Kirby vacuums now selling at Costco

[panasonicvac]

Big changes have happened with Kirby ever since the company was recently sold to another. Not only they're selling them online now than just door-to-door but they're also now selling them at retail stores like Costco. Thought anybody would get a kick out of this. Big shout out to Dysonman1 from vacuumland.org of taking this photo.

 

[rp2813]

I'm glad the new company decided to move Kirby sales methods into the 21st century.

 

[ea56]

I’m surprised that Kirby choose Costco as a retailer for their vacuums. They can’t possibly command the highly inflated prices at Costco that they received for their door to door sales of Kirby vacuums. Most Costco shoppers are extremely price conscious.

I wonder if the Kirby’s sold at Costco will be of the same quality as in the past?

Eddie

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

I’m sure they will sell a Costco, otherwise Costco wouldn’t

Put it on their shelves, for example look at this behemoth of a pricetag That I saw in Perth Western Australia

 

[adam-aussie-vac]

I know I know

It’s completely unrelated, but I’m just saying Costco probably wouldn’t put things on that don’t move from the shelves

 

[chachp]

 

<span style="font-family: helvetica;">This doesn't surprise me.  In my experience, CostCo shoppers want high end items at really good prices.  Kirby seems like a fit.  I also wonder, if these will be of the same quality as you would get door to door.  Honestly, I didn't realize they still did door to door sales.</span>

 

[petek]

As much as I like Kirby's the world as I see it has moved away from these big heavy vacuums along with the disappearance of houses and apartments floored with wall to wall carpeting.

 

[rp2813]

 

Costco tends not to stick with merchandise that doesn't move.  However, I imagine they'll have plenty of demonstrations to effect sales for a while before giving up if people aren't buying.

 

[petek]

Can't see the price in the photo and not online.. what is the price?

 

[maytag85]

Kirby’s may be heavy BUT will run circles around everything else on the market. There’s no comparison between a direct air and bypass vacuum since direct air vacuums have more airflow and carpet agitation and will literally pull flour through the backing on a carpet or rug. YouTube user VacLab has debunked the airflow vs suction since the high airflow vacuums always pulled a majority of the flour through the carpet backing while the bypass vacuums left a good amount of the flour behind. Couldn’t imagine how much dirt gets passed the carpet backing unless one has a high airflow vacuum like a Kirby or any other direct air vacuum made.

 

[panasonicvac]

Actually there IS a comparison between a bypass and a direct air machine. The Kirby definitely lacks features that most bypass vacuums have today. Suction, filtration, on-board tools, lifetime belt, etc. Things that consumers want to have on a vacuum. Myself included cause I'll admit, the Kirby isn't my favorite machine to use. Good vacuums still but I've used better.

 

[thomasortega]

I have a kirby and it was quite frustrating.

After hearing so much from many members that consider the kirby as the very best invention after sliced bread, I was expecting too much from it.

It sucks, great! But i dont thing suction power is everything.

Luckily my kirby was free, otherwise id have returned it.

Its a great vacuum for a spring cleaning, but its heavy, a PITA to move. A PITA to manouver (even with the drive assist), that giant head is a pain because it doesn't fit under furniture, those 363838363649050372 accessories are a pain, the cord is wonderful during use, but a pain to wrap after use. The bag, gosh, that horrible bag. Its huge, you must decide if you throw away a bag that is half full or if you simply continue vacuuming with a stinky bag.

I have hardfloors anyway, so my 16 amp electrolux bagless canister does the job very easily and after done i empty the container in the toilet in 3 seconds.

I use the kirby exclusively to vac the lawn in the balcony. (Artificial, of course)

 

[awooff]

Filtration

The feature i like the best are the disposable ane sealed HEPA bags on a kirby! Its like having a new vac just by changing the bag - no other stupid filters to clean like other vacs, and air flow is back to 100%.

 

[logixx]

Those HEPA filters that need changing usually come after the bag and right before the air exits the vacuum. What these will also do is capture carbon dust from the motor.

 

[maytag85]

Reply #10

Are you sure? I’ve watched quite a few videos from VacLab on YouTube and out of all the vacuums he has tested, the direct air vacuums always pulled the flour through the carpet backing while the bypass vacuums leave a good majority of the flour behind.

 

[panasonicvac]

Yes, I'm absolutely certain. Kirbys have excellent airflow but they don't have very good suction. You need to have BOTH if you want your carpets very clean, one of the companies like Riccar realized this and their solution was coming with what's called a Tandem Air. Using both a direct air and a bypass motor so you'd have enough airflow and suction plus agitation to get as much dirt out as you possibly can on carpets. Plus you have tools on-board, you have better filtration, you don't ever have to replace the belt, the brushroll automatically shuts off you if you accidentally pick up something like a shoelace, I mean this is in my humble opinion one of the greatest vacuum designs ever invented. That's one of the reasons why I like these better than Kirby. I've used both, I've repaired both, and I even sold both when I was working at a vacuum store.

 

[tolivac]

I have the tandem air vacuums-My Kirby still does better.So I stick with the Kirby.Another vacuum not mentioned is the Royal all metal uprights.These do well and compared to tandem air machines-use half the amps.Same with Kirby does better and lower power draw.On any of my tandem air vacuum their cords get quite warm-13A draw as measured with an amp clamp meter.The com plex airpath in tamdem air machines has too much loss.

 

[maytag85]

Tandem air offers the benefits of both however it adds a lot more complexity, most tandem air vacuums are quite expensive as well. Doesn’t make sense to have something overly complex to get the dirt off of the floor/carpets.

 

[panasonicvac]

I respectively disagree. Kirbys are actually much more complicated to use compare to the tandem air machines, that's one of the reasons why I see a bunch of people selling their Kirbys because they were tired of using them. Especially my grandparents, they bought another vacuum after using their Kirby for about 10 years. And Kirbys aren't cheap either. In fact, people can get sucked into buying a Kirby for alot more than buying a tandem air machine. But that's just from door-to-door. I would've been more than happy to do a YouTube video to back up my statements but I don't need to because someone already did it, he and I both share pretty much the same views on Kirby. Again Kirbys are still good vacuums but they're just not for me.



While I agree with the other post that the Kirby draws less power, I don't agree that they do better than the tandem air machines because I've had different results. I like Royal but similar to Kirby they are loud, they're not as sealed as the tandem air machines, they still use rubber belts that you have to change out, and they don't have any attachments on board. I personally wouldn't use a Royal either except for the Dirt Devil 103 style handvacs, they're the only direct air machines that I can handle with using. Royal just like Kirby, they're unfortunately outdated designs nowadays. Some people like yourself still love using them and I think that's totally fine. But there's a reason why the parent company of Royal quit making the metal uprights, they just don't sell well anymore and I bet that's why Kirbys are being sold at Costco now because they're probably behind financially. There's also a reason why the church my grandparents used to clean for also got rid of Kirbys and went with something more modern like Sebo. Honestly if I did had to buy a new vacuum today, I'd also get something like a Sebo.