Fantastic Fantom Thunder

[annm]

The current Coronavirus crisis -- and being stuck at home every day -- has spurred me into exploring some new things, including collectible vacuum cleaners. I then happened upon a Fantom Thunder, which was my starting place in having my own vintage unit. Now I look back on vacuuming my grandmother's living room with her huge Sunbeam, and my dad's living room with his Kirby, in a whole new light. How I wish I had those two machines right now!
The Fantom and its interesting history just makes this vacuum all the more fantastic. My Thunder was made the week of November 4th 1996, and is in good working order. Of course, it isn't new but overall it looks good for being 24 years old! Is anyone interested in adding to their collection???

 

[crazykirbydude]

I don't like my Fantom Fury. It's a horrible cleaner. I conducted an experiment once, which consisted of grinding fine dirt into my carpet and vacuuming with the Fantom until it looked clean. The Fantom picked up about two cups. Then, I took a cheapo Walmart Bissell PowerForce and vacuum the same spot. The Bissell managed to pull an additional cup of dirt from my carpet. Keep in mind that this is a $50 plastic bagless vacuum, not a high end vacuum. I think the Fantoms are neat collection pieces, but terribly impractical as a vacuum cleaner.

 

[lesinutah]

Lol

The Sunbeam didn't have huge sales. The airways and lewyts took those. Yet I recall reading it was one of the most powerful vacuums.
I seen on a thread the Sunbeam pulled 103 CFM. There are very few that do this today. Yet the vacuum is 50-60 years old.
Kirby has high CFM. They didn't suffer from lack of publicity. The one thing Kirby has is the DTD salespeople are questionable.
The Fantom bought out Iona vacuum which was Regina. The Regina vacuums were quite good. O have a handvac Iona dirt raider. I did a side by side with my royal power force and my riccar. It performed better than both.
If we're talking early 90s and you say the Fantom is plasticrap. I'd laugh because hoovers, bissell's, most other vacuums had slot more heavy plastic on them. I don't think there the best vacuums but for the time period they were finicky but there still around and still work.
Nobody should be brought down about what vacuum they like. We are here to help and encourage others. Bashing anyone who posts anything on a vacuum you don't like is wrong.
Let's encourage people anydd maybe non members or people dropping in see a positive board.
Let's be kind and respectful. You don't have to like the vacuum it just shows a little class when we respect people.
Les

 

[desiredname]

The Thunder is much better than the Fury. I have had both. I also have a British DC01. Which is similar to the Thunder. The Thunder has a two stage motor which is really nice. In my opinion the Thunder is the best quality cyclonic bagless upright ever made. Do your headlights still work? Sometimes the wire splits where it enters the motor housing.

 

[desiredname]

Here are the similar cleaners.

 

[annm]

Fantom Thunder

The headlights work great!

 

[jo]

The Fantom was early in the bagless era..one of the very first if I recall that started the current bagless trend. One of my friends had the canister version with power nozzle that he bought in 2000. I kinda liked it for what it was and had an occasion to use it briefly a few times while working on remodeling his house with him.

Another friend had an upright. She seemed to like it but I remember it being terribly heavy.

 

[rainbowd4c]

My mom had one of these and I hated it. I think the only thing I liked about it was the sound the motor made when turned on. Yes it did clean well. I used it a few times and it seemed really nice when it came to cleaning carpets. But at the same time that was about all it was good for.

 

[man114]

The Thunder, particularly the 11 amp (aka domestic) was an excellent machine. The rest of them didn’t quite compare. I have many of them and still regularly find them.

 

[oreck_xl]

While we're on the subject of early bagless uprights, I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Amway CMS-1000 the FIRST bagless upright offered here in the states. I believe they were manufactured by Bissell and are still being made as the ClearTrak.

 

[myles_v]

The Scamway machine was produced after lying to James Dyson and using the dual cyclone technology without permission. The CMS 1000 was released around the same time as the Vectron by SJ Johnson (which was essentially a commercial Fantom Thunder). It is currently sold as the Workhorse by a company called WMJ Refurbishing. I do believe that the original CMS-1000 and Cleartrak machines were manufactured by Bissell.

Also, while it may have been the first dual cyclonic bagless upright in the US, it certainly was not the first upright to not use disposable bags. It was produced illegitimately, and resulted in Amway being sued by Dyson. It is one of many stains in Amway's horribly soiled history as a multilevel marketing scheme. The CMS-1000/Cleartrak/Workhorse is a nifty machine for collecting, but praising it for being the first bagless machine in the US is untrue and feels immoral.

https://www.coursehero.com/file/p1v...85-Amway-was-sued-by-Dyson-for-the-copyright/

 

[oreck_xl]

Immoral yes, but so is James Dyson. Closing the plant in Malmesbury, England and letting go of his entire manufacturing workforce was a low blow. Oh sure, other companies have done the same, but what James Dyson charges for his Malaysian made vacuums is outrageous IMHO.

 

[myles_v]

Agreed.

I have my own objections to Amway beyond the CMS-1000 machine though, hence my response.