

I think electrical rates are better where I am now than in New York but there has been a trade-off -- I'm now paying for water.  (just once I'd like to feel I came out ahead In some spots I'm told, you not only rent and pay  for water and electricity for light, heating and cooling but trash removal too.  At least I don't have to call "Rent a Frog" or "Lease  a Owl"  -- they're included in the deal for free.

As for cleaning equipment choices, there seems to be only a very limited amount of bona fide vacuum shops in my area -- I'm talking for miles.  Everyone appears to be taking what Wal-Mart has to give here though there must be a Kirby guy somewhere around as I notice them turning up for sale as pre-used regularly.

Wasn't the UK Hoover Junior our Lightweight (USA version)?

Seems like that Lightweight wasn't too popular here?

hooverman wrote:

They of course were lighter but I think compactness was more the sell point -- the near wallop of a full-sized Hoover, beater-bars and all, but easier to tuck away.  The cleaning swath was narrower, for most of the line, and I don't think that garnered much enthusiasm.  "Will it clean," was more the question than, "How heavy is it," during the time the Hoover Convertible was king of the hill. 

Venson

Venson wrote:
The Hoover Junior (or Lark as it was known in the States) was a fantastic seller for Hoover in the U.K, not least Scotland where the Cambuslang factory churned out many. We had them, my grandmother had them and nothing else beat it at the time for carpet dust pick up. It was still at that period of vacuums where people bought uprights for carpets and canisters for suction above the floor and hard floors. The Electrolux Z500 series didn't even come close even though it was a true upright with a hose connection and was better for fitting than the Junior/Lark's hose at the front, and it was a Clean Fan system compared to Hoover's dirty fan. WHICH UK testing still recommended Hoover uprights though! Quite literally we Brits fell in love with the VW Beetle-esque style and the Art Deco models before that and of the slogan "it beats-as it sweeps- as it cleans." Buyers for canisters were more then likely dabbling with Electrolux rather than going out for the also, dearly beloved Portable and "Connie" Constellation models. Loosely based on the Convertible, there was the Senior - we had one of those and I recall my mother preferring the Junior because it was lighter to handle and get around the carpets. We even had the last modern version in the 1980's, a U1104 model which at last was made in plastic exterior that made it a bit lighter to carry as well as a flat drive belt and a top fill dust bag, although the U1012 older style machines had a top fill bag.

I've often loved the Junior - it was effectively the vacuum I grew up with. The U.S then fell in love with the horrendous Boss uprights with the "Back Saver" handle in the 1980's. Many Brits weren't convinced of those - we had better Electrolux models by then!

As Venson points out, the Junior/Lark was lighter- but U.S homes have always been bigger than the U.K and everything else.

Ok, I haven't exactly read all of the responses, cause this caught my eye and was signing out, but given that I am a vacuum enthusiast and technician, I have worked on Orecks and the riccar/simplicity supralite/freedom and will say that even with the base supralite/freedom, you have better cleaning power than the oreck. The riccar/simplicity vacs use the same motor through out the 5 variants, the only differences are having a switch on the handle or having one on the body, having the multi speed switch, having a wooden brushroll, having a metal brush roll, having a hall sensor (jam detection) and having paper bags or micron filtered bags. The fans and motors are the exact same, so the rsl1 cleans the same as the rsl5 when the rsl5 is on high, the differences are the cloth collection bag vs the paper, the metal brush roll with replaceable strips, the hall sensor and the multi speed switch on the handle.

The riccar/simplicity models handle hair and other debris better than the orecks because the fan has a deeper fin with a tighter curve shape to deflect objects and keep hair from winding up.


I own an oreck commercial XL, an RSL3 and an RSL5... Would take the riccars over the orecks any day...

jkbmmv wrote:

Someone finally answered the question, Riccars blow Orecks away if U can stand the noise lol, or buy the 2 speed and run on low.

jkbmmv wrote:

vacman2 wrote:
I have to agree that Tacony's  Freedom/Supralite upights are very good and perform very well.  I have said this from their beginning.  What I have to ask is, have you tried the other Oreck residential uprights?  They make other series of uprights like the Pilot series(mentioned earlier in the thread), which started out as the XL21,  and the Edge upright.