Bagged or Bagless ?

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I know what you mean about Dysons - There ain't a single good thing about the tools or brush roll.

I want a cleaner that is 100% good, not 50%.
 
I noticed that Panasonic have gotten good recommendation from Which? for their MC-UL594 machine.

Mum got the next model up, the purple 596 for Christmas. I have tried it, and I'm actually rather impressed by it.

The brushroll has closely spaced clumps of short splayed bristles, so the carpet pile is effectively groomed. The brush vibrates the carpet very effectively, yet there are no beater bars. The pleated filter doesn't appear to be clogging; it has a manually operated flicker mechanism and a few taps on the side if the filter container dislodge the dust. Pre-filter not washable. Exhaust filter is a replaceable HEPA type.

The sound is powerful, yet quiet. The cat even tolerates the sound of the machine, so I presume that the ultrasonic whistling of other machines is not present in this one.

The Panasonic has a handle lock - hooray for handle locks!!! Nothing pisses me off more than trying to get the Dysons over thresholds between rooms, or avoiding rug fringes. Simply lower the handle and the nozzle pivots on the rear wheels, just like Ye Olde vacs of Yesteryear.

Manouvering is easy: 2 rear wheels and 2 decent sized rollers behind the brush nozzle soleplate. Auto height adjustment, so no carpet height control. Works even on the low profile kitchen carpet - I'm very impressed - The Vax Mach Air had to lose its front rollers to do the same task. The Panasonic is a heavy machine, so lifting it seems to be more a little more difficult than the Hoover Turbopower 3.

Tools are easy to use. The hose is stored in the style of the Electolux 600/Contour vacs. Scabbard long crevice tool stored inside extension tube. Crevice tool has two air holes, so the hose isn't tensioned to its contracted state. Additional extension tube supplied, plus a parquet floor brush. Hose handle on the MC-UL596 only, has an adjustable air-bleed hole to reduce suction.

Should the hose end become blocked, a safety suction release valve opens on the back of the machine, beside the data plate, allowing air directly into the motor chamber.

Dusting brush is the narrow type, as fitted to modern Panasonic uprights, but at least is usable (the Vax Mach Air multi-tool was not ergonomically designed).

Turbobrush has an extra litter-picker add-on strip for pet hair. Seems a little lacklustre, until I covered the four suction bleed holes on the neck shank, with my fingertips. Then it worked fine.

The plastic build quality is much better than some of the other machines. The flex is stored in the sensible style of the bagged Panasonics/Hoovers/Electroluxs: i.e. top hook and carrying handle. Flex is longer too, around 8 metres.

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I thought almost all Vacuum Cleaners had handle lock!?

I don't know how I'd survive without it, seeing as I have a few rugs to clean on a daily basis and don't fancy snapping belts every morning when the end of the rug gets tangled up in the brush roll.

The only cleaner that doesn't have a working handle lock is my Electrolux 502S. It did have the feature, but the notch has worn down now and it just goes straight to the floor when you try and lift the brush roll, so I have to either put the handle so low it literally touches the floor to get the brush roll to lift off the carpet a few CM, or click it into the upright position which gets annoying.

Oh well - The joys of owning vintage Vacuum Cleaners eh!?
 
Handle Lock

Dysons don't, neither does the Vax Mach Air - the Vax head in the storage position flops down when you lift it, now that it is a couple of years old. Other Vax models do have the handle lock.

The Sebo X4 uprights do - but it is switchable, slide it one way for traditional handle lock positions, slide it the other for lockless travel (dyson style).
 
Quite a few people that I have spoken to, find the omission of the handle lock on the Dysons annoying. Most of them have a need to navigate over different levels of floor coverings, mats, and such like.

I don't know what the hell Dyson was thinking of. Apparently the Miele S7 upright also lacks a handle lock, but I can't be sure of that, as I've never seen one close up.

Regarding the Dysons: I find that they have quite few poorly though out ideas:
I don't like the Dyson wand-handle contraption - give me the Electrolux/Hoover/Panasonic hose handle any day.

The Dyson bent crevice tool is a joke. I much prefer Hoover and Panasonic long crevice tools. The Dyson flexi-crevice tool annoys me too, it is just over-engineered.

The Electrolux 2-in-1 dusting brush (1980s) was plush, effective and a joy to use. Any dusting brush now is awful, small and with short, scratchy bristles - horrible, horrible things. Some of them are part of these 3-in-1 tools that have no ergonomic design at all, so you have to hold the tool as if you were about to stir cement.
 
I totally agree about the 2-In-1 Electrolux tool - It is fantastic!

The brush has lots of bristles, and they are soft!

The bristles on the brush tool for my 2007 NUMATIC Henry are very, very hard and I'm afraid to use it!

My Turbopower's brush bristles are harder than the Luxes, but not so hard I cringe when running it over a nice piece of wood furniture.
 
One of the Electrolux dusting brushes I used, can't remember if it was the 550 or the 612, had a soft rubber cone inside the ring of bristles (the other one never had this). This helped to keep the bristles from entering the suction hole, and also provided a soft bumper should the brush be pressed too close to hard furnishings.

Nowadays, there is only a hard plastic sheath that is almost the same length as the bristles. Look at this Hoover one.

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Calum:

The Electrolux 2-in-1 design Jamie is talking about is readily available on eBay, as well as replacement bristle inserts. It fits most standard wands.

Over here, Hoover was the company that started with the BBQ-grill-cleaner bristles on dusting brushes. They should have found themselves out of business over such a poor design, but there is no limit to the gullibility of the American public. Hoover was once a fine brand name, so the stuff they make today must be good too, right?

NOT. But fools rush to buy their wares anyway.
 
Brands these days aren't what they used to be. It is all cheapness and "how quick can we throw this piece of junk out of the factory ?" is the philosophy.
 
In North America, the best dusting brush is the horse-hair version of the Kenmore/Panasonic dusting brush that used to be found on the Progressives/Elegances and Whispertone canisters. The bristles are really soft and the rectangular shape is very practical. You can buy these at any Sears store for about $10.

http://www.kenmore.com/kenmore-canister-vacuum-dusting-brush/p-02052641000P
 
When I had the bagless upright in the late 90s......I remember I took the entire vacuum outside on the deck and had a grocery store plastic bag and dumped the contents in that carefully. Dust flying all over the place as I did it & then I was left with the container that NOW had a layer of dust on the outside of it, so I would get a damp rag and wipe it off outside. This wasn't fun in the winter time. I hated it!

I also wonder about those who just take the dust cup over their trash can and release it there. So when you start throwing things in the trash, every time something lands in the trash, that dust is going to fly up
 
The brush tool I have is the same as the one in that link Chris, but I find it very brittle compared to the Luxe's one.
 
Remember the old cloth bag Hoovers? Place the open end onto some sheets of newspaper, feet on the toe studs, give a good shake, lift bag clear and fold up the stoor into a neat wee parcel?

This seems to be a less awkward palaver than manhandling the bagless bin with a polythene bag wrapped around it. At least the newspaper is much more biodegradable than a poly bag.
 

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