5 Year Update Cirrus CR-79 Upright

[mark40511]

Hey - I don't think there's much interest in these vacuums here but I'll share anyway...

I'm pretty sure I bought this November 2018.. so it's going on six years old. (not bad)

I remember at the time I think I paid $379 for it. (or something around that)

I think overall it is a really nice vacuum with more pros than cons.

The pros are definitely operating costs. The HEPA filters, HEPA bags and belts are CHEAP!! A pack of six HEPA bags are around $13..the HEPA filter itself is around the same price. And they work great. No dust in the bag chamber at all. It's easy to take the bottom plate off, brushroll off to clean it and the area around the brushroll. It runs smoothly and I never hear any squeaking. I change the belt about once per year (my carpet is wall to wall berber) It really has that old school vacuum feel to me.

The cons are this: Two things The bottom plate has/HAD a squeegee on it. Why? Moving back and forth on carpet causes that to disintegrate over time. The handle itself is a weak point. Even if you don't pick it up by the handle (I never do) the pushing back/forth caused the handle with the on/off switch to split and come apart...I bought a new handle so that wasn't expensive...but they advertise having metal parts where it matters...but the handle matters and it's NOT metal.

I don't use the attachments on the body of the vacuum. I use a 12 foot extension hose with wands and attachments for above floor cleaning. I just pull out the wand and connect the extension hose to that. Connecting it to the port that opens on the back of the vacuum doesn't work that well in terms of strong suction/airflow. So I used the wand. I think this saves the wand/hose from degrading also.

If this died today...I would totally buy another one... It's such ashamed the price has gone up so much...

 

[lesinutah]

That

Looks eerily similar to the new Airway uprights. That's a good thing.
I heard the vacuum shop quoting $699 on an airway.
The squeegee is made for non carpeted areas. I'm pretty sure your aware of that. The 12 foot hose is actually impressive that 1 machines can deep clean carpets and still use a 12 foot hose to clean in one machine.
I could be wrong this could be from the same people wake commercial vacs. It looks like a solid uprigt.

 

[mark40511]

Yep the hose is afermarket... I think the kit was in the $30s.. I had to use a small adapter I had that I just leave on the hose itself to connect to the wand.... You basically can do this with any vacuum that has a hose...though you may need an adapter

That squeegee is for hard floor vacuuming with the brushroll off...but it's built into the bottom metal plate... so when you vacuum carpets...you're destroying the squeegee built in on the bottom...In no time it started to rip so I pulled it off.. I don't clean hard floors that way anyway... I use the floor brush

https://www.amazon.com/Vacuum-Clean...MIimPIyvkpQ4-HseZEpuZ1ZpTlkpKlfCHq2qZCHw7Rqv0

 

[repairman]

Les

The Cirrus vacuums are made in the same Taiwanese factory as Air-Way. They're also made for Greatvacs' Pro-Lux, Koblenz, and many more.

 

[panasonicvac]

Happy anniversary!

Glad to hear it's still going strong! Yeah it's too bad that the prices had went skyrocketing, especially since they cheapened the hose to where it's clear now. For the same price, I'd rather buy a SEBO 300 Mechanical over the CR79. But nonetheless, they're still good machines. I wished they offered a twin fan motor for that model. They do on the CR99 model but I could care less about the variable speed controller and other extra features.

 

[mark40511]

Yep but I have to be careful when getting an upright because it must have a brushroll shut off since I do a LOT of above floor/hard floor cleaning with it.. I'm not 100% sure... but I don't think the 300/350 you can shut off the brushroll

 

[panasonicvac]

That's right

Neither one doesn't have the feature to turn the brushroll off, one thing I will say that I do like about better on the CR79. But for $50 less ($50 off more from a dealer), the SEBO dart is a better option than either Mechanical model or even the CR79 in my opinion. Even the Felix for the same price as the CR99 ($50 off from a dealer) is also a better option than the CR99 in my opinion, actually I think the Felix along with the Lindhaus Healthcare Pro are the best overall uprights on the market today. But again nonetheless, still good machines. I'm just really happy that they've been selling those machines for years just like SEBO where you can still get the same matching parts for them, it's like you're pretty much set for the rest of your lifetime.

 

[mark40511]

Yeah I've eyeballed the dart and Felix...trust me...When I got my Cirrus... it was much cheaper...now they're almost the same prices as the Sebos we mentioned.

