New Kenmore Upright Vacuum

[centralsweeper63]

Very nice colour scheme.

 

[cheesewonton]

So who came out with suction adjustment on the handle first?

I don't know when Hoover started producing the first Sensotronic ( US model Electronic 1000 ) but that was the first I am pretty sure. 1982-ish maybe? Kenmore and Whirlpool had electronic controls for motor speed on the hose handle in 1984. Panasonic had it on the MC9440 about the same time.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Interesting. Maybe the sensotronic came out in the UK first. At that time in nz the Electrolux model was still the D338.

 

[cheesewonton]

Interesting. Maybe the sensotronic came out in the UK first. At that time in nz the Electrolux model was still the D338.

The D720 was out in 1979-1980 time frame.

 

[centralsweeper63]

My d720 is from 1986. I will talk aabout it on the NZ Elrectrolux thread.

 

[cheesewonton]

My d720 is from 1986. I will talk aabout it on the NZ Elrectrolux thread.

They were making D720s in 1980. My D730 from Japan says it was manufactured in 1982 ( all Japanese appliances have to have the year of manufacture on their data tag ) and my D745, also from Japan, was manufactured in 1986.

 

[centralsweeper63]

The NZ D745 was sold from 1992-1996.

 

[cheesewonton]

The NZ D745 was sold from 1992-1996.

Wow. Ten years after my D745 was built.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Yes, very different. NZ got things about 10-15 years after other countrys. E.G. the cord winder came out in 1978 over here. Amazing.

 

[huskyvacs]

I just want to thank everyone for the innumerable time and priceless advise given to me in the other thread.


So here is, my new vacuum cleaner. In so far I really like it and it works as advertised. I vacuumed the downstairs and upstairs carpets and it really does an excellent job. 99% of the time is sucks everything up on the first pass. Suction is almost if not just as strong as my old Kenmore Intuition. It scrubs the carpet and leaves great looking lines. It is quieter, glides easily and a bit less heavy. The LED lights work well, the dirt indicator light is not a gimmick in that it actually lights up when going over a dirty spot and shuts off when going over a clean spot. One thing I noticed is that not a single bit of sand, crumbs or grit was flicked out from underneath which I really, really appreciate unlike some other vacuums I had in the past.

Only thing I dislike is that the hand attachment hose is shorter, but other than that you get your moneys worth. And best of all it is based on an older Panasonic design which I love. It takes Type O bags which I think are among the best.

I am open to any thoughts, comments, likes dislikes ect.


View attachment 170787

I just bought one of these at Goodwill to use as my new upstairs vacuum. Never seen it before. I know these Kenmores are kind of high end and cost a lot of $ new, which is why my collection is very lacking on Kenmore products lol. The one I got is kind of a more ugly dusty rose color, but if it works good, I don't mind. I was shocked nobody else grabbed it, I guess it was fate!

 

[centralsweeper63]

I quite like that colour scheme.

 

[Chetlaham]

Ok, so a few a few things I've noticed in the time that I have used my new Kenmore Elite. Suction appears to be stronger. With the attachments things are pulled in much faster and cleaning is more thorough on each pass than on the old intuition. Cleaning on hardwood floors is actually worse no matter where I set the height adjustment, I find more passes are needed to pick up crumbs, lint, threads, ect. However one the other hand carpet cleaning is substantially better. The roller deeply messages the carpet fibers making them look like new, the suction is very strong pulling up everything in one pass and absolutely nothing is kicked up or flicked out the sides by the roller. Noise is lower and more tolerable in tone. I like that the LEDs work even with the brushes off unlike other vacuums that I have used. Overall this vacuum is an improvement over the old intuition.

 

[centralsweeper63]

That is great to hear!

 

[huskyvacs]

Ok, so a few a few things I've noticed in the time that I have used my new Kenmore Elite. Suction appears to be stronger. With the attachments things are pulled in much faster and cleaning is more thorough on each pass than on the old intuition. Cleaning on hardwood floors is actually worse no matter where I set the height adjustment, I find more passes are needed to pick up crumbs, lint, threads, ect. However one the other hand carpet cleaning is substantially better. The roller deeply messages the carpet fibers making them look like new, the suction is very strong pulling up everything in one pass and absolutely nothing is kicked up or flicked out the sides by the roller. Noise is lower and more tolerable in tone. I like that the LEDs work even with the brushes off unlike other vacuums that I have used. Overall this vacuum is an improvement over the old intuition.

yeah a full upright should never be used for hard floor cleaning. it will never work despite the company's claims, and you will scratch the hell out of your floor to boot. better to use a canister with a floor wand.

