MieLux
The black cord on the Ultra is NOT an aftermarket replacement, it is genuine Aerus replacement. I know this for a fact as I bought a spare cordreel for my Grand Marquise, & the dealer specifically told me the cord would be black & asked if I was ok with that. Also, it does seem like they are putting black cords on Aerus vacuums nowadays....I have yet to see a recent model Aerus that has a cord of gray or any other color.
Clifford, if I was in your position, I would go for the Guardian Platinum. It sounds like the machine just needs a good thorough cleaning, & for the hose you could probably unkink it yourself at home if you are handy with tools. I have successfully unkinked a couple of Filter Queen hoses, so trust me it can be done pretty easily. Plus, the Platinum is much newer & has MUCH MORE power & features than the Ultra had. The Ultra was merely a 2100 with a fancy top, HEPA filter & new-style plastic wands & hose added. I think Aerus should be ashamed of themselves trying to foist that off as a true replacement for the original Guardian, & they finally redeemed themselves with the Platinum. Also, please note the HEPA filter system on the Platinum is much better than on the Ultra, since it has 2 HEPA filters, & when you compare the quality of the filter paper on the Ultra, it is not nearly as good. This is because they slapped a HEPA filter onto an existing old design not meant to accomodate one, so they had to compromise the quality of the filter or else it couldn't be a sealed system & would leak everywhere.
As for the plastic wands, don't worry about them. The same design has been used by Aerus now for nearly 2 decades, with a minor redesign in the early 2000's when the first Aerus-made Tristar EXL came out. Usually the only thing that ever goes wrong with the wands is occasionally one of the plastic clips will need replacement, & those are very inexpensive & easy to do yourself. Also, the hoses for the Platinum & Ultra only have the switch for the PN on the handle, not speed controls, so there should be no worry about costly hose replacements as MieLux thinks. I think he is referring to the original Guardian when he mentions this.
Now, about the Aerus Home Solutions bags....apparently the problem has been fixed? At least that's what has been said on this forum recently in the past few months. I ordered some bags from a local dealer in Brampton, Ontario, & he told me when I had an issue with the bags, had a couple of bags that the sealing strip at the back of the bag broke. The dealer in Brampton says that Aerus is changing suppliers & dealers will be receiving new bags made in the USA in October. He told me that Aerus is actually going to start making their own bags again, instead of outsourcing to Home Care Industries....he said that Home Care Industries had "ripped them off" by making the bags in China, & Aerus had ended their agreement with them. This to me makes logical sense, since there was discussion recently here about Home Care Industries suddenly shutting down for a few months, closing down a factory, & then suddenly reappearing, & now I do believe it was said that they have to deal directly with vac shops now? Think it was said that the vac shop distribution companies won't even deal with them anymore.
Clifford, I honestly wouldn't worry about the bags, other members have reported they had no issues, & even if the paper bags for the Platinum do turn out to be an issue for you, then you could always order bags from Godfrey's in Australia for the Sauber Intelligence, since they use HEPA cloth bags. That machine, the canister is 100% identical, just runs on 220 Volts & has a different hose, wand, PN & tools, but the actual canister itself is the same, including the bags & filters. Except the bags are made of HEPA cloth, though.
Rob