 

[panasonicvac]

I remember when Tacony had their Carpet Pro line that were selling the CPU-1T for $200 or so. I thought that was in my opinion the best budget upright I could've ever gotten brand new back in the day. I know it didn't had a clutch but I definitely would've bought one of those over any Cirrus or even a SEBO (if I couldn't find a used one). I could live with having a spinning brush on as long as I would have a extension hose to clean all the other surfaces.

 

[mark40511]

Cool... In that video... he uses the same hose I have....but he connects it to the back port.....when really instead he should just pull the hose out of the vacuum and connect it that way... At least in my case when I connected it to my back port... there was BARELY any airflow....but connected to the wand... tons of airflow..I guess on this model the brushroll spinning doessn't matter in upright position since it isn't touching the carpet...I swear I saw these still for sale somewhere... maybe old stock?

 

[lesinutah]

The

Riccars/simplicity/that machine is older.
It's an option they started on higher models but on higher end models is where it makes the same power. The vacuum he's showing is older than yours. The airway I seen looked exactly like yours. If I had to choose I'd buy an airway.
The cirrus sounds great.
I've seen carpet pro the newer ones and there 2 rows of brush rolls not sure they have a transmission and they're BOL machines.

 

[dysonman1]

If I'm not mistaken, the new Airway cat and dog model has a twin fan lamb motor.

 

[lesinutah]

Lol

I'm mistaken that's nicer than I remember. I seen a lavender machine that color I like better. There really nice machines cirrus and airway.

 

[mark40511]

I will say... this is the first vacuum I've ever had where I can tell I neeed to change the belt after a certain period of time. I'm not using it on high pile caret... but berber...you would think that would make the belt last longer... I feel like after about 2 years the belt needs changing... I've never noticed this on any other vacuum I've ever had...but the belts are cheap and pretty easy to change... I was told to keep a pack of belts in the refrigerator... which is what I do... I would be awesome if they made a lifetime belt.... If someone ever happens to this one... I think (not sure) my next one with be a Sebo Dart or Felix... though I'm hoping the extension hose will fit it...I don't like the Sebo extension hose... it doesn't look long enough.... Plus I'm not sure about the filtration on the Dart/Felix...but I can only imagine they filter pretty well being Sebo's.. I know you can't shut the brushroll off on the dart from what I can tell but it shuts off when in upright position... plus you can remove the vacuum from the PN so it doesn't really matter.. But the new Cirrus prices are approaching the Dart and Felix... so why not??

 

[panasonicvac]

Yeah whatever Carpet Pro you see for sale is NOS cause Tacony isn't selling anymore Carpet Pro at this time. They were replaced by Simplicity as the new budget line from Tacony. But you can still get a machine like those Carpet Pros under Titan, CleanMax, and Cirrus. That C-CPU4T commercial model is made by Tacony and it uses a twin fan motor like the old Riccar 8000 and Simplicity 7 Series uprights.

Air-Way is an older design of the Cirrus. Cirrus was actually intended to replace all the old designs that ESSCO (formerly Buckeye and North West) had over the years like Bernina, Evolution, Morse, etc. For whatever reason they decided to keep them around. My old local vacuum store was a Cirrus dealer and my current one carries Air-Way so I've seen them all before. From my understanding, the black Centuri upright uses a single stage motor. I'm pretty sure it's the same as the CR79 cause they both have the same watts and based on the YouTube videos I've seen with both of them side by side since I've yet to take one of those Air-Ways apart. However, there is definitely a difference between the two. Other than just the looks, the Cirrus had a much nicer clutch, the filtration is better, and it's even cheaper as well. So why would I pay extra for an older design than pay less for something that has improvements? Doesn't make any sense to me. I'll admit, I really love the looks of that black Centuri upright. It's got a resemblance of the Panasonic MC-V7367 and Simplicity 7250 mixed into it. But for $899, that's just WAY too much even for a hundred less at a dealer. For that price, I could buy a SEBO X4 which is overall better in my opinion (I think the second best upright on the market today). Other than that, they are good machines. I have a Bernina 6500C which is similar to the red Centuri upright.

You can shut the brushroll off on the Dart for vacuuming barefloors. They just don't have a switch the shut the brushroll off when you take the hose out just like on the Felix. And you should use your existing extension hose on the Dart if you don't like SEBO's extension hoses. Filtration is excellent but unlike Cirrus, Air-Way, or any Tacony upright, SEBO is completely sealed.

