Circa 2001 Hoover Purepower U3330

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right, ok, I didn't really understand more of that and most of it seemed pretty irrelevant anyway, but I assure you there was never a green autosense purepower. The Autosense feature was ditched after the first series of Purepowers in favour of standard variable power. 
 
Alex, the grille that you state serves no function is actually for the motor filter. You'll find its where most of the hot air floods out from.

Have to say Im more of a TP2 and 3 fan. I find Purepowers to be shoddily made, not as comfortable to steer despite the long fluted handle and the plastics aside from the cleaning tools are not as well made as Hoover's heavier line. Ive never liked the side hose release either, again the one at the back of the older TP2 and 3 are far more flush fitting and easier to remove. Still, you've done a great job of cleaning up there, Alex!
 
Thanks for the comment sebo_fan


I am not quite sure what you are getting at with the grill at the front, there is no conection from the motor housing to that grill where air would escape. The only air I have experienced escaping on a purepower, is the air blowing out at the sides of the back exaust filter cover.

As for the build quality, compared to the Turbopower 2 it is pretty much the same, on this early ones of course!! It is just not a sturdy feeling design.

I do agree the hose looks better positioned at the rear, as on the Turbopower 2 but I have to disagree on the fact that the hose is easier to remove on the Turbopower 2, I find the hose is much easier to remove on the purepower because you can wrap your whole hand around it.

Obviously, or should I say in my opinion, the Turbopower 2 is much higher performing compared to the purepower, however the purepower is still a good vacuum.
 
Thing is though, the Purepower did nothing that the Turbopower 2 didn't, so the whole reason for Hoover making it was not to create a better cleaner but just to have a more modern design.

Call me old fashioned but I'd have rather they modernised the Turbopower 2 rather than starting another model line.

In all fairness however the early Purepowers weren't that bad, it was only when Hoover thought it would be a good idea to make a bagless version that I started to lose faith in the company.
 
Well,



The Purepower had a long stair hose, unlike the turbo 2, needless to say the turbo 3 had a stair hose, but like you said, the purepower had no reason to be on sale because there was nothing the Purepower did that the turbo 3 did not already do, except not clean carpets quite as well.:P
Times were changeing and if you looked at vacuums on sale in 97, everything was going more curved and not boxy, I believe they also needed somthing new to keep the sales up, and from then on, it appeard most vacuums since 97 that Hoover turned out were based around the Purepower, e.g vortex, "freedom" new styled type hurricane, they all use the same chassis.
 
Did the Purepower ever have a motor filter above the floor head? No? That's my point entirely. Too much hot air floods out of the Purepower and yep I know about the filter at the back (infact one Purepower I had owned for a very short time a couple of years ago just kept blowing the filter door off because of poor plastic nibs). Also when it comes to getting a PP under low furniture, the hose to the side is vulnerable whilst its location all the way at the bottom is hardly easier for older people to what went on before.

It is true that whilst the market had seen curvier designs, Hoover were still selling classic lines when the first Turbopower appeared and that design was certainly far more modern than a soft bag upright. I agree with Jamie here - a more modernised TP2 and 3 series would have been justified. Back then I adored Hoover products and the TP2 was one of my favourites. Yes it was heavy but it was also fairly effective and very easy to use the controls with far more accessible features.

I never understood why Hoover eventually put a blanking plate over the LED bag indicator either on later Purepower uprights. Evidently it was a matter of cost but the original design allowed for an LED indicator and it would have made more sense to keep that added to the PP's original design.
 
"I agree with Jamie here" I had to double take there! Ha ha.

Another point to make is that whilst it it easy to assume Hoover replaced the Turbopower 2&3 with the Purepower to upgrade the design to give it more curves, manufacturers like Sebo (and Panasonic to an extent) were still making "square" vacuums and they were selling well.

Hell, even now in 2013 Sebo still sells their vacuums with the same shape as the TP2. That being, why couldn't Hoover have continued with the TP2? As Sebo showed, selling a product was not all about modern design - to go even more extreme, look at the Kirby, they haven't changed dramatically since the 60s but they still sell!!

To create a new more modern looking model was just a cop out for Hoover if you ask me - an easy way to make some money rather than persevering with the TP2&3, perhaps with some upgrades such as HEPA and even automatic electronic height adjustment to fill the gimmick market that the Autosense did in the early 90s.

Problem is, even whilst looking through my rose tinted spectacles it is impossible to think the TP2 could still be a good vacuum if it had continued until today, as the build quality would be so low now that it would be no better than the Purepower.

It is such a shame Hoover let themselves get drawn in by two things; modernisation and bagless technology. Two completely redundant things if you ask me.

Don't forget - Hoover INVENTED the bagged vacuum cleaner, so why give up on it just because of Dyson? Miele have never made a bagless machine and they still sell their vacuum cleaners for insanely high prices with happy customers.

Truth be told though, Hoover was already attempting to phase out the bag even before Dyson came along when they developed the horrid Permabag for the TP and TM Freedoms then later the Permabag 2 for the Turbopower 2 and 1000.

