I had enough with my Hoovers...

[weltron]

About a year and a half ago I needed a cheaper vacuum to clean the apartment with. I bought a Hoover React lift away, and all was well for 9 months until the Floor Sense feature went out and took the floor nozzle with it. That was warrantied by Hoover with a brand new in the box React. Which worked for 5 months. So I paid a visit to my local vac shop and came home with this Sebo Dart (Felix). Boy I wished I had done this sooner.

 

[human]

This is why I stick with vintage, metal vacuums with bags. They'll still be going when the plasticrap landfill fodder on the store shelves today have already lived out their ridiculously limited lifespans.

 

[tolivac]

The older metal vacuums ruled!!!!Yes,these would still be working hard long after the plasticrap/junk has been crushed to bits in trash truck compactors--then crushed more by the landfill compactor!!!

 

[weltron]

Yeah I'm pretty disgusted with Hoover after those React's. Forgot to mention that on the second React, it had a bin leak too. The worst thing is the rest of the vacuum would still work after the FloorSense would go out, but the cheap electronics rendered the floor nozzle worthless and you of course can't get a new one separately.

The gentleman who sold me the Sebo and myself got into a conversation about that. He said that the worst thing about the newer Hoovers was the parts availability. He said there was two scenarios: one, that the part straight up was not available. Or the other one was it would be available for a short period of time, but then out of the blue, would be marked "discontinued".

 

[dysonman1]

That is my number one pet peeve about the new Chinese Hoover company. For example, they are still selling the Hoover elite pet spin scrub extractor. The turbine is currently obsolete and discontinued.

 

[human]

It's the only way they can kill the older products...

Rapid obsolescence and discontinuation of replacement parts--or simply not making them available--is a standard method of pushing sales of newer and inferior products by making it impossible to repair older and demonstrably superior older ones. It's their most effective way of killing the legacy products.

 

[weltron]

The thing that gets me...

I bought the first React brand new (i'll throw in a picture to give an idea of what I am talking about) from a store that was going out of business. So needless to say I did not pay MSRP for it. If I remember right, MSRP for this machine when I got it was $250. The first one lasted 7 months, the second one began acting up at five months, with probably two months left before it gave out. Two machines in 14 months. If I had paid full retail for these machines I would be fuming.

Of course I went on Hoover's website, and conveniently the machine appears to be discontinued...

 

[luxlife]

The React........

Isn't this the one that has a Bluetooth app for smartphone connectivity? WHY???

 

[weltron]

@luxlife

Yes it is, and the app is absolutely worthless. If I remember right the only thing it let me do was shut off the vacuum and tell me how long I had been vacuuming. Also, it was the only way I could register the vacuum for its warranty.

 

[madman]

I had an older Hoover of that type, it looked much the same and also had the stupid pointless phone app. It was beaten up and thrown away, it only needed a cord or something like that. I gave it to a friend, it's still in use a year or so later, including its first life. Can't be that awful, unless the same model has gotten worse.

 

[royalfan103]

The React

The app seems pointless and it's cheap build quality. This is why I prefer 12 Amp Hoovers!

 

[weltron]

A Couple Additional Things...

1) Forgot to mentioned that this machine clogged rather easily. The suction for the floor unit was through the accessory hose, which was routed directly to the collection bin.That routing (and the hose) had a decent sized opening, probably about an inch and a half at most. When the dirt entered the bin, it went into an opening that if you were lucky, was a 1/4 inch wide. The cyclone pretty much butted right next to the bin wall. So if you had anything in a small clump, you would have a clog forming rather quickly. To clear this clog required taking the bin off of the cleaner, opening the top of the bin to access the (as Hoover referred to it) "cyclonic action", and pulling the entire unit out of the bin, which was a very dirty affair.

2) It really did not clean that well, and I did not fully realize that until I got my Sebo. I usually vacuum once a week, and after I would clean, I would look in the bin to see that there really was not much dirt in there. The carpet when you would walk over it still felt dirty.It has been three days since I vacuumed with the Sebo and my carpet has not looked this nice since it was installed.I guess the Hoover was nothing more then a glorified carpet fluffer.

I really tried to like this vacuum. I wasn't expecting the world of it (it was cheap after all) but I was expecting it to be decent at what it was sold to do. I knew going in it was no Sebo or Kirby but figured it would be alright. If it wasn't for the poor quality, I would probably give it a D+ and that would be generous.

 

[sanitaire]

the hoover windtunnel wernt too bad, but when TTI took over quite a few vac company went bad. they killed off the line of all metal commercail royal vacuums.

 

[vacuumdevil]

@weltron glad you're enjoying you made the logical step to get a practical daily driver.
I love playing with all sorts of random vacuums. But at the end of the day you do need something that deep cleans easily and efficiently.

@human That SEBO well outlive any of the Vacuums in your picture. Also the Vacuums in your picture have plastic cores not sure what you're really getting at.

 

[rivstg1]

"That SEBO well outlive any of the Vacuums in your picture. " thats a serious stretch of the imagination!!

 

[panasonicvac]

Reply #12

There's a good reason why TTI scrapped Royal's metal uprights, there just isn't a market for them anymore. Nowadays consumers want something with on-board tools, something lighter, or something that doesn't jam the belt/brushroll.

 

[weltron]

I understand why TTI got rid of Royal. There was too much overlap with Hoover. Plus the metal upright, although good and effective seemed to sell more to commercial clients. And if you want an old fashioned commercial cleaner, TTI would be happy to sell you a Guardsman or Conquest, or even an Oreck. Or if you didn't want anything TTI was selling but wanted a brand new metal upright with a bunch of features, there's Kirby. There was no room for Royal to go.