Bissell Made Sanitaires

[bagintheback]

Been doing a lot of research on new Sanitaires this week after deciding I might want one as a Christmas gift to myself. I shockingly only learned about the acquisition by Bissell last year even though it's been over 5 years since it was announced.

Does anyone have any experience with the new models? Specifically the SC886G. Has the quality declined any? I'm mostly turned off by the looped handle. I had a Perfect P101 for a few years and sold it because I hated its looped handle so much. I know Bissell has resold that Perfect with their label for a few years so I'm not sure if it's the same grip. Are the motors still the same? I like the sounds of the old Eurekas and Sanitaires which is one of the main reasons I'd buy one.

Any other feedback on any of the other models is welcome too. Mostly just curious since I haven't bought many brand new vacuums in recent years

 

[justjunque]

If you check out the thread on the Vintage page about vintage Eureka and Clarke vacuums, that subject has come up. It doesn't sound too good for the quality of the latest versions.
Unless the models branded for Sanitaire are still made better.

 

[panasonicvac]

Actually I've had opposite experiences with Perfect versus Sanitaire, at least ever since Sanitaire switched from using metal motors to plastic years ago when Sanitaire was still owned by Electrolux AB. I've seen more Sanitaires with bad motors than with Perfect when I was working at a vacuum shop, that's one of the reasons why we no longer carry Sanitaire. So unfortunately they never went back to using metal motors when Bissell acquired them and still hasn't to this day. Perfect still uses metal motors on their uprights that gives you the old Sanitaire sound not to mention they're serviceable unlike the plastic motors Sanitaire uses. So if you wanted a Sanitaire and have it sound like an old Eureka, you can have the motors swapped out luckily. Perfect does have some models that doesn't have a looped handle like this one. And so does Sanitaire like their SC684G which I'd recommend over the SC886G because they use a plastic hood. Metal hoods just adds extra weight and they're harder to change the cords out.

 

[human]

I have no experience with the Bissell-branded Sanitaires. The two I have in my collection are an SC686A, made by Eureka in the late '70s, and an S645, made by Electrolux in 2012. The SC686A is an old school red commercial unit, while the S645 is a blue professional series model. I'm not sure whether it has a plastic or metal motor, but the overall build quality is comparable to the other one.