Attachment cheapening

[fan-of-fans]

Not sure which forum to post this in. When do you think the trend started for the attachments on vacuums to become poor?

To me in a lot of cases it depended on what level of vacuum you bought. A BOL canister for example would often have cheaper attachments than that of mid and TOL. Some low end canister vacuums didn't even include full sets of attachments. However whatever attachments were included, they were always full size and useable.

I find uprights often began having cheap attachments after about the late 1970s. Singer/Kenmore twin fan uprights had seemed to have cheap generic tools or plastic. These were often included with BOL Kenmore canisters as well. Not sure who made them. By the 1990s Hoover and Eureka were at least still including separate dusting and upholstery tools. However, the Elite/PowerMax/PowerDrive tools couldn't compare to those of earlier models. The Futura/Spectrum/WindTunnel canister attachments were similar. Eureka seemed to have the combo brush/upholstery tool by the mid 1990s on the Bravo, and that's when the cheap era seemed to start.

Fast forward to 2012 and vacuums rarely have great attachments anymore. No more separate dusting and upholstery brushes and the bristles are often stiff. Often smaller quick-use style vacuums include only a crevice tool with a brush on the end.

 

[mieles7]

I think the decline in quality was mainly due to cheap vacuums like the Regina Housekeeper.

 

[director12]

Well when Hoover and Dirt Devil got into TTi's hands, the cheapening got worse. This goes with Bissell's downfall from the early-to-mid 2000's.

 

[mieles7]

I know what you mean. What vacuum brands do you believe still have quality attachments?

 

[luxman107]

Aerus Electrolux still uses the same attachments since the Mid 50's. horsehair brushes combo tools and floor flip brush.

 

[kirbyloverdan]

Also

Kirby , Filter Queen , Rainbow , Tri Star , Miracle Mate , Hyla , Aura Robo Clean ,
Ocean blue , Pro Aqua just to name a few still use quality attachments .

Big box store vacuums can`t because most consumers demand cheap vacuums so why use top quality attachments .

 

[gottahaveahoove]

The last really nice HOOVER tools were on

the last Constellation.  Horsehair bristles!!...even the old logo is on them. 


  They had a quality floor brush, nice oval dusting brush, and, that upholstery brush with the red rubber teeth.  Cloth hose evolved to Veriflex,  to ultraflex, to tuflex.  Then, came "pool filter hose".  That was the pivotal point of decline in quality.  Just my opinion.

 

[mieles7]

I love the hose on my Constellation 858. It's the perfect weight for a stretch hose.

 

[durango159]

I miss the Hoover canister tool set on the Windtunnel bagged canisters from 2008 area. Wide upholstery nozzle with rubber fingers, reasonable length and width crevice tool. Good dusting brush and awesome design bare floor brush. Horsehair bristles would have made them even better!! It's the same set that they used for years from the Hoover Dimension 1000 canisters to Portapowers, Futuras. Miss it!!

 

[vacuumfreak95]

Awful dusting brush!

I could not believe the dusting brush that come with my new windtunnel self propelled it was just sad! I replaced it with one I had from an Elite works much better.

 

[madabouthoovers]

A famous old phrase comes to mind here - "You get what you pay for".

Cheap vacs mostly have cheap accessories, but the likes of Kirby, Sebo, Miele seem to use better attachments although in most cases, these are still plastic.
Dyson break the rules though, and although the vacs are very expensive, the attachments aint that great, including the extendable hoses, which tear very easily, especially on the older upright models.

 

[tolivac]

Cheapened vac handtools---and floor tools.

The floor tools that are especially bad are those HATEFUL combo things-you flip a lever or button to convert the tool.Sometimes while using the tool it reverts to the other mode.Like the "flip" ones though-such as on 'Lux.These are OK.
For handtools-HATE the combo ones there as well-and the dinky,stumpy crevice tools--and as another member put it---"doll dust brush"The doll brush is good for cleaning cars,AV gear-or other small places.The combo 'Lux dust brush-upolstery tool is OK as well.And on high end vacs like Kirby and such TOO MUCH PLASTIC in the tools-prefer metal wands,metal body floor tools.

