Hoover and Eureka and Bissell

[rainbowd4c]

Three of the biggest names in vacuums and I was playing on their websites and they have virtually NO canister vacuums.  Both have a line up of three canister vacuums.  Hoover has power nozzles and Eureka has all straight suction. Bissell has two power nozzle models and all the rest are straight suction.  


 


So are canisters becoming a things of the past?


 


 

 

[sbakerde]

I sure hope not.

Hoover and eureka made excellent canister vacuums for decades. But I agree, recently there is a lack of canisters offered on the market. Bissell has never really made a notable canister with only a few attempts at a power nozzle model. None of which were a hit or even worthy of mention. So the variety of canister vacs is getting slim especially with power nozzle. I don't know if canister production is down due to higher cost or simply because people have gotten lazy. Not many people will make sure to vacuum under furniture or things like vents fans and baseboards. Even more shocking is how many consumers just push a swiffer over their hard floors and call that clean. I am sorry but that will never be considered remotely clean to me. I grew up with only canister vacuums. And we used them on every surface. I lost count how many dusting brushes we wore out. But anyway that's my few cents.

 

[director12]

At least Kenmore will still offer canisters.

 

[sebo_fan]

I think it might be an end of year thing. I have noticed this worldwide with other brands not just in the U.S - and most major brands are notorious for releasing something new in between months of heavily congested shoppers. Expect something new perhaps from these brands in January 2015 or beyond.

 

[director12]

Yeah, let's hope 2015 will fix the mistakes.

 

[fan-of-fans]

This is not really a new thing in the US anyway. Canisters are getting rare, as is the idea of vacuuming anything except carpets.

Eureka hasn't made a great PN canister since the World Vac and Excalibur series as far as I know. They had a few smaller models with PN since 2005 but they seemed oddly designed and not very durable.

Hoover has the few canisters you mention, but I have not seen any locally since I can remember other than the small canister that comes with the Platinum.

Not sure what the deal is with the decline of canisters. It could be the public popularity or retailers. Around here, the only stores you will find canisters are Sears/Kmart and Lowes. Some of the appliance stores like Best Buy or HH Gregg may have them, but we don't have any.

Walmart sells no canisters at all, nor does Bed Bath and Beyond. Kmart has a few Bissell and Eureka straight suction and low end Kenmore straight suction and with PN. Sears is really the only store with a full line. They have Kenmore, Dyson and Samsung.

In the minds of the general public, the only vacuum that seems to exist is a bagless upright, and vacuums are only for carpet. Most people I know would probably give me weird looks if I mentioned vacuuming furniture or other surfaces with a vacuum.

And most people I know think the only way to clean a hard floor is with a broom and dustpan! Someone complained about sweeping their hard floors and I mentioned using a vacuum and they just said "it will just blow the dust back out in the air".

We always used a canister and dusting brush to dust when I was growing up. Anything else was just smearing the dust around as my mother would say. I can agree with this. If I'm going to clean, I want the dust gone.

 

[ultralux88]

I see a lot of people that seem to be going back to having an upright and a suction only canister rather than a canister with a PN. But being in a vacuum store I honestly sell at least as many if not a few more canisters than uprights. You don't and won't see many in stores like Wal-Mart because they typically don't sell as well in that type of sales environment.

I partially agree that people today don't vacuum things other than carpet, but all the attachments I see on vacuums, even the cheap uprights tend to be very well used. I think not vacuuming furniture as much is more of a thing among people who don't have pets, I don't know any pet owners who could even dream of not vacuuming everything in the house, pet hair gets EVERYWHERE and so I vacuum everywhere as well. Would also say people who have kids tend to find vacuuming the furniture more common as well.

 

[director12]

At least the canister market survives pre-owned.

 

[rainbowd4c]

It's strange how peoples cleaning habits change over time.  My grandma and mom used to use the vacuum for everything: vacuuming the floors, carpets, furniture, knocking cobwebs, cleaning the walls and so on and so forth.  As my Grandma got older and for as many health problems she had she switched over to using different brushes, and dusters and would use the vacuum for just a few things as she needed it.  My mom was the same way.  My mom really only uses the vacuum for the rugs and uses her swiffer for everything else. I don't really know why she bought her Dyson because she doesn't use it for what it's designed for. However I have found that if you want a good pre-owned canister then you need to go used and from the 70's to the 90's. 


 


I use the vacuum for everything. If it's designed to be used a certain way then yes I'm going to use it to it's full capabilities, and then maybe then some.


 


I know at a certain time canisters were pretty popular, however now they seem to be a thing of the past.  All my Grandma and Mom had for a long time were canisters and then it changed and my Grandma used nothing but  uprights, because as she got older it was easier for her to use.  My mom changed just because she didn't like canisters and never really did.


 


When I was young I always saw older folks with uprights and younger people with canisters. So my impression was that uprights were old lady vacuums.  LOL

 

[fan-of-fans]

Interesting comments, I hadn't thought about this from a vacuum store perspective. Doesn't surprise me though, as people buying vacuums in a specialty store often aren't looking for the same product as someone shopping in a store like Walmart.

What you mention is interesting. My grandmother always used a broom until she got her first canister, a GE swivel top in the 1960s. Then she got a Rainbow in the 1980s, which she used fairly regularly and used both the PN and attachments. I guess she got tired of having to set it up as she got a Bissell bagless upright a couple of years ago. In the past year she had the carpeting replaced with wood laminate throughout and I don't know if she still uses the vacuums or not. In the interim she had a couple of stick vacuums to sweep the kitchen after dinner, and she had bought a vintage Eureka F&G so she could have something to do a quick pick up on her carpet, but I don't think she ever used it and she sold it shortly after. They also have a Craftsman carry around shop vac for car cleaning and at one time had a 70s Montgomery Ward shop vac, but I think it was tossed as the hose and dolly broke.

My other grandmother's first vacuum was an avocado Singer Silver Glide in the early 70s. She used it until she had a new house built in 1981 with carpet. For that she bought a Hoover Concept One Self Propelled for the carpet. The PowerDrive went out when she was getting ready to sell the house, so she had the vacuum shop disable it and bought a Hoover Elite Supreme after she moved. The Concept One went to my mom who used it awhile and then sold it. The Singer had to have the switch bypassed at some point. She kept it, but it stayed in the coat closet after. I helped her clean the car once and she was deciding whether to use the Singer of Hoover and she decided to use the tools on the Hoover so she could switch it off if need be.

Back on topic, I assumed people weren't really using the attachments, because of how minimal they have gotten. The combo tools and 3 in 1 tools are getting common even on canisters. Although I looked closely at a Dyson canister recently and was impressed that it had 3 separate attachments, though small. The dusting brush was fairly soft and upholstery tool even had felt. Kenmore attachments are starting to get better, the new Intuition has a dusting brush much like the older machines, not a combo tool or the horseshoe style tool, but a usable horsehair oval brush.