panasonicvac
Well-known member
If I were to guess, I think they don't sell extension hoses and other attachments for the Elite because they didn't sell the extension hoses and other attachments well enough at Sears or even Kmart from their older Kenmore uprights to where it wasn't worth selling them for much longer. However, some people still liked having longer hoses that Sears decided to cut cost and made longer hoses on their newer Progressive models like the Intellicleans for example. They probably quit making their hoses longer because they were challenging to unclog and/or they decrease the performance of the units. Now what you can do is to get an adapter for the Elite and buy a generic upright 12 foot hose attachment kit either at your local vacuum store or online.
But definitely for sure they quit offering the features that were on the Intelliclean and some of the older Direct Drive models because they were more problematic. Not to mention they were more pricey to build. I remember repairing a Intelliclean one time and I tried swapping out the circuit board that was off from another Intelliclean, I ended blewing up the circuitry. That's the last time I'd ever mess with the circuits that complicated on a vacuum. This is one of the reasons why Panasonic no longer used features like those on their own vacuums.
Here's also the reason why they quit offering the beltless models on their own vacuums. Dealers including mine complained not only they were problematic but also they didn't cleaned nearly as well as their belted models. Not to mention they were more expensive as well. The only beltless model that I've really liked was their Panasonic Performance Plus MC-V7407D. That one I thought cleaned really well. But overall, I'm not really a fan of beltless Panasonics. I liked the idea behind it but I never found them to clean just as well or even better as their other uprights that uses a belt. Especially the ones that uses a Kevlar Poly V belt that doesn't slip or break like this Panasonic Optiflow MC-UG787 for example. I humbly thought that was Panasonic's best upright that they've ever produced here overall in North America. It really did competed against Miele's own uprights like this Jazz for example.
Because of my cents that I just pointed out here, I have to respectively disagree that using a three selector switch was a step down for Kenmore. I think that was actually good for them. If Kenmore wants to please Consumer Reports and their customers about the reliability of Kenmore, they better keep them simple as they possibly can.
But definitely for sure they quit offering the features that were on the Intelliclean and some of the older Direct Drive models because they were more problematic. Not to mention they were more pricey to build. I remember repairing a Intelliclean one time and I tried swapping out the circuit board that was off from another Intelliclean, I ended blewing up the circuitry. That's the last time I'd ever mess with the circuits that complicated on a vacuum. This is one of the reasons why Panasonic no longer used features like those on their own vacuums.
Here's also the reason why they quit offering the beltless models on their own vacuums. Dealers including mine complained not only they were problematic but also they didn't cleaned nearly as well as their belted models. Not to mention they were more expensive as well. The only beltless model that I've really liked was their Panasonic Performance Plus MC-V7407D. That one I thought cleaned really well. But overall, I'm not really a fan of beltless Panasonics. I liked the idea behind it but I never found them to clean just as well or even better as their other uprights that uses a belt. Especially the ones that uses a Kevlar Poly V belt that doesn't slip or break like this Panasonic Optiflow MC-UG787 for example. I humbly thought that was Panasonic's best upright that they've ever produced here overall in North America. It really did competed against Miele's own uprights like this Jazz for example.
Because of my cents that I just pointed out here, I have to respectively disagree that using a three selector switch was a step down for Kenmore. I think that was actually good for them. If Kenmore wants to please Consumer Reports and their customers about the reliability of Kenmore, they better keep them simple as they possibly can.