 

[tolivac]

Another new trend annoyance-the dust brushes and upolstery tools that go onto a stumpy crevice tool.Such a combination CHOKES the airflow of the host vacuum!

 

[electromatik]

So true about cheapening of tools. About the only quality attachments these days are found on the door to door models. I'm not crazy about Kirby attachments and I've had 13 years of experience using them, but they sure do beat Walmart vacs. I'm not sure cheap vacs dominate as much as we're told either. We don't know what the true door to door market share is because someone could buy a Bissel at Walmart and then a Kirby or Aerus guy comes by a month later and they trade it off. The door to door vacs are still vastly superior in terms of quality but I don't think they get reflected accurately in market share calculations.

 

[director12]

I also got told that during Fantom's financial troubles in 2001, they weakened the attachments on their newer models to save money.

 

[dysondestijl]

Well in the UK, if you buy a vac that's under £100 ($161) you generally get crap attachments. Crevice tools that are about 3 inches long and are wider than the vacuum floor tool itself. As for the other tools, if you're lucky then you'll actually get some, the brush tools are generally either really small or come attached to the crevice tool!
Then again, dysons new 2 in 1 crevice tool isn't very big either, but they do offer a longer flexible one, which is also rubbish!

 

[electromatik]

It's about that way in the U.S. anymore dysondestijl. The door to door vacuums still generally use quality attachments, particularly Aerus and Rainbow and Filter Queen. The rest of the mass market machines have reduced to make them cheaper and cheaper. I've always found the old saying you get what you pay for to be true.

 

[durango159]

In terms of you get what you pay for it, I would disagree for some of the Kirby and the Filter Queen tools. The crevice tool on the Kirby is too thin and they don't have a decent upholstery nozzle.

Had a Filter Queen Majestic Triple Crown years ago. The crevice tool was good but didn't like anything else. To start with the bare floor brush. Front of brush was not straight and the design curved back on both ends. So when you vacuum up to the baseboard the middle touched base board and the sides were about 1/4" way so brushes and suction were not reaching dirt collected at abase board. Swivel neck was not positioned properly and was extremely stiff made for poor maneuverability. Round dusting brush did not have enough strength in the bristles. As soon as you applied the brush to any surface the weight of hose flaired the bristles out and you could feel and here the plastic inner support scraping the surface you were trying to dust. Upholstery nozzle with combo dusting brush. Dusting brush on combo tool was always sliding off and never stayed on. Upholstery nozzle was completely flat with no bristles or air channels, grooves or other to agitate surface and remove pet hair or other matter. Very unimpressive tool set.

I don't like the newly designed bare floor brushes on the market with the wheels on either end. It makes them less manueverable and honestly it seems like an extra expensive for manufacturers to produce wheels and axles for them. Cut the cost, flair out the ends of the front and back bristles grooves so they edge sweep better and in the end will be an easier to use, quieter, more manueverable and better cleaning bare floor brush. I removed the wheels on the wide bare floor brush on one my clients Hoover Windtunnel Anniversary canister and it works MUCH BETTER!!

Another bare floor brush I don't like is the Kenmore/ Panasonic style. I feel the bristles are too sparse and too short. If they were slightly longer, horse hair with side support bristles it would be much longer. Also Panasonic needs to add a longer neck. The wands attached with power head on, is an ok height, with bare floor brush on, it's very low and I find myself bending over quite a bit.

 

[electromatik]

I'm not crazy about Kirby attachments either, but truthfully, no upright I've ever used has ever had attachments I liked. I still think they trump cheap vacs tho. FQ I'm not hugely familiar with so maybe I shouldn't comment on them. Nothing worse than paying lots of money and being disappointed.