Bye Bye Royal metal vacuums

[fan-of-fans]

Honestly I think what the other said about plastic machines that are throw away is part of it.

Even most commercial places I see these days, are not using the commercial vacuums. They are using bagless Bissells and other machines that are not even the commercial version of the household units. No commercial Hoovers, no Royals, no Windsors, no Sanitaires. I knew a hotel that had great Sanitaires. A few years later I see they are vacuuming with crappy BOL Bissell Powerforce bagless uprights. It's the norm these days.

I also think with the younger generations, they don't give a crap about vacuums. If they are they just want tech and flash factor, and that's what the Roombas, Dyson stick vacs, etc give them. They're not interested in performance, they don't want or need a Kirby, a full size upright, a canister or any of that. They don't have interest in deep cleaning. And a lot of young people are poor and live in small apartments so there's no need for a full size vacuum anyway.

Maybe as they start to have more income and possibly move into larger places, a full size, and maybe higher end, better quality vacuum will be what they're looking for. IDK. But I think it'll be a while before they're looking for a Kirby or anything besides what you can get at the local Walmart or Bed Bath and Beyond.

 

[superocd]

I'm 26...

and I tend to like things that may look outdated, but are proven and time-tested rather than things that are flashy and tech-laden. My wife is the opposite but that's OK.

One exception is that my wife and I both wanted to replace the ca. 2004 kitchen original to our house (white Frigidaire appliances) with stainless. I was hard-set on Whirlpool (or KitchenAid if I could get a good deal on them), she was drawn to the LG and Samsung packages, despite my warnings. I figured that the Whirlpool appliances would last longer and be easier to fix and get parts for, plus they were made in America, something that's important to me. The best thing was that the Whirlpool package that we bought was cheaper than the comparative LG or Samsung packages. No problems with any of the appliances so far. Not sure what would have happened if we bought Samsung or LG.

In 2015, I did slip up and bought a made-in-China Kenmore (LG) front load machine, on impulse and replaced my perfectly fine ca. 2004 Kenmore 90 Series (Whirlpool direct drive) washer (which, rest assured, I donated to ReStore). I only did it because Sears had quite the deal going for their rewards members. It was normally $800 at its lowest, but I walked out with that (and a BOL Kenmore dryer) for $550 total including tax. I really wanted a Speed Queen front load machine but that was a little steep at $2k. It's been four years since we've had this washer and we've had no problems at all, but if/when it gets replaced, I will buy a Speed Queen FL (I was thinking about buying a Whirlpool FL but the guys over at AW.org actually say that LG builds a better front loader. Imagine that...).

Other than that, I use an ancient (in phone years) Samsung Galaxy phone (and it's not even the higher end ones) but it serves my purposes well. My laptop is an off-lease ThinkPad that I bought off eBay, which was cheaper to buy than even some of the cheap, disposable new consumer grade laptops sold in the stores. Our TV in the living room is just a plain 42-incher 1080p from Walmart, it's only "smart" because that's all they sell now, but we've never connected it to the Internet. Instead, I built a HTPC for it since it offers more flexibility and doesn't have any of the spyware that smart TVs are known for. Our kitchen appliances are nice but nothing special, just a basic Oster blender, a basic KitchenAid stand mixer, a no-frills Kenmore toaster and a cheap but reliable Mr. Coffee coffeemaker (for me. My wife has Starbucks every morning), and other like items.

Oh, and vacuums, the subject matter at hand! After we started out with a Bissell PowerForce, I bought a Sanitaire SC886, even though my wife wanted a Dyson rather than that "old thing" (even though it was BRAND NEW in the box). A few years passed with just the Sanitaire and then the rest was history since January of this year when I randomly walked into a Goodwill and came out with a Sentria, with all attachments, for virtually nothing. In addition to that, I ordered my wife a Dyson Animal 2 that I gifted to her for her birthday, plus I have a Royal 884, a Hoover Convertible, a Kirby Avalir, Heritage II Legend (and soon, a Dual Sanitronic 50, which I will have on display in our foyer) in addition to my Rug Doctor X3. My wife loves the look of her Dyson but contends that MY vacuums seem (and sound) more powerful. However, since she was nice enough to let me have this "odd" hobby of buying thrift-store vacs and refurbishing them, I bought her what she wanted.

 

[kirby519]

Well built vacuums like the Royal and or Kirby are a thing of the past in the commercial market. With all the clean air standards manufacturers have their focus on hepa filtration. Sound levels and on board tools are a big thing as well as back pac vacuums. In addition manufactures don't want commercial company's to purchase equipment that can be kept long term with minimal repair needs or replacement.

In the commercial market a vacuum is designed to last 1 to 5 years. Well taken care of many of the vacuums can out live that usable life expectancy. This is a disposable world we are now living in. Nothing will last forever any more.

 

[lesinutah]

Bulkier

If you bulked up the royal and use about 1/2inch to 1 inch think sound dampeners and a amodel fan the royal would be quiet and out perform anything on the market currently. The sanitairre line is good but a royal with adaptations would be slightly better. Sanitairre is pretty close to commercial gold standard. Saying there a thing of the past is true but small change it would outperform any commercial vacuum. The bag unit they could use a bag setup like sanitairre quick clean. I'd maybe give metal brush roll too and have bristle inserts like vibrate groom brushes.
I know it won't happen but noise dampeners amodel fan metal brush roll quick clean bag system it would be the gold standard.
It's being bastardized like an oreck and a hoover the changes I mentioned would keep it quality and not a freaking oreck or Hoover. There is nothing against Hoover but current lineup is pure turds.
Les

 

[tolivac]

At this stage will hang onto ALL of the Royal uprights I have and try to stock up on parts and bags,brushrolls for them.