Headlights -- Why most modern vacuums don't have them?

[niclonnic]

Nowadays, it seems like most vacuum manufacturers are doing away with headlights on their new vacuums. I remember when just about every vacuum had one throughout the 2000s. But since the early 2010s, I have seen them disappearing from new vacuums!

In the past, I have found headlights to be useful for vacuuming dimly lit rooms. But these days, not having a headlight is no big deal for me. I normally don't vacuum at night, but even if I were to, I would just turn on the lights in my house.

My mom has moved to a new apartment again, and today I went to her old apartment to clean it up. The single bedroom has no lights, and it was a cloudy day here in Washington state, so this made me miss having a headlight on a vacuum cleaner. This may sound silly, but I turned on the flashlight on my iPhone to try and illuminate the area that I vacuumed. It worked somewhat well, but who wants to use a flashlight as they vacuum?

When and why did vacuum companies eliminate headlights on their new machines? I know some higher-end vacuums have them.

 

[vacuumlad1650]

Give me a day r so, and ill post the explanation for adding it in the first place
Andy Rousonelos

 

[delaneymeegan]

It is kind of redundant, isn't it?  It tends to add extra weight and height to a pn.


 


Frankly, even if you were Dracula, and only vacuum at night, in a dark room, the light from the pn, at that low level, doesn't represent whats really going on down there.  The light is so low, it creates shadows. 


 


But, still, for us vac enthusiasts, a light is near mandatory, so.....

 

[sebo_fan]

I hardly think adding a LED light strip to a PN head is going to increase size. Its the brand at fault who hasn't designed it properly to fit the lights and a light strip isn't all that heavy when adding to a PN in any regard.

Whilst headlights or "dirt searcher" lights might be handy, I don't think they are all that necessary in UK or even Europe. Days are normally brighter in general and most homes allow for natural light to spread through.

 

[eurekaprince]

Headlights really do help clean carpets and floors. Sometimes a piece of furniture or wall will cast a dark shadow on an area of carpet and the headlight helps identify that piece of dirt that may be missed without the extra illumination. It's also a great safety device to help see socks or coins that are hiding under a bed - gives you a chance to pick these up before damaging the vacuum. And I absolutely love my SpotLight handle on the hose of my Miele S8!!!

I can think of only 2 reasons for not including a headlight on an upright or power nozzle: 1. To create a cheaper budget version of the more deluxe vac (like the Hoover Tempo upright) or to eliminate something breaking on a commercial upright that is banged around a lot (Sanitaire seems to have dropped all headlights on their Eureka-style F&G uprights).

I say, when it comes to vacuums: "Let there be light!" :-D

 

[vacuumlad1650]

Sorry it's blurry...my scanner crapped out
Andy Rousonelos

 

[durango159]

I love headlights!

Extremely helpful for vacuuming under beds and other furniture. Also for some rooms in homes I've cleaned where you have to go far into the room to find a standard lamp then the headlight on the vacuum is your guide before that. Sometimes I'll also just be doing a hallway but I'll do the surrounding entrances to rooms along that hallway. The headlight is great for cleaning in those doorways without having to navigate a separate room light switch and disturb my cleaning.

In terms of added weight-- I'm just quite honestly surprised at that comment!! A headlight socket, the 2 wires to run it and the small bulb it's like ounces being added to the unit, maybe, maybe a pound in some cases but to me that's a complete inexistent issue!

Some headlights do add height but manufacturers have gotten much better at that over the years. There are plenty of machines out there with no headlight that have a taller housing than other machines that do have a headlight.

I do house cleaning as a side gig and find headlights very helpful. I wish that commercial vacs had them because under many desks in cubicles it's quite dark and that's where paper clips and other unfriendly vacuum potentials may lurk!!

 

[niclonnic]

Wow

So that's how the vacuum cleaner headlight was invented!

I find them to be handy, but not a must-have. My house allows lots of natural light in through the windows.

That clipart reminds me of the Disney movie, Hocus Pocus. In one scene, Mary Sanderson (Kathy Najimy) uses a vacuum cleaner to replace her stolen broomsticks.

 

[tig21er]

Headlight

My Father made the remark many times that on many uprights that headlight would show you the dirt you can't get because the uprights could not go under many pieces of furniture that the power heads did.

 

[delaneymeegan]

 


 


 


Even though I've surpassed 60 vacuums, I've yet to use, or see in person, a pn with leds.  I would think THOSE would indeed not add much weight or height.  


 


My point of reference is Eureka, Electrolux , Hoover, and Kenmore, all from the 70s and 80s.  These all had a typical incandescent bulb and needed space for the bulb, AND space for air around it, so it wouldn't over heat.


 


Rob, as weight goes, it isn't so much the bulb and wiring that adds the weight.   It's the added "pocket" needed to hold the bulb.  On Electrolux Ultralux LX , Classic, and even the uprights with the headlight, the lens was oddly thick and yes, heavy.  You can distinctly tell the difference between an Electrolux pn with AND without a headlight.


 


Kathy Najimi ?  It would be interesting to see what she's up to these days.  I remember her from the Ellen show in the 1990s where she was a guest on 3 episodes, Shelly Fields character's wardrobe outfitter in Soapdish, and as Olive in Veronica's Closet with Kirstey Alley. 

