HOOVERS

[ronreeland]

Hi:
My July/August edition of Consumer Reports magazine has ratings on uprights, bagged and bagless. Also canisters, again bagged and bagless. Additional ratings for corded and cordless stick vacuums. Even hand vacs. But not even one Hoover listed in any of those categories. Hoover is listed four times in the carpet cleaners category and once under steam mops. Are current Hoovers of such poor quality that they are not mentioned? Or an oversight by Consumer Reports?

My everyday vacuuum is a cloth bag Hoover model 425 with a flat belt, circa 1935. My Dad and I sold and serviced Hoovers back in the 1950's and 60's, so I have an affection for the vintage Hoovers and I am disappointed that maybe the Hoover name is not respected any longer.

Shark vacuums dominate the bagless upright versions. The bagged upright category lists 4 Kenmores and 3 Orecks and none others. Kenmores prevail in the bagged and bagless canister sections.

What are your thought on the modern Hoovers currently for sale?

Thanks,
Ron Reeland

 

[cheesewonton]

Household Hoovers are pretty bad. Their commercial line is better. I have a CH54113 Hushtone that I use with a Hoover brand synthetic HEPA Type Y dust bag. I have to trim the mounting cards a touch to make it fit the mount but it is otherwise a much better bag than the paper bags Hoover makes for the Hushtone series. Very good vacuum otherwise. I like it more than most uprights I have and seems to clean our big area rugs better than our Sebo 370. More aggressive brush roll. Not as good for above floor cleaning as the Sebo though. Nice surprise is the Hushtones use a decent sized Domel motor and sport a lifetime "Intellibelt". Seems pretty rugged but we'll see how it lasts. The Insight that preceded the Hushtone has been a bit of a disappointment. Fragile and fatally flawed. I'd say a Hushtone 13 or 15 is a great second best if your budget says you can't afford a Sebo G4 or G5.

Hoover also have something they call the "Complete Performance Advanced Bagged Upright Vacuum" that uses the synthetic HEPA Y bag and it's ok. Not as rugged as the Hushtone but for $169.99 MSRP it seems like a great value and better than what Bissell sells. Haven't had a chance to try one yet.

 

[cheesewonton]

Been using the Hushtone this week and I have to say I am surprised how much I have grown to like it. It just works good. Doesn't make demands of me to use, cleans well, not too loud and the sound it makes is pleasant enough. Seems really sturdy. I am not normally a big fan of uprights, generally preferring power nozzle canister vacs, but this one is different. We'll see how it lasts.

 

[hooveru4019]

the reason no hoover is listed is because of the severe bias the testers at consumer reports have against tti.....they were crucifying hoover forever and under the last 18 years of tti ownership of hoover oreck and dirt devil the bias towards hoover has grown even worse ...i sell HUNDREDS OF THE UH30650 PC COMPLETE ADVANCED PERFORMANCE AND THE UH72630 AND THE UH72625 CLASSIC WINDTUNNELS AND MY CUSTOMERS WHO HAD OWNED SHARK AND DYSON GO NUTS OVER THEM FUNNY YOU NEVER SEE THEM REPRESENTED BECAUSE TTI DOES NOT CARE NOR WANTS ANYTHING TO DO WITH CONSUMER REPORTS FOR THAT REASON ....WE DO SUBMITT WET PRODUCTS BUT THEY TO GET CRUCIFIED BY THE SO CALLED VACUUM TESTING EXPERTS WHICH MAKES ONE WONDER HOW THEY ARE THE AUTHORITY ON VACUUM TESTING .....WHO TESTS THE TESTERS IS TTI'S ARGUMENT ......AS THEIR OFFICIAL HOOVER FIELD CONSULTANT FOR TH PAST 18 YEARS UNDER 5 OF THEIR PRESIDENTS MY SHOWROOM IS GROUND ZERO FOR THIS TYPE OF TESTING AT LEAST OUT IN THE REAL WORLD PEOPLE STILL LOVE THEIR HOOVERS

 

