Mike, I agree with you about not needing motor speed control. Like you & Tom said, it's one more way the vacuum can fail, & like Edgar said, circuit boards are ultimately "self destruct" mechanisms, designed to shorten the vacuum's life & hasten replacement. A suction relief valve on the hose does the job just as well & is far less likely to break or cause issues. Personally, I will NOT buy any vacuum that has a circuit board unless I can obtain all the parts for it to keep it in good repair. I am currently in the process of setting aside parts for my Simplicity Gusto right now.
One other disadvantage having speed controls on the hose poses is the vacuum cannot be run without the hose attached, which makes it harder to remove a clog. It has been my experience that most clogs in a hose happen right at the hose handle. With most vacuums, as long as the vacuum has full suction, it's quite easy to put the hose handle into the suction intake & let the suction from the vacuum pull the clog out. But, if the vacuum won't run without the hose machine end attached to the suction intake, that isn't possible to do, which means you're stuck either disassembling the hose handle to remove the clog or taking it into a repair shop.
I have had a good experience with my Simplicity Gusto, & haven't had the same issues Georgect stated he has had. I would certainly buy it again, & will remain a Tacony customer. I do feel their products have a advantage over Miele & Sebo at the moment, especially in this age where numerous manufacturers have left the marketplace or downsized their offerings. However, the issues I have had with it are mainly the powerhead & the hose handle.
The 3 row brushroll in the Gusto's powerhead is a really good groomer & digs down deep into the carpet fibres, much more so than the 2 row brushroll. But, on certain carpet styles, it can cause issues. On my carpets, it contacts the carpet fine on the forward stroke, but on the back stroke it "bounces" & loses contact with the carpet a little bit. For those carpets, I have adapted a Hoover Windtunnel S3670 Anniversary powerhead to use with a spare wand. I suspect this may be the reason why Tacony discontinued the full size powerhead with the 3 row brushroll & dirt sensor in the Riccar Prima & Simplicity Wonder models, & designed the Tandem Air powerhead from their direct air uprights to replace it in their line of good - better - best powerhead offerings.
The more serious issue I have had, though, is with the powerhead receptacle in the hose handle. It's not a ordinary receptacle that has contacts encased in rubber with 2 wires that are attached, these contacts are encased in a plastic box. The issue there is that you have to baby the hose handle when inserting it into the wand to ensure the contacts aren't bent out of shape slightly or damaged. While I do have some spares for the receptacle contacts, that plastic box is not available separately, & in addition the contacts have to be sourced from America. Tacony's Canadian distributor, Hibbert International, doesn't carry them at all. And if the hose has to be replaced entirely because of that issue, the other damning thing is the hose is NOT available separately by itself - it comes packaged with a circuit board change kit that MUST be changed out, or else the circuit board in the hose would be damaged.
As for Aerus & the Guardian Platinum is concerned, let's face facts here - the company's present owner, Joe Urso, was only concerned with profits & stripmining the company's assets to recover some of the money he paid for Aerus. In my humble opinion, he has destroyed a once great company. The Guardian Platinum was brought in to replace the original Guardian with a more modern model when the Guardian's successor, the Guardian Ultra, was met with a poor reception by dealers & consumers. And rightly so - redesigning a new top, adding a HEPA filter, plastic wands & a swivel neck to a base model does NOT do much to make it a TOL model, & worthy of the premium price a TOL model commands. Besides designing the Guardian Ultra, the only other new design Aerus has made is designing the next generation TriStar canisters. Despite the statements on the Aerus website, the Guardian Platinum was NOT designed in co-partnership with Lux International....all they did was approach them & have them produce the Lux Intelligence with a 120 volt motor & power system to sell as their own in North America. Looking at Lux International's previous designs will confirm Aerus had no part in the Guardian Platinum's design, & it's just marketing spin to save face & look good in the eyes of consumers. I do agree with Stephen & Rex though, the Platinum should have the speed controls on the hose for the price it commands, & I don't understand why Aerus wouldn't have designed a new hose with the speed controls, since the Intelligence model it is a version of does have the speed controls on the hose handle. It's not like there would be much redesigning to do to the canister's circuit board to accomodate this.
The issues that Stephen stated he has had with his Aerus Legacy, combined with the present state Aerus is in & the single stage motors they are presently using, are the reasons why I won't collect or recommend any Aerus vacuum, & only collect & recommend Electrolux vacuums to anyone looking to buy. It's a shame to have to say this, but the Electrolux models had better motors & better quality, & as long as replacement motors & parts are still available, a rebuilt Electrolux is a better buy than a new Aerus.
Rob
