Consumer Reports (March 2013) Vacuum Tests

[georgect]

Well guys, the results are in for Consumer Reports vacuum testing for March 2013.

As you may know, I'm in the market for a new canister vacuum and once again Kenmore tops the list with its Intuition (28014), followed by: (bagged canisters)

2 Kenmore Progressive (21714)
3 Miele Callisto (S 5281)
4 Kenmore Progressive (21614)
5 Kenmore Progressive (21514)
6 Hoover WindTunnel (S 3670)
7 Electrolux UltraOne (EL7070A)
8 Electrolux UltraSilencer DeepClean (EL7060, El7061 Lowe's)
9 Panasonic (MC-CG902)
10 Miele Titan (S 2181)
11 Panasonic (MC-CG983)
12 Panasonic (MC-CG917)
13 Riccar Immaculate Premier / Simplicity Gusto
14 Electrolux JetMaxx Green (EL4040)
15 Miele Olyumpus (S 2121)
16 Miele Delphi (S 2121)
17 Electrolux UltraSilencer (EL6986A)
18 Miele Topaz (S 6270)
19 Aerus Lux Legacy
20 Aerus Lux Guardian Ultra
21 Sebo Air Belt (C3.1)
22 Sebo Air Belt K3 Volcano
23 Miele Jasper (S 6290)

Now I was seriously considering both the Aerus Guardian Platinum or Riccar Immaculate Premier.
The Guardian Platinum is too new to even make the testing for March but the
Immaculate Premier is placed 13'th. with only a "Good" at carpet cleaning while it got an "Excellent" on bare floors.
It was the only vacuum to get a "Fair" for noise (the lowest).

How could mostly all the expensive reputable brands do so mediocre while the less expensive (cheap even) clean so much better?
Vacuums 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,11,12 got a "Very Good" at carpet cleaning while
vacuums 7,10,13,14,15,16,17,18,19,20,21,22 only got a "Good".
Number 23 was "Fair" (the lowest of the whole group).

Is Consumer Reports off their rocker or are these results for real?

I still have a Kenmore Progressive (bought October, 2008) that I gave to my parents that still works great. I bought it because it was so highly rated.

Is the Kenmore Intuition not the same vacuum it used to be?
Isn't it still made by Panasonic? Did Panasonic lower their standards/quality?

Now I'm torn between the $500 Kenmore and the $1400 Immaculate Premier.

What to do?

 

[heritageIIhd]

If you have them, could you post the reports for upright bagged vacs for me?

We are in the market but don't have CR.

 

[georgect]

Derrek...

I sent you via e-mail a PDF of the Upright Bagged test results.

 

[nycwriter]

Consumer Reports ...

... appears to have a reverse-elitist bias.

Meaning, nearly across the board, from cars and refrigerators to vacuums and mittens, CR seems to go out of its way to ding premium brands in favor of the more proletariat models.

And my own experience has often proven them wrong.

I think when they do their ratings, for every given criterion, they rank through the lens of *price*, for their measure of "value".

For that reason, I take what they say these days with a grain of salt.

 

[durango159]

Professional House Cleaners Advise

Don't get the Intuition canister. No bueno there. Suction cleaning is great with it. Powernozzle cleaning-- Consumer Reports is definitely off their rocker. It's the bulkiest, hardest to maneuver and oddest power nozzle system. Those power nozzles are very delicate and have broken for many consumers. The bare floor tool that is part of the powernozzle is no good either.

Consumer Reports is good as a guide but sometimes their reviews are quite mind boggling. In 1996 they rated a Eureka at Excellent for carpet deep cleaning and Hoover at Very Good. I used both side by side and finished the cleaning job with the Hoover. Eureka did not do nearly as well.

Panasonics and Kenmores clean well, their motors are made much cheaper now and don't last as long as they used to. One thing that really helps the Panasonics is the CenTec power nozzles they're equipped with. The motors in the CenTec heads are very quiet and yet very powerful. They're power beats a few other brands power heads.

The Hoover Windtunnel S3670 is an excellent cleaner and that power nozzle is very very powerful.
The Riccar is a great unit. I think they do quite well on carpet but they're smaller opening for agitator and the non chevron design may put them slightly behind a few other models. Overall they're still great cleaners. One thing about the Riccar, Simplicity's is that they are very very powerful suction units. I have a Riccar 1700 canister vacuum. The suction level at full power which is what Consumer Reports tests at could pull paint off a wall, although this sounds great it can be overwhelming for the agitator, causing too tight a seal with rug, thereby slowing agitation. 90% of the time I run my Riccar at 60% power!!! It's still powerful to accomplish the task while also being quieter. Even on barefloors with barefloor brush 60% power does quite well. With the Riccar set at 80% power it cleans substantially better than one of my house cleaning clients Sebo D4 canisters.

This is my recommendation and advise as a canister vacuum lover, using them to clean houses professionally for the past 18 years!!!

 

[GM1982]

Here we go.....

You cannot use the consumer reports as the only source for finding the right vacuum cleaner. They do not even have all of the models, for example the Sebo D4 has been out for a while and its not on the list. I would use this as a guide, but more relevant is to research online actual consumer reviews of the vacuum, and talk with a local vacuum store as to which models best suit your flooring types. What Consumer Reports fails to do, is test for longevity, or report on it! How long do these vacuums they test actually last? I have actually read some pretty dismal reviews on some of the top rated ones (Kenmore) and overall very good reviews of Sebo (which are placed on the bottom of the list) While the vacuum may perform well during the test, and pick up dirt very effectively, how long it holds up is the real test. The Electrolux which they rate very high, I have seen reviews of users who have reported the power nozzle neck breaks easily or the motors fails eventually. Many of that line is made in China or Assembled in Hungary.