[cheesewonton]

the reason no hoover is listed is because of the severe bias the testers at consumer reports have against tti.....they were crucifying hoover forever and under the last 18 years of tti ownership of hoover oreck and dirt devil the bias towards hoover has grown even worse ...i sell HUNDREDS OF THE UH30650 PC COMPLETE ADVANCED PERFORMANCE AND THE UH72630 AND THE UH72625 CLASSIC WINDTUNNELS AND MY CUSTOMERS WHO HAD OWNED SHARK AND DYSON GO NUTS OVER THEM FUNNY YOU NEVER SEE THEM REPRESENTED BECAUSE TTI DOES NOT CARE NOR WANTS ANYTHING TO DO WITH CONSUMER REPORTS FOR THAT REASON ....WE DO SUBMITT WET PRODUCTS BUT THEY TO GET CRUCIFIED BY THE SO CALLED VACUUM TESTING EXPERTS WHICH MAKES ONE WONDER HOW THEY ARE THE AUTHORITY ON VACUUM TESTING .....WHO TESTS THE TESTERS IS TTI'S ARGUMENT ......AS THEIR OFFICIAL HOOVER FIELD CONSULTANT FOR TH PAST 18 YEARS UNDER 5 OF THEIR PRESIDENTS MY SHOWROOM IS GROUND ZERO FOR THIS TYPE OF TESTING AT LEAST OUT IN THE REAL WORLD PEOPLE STILL LOVE THEIR HOOVERS

If you have any influence on what Hoover sells would you be so kind as to convince them to offer a synthetic microfiber HEPA dust bag of quality equal to their HEPA Type Y dust bag for the CH54113 and CH54115 Hushtone line? It is such a nice vacuum otherwise and one I think is going to last me a very long time. For now I trim the mounting card of a genuine Hoover brand synthetic HEPA Type Y bag and use that. It is not ideal, the mounting hole on the Y bag is centered where the Hushtone bag spout is offset, but the bag chamber stays clean where the "Allergen" paper bag leaks a lot of dust and is unsatisfactory. It is literally the only shortcoming I can find with the Hushtone. Where its predecessor the Insight was an overly complex and mechanically fragile dud, Hoover pretty much hit a home run with the Hushtone. It would be a grand slam out of the park homer if it had a good quality synthetic microfiber dust bag.

 

[ronreeland]

HI:
I do feel as though Consumer Reports should have included Hoover vacuums even if they were at the bottom of the ratings. I will attempt to contact CR and ask why the Hoovers were omitted. I have been a subscriber to CR for over 50 years, and heve generally found their ratings accurate and helpful. I hope I can figure out a way to contact them even if only via "snail mail"

Ron Reeland

 

[cheesewonton]

I don't think C-R knows their arse from the hole in a donut. I gave up on them decades ago. Their testers don't know up from down and they test whatever is trendy. While asking why they never test a Hoover maybe ask why they never test Cirrus, Titan, Lindhaus, Carpet Pro, Fakir, Powr Flite, etc. They miss a lot of good products because they are staffed by a bunch of brainless trendies who have no idea what a high quality product looks like. Their auto testing is even worse. I don't think any of their testers have any track days under their belt to really understand how a car handles when pushed so they have no idea what a car they are testing is really doing and as a result come to faulty conclusions. Just a waste of time and money as far as I'm concerned.

 

[hooveru4019]

If you have any influence on what Hoover sells would you be so kind as to convince them to offer a synthetic microfiber HEPA dust bag of quality equal to their HEPA Type Y dust bag for the CH54113 and CH54115 Hushtone line? It is such a nice vacuum otherwise and one I think is going to last me a very long time. For now I trim the mounting card of a genuine Hoover brand synthetic HEPA Type Y bag and use that. It is not ideal, the mounting hole on the Y bag is centered where the Hushtone bag spout is offset, but the bag chamber stays clean where the "Allergen" paper bag leaks a lot of dust and is unsatisfactory. It is literally the only shortcoming I can find with the Hushtone. Where its predecessor the Insight was an overly complex and mechanically fragile dud, Hoover pretty much hit a home run with the Hushtone. It would be a grand slam out of the park homer if it had a good quality synthetic microfiber dust bag.

