I question the " REALLY tall" comment from Reply 3 and needless gizmos and gadgets from the introduction.
A very common feature on canister vacuums in the USA is the use of telescopic wands. Some uprights have the feature as well and it is nice. There is a big difference in a users ability to use a machine if you compare a 4 foot tall 10 year old compared to 6' 3" tall gentleman. I'm only 5' 7" myself and wouldn't mind being a little taller but even when using a standard set of non telescoping wands on a Kenmore canister vacuum with the bare floor brush I have found myself bending over unnecessarily due to the wand being so short and the angle of the included bare floor brush of that model being a little awkward compared to some other bare floor brushes on the market. That said a tall vacuum is good! I have not had an issue with uprights I've used or at least if I have, none currently come to mind.
As far as needless gizmos and gadgets-- I feel that most vacuums of today are stripped down from what they were years ago!! I miss a standard 4 piece attachment set that was stored on board the machine!! Now most vacuums have a combo tool! For some current model Hoovers it's a 3 in 1!! The dusting brush looks slightly larger than a tooth brush and I really can't imagine how long it would take to vacuum a vehicles dashboard, cieling fan blades or even do a simple baseboard quickly with that joke size of a tool!!!
Same deal with upholstery nozzles!! Many of the current upholstery nozzles are about 3" wide and have ZERO means of bristles, rubber fingers or otherwise that help to groom and remove pet hair or other lint from a surface. My older Hoover canister vacuum upholstery nozzles measure a 5" cleaning path. A significant difference in time to clean my 80" long reclining cloth upholstered sofa with a 5" tool that has rubber fingers for agitation compared to a 2.5" or 3" tool that almost looks like it's part of kids play set!!! Yes I know there are the mini turbine heads, but there are several upholstered surface or small woven door mats that do much better with straight suction upholstery tool that is compact and cleans the entire area without a thick housing impeding up to every edge and without a spinning brush grabbing a button or corner of sofa the wrong way.
In terms of cleaning width, I'll admit that the U.S. market has gone a little nutty with the number of 15" wide nozzle machines. Yes homes are bigger, and for many they're probably too big-- but that's another issue!! Regardless my preferred nozzle width is about 13.5". There are times when a 12" seems so small for certain areas and times when that 15" is just a few hairs too wide for space that I want to maneuver it into. My Hoover Quadraflex Powermatic nozzles and my newest Simplicity Verve nozzle both measure about 13.75" wide and to me that's like a perfect width. I do prefer a T shaped nozzle and perhaps in time Tacony's next power nozzle will feature that!
I do think it is unfortunate that the UK doesn't have much selection of power nozzle equipped canister vacuums. I've read comments in former threads of various UK members wishing there was greater selection of that. I don't care how low profile or thick a carpet is, my preferred method of cleaning it will always be with a rotating brush power nozzle. I have found that it cleans better, grooms it nice and the brush roll on a power nozzle creates that self propelled like feel that tremendously reduces the effort of pushing and pulling. The nozzles are wheeled and of a reasonable enough length and width, that my hand doesn't even have to be on the hose handle and that power nozzle will always maintain it's proper position with the rug-- granted certain models have issues of release pedal lifting the nozzle slightly off the floor when the handle is completely on the floor but you get my drift. With a good system the hand is more of a guide for steering and doesn't actually have to exert any pressure to properly balance and secure a nozzle to the rug like would be the case with a straight suction.
Cloth bag uprights have greatly dwindled. Aside from Oreck, Kirby, a couple models of Royal there are minimmal in the residential market. The commercial market still uses several for the fact of having shake out bags allowing a cleaning service or business to have a decent cleaning vacuum but not spend money on vacuum bags and not lose performance quick as with a small dirt cup machine that has a small filter. A small filter means small surface area so dust will clog off a machine significantly sooner. Likewise it will take a long time to clog pores on the large surface bag area of a Sanitaire SC886. Also with HEPA replacement bags, some enjoy that too so models like the Sanitaire SC888 come with that option rather than the shake out bag. Businesses don't get into detail often with crevices and it's rare to clean any sort of upholstered furniture so they just bother with a basic carpet performance machine. A spring suspended cloth bag can be bashed into filing cabinets better than a plastic case hard bag machine cause you know janitorial staff is always the most cautious and never in a hurry!!
[this post was last edited: 3/11/2016-13:44]
