Eureka Bravo II Widetrack models

[doratheexplorer]

Hello there, Vacuumlanders! One of my favorite vacuum lineups is the Bravo II lineup from Eureka. My childhood machine as well as the very machine that got me interested in vacuum cleaners as a little girl was my parents' 1998 Eureka The Boss Special Edition. They bought it new from Kmart I believe when they moved into the smell single wide we lived in from then until 2019, and they had it until it burned up in late 2011 or so, possibly due to bearing failure.

Anyways, because of that, I love the widetrack models in particular although they are unfortunately pretty rare as they seemed to be sold by only a few retailers from what I can tell and they were on the higher end of the price spectrum for direct air machines at the time. With that being said, if you have or had one, feel free to post pictures of it! Also, if you are trying to get rid of one let me know because I would love to have another!

 

[hoover300]

You may get more responses for this on Facebook, it seems a lot of former members here migrated to the groups on there.

 

[doratheexplorer]

My exact childhood model

Luckily after many years of searching, I finally found someone that was selling one back last September and he had TWO! Sold me the better of the two (right one) and I am currently replacing the bearings in it as the front one is really messed up and would squeal horrifically on startup and intermittently during use when I first got it. I will post a picture of mine once I get the motor restored and get it cleaned up!

 

[panasonicvac]

Welcome!

I believe there are four variants of those machines, at least from what I've seen so far. You got The Boss Special edition soft case which I'm pretty sure was the more common one and my personal favorite. There's a blue Bravo II with a hard case. Two World Vacs that are both hard case, one maroon and one green. And if this one counts, there's a black Ultra Boss hard case but it's like the Bravo III version.

 

[paul]

Hello!

I located some periodical advertisements. Here is a sampling of each model. For some reason no soft bagged wide track ads surfaced. The online Sears & JCP catalogs probably contain some Eureka Boss wide tracks, too, but were inaccessible today. I was surprised to see that ACE Hardware sold refurbs identified by their own new model numbers.

Congratulations on scoring the Eureka BOSS Widetrack from your childhood. Looking forward to hearing your success stories on replacing the bearings and the resto along with photos!



1. GOOD HOUSEKEEPING May 1996 - Models 4440 & 4335

2. 1997 Oct 22 READING EAGLE - Model 7890 Bravo II Wide Track

3. GOOD HOUSEKEEPING May 1997 - Models 7890, 7820, 3679, & 4465

4. 1998 Mar 18 DAILY REPORTER - Model R7891 World Vac Bravo II (refurb)

5. 1998 Mar 20 WALKER CTY MESSENGER - Model 7820 MegaBOSS World Vac Bravo II

6. 1999 Apr 18 OCALA STAR-BANNER - Model 7896-ATS Bravo II Wide Track

7. 1999 Aug 29 DURANT DAILY DEMOCRAT - Model 4460-DT

8. 2001 Dec 25 VINDICATOR - Eureka - Boss Plus 15" path (sans model number)

9. 2002 Sep 15 TELEGRAPH HERALD - Sears ad - Eureka Model 5181-AT Self-Propelled 15" path

10. 2003 May 17 TIMES DAILY - Model 2270 Boss Limited Edition 15" path

11. 2004 Oct 29 WALKER CTY MESSENGER - Model 4495-A

12. eVacuumstore - Model 4870-MZ Boss SmartVac (still available for purchase)

 

[doratheexplorer]

Yep, plus there are two others I know of. A bare bones soft bag model that Old Crankman posted on here last year and there's also a World Vac Widetrack model that had the "Dirt Alert" lights and dual speed motor that's probably the rarest model along with that one Old Crankman posted that I didn't know existed until then. I'd love to get either the blue Bravo II hardcase or the maroon World Vac in particular, that maroon looks so good on these!

Anyways, here is all of the pictures I have of various Widetrack models besides mine which I posted above:

 

[paul]

The Boss Wide Track Model 5856-BVZ Bagless Vacuum

 

[paul]

There is also a Model 7821 Boss Special Edition soft bag (video) and the Model 7822 Brovo II soft bag originally posted by Scott (OldCrankman).