i could not agree with you more i suffered through the insight era pre hushtone .....every single insight in either width that i had sold hoover had to replace with the c1703900 classic bagged commercial windtunnel .....it was an epic disaster and cost tti a fortune ....in 2014 i helped with the engineering of the hushtone by providing our then engineers with the agitator housing of the hoover concept one.....hushtones were not windtunnels due to the blocking of the windtunnel chambers of the commercial c1703-900 and c1705-900 uprights the hushtone agitator housing is based on the concept one /2/powermax aeries and thats why it works the way it does ....i got to work with the prototype six months before it went into production and it was awesome yet some changes were made to wheels etc but it was kept true to form ....as for bags i use the yellow cu2 ah10243 they work better than the white single layer bags

 

[hooveru4019]

I don't think C-R knows their arse from the hole in a donut. I gave up on them decades ago. Their testers don't know up from down and they test whatever is trendy. While asking why they never test a Hoover maybe ask why they never test Cirrus, Titan, Lindhaus, Carpet Pro, Fakir, Powr Flite, etc. They miss a lot of good products because they are staffed by a bunch of brainless trendies who have no idea what a high quality product looks like. Their auto testing is even worse. I don't think any of their testers have any track days under their belt to really understand how a car handles when pushed so they have no idea what a car they are testing is really doing and as a result come to faulty conclusions. Just a waste of time and money as far as I'm concerned.

you are right there was an interview i had seen a couple years back on you tube of consumer reports testing vacuums and the man being interviewed was conducting their product tests and he said during the interview that he had no specific credentials to test vacuums and to put them through their paces yet he is testing units that are in his opinion based on the tests they themselves created where is the science and objectivity

 

[cheesewonton]

i could not agree with you more i suffered through the insight era pre hushtone .....every single insight in either width that i had sold hoover had to replace with the c1703900 classic bagged commercial windtunnel .....it was an epic disaster and cost tti a fortune ....in 2014 i helped with the engineering of the hushtone by providing our then engineers with the agitator housing of the hoover concept one.....hushtones were not windtunnels due to the blocking of the windtunnel chambers of the commercial c1703-900 and c1705-900 uprights the hushtone agitator housing is based on the concept one /2/powermax aeries and thats why it works the way it does ....i got to work with the prototype six months before it went into production and it was awesome yet some changes were made to wheels etc but it was kept true to form ....as for bags i use the yellow cu2 ah10243 they work better than the white single layer bags

The yellow Allegen bags are only slightly better than the white paper bag. They still leak too much dust. I guess I will stick with the synthetic HEPA Type Y bag until VAC USA, DVC or some other supplier comes up with a synthetic bag for the Hushtones.

I do appreciate that the brush roll and nozzle are old school Hoover designs. Wasn't aware of the exact heritage though obviously not a Windtunnel. It appears to be durable which is important to me. I very much like the wooden brush roll.

 

[bisonian]

Hoover IS rated on the CR website. The magazine ratings are just highlights, not full ratings of every product tested. Do a search for Hoover on the website and you'll find full ratings for 90 Hoover products, including uprights, stick vacs and carpet cleaners.

Hooveru4019 -- no, you don't submit wet products to CR. They buy every thing they test at retail.

 

[cheesewonton]

Spoke to two vacuum bag manufacturers and there is a chance, fingers crossed, that one or both are going to offer a synthetic microfiber HEPA CU-2 bag for the Hushtone series.

 

[ronreeland]

Bisonian:
Thanks for the reminder about the CR website. I do not always remeber to access it. Indeed they list 66 Hoover brand vacuum cleaners, plus carpet cleaners online. I can now understand why the magazine must limit the test results due to the sheer volume of products. Magazines are shrinking in page count and frequency of publication or are now online only, no print version. Just not enough people interested in reading magazines or newspapers in printed paper format.

That said, I would have liked to see maybe the top rated two or three Hoover vacuums included in my magazine.

Ron Reeland

PS: My antique Hoover model 425 upright has a cloth bag, so it must be emptied and cleaned. Fortunately, I still have my Hoover bag cleaning machine to give it a thorough cleaning. I suppose the cloth bag does allow minute particulate matter to pass through the material into the room air. But not a concern for me.