Hoover Discontinuing the Venerable Self-Propelled Windtunnel

[speedqueen]

The dealer where I work part time says ESSCO(the general supplier) is out and won't have any more in as Hoover is giving it the axe.

End of an era, if you ask me, one of the last pre-TTI cleaners they still offered, one of the few cleaners of good quality, too.

 

[gj3476]

The self propelled Windtunnel had a great long 20 years! 1998-2018.

 

[vacuumdevil]

thank you TTI

It's about time! That machine really can't compete in today's market feature wise.
Definitely had a good run.

Buy one keep it in the Box, sell it in 20 years :-D

 

[gj3476]

And they’re really great vacuums too! Excellent suction and well built! I have a one I got at Goodwill back in February. Mine was made in October 2001.

 

[huskyvacs]

I have one of the first ones, the ones that had a recall for the handle catching fire. They have an incredible amount of torque, could probably pull a boat with them. Those propulsion wheels are something else, I'd venture to guess they are stronger than Kirby's system.

 

[fan-of-fans]

That's too bad, while I don't think the newest ones really compared quality-wise, and I thought they were loud, I still liked them. Yes, definitely an end of an era and the lineage of Hoover's SP machines. So this leaves Hoover with, like one or maybe NO bagged uprights? That really comes as no surprise.

 

[vacuumdevil]

from my point of view as a vacuum tech .

 

[henrydreyfuss]

Can't compete feature-wise?

It had every feature you'd expect in a modern upright, sans lifetime belts. They also featured exceptional carpet cleaning performance, most modern clean-air machines can't touch.

That's a shame.. I still like seeing affordable bagged machines in stores. They had common problems with plastic parts of their self-propelled mechanism breaking (replaced a lot of idler pulleys and actuator arms back in the day), but if taken care of, they cleaned great and lasted a long time.

I do wish they were quieter, and the belts lasted longer. TTI should have just addressed a couple issues on it, and released a 2.0 model.

 

[vacuumdevil]

nope

@henrydreyfuss

No sealed HEPA. No easy change bag .
No life time belt
Until recently no sealed bearings in the brush roller and self-propelled.
No telescoping wand.
No Center feed section
Edge cleaning.
No easy access tools you have to bend over and assemble them.
Not bare floor friendly that's the big one ! Even though you can shut the brush roller off it will scratch the floor.
Bare floor switch is not on the handle.
It weighs more then Miele u1 /s7
The hose is too short .
you can't lift it by the handle without snapping the self propel.
It's really loud.

Hoover has other Vacuums in their lineup That superseded this vacuum in almost every way .
That being said I have one of these in my collection because it came with the house.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Just had a look at Hoover's website. Admittedly it was a quick one, but from what I can tell there are 0 bagged vacuums and 0 canister vacuums in their lineup. Very disappointing. The future of vacuums appears to not be very diverse.

 

[eurekaprince]

I loved the Hoover Ultra Self Propelled WindTunnel. I bought one for my aging parents on their anniversary because their single-floor condo had acres of deep-pile plush carpeting. It made life so much easier for my late father as he was in charge of vacuuming on Fridays. The self-propel mechanism worked very well for him, and the filtration layers in the vac were a great help for his allergies.

It was neat knowing it came from the original Hoover home in North Canton. We Canadians knew what it meant to use a high-quality American-made product. Those were the days....those little towns of North Canton and Bloomington proudly kept North American homes clean for many decades.

End of an era. :-(

 

[myles_v]

vacuumdevil...

Very few, if any, current Hoover machines meet all of the things you listed. It was a $200 machine, not a $500 Miele. In my opinion, the self propelled Windtunnel was one of the last half-decent Hoover machines. No easy change bag? Seriously, how difficult is it to pull the cardboard collar off the plastic tube? It doesn't get very much easier than that.

Also, there was no need to bend down and assemble the attachments. The hose is stored on the side of the machine and it's always ready for use.

 

[gregvacs28]

my

"...0 bagged vacuums and 0 canister vacuums in their lineup"


 


it's depressing.  I remember shopping Spirit canisters at Kmart and being happy.  

 

[human]

No great loss...

Hoover hasn't been Hoover since they dropped the Convertible. Now THAT was a REAL vacuum cleaner!

 

[vacuumdevil]

@myles_v
I have to bend over to use the hose . Most consumers struggle putting thst bag on believe it or not.
Hoover has been out of the regular vacuum market for some time. The focus with the Hoover name is commercial, low end vacuum sales.
I've been mean to do a review on one of these for a while maybe I'll dust off ,change the belt on mine out and make a video.

@gregvacs28 look at this part of Hoover's website.

https://www.hoovercommercial.com/
www.oreck.com

https://www.hoovercommercial.com/

 

[fantomlightning]

I...

Wonder if this machine may find its way into the Royal line up of machines like with the UR30075 and UR30085 based on the Tempo and non SP WT...

 

[kloveland]

It's sad. But time moves forward. In my experience they cleaned well but they were so freakin' loud! I've had a few but I no longer pick them because they are so loud!

 

[huskyvacs]

Keep in mind that if we're talking about the new bag model one that was recently pulled, it's based on a 20 year old design. It will be loud, dusty, and clunky. It's part of the history.

But they actually did a study that Americans associate loudness with power. So just like a supercar, the louder it is the more powerful people think it is and will want to buy it. I can attest that the Windtunnel doesn't need any help advertising its power, but with that exhaust vent and the motor equipped, you will certainly feel like you're in a windtunnel!

 

[speedqueen]

Apparently even Electrolux knew that consumers associated loudness with power back in the 1960s, because they designed the 1205 with less noise insulating capabilities than preceding models because of that fact.

I still think it was a capable cleaner, and in fact far better than what most other manufacturers are selling. I don't think any defects were too glaring other than the fact that it doesn't look like a rocket ship like may models from Shark, Dyson, etc.