Funny (to me anyway) conversation at Walmart

[fan-of-fans]

A while back I was at Walmart looking at the vacuum cleaners. Walmart only sell one vacuum that uses bags, a Bissell upright. I was listening to a conversation between a couple and a store associate about the vacuums. The sales associate told them couple that "you ALWAYS want a bagless vacuum, never a bagged".

The angry side in me that I have to hold back wanted to say "Well, maybe until you have to clean the filters and get dust everywhere, but you probably don't even know about that."

It just annoys me that people think they know everything about something when they don't. Of course, when your store only sells cheapo bagless Bissells I wouldn't expect them to know much about one anyway.

Now, I do use a few bagless vacuums, but I think a statement like that, claiming to know what I want or don't want is a bit ignorant. There are reasons a bagged vacuum can be better, namely all you have to do is throw out the bag, the filters rarely have to be cleaned and there is no dust spilled out.

I don't know why people can never seem to understand that, and if you don't clean the filters your vacuum will not pick up well or burn out the motor.

 

[yogitunes]

it can be scary, yet funny, when a salesman isn't edumacated on a product, but worse when people don't investigate for themselves...

people will believe anything!....you can't prepare yourself for the shocking things than can happen...

but I will give you that, Walmart seems to attract a certain type of clientele...there are even vids on youtube, as in preparing you for some shocking things you may encounter if you enter....

I was with my sister once in Sears, who was taking way too long to decide on a vacuum....I told her to grab the one with the headlight, just by chance if the power goes out, she can still see where she is vacuuming and finish her chore...she was sold at that moment!

 

[iowabear]

I only have one bag-less vacuum, a small canister Dirt Devil "Breeze" that I use for the basement.

 

While it works great, "pounding" the large filter to clean it out creates a disgusting dust-cloud mess...it must be done outdoors.

 

Would much rather change a bag than deal with it.  Live and learn!

 

[yogitunes]

I find compressed air best for cleaning out vacuum filters...and your right, outside!

 

[tolivac]

To put it simply-bagged vacuums for me!!!See to many bagless dreck vacuums at the curb waiting to be picked up by the Hungry-Hungry trash truck!

 

[thespiritof76]

The other thing the industry doesnt tell you about a bagless

...is, that most bagless, and meaning most of them especially sold at the big box stores, not only have a Hepa filter that needs cleaned, but a new filter is recommended every 6 months. Generally those filters range from $20..to as high as $50. One can surely buy a years supply of clean, hygienic paper bags for the same money, or more. It is very much what I call a false economy. But people believe it because that's what the company's tell them, knowing if they put "NEVER BUY BAGS", or "EASY EMPTY" in bold print, but the part about the new filter in fine print, on the last page of the manual, or on a separate little card, 85% of their average consumers are not going to read it. To me that is boarder line fraud. But since they include the little card, legally the consumer has been "Warned", and it is perfectly legal. It is most distressing, being a vintage vacuum cleaner collector, that the names associated with those practices, are the names that I love most. =(

 

[thomasortega]

I personally prefer bagless vacuums.

Ok, you have to wash them from times to times and replace the filters, however, when you have tons of hair and not so much dust, bags fill reasonably fast and can become costly.

Every vacuum has a target profile and people should focus on that.

Usually bagged vacuums are GREAT for people that have mostly dust and not so much large debris or hair.

Now it the dirt is mostly large debris, hair, etc and not so much dust, then a bagless is way better.

 

[liamy1]

As....

An allergy sufferer - severe when it comes to dust. Bagged all the way for me.

Just too much unsealed dust in a bagless.

This matches the (shift back to) advice given over here in UK from various sources - Which? (CR) and electrical stores and online retailers; is you're an allergy sufferer a bagged is better.

 

[ea56]

I’ve always preferred bagged vacuums too. David does most of the house cleaning and he likes a canister vacuum with a powerhead. We’ve owned several Kenmore canisters with powerheads over the years, and they are very good vacuums, but their weak point is the electric connection in the hose for the wand. After a few years every one of these vacs have crapped out because of this connection failing. And these hoses cost a fortune to replace, about $150.00 when our last one went out a couple of months ago. And at that price you may as well just buy a new vacuum!