 

[cheesewonton]

yeah a full upright should never be used for hard floor cleaning. it will never work despite the company's claims, and you will scratch the hell out of your floor to boot. better to use a canister with a floor wand.

You say that but I have been using our Commercial Hoover Hushtone Plus on our hard floors with results as good as any canister vac I have. You can see it pulling pet hair out of corners. I also have a nozzle set up for our Avalir 2 where I removed the brush roll and belt and have the Floor Dusting attachment clipped to the bottom. I use this for hard floors and am surprised that it works really well. When I am done with the hard floors I swap that nozzle for a normal one with a brush roll and go to work on the carpets. We have used the power nozzles of our Japanese Panasonic and Hitachi canister vacuums on our hard floors for 7 or 8 years with no apparent damage.

 

[centralsweeper63]

I think the only potential problem is throwing dirt about.

 

[cheesewonton]

I think the only potential problem is throwing dirt about.

The Hoover has a rubber squeegie behind the nozzle opening so dirt isn't thrown behind when cleaning hard floors. It is the first upwrong I have used regularly to clean hard floors with and might not have even tried had I not seen some reviews of the Hushtone that mentioned how well it cleans hard floors. I didn't figure it could be any harder on our floors than our dogs, cats and 11 yo boy so I gave it a whirl and was surprised how well it works.

 

[centralsweeper63]

That is good to hear.

 

[Chetlaham]

Do you have a link to a good canister? Personally I've found the best results from a full upright. They absolutely pull everything in and leave the floor so clean you can walk on it barefoot.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Sebo is good. A cheap, like really discounted cheap, Miele no-powerhead machine like the c1 is good.

 

[cheesewonton]

Do you have a link to a good canister? Personally I've found the best results from a full upright. They absolutely pull everything in and leave the floor so clean you can walk on it barefoot.

Right now I think the best canister vacuum is the Kenmore 600 Series, particularly the purple 81614 or the blue BC4026. Huge power, great attachments including the motorized Pet Powermate upholstery brush and a fantastic soft horse hair dusting brush, a great basic power nozzle, seven foot hose and pretty well made. If you always use a genuine Kenmore brand Style Q synthetic HEPA dust bag ( no other brand and definitely never put a paper bag in one of these as it will rip one open, big mess ), immediately replace the black open cell foam pre motor filter with the good Kenmore CF-1 filter and are diligent about filter changes the 600 will last as long as a Miele and clean every bit as well for a fraction of the price. I have Mieles, Sebos, Lindhaus, and Kenmore's going back to the late 1940s and have had them all apart. The 600 is the best made Kenmore canister ever. The current manufacturer in China has put a lot of effort into improving the plastics, Smoother operating bag lid and attachment lid hinges, and making thoughtful changes like putting the power nozzle wheels on steel axles. A great canister vacuum and for the price you cannot do better.

 

[panasonicvac]

If you're looking for just a suction only canister vacuum, I'd suggest a Eureka Mighty Mite canister. Since I know you're more old school, that's another machine they've been making now for quite a while just like the F&G uprights. With the Cyber Monday deal they have going on, it's really hard to pass one up on Amazon.

 

[centralsweeper63]

The mighty mite would be a good basic machine too.

 

[huskyvacs]

If you're looking for just a suction only canister vacuum, I'd suggest a Eureka Mighty Mite canister. Since I know you're more old school, that's another machine they've been making now for quite a while just like the F&G uprights. With the Cyber Monday deal they have going on, it's really hard to pass one up on Amazon.

It was also sold under Clean Obsessed and Sanitaire branding.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Yes, it is one of those designs that has been around longer than 3x my age.

 

[cheesewonton]

It was also sold under Clean Obsessed and Sanitaire branding.

What Clean Obsessed sells is similar but a different vacuum. The Mighty Mite is sold by Sanitaire and Bissell, with Sanitaire being less expensive than Bissell.

 

[centralsweeper63]

Ah, thanks.

 

[panasonicvac]

I have the green Bissell BG3000 that's similar to a Mighty Mite but with many improvements. I had the yellow Eureka Mighty Mite before but sold it when I found out it can't use the HEPA filter anymore and that's why I bought the Bissell because it does have a HEPA filter. I would've kept the Mighty Mite still if I had bought one for this price.

 

[centralsweeper63]

That is very cheap!