If I were on the design department at Hoover (that's a scary thought for some of you I'm sure) I would not have let their once good name (like when "HOOVER, WHO BETTER!?" was actually true) go down the proverbial pan.

The best we can hope for now is the Purepower to be discontinued and something else to take its place with a lesser wattage motor (no chance), a more classic design (no chance), a half decent brush roll (no chance) and good build quality (no chance)... So basically, there's no hope.

Hoover was indicating to turn down that one way road to disaster in the early 90s and made the turn into it when the Purepower was released in 1997 and they've been gradually driving further and further down it since.

It is a great shame that a brand who made such brilliant (and so ahead of their time) cleaners from the 20s through the 80s got sucked (pardon the pun) into the world of cheapness and gimmicks.

Right, I'm off to go and slit my wrists.

Good day.
 
Jamie, you have to remember that Candy took over Hoover in 1995 and from there onwards, the quality slowly started to decrease. The later T2's weren't a patch on the earlier models (especially the last range) and the purepower was no where near of the quality that a cleaner in that price range should be. It was all about cost cutting. The Purepower would've been cheaper to make and as it was new, could be sold at a higher price. KA-CHING. Same applied with Hoover washing machines after 95 - all went down hill. The machines made around the same time as the Purepower (Performa-era machines) were acceptable, the Six range were just ok and after that, it all went t!ts up, just like with the vacuums. Why? Because Candy like things to be made CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP and sold for LOTS LOTS LOTS.
 
"Why? Because Candy like things to be made CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP and sold for LOTS LOTS LOTS." I couldn't have said it better myself.
 
Personally, I always thought the TP2 design was boxy and very dated for 1992. Great, robust design, and a cleaner I liked as I like straight lines, but never the less it was dated when stood next to the curves of the Electrolux Glider and Airstream, and positively antique when compared to the new Dyson upright on sale at the same time.

The saving grace would have been in the form of Panasonic, Hitachi, and Philips, who were all making boxy-looking cleaners too. But Panasonic soon changed to curves as well. As for the Purepower, I thought it looked anorexic. It's a wonder too why Hoover didn't make a basic version of it to replace the Turbopower2 whilst they were at it. I can only assume there was a glut of Turbopower parts which Hoover initially needed to use up. That would at least explain why they changed the motors around 1999. Quite why the TP2 carried on so long after the Purepower, I just don't understand. I can't even tell you when it was finally discontinued as they seemed to be on sale for all eternity.
 
My theory as to why the TP2 continued to be on sale for years after the Purepower's introduction was as a back-up for Hoover so if the sales of the PP started to fall, the TP2 would still be there as it always did sell well up to the end.

Once the PP became a popular machine with little chance of dropping sales the TP2 was axed.

Just my theory mind, it could be wrong.
 
Or perhaps they were just greedy and laboured the TP2's discontinuation as profits were increased from the joint sales of the TP2 and PP?
 
My view is


The Turbopower 2 just kept on selling...and selling...and selling just like the Turbopower ones did, if a consumer likes something and is going to keep buying it, the company will continue to make it.
 
"If a consumer likes something and is going to keep buying it, the company will continue to make it.."

Um not quite. Buyers adored the Junior and Senior uprights but they were phased out. Even the carpet washer upright from the U.S found a lot of favour in the UK and Hoover went and stopped it. Hoover couldn't care less about products that the customers want anymore. Its all about sales, sales and more sales. If Hoover were that determined to make products FOR the buyer, they had stopped passing off the same machines they make under the Candy label in their large appliances and design and produce something themselves. Seriously, if you are owned by a company who have money, one would have thought that remaining true to core design would be retained.

As for the Purepower, well it wasn't the longest standing model all alone to constantly be re-churned - the Telios cylinder vacuum went on for about 20 odd years before Hoover finally released the Sensory range to replace it, NOT the Discovery range which was something entirely different. I adored the bagged Telios vacs and its general design. I was quite miffed with the Telios when it went bagless - it was the worst thing Hoover could have done IMHO. The original bagged Telios was like a cheap Miele cylinder copy - and it was very powerful, very light and very easy to use.

Hoover aren't alone in trying to make sales and stopping production of good enough machines - Kenwood are constantly updating the Chef mixer and then adding on inflated prices. They have also replaced the metal bodies with plastic mix and metal to all plastic and with some buyers moaning about build quality for the price they've paid. The older blockier style metal bodied machines on EBAY UK go like hot cakes at any time they are listed.[this post was last edited: 2/7/2013-14:02]
 
Ryan, the Telios didn't go on for THAT long - 10 years, tops. It's not in any of the 97 or 98 brochures as the Alpina and Aria cleaners were still on sale - the Telios, I'm sure, came a bit later on. 
 
Hoover still make the Telios Bagged cleaner - its in Argos, link below.

The Purepower is still sold in Argos, but I note that they have reduced the power to 2000W for the latest blue model - hard to believe that they have been going with this design for 16 years now: 1997-2013, and it started out at 1200W, gradually creeping up to the 2000W mark - hence the problems with overheating. There is just no need for this much power in a bagged upright, and I think its really time the Purepower was retired and something new came out to replace it.

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4068873.htm
 

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