 

[mark40511]

I remember the guy who sold the cirrus to me.... I think he's on this forum Phantom lightning or something like that.... I watched a youtube demo he did on the cirrus and I commented and called him at the vac shop he was working a

I remember him saying they are sealed HEPA....but not sealed like Miele or Sebo... I never understood what he meant by that... To me, it's either sealed or it's not sealed....I don't see how there can be a middle ground...

But I don't feel any air coming anywhere from my Cirrus except through the HEPA...

as an example: On the Kenmore canister... you could feel air coming from the cord area..and through the wheels

I do think (unless the prices of a Cirrus come down, I won't be getting another one when I can get a Felix or a Dart at almost the same cost..Not because I don't think they are nice vacuums.. they just aren't worth what they're asking

I do wonder about those wrap around filters on the Felix/Dart.. It says to change them every 10 to 15? Bags I think? Some people fill their bags once a month... but it takes me forever to even get close to the point where the bag needs changing...

Honestly though... I think I'm going to have this Cirrus for a lot longer unless something in me snaps and I just do an upgrade or trade in or something. It shows no signs of degrading in any way...When I change the bag/belt/filter.. I clean the brush roll and wipe the entire thing down with Lemon endust...the thing still looks new... and it's my daily driver...I only use my rainbow a couple times a month.

 

[panasonicvac]

I think what FantomLightning referred to is that the Cirrus would trap 99.97% of dust whereas SEBO or Miele would trap 99.99% of dust if that makes any sense. Maybe you wouldn't feel anything leaking out of the Cirrus but if you looked really closely at like the thermal reset button for example and used either a scanner or a microscope, you'd find that air can get out of there with particles that wouldn't be forced through the HEPA filter. But if I were to say that if these are sealed or not, I'd say yes they are sealed. Either way, these are one of the better filtering vacuums on the market. As a person who has allergies, I'd have no issues with those machines. Definitely better than Air-Way but Air-Way filters really well. I don't like that they come with paper bags but they can easily be swapped out for the Cirrus bags. I forgot to mention that by thinking about it, the black Centuri upright also takes me back to the Sharp EC-TU2111 that I used before. I thought that was a good machine. Also used 1300 watts just like the Centuri. If Sharp would ever make a comeback in the vacuum market (I doubt they would), I'd love it if they had ESSCO made the Air-Way or Cirrus uprights for them.

About every 10-20 bags the filter on the SEBO should be replaced. For your situation, maybe less than that because even though your floors are cleaner, you'd still have carbon dust plugging up the filter. But you could get away with rinsing the pre filter out without having to buy a replacement for quite a while.

 

[mark40511]

You would think after all of these years Cirrus would update their website showing the CR-79 has a HEPA exhaust filter... It still shows they don't..

I wonder where that name originated? Bernina? Such a strange name for a vacuum brand... but unique too.

I was watching more dart and felix videos and wondering about something else. I understand you can leave the vacuum in the upright position or take it off the PN and carry it...but my question is... what if you want to take it off the base, but set it on the floor where it's more stable... and then connect your extension hose to that while you do your cleaning? But then I wondered if that's a bad idea because of the way it filters (through that wrap around cloth filter) and sitting on the floor might cause it to overheat since it might be blocking some exhaust? I don't know. I figured if you had an extension hose connected to it while it is in upright position you might risk tipping it over... but it would also be a pain to have to carry it while you clean...

 

[panasonicvac]

Bernina is a sewing company. There was a time when they had ESSCO made the uprights for them because alot of the shops not only sold and repaired sewing machines but also vacuums as well. I wish Bernina was still doing that today.

If you were to use the Felix like that as a canister, you should be fine. I like how the exhaust blows all around instead of just one side. Their canisters have that feature as well. As long as your filter isn't too dirty cause I've seen that people can clog up their filter and overheat it. I don't personally see myself using the Felix like that, at least not very often. For bare floors I'd just equip the Parquet brush on or turn the brushroll off. I'd only use the extension hose if I'm cleaning above like the ceiling fans but I shouldn't ever worry about it tipping over. But if tipping is a concern, it'd be better to just get a canister instead like a K3 for example. I wanna see if I can try to convince my grandfather's insurance company to get a K3 (or a E3 if possible) to replace the Kenmore at his cabin that flooded during the winter cause that would be a perfect replacement canister vacuum for him.