 

[tolivac]

I have two Meile powernozzles-one has LEDS-the other a flourescent light.The LED is better-instant on-no waiting to warm up.And the LED lights are light,reliable,and take less power to run.Thought vacuum cleaner headlights were a throwback to the really old days-homes had power-but no outlets-you connected the vacuum to a light socket-generally an overhead room fixture.So when the vacuum was being used-no light from the fixture.The vacuums headlight provided the light to vacuum with.

 

[eurekaprince]

Eureka seemed to have figured out a way to include a light-bulb headlight on a power nozzle without adding any bulk to the profile of the head: take a look at the Express Power Nozzle of the 1980's. The headlight is incorporated in the design quite ingeniously. Sanyo copied the design technique on their power nozzle in the 1990's. The Sanyo-made Hoover Duros has the same headlight.

The British-made Electrolux uprights of the 1980's were begging for a headlight, in my humble opinion...the power head is so bulky that it would easily have accommodated a large headlight similar to the British Hoover Juniors.

In regard to the original comment on this thread: I actually don't see a decrease in the prevalence of headlights in the North American vacuum cleaner market. With the introduction of compact LED bulbs, the headlight is quite common now - even in the Shark line-up of bagless vacs. The only manyfacturer that seems to resist adding the feature is Dyson.

 

[blknblu]

Electrolux PN with LED bulb


 


 


 

 

[n0oxy]

headlights

I remember when I was a kid, we had a Eureka upright and it had a headlight, I think it was an incondesent bulb, it was made in the early 1970's I think. Interestingly, when you wanted to use it with attachments, you had to remove the bottom cover and attach a different cover that had the hose connection, don't think they're made like that anymore. I don't have any uprights, but when it comes to power nozzles, the ones from Sebo and Lindhaus do not have headlights. The Wessel Werk ebk340 has a fluorescent light, which means it also has a balust to drive it. The ebk360 uses an LED lamp for it's headlight. The Riccar universal power nozzle also has a headlight, not sure what kind it is. Many of the power nozzles that are included with Panasonic vacuums also have a headlight, and these are rebranded Centec power nozzles. Also, the power nozzle that came with my Metro Vac professional canister has a headlight. Interestingly, you can turn off the spinning brush on this nozzle but the headlight will remain on.

 

[eurekaprince]

Any Eureka power nozzle using a three-prong plug allows the light to stay on when the brush is turned off. It's a great extra feature, but the three prongs make it more difficult to disconnect the hose from the wand. I think the orange Electrolux Oxygen power nozzle had the same feature - as long as the suction motor was running, the light to the connected power nozzle stayed on, even when you turned off the brushroll.

 

[durango159]

Many Hoover PowerMax and Windtunnel canisters have the same feature of flipping the switch on the hose handle to turn off the brush roll while the headlight remains on. The Quadraflex powermatic nozzle works that way using the foot pedal. The motor will shut off but headlight stays on. Panasonics older Jet Flo series had a foot pedal on/off switch and I believe on that model that the headlight stayed on while the power head motor shut off.

Dyson, Sebo, Windsor are the manufacturers I can think of that don't have a headlight on machines.

I serviced an Aerus/ Lux machines that had the big heavy thing for their headlight. They're the only manufacture I've seen with that!! Eureka Express, Rotomatic, Hoover Futura, Hoover PowerMax canisters, Hoover Decade uprights, Hoover Elite uprights, Riccar power nozzles all other manufacturers I've explored have a far easier, lighter weight system for their headlights! The current Rainbow power nozzle is LED and that contraption is very lightweight and it's upfront in the power head. Many Oreck uprights are a dual bulb system and a simple design.

Filter Queen used to have headlights. The current power nozzle which has been on the market for them since 2003 does not have a headlight. I'll be very excited to see what Filter Queens next power nozzle will be. I'm hopeful it is a heavier duty unit with some weight to push the head further into the carpet, a headlight, quieter motor, better edge cleaning and air flow channels along the front and side of the power head.

 

[delaneymeegan]

 


 


 


I don't get the fluorescent bulb thing, in a pn.  .... and it requires a ballast ?  Please tell me the ballast is in the canister so as not to make the pn more heavy.


 


Fluorescent just seems too fragile to be in a pn which can get a lot of bumping around.

 

[tolivac]

In the Meile and Wessel Werks powernozzles that have the flourescent bulb-the ballast and starter is in the head.For the low wattage lamp that is in the head the ballast is small and light.The LED bulbs use a "driver" circuit the same idea as a ballast-steps down the voltage for the LEDS adn regulates it.This is on a circuit board-again in the nozzle.

 

[electromatik]

@blknblu

Lux always had some of the best power nozzle headlight designs. Super low profile with a light right on the front edge. American Lux used halogen bulbs in their first headlight design around the late 1980's. I remember reading that in their reading materials. Those tended to be longer lived than regular incandescent bulbs.

I still see plenty of headlights on the higher priced U.S. models. Kirby, Oreck, Aerus, Rainbow, Riccar all have lighted models. Filter Queen's currently do not. The mass market models do not have many. A quick look at Hoover, Bissell and Eureka's sites shows they have virtually no lighted models. Shark is an exception.