Favorite central/canister cleaning head?

[Hatsuwr]

The modern one I have the most experience with is Wessel-Werk's EBK 360. I like it, but there's a lot of room for improvement.

Pros:

• Cleans well and reliably - single pass is almost always enough
• Motor is more than powerful enough
• Belt wears pretty slowly (lasts at least as long as the roller brush)
• Wide cleaning path (~12")
• No hair tangling issues
• Standard IEC C7 power connector

Cons:

• Lighting isn't terrible, but it easily could be much better
• The mechanism that locks the neck upright is relatively weak
• Replacing the roller brush includes replacing its bearings and pulley gear
  • The pulley gear is plastic and wears at a similar rate as the bristles. Would rather see a metal pulley and more targeted replacement options.
• Motor bearings used to be high-quality sealed ones from... Schaeffler, but it seems they downgraded to shielded off-brand bearings.
• The wand retention mechanism is a leaf spring button style (the button being on the wand). It doesn't fail quickly, but it does weaken over time.

Other:

• I think it's about time to switch over to a brushless motor, and possibly even direct-drive.
• Better control circuitry would be nice. Right now it's just a simple rocker switch. This is cheaper and a bit easier to replace, but I'd rather see the rocker switch control a relay for longer intervals between needing any replacements. Cost different would be minimal.
  • I know many people don't like soft starting, but it would take some wear off the drive components (and switch/relay).
• It would be good to have a smaller gap between the cleaning path and the outer edge of the cleaning head on the non-driven side. It's not too bad how it currently is, but there's definitely room for improvement.
• Old height adjustment pedal was a bit 'mushy' to use. It's been redesigned, but I haven't had a chance to use the new one yet.

 

[cheesewonton]

Look at a Lindhaus PB14. Probably the best power nozzle made. I have three EBK360s that came with different vacuums and I'm not impressed. Second best is the Cen-Tec CT25QD. Sebo ET-1 or ET-2 is good too.

Direct drive brush rolls for Kenmores are hideously expensive because the motor is part of the brush roll. I suppose someone could design them with removable brush strips but that is not the case so far. Interesting tidbit, Panasonic first used a direct drive brush roll in a small Japanese power nozzle sold with the MC-P600 canister vacuum. This was a Japan market vacuum.

 

[Ant_Tenna]

Seconding Lindhaus power nozzles. I've had a couple HF6s with PB14s and a PB12e on an Aria Platinum, they're all fantastic. The standard PB12 comes with a single-chevron brush roll but the variant included with the Aria Platinum comes with a dual-chevron brush roller that improves the cleaning performance even further. The brush itself is available from Lindhaus and can be swapped into any PB12 that doesn't have it already.

The Sebo ET-1/2 is my second favorite after the Lindhaus nozzles. The WW EBK360/Miele SEB228 is alright but I prefer the aforementioned nozzles. The WW EBK340 and Miele SEB236 I really like though. The Riccar/Simplicity RPB/SPB doesn't quite have the build quality/refinement of the German/Italian nozzles I've mentioned but they clean very well and have some nice features. The one on the end of my Simplicity S38 works pretty good.