sunny

Well, it's now 7 years since I bought the Lindhaus Aria and while it still has great suction, the vacuum is falling apart.

A couple of years after buying this vac, the power cord got tangled inside the vacuum with only about 3 feet of the cord out. I couldn't see paying someone to "fix" the issue and tried to do it myself. However, the Phillips head screws are located deep in the body and none of the screwdrivers I had would reach them. I went to Home Depot and bought a variety of longer Phillips head screwdrivers but none were long enough and the one that was had a head that was WAY too big to fit in the screw head. So I just attached an extension cord.

A couple of years later, the cover that goes over the tools came off. Actually, the plastic part that fits in one side of the canister broke off so I just left it off. The hose was always a weak point, folding over on itself and cutting off suction, but it eventually got worse and happened more often.

Then, one of the plastic "thingy's" that hold the hose in the canister wouldn't pop out so that if you tugged too hard on the hose as you were vacuuming the entire hose would come out of the vacuum. This part is spring loaded and the "spring" seemed to have lost it's spring. Then the power head stopped working. Turned out the plastic casing on the electric connection from the telescoping hose had become frayed and the power head wouldn't maintain the electric connection. WHen I bought this vacuum fortunately it came with a second telescoping section so I was able to hook that one up and get the power head operating again.

Several months ago, I went to turn the vacuum on via the foot switch and lo and behold the plastic cover over the switch broke - more to the point a small plastic extension on the cover that goes over the foot switch that attaches it to the canister broke - so now there's just this small switch I have to manually depress to turn the vacuum on and off.

Unfortunately, last week when I tried to check to see how full the bag was the other plastic "thingy" that holds the hose in the canister wouldn't depress so I could get the hose out of the vacuum to access the bag. I tried as hard as I could to get it to depress and eventually it just broke - actually it turned out that the "spring" was really just another piece of plastic that "acted" as a spring and apparently over the years from connecting and disconnecting the hose to replace full bags the plastic just lost its flexibility. So now there is only the other plastic "thingy" that doesn't pop out on the hose and I have to use a screw driver to pop it into place to hold the hose in the canister - but it's kind of hit or miss as it wants to fall into the depressed state so the hose comes out of the canister.

Had I realized just how much plastic the Lindhaus was made of I never would have bought this vacuum. Would it REALLY have cost that much more to use metal parts instead of the cheap plastic parts that this vacuum is made of?

So what to do. In my prior review of the Sebo, Miele, Riccar, and Lindhaus back in 2009 I ranked the Sebo highest based on my personal demoing of all those models. Based on that experience, I just ordered a new Sebo Airbelt D4 canister vacuum. I sure hope the Sebo has a longer lifespan than the Lindhaus.

One of the reasons I made the assumption the Arias are no longer being sold is that none of the Lindhaus dealers in the Dallas area I was able to get information from list the Lindhaus vacuums in their inventory.

Money aside, and these days that is definitely not a consideration one should take lightly, I would rank the Sebo first and the Lindhaus second. Given that the Sebo would have run at least $300-400 more than what I paid for the Lindhaus, that decision was a no-brainer. If I had to pay current/full price for all of these vacuums, the Sebo definitely would have been my hands down first choice .

I seriously considered purchasing a new Panasonic MC-CG985 as I have been extremely satisfied with my "old" Kenmore/Panasonic and since I had it serviced, it is now running in near new condition. Since the new Panasonic models now have HEPA filters (I have two large dogs), it was a tough decision. However, the Lindhaus was a little more than $100.00 less than the lowest price I could find for the Panasonic, so that made my choice a lot easier.

I feel the Lindhaus would be on par with the Sebos if they were to: 1) bring out new models with finishes that reflect what one should expect at their price point; and 2) upgrade the hose so it doesn't kink and cut off suction.

A couple of things I didn't mention in my previous post - in talking to the local Miele dealer he commented that he was refurbishing an older (@12 years) Miele canister but was having problems getting replacement body parts as Miele had destroyed some of the body molds. His comment was he couldn't understand why a company that touted its vacuums as typically lasting @ 20 years would destroy the body molds for their older vacuums. (When I first spoke with him, he ranked the Miele's number one of the three brands he carried, so I don't think he was being prejudiced against Miele - just stating the facts.)

I also noticed that not too long ago, Miele's used to have a ten year warranty across the board (motor, parts and labor), which then dropped to five years and now is only a one year warranty (parts and labor/seven on the motor). The drop to one year is apparently fairly recent as the dealer initially told me they came with a five year warranty across the board, then had to backtrack to the one year parts and labor seven motor.

Sebos are five years on parts and motor/one year for labor. The Lindhaus has a three warranty across the board (motor, parts and labor).

Thought I would provide some impressions on some specific models of the above canister vacuum cleaner manufacturers/models.

I have been in the market for a new vacuum cleaner as my existing Kenmore was @ 10+ years old and really didn't suck anymore. I went online and tried to get as much info as possible about all the vacuum cleaners out there, reviews, etc. I found these to be extremely lacking, for the most part. I read a number of great reviews about Miele and decided to try them out. I found a couple of local Miele dealers and trudged out to the stores. The first dealer did not have a single Miele canister vac in the store. He carried Riccar, but only had the low end model (I wanted a vacuum with the power head and full size tools).

