best hoover vac ever made.

[vacman117]

For me,

It would be the Hoover Decade 80. It has the Power Surge feature, bright lights, long cord, air freshener, and a very sturdy feel. With all that combined makes a fantastic cleaner in my eyes.

 

[air-waycharlie]

I'm in the...................

150 crowd. The design is perfect. The 2-speed motor is perfect. The cushion handle grip is perfect. The color scheme is perfect. The use and ease of attchments is perfect. The length of the cord is perfect. The weight is perfect. The height adjustor is perfect. The bag full indicator is perfect.

All in all, a wonderful piece of functioning artwork that holds up today......and CLEANS!

My runners up: 63,Citation 64, Slimline 66 and rare and beautiful 67.

 

[kenkart]

Charlie...

Don't you think it was much further ahead all the way around, than any other brand.

 

[electrolux~137]

 


 


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva; font-size: medium;">No offense to anyone, but I am not the huge, hope-to-die Hoover Fanatic that some people here are. And that's entirely because I saw so few of them growing up. </span>


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva; font-size: medium;">By a =huge= majority, most of the people in our area had Electroluxes. I'd say Kirbys came in second, and after that Hoover, Kenmore, Eureka, etc., and then the oddballs - Bee-Vac etc. (n.b., I never saw a single Fairfax or Compact until I moved to Los Angeles in 1980.)
</span>


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva; font-size: medium;">I will say, having met Stan Kann and spending so much time with him when he lived in Hollywood, I came to appreciate Hoovers in a way I never had before, and it was in his collection that I first saw (to my recollection) a Model 150.
</span>


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva; font-size: medium;">Of all the Hoovers, to me who, again, is not at all an expert or aficionado of that brand, I'd have to agree that -- all things considered -- Hoover's apex was reached with the Model 150.</span>


 


<span style="font-family: trebuchet ms,geneva; font-size: medium;">There's really not a single fault to be found with it, whether in terms of workmanship & construction, the groundbreaking design & appearance, its gently purring motor, or its efficient performance which, as some have noted, would stand up against almost any other vacuum cleaner from any era. Even the advertising for the 150 was top-notch.
</span>

 

[air-waycharlie]

I am at times perplexed by the advances of the Hoover 150 and the Air-Way twin motors at same, (or nearly the same), time frame.

The Dreyfuss designed Hoover 150 is, as I said is a functioning piece of art from the art deco era. It's simplicity, with wonderful performance, makes it a gem.

However, the pioneering design of the Air-Way Chief and Super Chief are right up there in terms of brillance. The fact that Air-Way had TWO motors with a beater bar type agitator and the incredible wood pulp cellulose disposable bag............well, where does one draw the line? (Hoover was shaking out cloth bags for years to come.)

Argruably, the Air-Way had more engineering but still maintained ease of use and with the hose sliding onto the hollow handle...........it was poetry in motion. I think the Hoover was better designed in terms of durability and that is why we see so many survivors today. It also had better marketing and a better sales force. Plus, the price was less than the Air-Way.

In cleaning contests at past conventions the Air-Way twin motored vacuums have tied or surpassed the Hoovers of the same era. Since the club does not differentiate between pre WWII uprights with beater bars, the Air-Way's had a competitive edge with the 2 motor system.

In terms of visual pleasure combined with design, I do think the Air-Way twin motors are unique and very much a, "one kind of machine". Put side by side in original,(or restored condition), I find the Hoover 150 and Air-Way Super Chief both just beautiful. That is why I have both and appreciate each for their uniqueness and wonderful cleaning abilities.

These two vacuums and companies will always be like comparing Cadillac and Imperial. Cadillac had the volume and survives today with a very good product line that has kept up with the changes and made it a survivor. They are now manufacuring cutting edge automobiles with innovative changes for 2012 and beyond. (Although TTI acquired Hoover and, "dumb downed", the product, the Hoover name is still VERY powerful with those making a vacuum purchase.)
Imperials were, like the high end European imports, hand made, hand built, hand crafted automobiles into the 1970's, but, were always lagging behind in sales and marketing. Ultimately, Imperial faded into the sunset like Air-Way has.

Was Hoover, "better"? That is subjective. The Imperials of yesteryear in mint shape draw huge sums of money..............as do the Air-Ways. You be the judge.

Charlie

 

[1926700]

i will say in responce.....

as some one once told me....Hoover used a basic formula and stuck with it for years and years, but at the same time made little adjustments and improvements. so when someone went to buy another Hoover i may be sightly better but is still was the same easy to use, and easy to maintain machine that was before it....and the Air Way might have been close or surpassed the Hoover....but the Hoover was Still so much better than other things on the market....like the Eureka Challenger, that was made to compete with the hoover head on, and Eureka believed that it could do just as good as the 150. but the 150 had a better designed fan and a better brush roll, and Eureka did not really clean as good as a Hoover till the Automatic upright was released in 1947....and Hoover certainly out cleaned Delco, GE, Westinghouse, Premiere etc.....

 

[oreck_xl]

That's all very true, but companies like G.E., Westinghouse, Delco, etc. manufactured other electrical appliances besides vacuum cleaners, so it wasn't their main focal point. Hoover dabbled in appliances, but it was never the backbone of the company. Other makes competed with Hoover by offering vacuum cleaners in the low price field. And to an extent, it worked. I'm sure there are dozens of makes that went out business due to the depression. But for me, I'd say the best Hoover vac was the Dial-A-Matic. Despite its flaws, it was the originator of the clean air design, and the suction is adequate.

- Hershel