We have a Hoover Constellation with a Turbo head that we bought in 2006 new, and its very good. So when the last Kenmore gave up the ghost, I checked out the Dyson Cinetic Animal Canister, and found that it doesn’t have or require a filter. So we bought one, and we love it! It has excellent suction, the turbo noozle does a great job on our wall to wall carpet. In fact,the carpet in the bedrooms is the original rust colored shag from 1980, and believe it or not, the Dyson has made this carpet look almost like new again! We have a Simplicity Dry Carpet cleaner applicator. Its electric, and it really works the dry carpet cleaner into the carpet throughly, and the new Dyson vacuums it out like a champ. Between the two of these machines our carpet looks better than ever.

And I totally agree about bagless vacs with filters, they suck, and not in a good way! We had a Shark Rotator Upright,and cleaning the GD filter was a royal PITA!!.. The vac did a nice job, but that filter was the pits, I said Hell to the No on the Shark!

Eddie

Loading…

www.dyson.com

 

[thomasortega]

I'm still impressed with the little Bissell Zing bagless that I bought at Lowe's.

I have bare floors and the hoover constellation I still have here and never used it again was getting on my nerves (and ankles, walls, furniture). Constellations and bare floors are a huge No No No, specially when you have a dog that sheds like crazy.
It blows the dog hair before you have the chance to vac it. You end up with a cloud of hair flying everywhere. Plus the canister hitting everything and everybody completely out of control.
One day I freaked out, abandoned the cleaning session right after I started thanks to another time the constellation hit my toes (literally), almost grabbed darryl by his neck (not literally of course) and went straight to Lowe's and bought the Bissell Zing, not expecting much of it because I thought it's nothing more than a cheap, flimsy vacuum that costs $49.

What motivated me to buy that specific model is that it was the only canister available in store and that wasn't a Shark and it would fit in my budget right at that moment (I couldn't wait another week until my payday to get a better bacuum). If Lowe's didn't have it, we would go straight to Home Depot and buy a small Ridgid, anything would be better than the Constellation blowing the hair off the floors, hitting me all the time and waiting until the day it ends up breaking one of my toes.

When I started using it, i was expecting not so much power, (and as I don't have carpets, extreme suction power isn't really a must). That little crappy thing surprised me. It's much more powerful than I could imagine. The accessories aren't the very best, but they do a good job. and the filter holds A LOT.

Once in a while I wash the cartridge filter, I don't expect it to last more than 2 years (specially after I ended up vacuuming the external area, abusing it) but again, it may surprise me.

Even if the Zing doesn't last 2 years, I'd buy it again. It was cheap and it does a decent job. It's a honest product, Bissell doesn't claim it is the very best vacuum in the world and it's NOT the very best vaccum in the world but it does a decent job, much beyond the expectations.

If you have carpets, the Zing is unthinkable because it doesn't have the power brush.

 

[yogitunes]

I guess it a matter of what your cleaning, and the task at hand... one man's junk....

and note, I have a bunch of vacuums, pros and cons to each one...

but I have two Shark Professional Rotator Lift-Aways…..with too many accessories to list...found them both at a flea market for 30.00 each.....

THEY ARE FREAKING FANTASTIC!

for me the only downside is an extension hose is not available....

I find it easy to maintain, the filters are washable, and I pretreat them with lemon pledge, which traps even more dust.....and toss in a LittleTree Vanillaroma….

on the search for the "Powered Lift-Away" next....

but to each his own.....

 

[superocd]

I ran into a somewhat similar situation at Target one day. An elderly couple was looking at vacuums while I was nearby buying carpet cleaner solution (which I normally get from Walmart, but my wife had a coupon that made it half of Walmart's price). I overheard them remarking to themselves that they didn't think that anything on the shelf was going to last. I introduced myself, pulled out my phone, pulled up Amazon, and showed them a Sanitaire SC886, which is what I have. I told them that these vacuums are truly heavy duty. Their faces lit up when I showed them the picture of it. The husband said that it looked like their old Eureka that they had for twenty seven years. I told them that it's basically the same as their old Eureka, it just has a newer, more powerful motor, and the wife said that they would love to have something like their old Eureka again.