I drove to the second dealer who had a good selection of Mieles, Sebo's (which I only found out about through the internet), and Simplicitys, which again I only found out about through the internet. I honestly never considered a stand-alone vacuum dealer, having gone to Sears to look at their selections and not being impressed.

The dealer explained the various vacuums and offered to let me try each of the various models for as long as I liked to determine the one best for me.

I first took the Miele Calisto home (as an aside Miele's web site is incredibly slow). The vacuum did a pretty good job and I liked the fact the exhaust didn't blow dirt and dust around the house as it exhausts out the top.

However, I did have a number of issues with the Miele. The power head was pretty basic for an $800+ machine) and worse, vacuuming under the bed or other areas that required the vacuum hose to be lowered almost parallel to the floor raised the power head off the floor. The power head also tended to suck in area rugs, which was annoying, the on-board tools were the "mini" variety, and finally the vacuum itself was a little top heavy, causing it to tip over fairly frequently, resulting in "blemishes" to the too susceptible finish.

I took the Miele back and decided to try the Sebo AirBelt C3.1. To be honest, I wasn't that fond of the Sebo as it doesn't have the "flash" of the Mieles (basic white or just a little more pizzaz in the red model) and Simplicity/Riccars. However, the Sebo did a great job of vacuuming, the AirBelt exhausts through vents on the side of the canister, and the canister itself was designed with a lower center of gravity so it never once tipped over, and the power head was closer to what I would have expected in that price range. Best of all, you could lower the hose completely next to the floor and the power head remained in contact with the surface to be cleaned. The HEPA filter was great, the on-board tools were all full size, and I personally didn't perceive a difference in sound level between the Sebo and the Miele. All in all I definitely preferred the Sebo over the Miele. (Also, the Sebo never sucked up the area rugs as the Miele did.)

I took the Sebo back and decided to give the Simplicity Verve a try. The Riccars and Smiplicity's definitely have a lot more "flash" then either the Mieles or Sebos. The Simplicity had great suction and did a good job of cleaning. My perception was that it was a little lounder than either the Miele or Sebo, but it did look great. The power head was extremely powerful, unfortunately too much so as it inevitably sucked up any area rug and proceed to trip the breaker that protects it from burning out. The other issue I had with the SImplicity was the fact the power head was a lot taller than either the Miele or Sebo and "hung-up" in low areas. Finally I couldn't abide by the fact they are made in China (their uprights are made in St. James, MO, but the canisters are all made in China as of August 2009).

What to do. I did some more searching and eventually found a Lindhaus Aria Elite canister on closeout for a killer price. I tried to do some online searching for impressions and found a little on Abby's Guide but not enough to make a final determination. I decided to go for the Aria Elite - getting a new, $1,300 vacuum for $400 was too good an opportunity to pass up.

The Aria arrived last week. Everything was there, the power head, two extension wands instead of the single one that comes standard, a hard floor cleaner and the full size, on-board tools. The vacuum itself does a great job of cleaning. The hose can be lowered parallel to the floor and the power head doesn't lose contact with the surface to be cleaned plus it fits under those low hanging obstacles - kitchen cabinet kick plates, sofa, etc. The power head, like the Sebo, can be adjusted so that it doesn't suck up area rugs.

There are some issues with the Aria. First I was disappointed when I opened the box as the vacuum does not come close to looking like a $1,300 piece of equipment. The Elite has a drab, speckled white plastic finish that looks close to the quality of the plastic on those old model airplanes I used to put together. The vacuum hose itself is not as sturdy as it should be as it can kink up and completely cut off suction. It appears that Lindhaus has pulled the Arias off the market as very few Lindhaus dealers list them for sale.

Was the purchase of the Aria a good investment? All in all, I think it was. It has the HEPA filtration (the Lindhaus uprights are well regarded and fairly standard issue in hospitals based on their filtration and they have been purchased by the feds for use in fighting potential anthrax threats.)

However, I would hope that Lindhaus would come out with a refined version of the Arias. Improve the finish/paint quality to that of the Simnplicity/Riccars to improve the finish/perceived quality of the vacuums (these ARE $1,300, you know) and provide a sturdier hose.

Other than that I am extremely satisfied with the Aria Elite. (I did go out and buy some Krylon metallic paint so I can personlize the Elite to my liking - the existing finish IS THAT UNAPPEALING!)

One final comment, I ended up taking my Kenmore in to the dealer who was so kind as to let me try the various vacuums out and he cleaned and serviced the vacuum so that now it is almost as good as new. I didn't realize that it was in fact made by Panasonic for Sears. Given the raps that Panasonics have taken on this site, I have to say that after 10 years, I am impressed with the machine as it's still doing what it was intended to and though it doesn't have the HEPA filtration and exhausts out the back, swirling dust and dirt, it really does suck, now.

Given the assumption that the Lindhaus are no longer being sold, I would personally rank the Sebo first and the Mieles just a tad above the Simplicity/Riccars. The Sebo provides better value for the money - the power head is much better than that of either the Miele or Simplicity/Riccars. The major drawback of the Simplicity/Riccars in my mind versus the Mieles is the fact they are currently manufactured in China. However, their power head is better than the comparably priced Miele power head.