does hoover still make the constalatoin?

[super-sweeper]

hi, i've heard about this new, stainless-steel hoover constaltoin, and i wanna get one!

but it doesn't come up on there website, so do they still make them or not?

-Alex.

 

[trebor]

Nope...

Asked the Hoover reps at VDTA, and unless you found one tucked away in storage room somewhere, no luck.

 

[eurekaprince]

Hey Alex - here's a white version of the new stainless steel one on eBay...a little pricey though!




http://www.ebay.com/itm/Hoover-Cons...220968163499?pt=US_Vacuum&hash=item3372ba98ab

 

[gottahaveahoove]

It was NEVER marketed correctly.

The floor nozle could have been a little better, but, on the whole, the rest of the tools were HOOVER'S best in years. A shame they didn't "sell it" better. You can't beat them. They also should have "colored" them, say, to match the other cleaners they were making, like they did in the past.

 

[danemodsandy]

I Did a Story....

....For Modernism Magazine when the repro Connie was introduced. The TTI folks were helpful and nice.

I just don't think the machine was marketed as hard as it should have been - just throwing stuff into Target and Walmart, etc., isn't enough "sell" for a special-interest item like the Connie. There should have been TV ads showing the floating feature, and probably something about it being the return of a Henry Dreyfuss-designed classic.

Also, the lack of a PN was probably a big deal-breaker for many people interested in the machine; the straight-suction canister segment of the market has to be minuscule by now.

 

[fan-of-fans]

I think it's not just straight suction canisters, but canisters in general. It seems these days when people think of a vacuum, they think of an upright. Look at the vacuum section at Walmart, and I'm not even sure there are any canisters there anymore, all uprights. Even Sears doesn't have any Hoover canisters aside from that compact one that comes with the Platinum upright.

It seems that the general public is no longer in to canisters anymore. I don't understand why people with little to no carpet seem to buy an upright vacuum anyway, and then use a broom on their hard floors.

Now that I've derailed the topic, back to the Constellation. I agree it was marketed poorly and they could have sent it to more retail channels. Perhaps the retail price was too high for it to be a vacuum comparable to other canisters and uprights on the market.

 

[massagemiracle]

Constellation Stainless Steel

 

[ziggyzig]

Hi Alex
I think the one you are talking about is now made by Maytag.

It's called the Maytag S3340001 Satellite Floating Vacuum Cleaner

but I think that even Maytag have discontinued production of it

Hope this helps

David

 

[danemodsandy]

How Absolutely Absurd!

That Maytag machine is one of the worst, most absurd cases of brand mismanagement I've ever seen.

Anyone who is interested in a Connie knows it's part of Hoover's history.

Anyone who is interested in Maytag knows they have no history in the vacuum cleaner field, that a once-proud name that now stands for very little has just been slapped on a machine that should be labeled "Hoover."

Anyone who's just looking for a vacuum cleaner has no idea why this thing should be spherical, or why they should want it, without some explanation.

I swear, the people who used to be in charge of government-run bread stores in the former Soviet Union knew more about marketing than today's Gen-X "geniuses."

 

[eurekaprince]

I used to own one of these newer generation Constellations and here is my take on it:

It was an excellent canister cleaner - the suction was great and most of the tools were quite well-made. The turbo carpet nozzle actually worked quite well in removing surface litter. You can still get this turbo carpet nozzle through the UK's Numatic Company - see my link below. The nozzle sits very nicely on the carpet, and if you let it do it's thing and move it slowly across the carpet - it works great with the strong suction of this new Connie.

It came with a nice long cord, and the stretchable hose indeed stretched to at least 10 feet! Great for cleaning tall curtains and the top shelves of high wall units!

The bare floor brush was nice and wide and had long bristles to get into the gaps between tiles. The other tools were not the best - the uphostery nozzle has removeable bristles which left behind a very basic nozzle with sharp edges that could damage fabrics. The dusting brush supposedly had "horse-hair" bristles, but I found the bristles to be as rough as a regular dusting brush.

My biggest two problems: This vac convinced me that I will never again buy a canister if the exhaust does not blow upward from the top of the main unit. I could not believe the dust-storm created by the downward exhaust of the floating Constellation. It makes great sense for use on carpets - but it is horrible on bare floors. My second problem - you really could not store the tools on the caddy provided: if you placed the caddy on the back of the canister, the tools stuck out far beyond the bumper and the unit would constantly go floating into my white walls which caused the on-board tools to scratch and mark-up my walls.

I sold the vac on Craigslist for CAD$60.00! The newlywed couple who bought it had no vacuum cleaner for their apartment and they were ecstatic to get it for such a deal!



http://www.henryvacs.co.uk/acatalog/Turbo_and_Airobrush_Heads.html

 

[floor-a-matic]

Hoover made a Constellation with a TRUE Powermatic Nozzle! VERY, very super-duper RARE!

Now I'm wanting a Constellation!

 

[hygiene903]

I Agree!!

As most of you have said, the New Connie was a GREAT vacuum!! We have one in pearl white, and it does a fantastic job! If it would have been marketed even half as well as it should have, they could have sold millions of them. I just wonder WHY Hoover didn't promote it any better than they did.
Jeff

 

[kirbyvertibles]

Are you sure they made one with the powermatic??? That is totally new to me.

 

[massagemiracle]

I use this constellation daily! I love the power that they have.

 

[pnluxconvlvr]

Now I want a Contellation !

They would have sold a ton if they had made the latest in various colors. I would have bought a blue one.

 

[pnluxconvlvr]

Nice pic !

That is such a nice white Constellation !

 

[vacbear58]

Maytag

The story has been told before, but here goes again ......

The cleaner branded Maytag is the same cleaner (aside from voltage) sold in US and Canada. However TTI, who hold the rights to the Hoover name there and who updated the Constellation, do not have the rights to the Hoover name in Europe, hence these machines had to be branded differently. They could have called it a Vax I suppose, but how much sense would that have made?

In my opinion the cleaner itself is quite good, although it was expensive for what it was and lacked a number of features (not least a suction control) that many, much cheaper cleaners had. And although it had a good hard floor nozzle, as Brian says, on hard floors the old problem of dust being shot to every corner of the room, was even worse due to the powerful suction of the motor.

Al

 

[floor-a-matic]

I have heard of a Constellation with Powermatic; but I don't know if anyone here owns one & if those were for sale or just a prototype?

 

[brandon_w_t]

I dont think it actually came with a power nozzle, it just had an on/off switch in the handle.

The new constellations are a very powerful machine. It really is a shame they didn't last. But in todays society, most people don't a large machine that floats all around. They do generate good lift, and tend to whip around into things if not careful.