I told them that they could buy it online, or if they are not comfortable doing that, a good vacuum shop should have one. I also said that if they wanted to save money, they could buy the SC679J, which has a little less power, but should perform better and last longer than what they were seeing in the shelf. I told them to buy an F&G conversion bag to go with it to improve the filtration and they would have themselves one of the best vacuums for the money, only bested by Kirby or maybe a Miele or Sebo. The wife wrote down the model number and the bag type. They were thankful for my advice and were going to have their daughter help them buy the vacuum and the conversion bag online.

The wife asked how I knew so much about vacuum cleaners and wondered if I was a salesman. I said no, I'm just an appliance geek and I actually repair and install HVAC. The husband said that their furnace may need a checkup so I gave them the business card of the company I work for. About a month later, they scheduled an appointment and specifically asked for me. I made new friends!

 

[tolivac]

The Sanitaires are also available at janitor supply places-most towns and citys have such places.And you can get a Sanitaire that uses disposable bags.The F&G bag is slowly being retired-Newer Sanitaires have a different disposable bag-much like the Kirby-Filtrte material and a rigid fill tube in the cloth outer bag.Can't remember thetype# at this time-these work GREAT!!!!And the Filtrte style bags are so much BETTER than paper ones-you can pack a Filtrete type bag completely full like a brick.so--these bags can be cheaper and better(better filtration-no dust in the motor)Paper bags can be filled only like half full and start losing efficiency and can even burst making a bigger mess.

 

[speedqueen]

They aren't retiring the F&G bag any time soon, only the top end model has the modern type ST bag system.

 

[askolover]

I converted my old 70's Kirby Tradition from the shake out bag to the newer style HEPA bags.  Both of my Kirbys' cloth outer bags are still perfectly clean, no dusty residue gets past those HEPA bags.

 

[fan-of-fans]

"I’ve always preferred bagged vacuums too. David does most of the house cleaning and he likes a canister vacuum with a powerhead. We’ve owned several Kenmore canisters with powerheads over the years, and they are very good vacuums, but their weak point is the electric connection in the hose for the wand. After a few years every one of these vacs have crapped out because of this connection failing. And these hoses cost a fortune to replace, about $150.00 when our last one went out a couple of months ago. And at that price you may as well just buy a new vacuum!"

I like a Kenmore canister too. If that connection at the wand is the same issue I'm thinking of, I figured out how to repair it, and it's a very easy fix. If you open the two halves of the handle, there is a receptacle in there for the power nozzle cord to plug into. There is a plastic tab that holds it in position, and over time it breaks, so the receptacle moves up in the handle and doens't make good connection. All you have to do is glue the receptacle in place where it's supposed to be. I've fixed two Kenmore canisters that had this issue, and they're still going strong!

 

[ea56]

Thanks Cole,

I have done this repair on the handi-mate power tools,but unfortunately, the repairs didn’t hold for too long before the connections broke again, and then it was beyond being able to glue again.

I did think about trying to get a new handle assembly for the hose and replacing it. But after having this same failure over and over again, I decided to just try something else for a change. But I’m really glad that you’ve had success with this repair.

The Kenmore canister vacuums are really very good machines. I believe that they used to be made by Panasonic. The only ones now that compare would be the Miele canisters with a powerhead, but I’m not about to pay what those bad boys cost. And now that Sears is going out of business, I didn’t want to buy another Kenmore, and if there were problems while still in warranty I’d be SOL.

And I have to say we’ve both been really pleased with the Dyson’s performance. It cleans and grooms the carpet just as well and maybe better than the Kenmore. Time will tell how durable it will be, but it seems to be well made. Besides, I’ve always been a vacuum junkie, so this was a perfect excuse to try something new.

Thanks again for the helpful advice, I’m sure that it may help someone else, as this is a common problem with powerhead canisters.

Eddie

 

[fan-of-fans]

Yeah they were made by Panasonic. When Panasonic got out of vacuums a couple of years ago, Cleva bought their molds and designs and started making the Kenmore uprights and canisters for Sears. They also hired some of Panasonic's engineering staff. Some of those Kenmore canisters are now branded as Titan and sold in vacuums shops. Cleva also makes wet/dry vacs, (I think including Craftsman).