 

[doratheexplorer]

Thanks for the pictures and info, Paul! Unfortunately as my account is new, I can only post/reply to a post every 30 minutes as I meant to say this earlier when you first responded but couldn't.

 

[paul]

You're welcome, Sophia! Thanks for letting me know about the new member reply limit—I never knew that.

Anyway, full disclosure—I know little about Eurekas after the 1980s; I just like to collect and organize data. So as I reread your posts and saw a YouTube video for a Eureka Model 4463 Boss Plus Victory in which the poster mentioned the "Victory body style" it dawned on me that there's a Bravo II body style and a Victory body style that also used The BOSS moniker.

Are you, then, just interested in the 7800 Series Bravo II body style? Also, does The BOSS model name signify a certain characteristic?

 

[paul]

Brush Roll 60244-1 for 7800-7900 Series

I'm guessing that the 7800 Series models listed are Bravo II The BOSS wide tracks (listed on the Vac Shop North, Chcago website):

 

[doratheexplorer]

For the first one: You're fine, everyone has their own preferences regarding vacuums collecting and therefore their own areas of expertise on certain brands/models/years etc. I had already figured you weren't aware of the differences between the Bravo II and Victory units and frankly I didn't mind you putting a few extra pictures of Victory and other Eureka model materials anyways. But yes, the 7800 Bravo II series is my favorite entry from Eureka, specifically the widetrack models (7820 and 7890 series).

Regarding the "The BOSS" name/moniker, it's mostly nothing more than a model name that became Eureka's popular leading name of the 90s, similar to the Tempo and Windtunnel names from Hoover and how they were reused many times on many models, you can find that Eureka put the "The Boss" name on many machines from the 90s through the early 2010s on both ends of the price spectrum including machines that in my opinion, didn't qualify to be called such.


Post 2: Note that those brushrolls also fit certain Bravo machines as well as those odd Mega Boss/Gen 1 Smartvac machines I believe and not just the widetrack Bravo IIs. However there are a lot of 7820 and 7890 models on that list I have never seen which are Bravo IIs.

 

[paul]

Thanks

Here are photos from an eBay currently has a listing for a Eureka 7600-7800 Series Owner's Guide that includes a bunch of BOSS cleaners just as you indicated.

Also, another listing for Eureka Brushroll 60244 includes the Bravo, Powerline, and World Vac model names.

I'd like to find a chart of Eureka '80s-'00s all-plastic cleaners by model number and model name series that listed their differences and periods of manufacture. The only quick reference I've come across so far is the owner's manuals.

By the way, do you know the differences between the Bravo! and Bravo II models?

 

[doratheexplorer]

Nice, love how that manual shows both the standard 12 inch base as well as the Widetrack base. I'd also love to find such a reference chart as the only ones I have found are for mid 80s and older models.

As far as differences between the Bravo! (sometimes referred to as the Bravo I from us collectors) and Bravo II models-

The Bravo! line debuted in 1992 I believe as Eureka's direct competitor to Hoover's Elite lineup that was quickly growing in popularity at the time. Now I have never had one or worked on one, but from my understanding, the main differences on the Bravo "I" versus the Bravo II were the bases, hoods, the hoses, tools, and the design of the spine and how the tools were stored on it. As far as I know, the motors are very similar if not thd same in later Bravo models towards the end of the line at least.

Also, to my knowledge there was never a Widetrack Bravo I nor was there a model that had a built in hose with the selector like the WT Bravo IIs did, but I could be wrong and have simply never seen one.

In 1996, the Bravo II line debuted, with a different hood, maybe a slightly updated motor, and with some models with a Widetrack base and built in hose of course.

Common nameplates for the Bravo II line are:

The Boss (incl. Plus and SE models)
Powerline
World Vac
Precision
Lite

 

[eurekaprince]

Welcome to Vacuumland Sofia!

