Great vacuums! I've had many of these. Bags are hard to get. You will have to order them from the company in Canada I believe unless you can find a dealer still in the West Coast somewhere more Northern West. If you can't find bags then Compact bags will work however they don't seal as well and will leak some dirt into the cloth filter bag. No big deal just clean the cloth filter bag out every bag change. The Compact bags are slightly smaller than the Vortech bags. The motor filter will be a fancy hepa filter but the regular Compact-Tristar dome motor filter should work just fine (all this pertaining to the previous model assuming the new model works the same way??) . Last time I spoke with a dealer in WA he was pushing these for $3,000, great machine but yikes!!!
It is somehow related to Compact-Tristar. The word on the street is 3 guys left Tristar to build their own improved version of the Tristar. they were successful but weren't as popular as the Tristar. They built Airstorm/Patriot, Miracle Mate, and Vortech Force. I don't personally know if this is true. Before that in the 60's another guy also left Compact to build a better version The Haley's Comet.
