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When I was a kid, I used to see commercial Hoovers and Royals absolutely everywhere. Could hardly think of a restaurant or a hotel that didn't have a metal Royal or a dust-cup Guardsman sitting somewhere. Now? I seldom see either one (though not quite never). Orecks, and a lot of them, the odd...

The Legend 2 is hard to beat, yeah. Great machine, IMHO the best Kirby ever (well, I've never used an Avalir, but...). I can think of a few clean-air machines that could replicate what it did there easily enough - all the full-size Tacony canisters and their full-size clean-air uprights, for...

There's really only one way to find out, and almost nobody does this: Construct a standard test carpet sample, like for example a 2x2 meter square, mount it to a fixed backing, then make a few of them. Rub in a fixed mass of a fixed kind of dirt (say a 33/33/33 mix of walnut shell, cat hair and...

Yeah, Sanitaires have agitation that's right up there with Royal and even more intense than Kirby, Miele, Sebo or most any of the others, certainly more than any Oreck or Dyson I've seen. The VG1/VG2 brush roll is a beast. Though that's not the first I've heard about Dysons degrading carpets...

One thought on the SEB228/SEB236 effectiveness dispute: the SEB228 (Wessel Werk EBK360) has manual height adjustment. A lot of people think this is inconvenient, but the consensus - such as it is - is that manual height adjustment cleans better. I haven't used the SEB236 (or its rough...

In my opinion, the Legend 2 is the best of the lot: not as heavy and bulky as the G-series (though it does lack the Techdrive - this is both a pro and a con), more powerful than the earlier models, can take the new HEPA bags, has both a large and small nozzle available... It's everything I like...

@marcusprit: Main reason, for me, is that both Miele and Riccar/Simplicity vacs seem to move quite a bit more air than their Sebo equivalents. Also, the Tacony PN and the EBK360 used on some Mieles (SEB228, IIRC) have *fantastic* agitation, better IMHO than the Sebo ET1. Mind you, the ET1 isn't...

The one I bought - though I can't remember from where - does have a cord though it's held in a clip for the "direct connect". It wouldn't be hard to un-clip it and use it with a pigtail that way. In fact, that's pretty much how I use it with my Filter Queen, except than an FQ has a pigtail...

I'll second the recommendation for Simplicity/Riccar, and the higher-end ones come with a good straight-suction tool. Use that, then occasionally use the PN to get the grit that sinks to the bottom - the Simplicity PN is really, really good at getting that kind of stuff in my experience...

Orecks aren't terrible, in my experience, but they do lack power. They do well for quick clean-ups as long as something beefier is used in between. Before they cut funding, the janitors at my office used Orecks daily to vacuum the offices. The carpets looked pretty good, but over time they...

Royal would be another one, also Filter Queen and Silver King, though I really can't justify the cost of the latter. If it's an upright you want, Royal, Kirby and Sanitaire are darned hard to beat, too. I think of them, Kirby has the best bags, Sanitaire the fewest things to go wrong and Royal...

It's probably a tossup between my Filter Queen 95X and my Kirby Heritage 2 Legend, but recently I acquired a Simplicity Freedom which I like a lot more than I thought I would. It's great for quick cleanups - as convenient as an electric broom, almost as powerful as the Kirby.

Well, except my Filter Queen, all my vacs are bagged. That said, it is in fact the Filter Queen that gets used most of the time, downstairs. Upstairs, it's usually a Simplicity 6970. The others get used when I want a change of pace. I'd like to add a full-size Riccar/Simplicity canister, a...

I've gotta vote for Royal here. I've got a franken-880/671 at work that works like a charm. That said, Sanitaire rates pretty high too. I don't think it does as good a job on the really ultra-tight office carpets, just because they're hard to agitate and Sanitaires don't seem to seal down as...

The Concept One is a great upright if you don't need tools. I'd go so far as to say that it really is Hoover's best, and it keeps up with Kirby and Royal, which is no mean feat. As for modern uprights that can compete? Royal, Kirby, Riccar/Simplicity, Sanitaire, but not many others. It's a...

Well, if you want it to be both an iconic classic, and still usable, I think Filter Queen is hard to beat. Electrolux is good too, as would be some of the Royal Power Tanks. For those, I think the 80s/90s ones were the best, but some of the older ones are definitely more "classic".

By the way, a few things about Royal type A bags: First off, they're essentially the same as Eureka type F&G, which might be easier to get. Also, if you want to use newer bags, it's possible to attach a Kirby Generation-series fill tube to the Type A spout using a hose clamp. Once you've done...

I use a cotton ball wetted with vanilla extract (fake's as good as real for this, and cheaper). Another option - depending on where the stench is - is to suck up some new scented kitty litter. Don't do that with anything bagless and cyclonic, though - the fine dust will get into everything. In...

Well, Royal metal uprights are still being sold, and rightly so. The older ones weren't all that much different, except for being less power-hungry and quieter. Royal could probably do well to market a less noisy 6-amp model today with an improved fan. The old Eurekas live on as Sanitaires, so...

From my own experience, chevron brush rolls do seem to work slightly - but only slightly - better, if and only if the suction channel is in the center. I switched out the brush roll in a Royal 880 from an older straight-row type to a newer dual-row chevron-style, and it did seem to help. That...