Just for fun, I decided to do a little three-way competition between my PN-1, PN-2 and this newly acquired PN-4A on a particularly cat hair-encrusted rug to see which of my three power nozzles would do the best job. Each nozzle got three passes over an equally nasty piece of of the same rug, while connected to my Super J.
First up was the PN-2 (older brush in 'used' position), since it was already hooked up to the Super J. It did a reasonably good job, leaving just a little bit of cat fur after its three passes.
Next was the PN-A. Interestingly, it wouldn't work with the Super J's white, two-piece wand that I had originally gotten with a PN-5. I had to switch to a 1205 wand to complete the test. I don't really understand why that happened. Results were similar to those of the PN-2. I also noticed a slight and momentary bearing squeal as I shut machine off. Not sure whether it was coming from the motor or the brush roll. When I had the thing apart the other day, I did notice the belt seemed sort of thin.
The final contestant was my PN-1 and it absolutely smoked the competition, doing in two passes what the others accomplished in three; however, it did seem to sort of rattle and bounce over the Persian rug, which is sitting on top of a simulated hardwood floor while the other two ran more smoothly. I'll attribute its performance and perhaps some of the rattle and bounce to its nearly brand new brush roll.
I don't think I really learned anything I didn't already know with this little exercise and I'm not at all surprised by the similarity in performance between the PN-2 and PN-4A as the latter seems to be just a mild update of the PN-2's design. except the power nozzles are staying with their present machines. My original 1205 is keeping its original PN-1; while my beautiful, shiny PN-2 is staying with the Super J.
That leaves PN-4A paired with the 1205 from my parents' attic. The more I use that canister/power nozzle combo, the more I like it. Yeah, it's not the 'right' power nozzle for a 1205 but who cares? it gets the job done and this particular 1205 has never performed better. I'm still considering stripping off the scarred up gray paint and polish it to look more like the PN-2. Painting it 1205 teal might also be interesting for a custom look, but that would eventually get scarred up too.