I think in order to help you find more Bravo Twos, we need to differentiate two very different Eureka model names here. The Bravo II (like the Bravo One before it) was Eureka’s answer to the Hoover Elite and it featured a side-facing fan which allowed the other side of the motor to be used to drive the brush roll. Other similarities between the Bravo and Elite were: motor integrated into the bottom of the handle with an integrated dirt path to the dirt bag within the handle itself. Both models featured a front-mounted soft dust bag or hard dust bag compartment.

The “Boss” terminology was used by Eureka to brand a lot of vacuum designs including uprights, canisters, stick vacs and hand vacs. I was never quite sure of Eureka’s marketing strategy in using the word Boss, but they would often select one basic, no frills model in a certain line-up to market as a basic powerful “I mean business” machine with not a lot of bells and whistles and extra features. Boss models were always coloured black.

There were definitely some black Bravos that were branded with the Boss name, but not a lot. It’s important for us to focus on the words Bravo Two here, and ignore other Eurekas that had the Boss name branded on them.

Just my two amps worth to keep us focused on what I think Sofia is really looking for.

 

[eurekaprince]

I actually owned a basic, no headlight, soft bag Bravo One in the early 1990’s. It had a much sleeker hood than the Bravo II and the provision for a sleek, low profile headlight was at the very front of the motor head. The Bravo Twos I find to be less attractive - with the boxy headlight installed at the very back of the motor hood.

Consumer Reports gave excellent carpet cleaning scores to the Bravo when it first came out. I even think it received the coveted “Best Buy” label as it only cost about USD$80 in the stores at the time.

One thing I remember is that Eureka’s Bravo had a much larger bag than the Hoover Elite.

 

[eurekaprince]

Another distinction between the Bravo One and Bravo Two: the Bravo One had a Rugulator sliding scale height adjuster, whereas the Bravo Two had a Dial-a-Nap height adjuster.

 

[paul]

Thanks for giving the launch years of the Bravo! and Bravo II, Sophia; and thanks for highlighting the distinguishing characteristics of the Bravo! & Bravo II, Sophia & Brian! I agree with Brian, that Eureka's marketing strategy leaves me perplexed—too many model names for me. It seems that Eureka's numerical series correspond with the body styles, which is easier for categorizing. In Sophia's case this would be the 7800 Series.

I do wonder if The BOSS may have been an acronym (due to it often being printed in all CAPS) as well as a descriptor as Brian suggested—something like Basic Only Sans Supplements.

Sophia, I take it from your nameplate list that Powerline, Precision, and Lite stood for body styles; and World Vac just indicated which cleaners' sales benefited the National Park Foundation. Were all these sold concurrently? When were they each discontinued? Did each have its own corresponding Home Cleaning Systems and canisters? Incidentally, if I run across a Wide Track Bravo! in the newspaper database I'll let you know.

Brian, I actually ran across your Bravo! photo in another thread yesterday—I agree that it's attractive. Unlike you, though, I also like the appearance of the Bravo II even though it's not quite as sleek. Btw, please consider making a chart of '80s-'00s cleaners showing characteristics by numerical series, model names, et cetera, using your vast Eureka knowledge. Or do you know of someone that has sales sheets with that information that they would post? P.S. I appreciate the humor in your responses (e.g. "my two amps worth").

 

[eurekaprince]

Hi Paul,

Thanks for the compliment!

I wish I had the time and cash to simply buy up those old binders of Eureka spec sheets that appear on eBay from time to time. Then I could at my leasure just create a computer database of all models. The spec sheets really do provide all the detail you need to create a proper history of the company’s beautiful products. There are even some YouTube clips of posters slowly leafing through these binders of spec sheets, and if you slow down the video clip, you can glean a lot of information.

Re my dark blue basic no-frills Bravo upright: it really is an amazing carpet cleaner! The pros = lightweight, huge dust bag, sleek design and superb deep carpet cleaning for only US$80! The cons = quite noisy, short power cord and a partial furniture bumper that stopped halfway down the sides of the motor head - the end of the bumper used to catch on corners of walls and furniture.

I actually got it for about CAD$120 at a Canadian Tire hardware/housewares store in Toronto. Lots of “suck for the buck”!!!!