I would still look to the more commercially built vacuums, which are better suited for heavy use and abuse, and can possibly hold up for 10-15-20 years. (Sebo, Aerus, Pro Team, Riccar)

 

[cue003]

@georgect,

Can you shoot me the PDF of the uprights and canisters as well? Thanks.

Silly question but what is their testing method? Do they just grab a vac with an air nozzle and test it against another vacuum that has an electric PN then give them a rating for carpet use? That wouldn't appear to be to fair would it?

 

[cue003]

Another question.... Does CR use these machines over time or just a few tests to get their results? If it is just a few tests then they may address I tibial performance of the machines but they miss:

1) day to day use and capabilities
2) longevity of parts
3) what happens to performance as bag/bagless fill up
4) maneuverability on various surfaces
5) cord/hose lengths -- overall reach
6) use ability of on board tools/attachments
7) etc

I don't read CR so I am just speculating on all the above. That speculation is what is driving my question.

 

[ctsooner]

I don't ever use CR

as an audiophile, I learned at a young age that they only go with the more commercially known names. I can PROMISE you that a Mark Levinson amplifier is better than the same companies Harmon Kardon amp at EVERYTHING. Harmon industries would tell you the same as they bought Mark Levinson years ago. They are selling subscriptions to mags and online and have to cater to the person who won't spend much more than 300 for a vacuum. They have to make them feel they are getting a best value. If you take the vacuums out of the box and run easy tests, they will tell you the cheaper one works best or rate it higher as it's less money. That's a fact in so many ways. They will often have a few 'higher' end models to show you and rate them accordingly. Do they also tell you that cheaply made machines will breakdown after 3 years or so? There is a reason you found this board like I did and if you go run your own tests at stores you'll do much better than going by CR. JMHO

 

[human]

I would definitely question their high ratings on the Kenmore products. My ex-wife and I bought one new in 2002 and was the sorriest piece of plastic junk I've ever seen. Sure, it picked up cat fur great, but it was simply not up to the task of vacuuming the house 3-4 times a week. Sears had to repair plastic hose connectors twice under warranty and when she and I split up, it was held together with nylon cable ties. As others have pointed out, CR's testing is pretty superficial and involves little or any real world testing for durability.

As for me, I'll stick with my metal monsters, thank you very much.

 

[heritageIIhd]

I have noticed their reverse-elitist bias as well.

There also seems to be a distinct anti-American-brand product review bias as well, most noticeable in their auto reviews. Anything Lexus, Toyota, or Honda will get all top marks, anything American will rank somewhere between a piece of crap, and something lower than that.

And I've owned several of the cars they panned, and never found them to be as bad as CR claimed.

 

[georgect]

Bagged Canisters...Review (Image)

Here's the image of the page of bagged canister results.

 

[electromatik]

NYCwriter:

I used to let thier rankings agitate me to no end until I started reading vacuum expert opinions on the internet. The people most knowledgable about vacuums almost always disagree with thier results. If you read about people who have observed thier testing and thier "laboratory" you will have an eye opening experience as to how and why they get the "results" they do. Thier "laboratory" for emissions used to consist of plastic sheeting taped up in the employee lounge. No scientist would regard that as worthy. They have also changed thier testing media in the dirt pickup test. For decades they used sawdust and "wood flour" for the dirt. Now they use sand and talcum powder. Sand and talcum powder are not meant to be vacuumed really. Virtually all vacuum makers recommend *against* vacuuming these substances. Why? Because they will clog the bags and damage the motor. I don't belive Consumer Reports is *purposely* trying to jip anyone, but thier testing media is inherently unfair. Those machines that have been well engineered to filter well clog prematurely under the talcum powder blast and lose airflow quickly. They CAN'T pick up as much as the cheaper ones due to thier loss of airflow. Look back forty or fifty years ago and you will find they rated the Kirby "below average" in rug cleaning almost always. They used to receive enormous mail contradicting thier results from owners of Kirby's. They might be useful, but I wouldn't ever regard them as the Bible.

 

[ralph123]

image of ratings

I would not post an image of the Consumer Reports ratings. It is a violation of copyright and is considered theft. It's fair use to discuss their results and methods, but posting their work can get you in trouble.

Did they test the new and improved Rainbow? Given that they show the price as $1350, I wonder if they bought one without a power nozzle?

 

[hoovercelebrity]

While I appreciate the enthusiasm regarding these results, we cannot have them duplicated and posted on this site due to copyright laws. I have removed the picture.

-Fred

 

[kirbyultimateg]

I always recommend a vacuum that is rated at least Very Good in carpet cleaning/Very Good in hard floor cleaning/Good in suction/Very Good in filtration by Consumer Reports.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I have the Progressive 21714 ranked #2, and it's not a bad vacuum. The attachments are bulky but decent compared to what a lot of other canisters have these days. Build quality could be better, as well as motors, as was mentioned above. All of the current Kenmore canisters are made by Panasonic, as far as I'm aware. The model number of mine still starts with 116.

 

[suckolux]

I bought their top of the line cannnister due to CRs test a few years back. Suction was ok on hose, but not great. It never came off of high, let say it went to a new home in a year for free? Long hose great! Clean or not light, cool, if only to amuse. Early pricy and smelly hepa style cloth bag.Gray I think? It was $550. I think its still running, but was unimpressed.

 

[suckolux]

Kenmore Progressive should have been in that post. Sorry.