If I could talk to Aerus

[kirbykid63]

I just finished tearing down several newer electrolux's to part out,and there are some things they can do to make their machines better. 1,Bring back the Guardian body,with its hinged design this made servicing much simpler.2 Do away with all the electronics that make the hose so expensive to replace.3,Do away with those plastic gas pump wands,I find those things very uncomfortable to work with.4,PLEASE go back to using a serviceable motor.

 

[danemodsandy]

Hold On There!

Aerus has dropped the Guardian 9000, and re-focused on their more proven designs, so I'm not sure I'd look for any more innovation soon. Aerus seems to be very conservative about engineering changes, plus - if I had to guess - I'd say they're a little strapped for cash. Aerus stores are closing. It's getting tougher and tougher to sell a premium-priced vac in today's price-driven sales environment.

I think your ideas are good ones, because they would restore some real long-term reliability to Aerus vacs, and that has always been the traditional selling point for the brand since it was American Electrolux. Just having styling that kinda-sorta reminds a few old-timers of the glory days isn't enough, if the vacs don't last like the old ones did.

Sadly, I don't think Aerus's owners care a whole lot about that sort of thing, though. An example is TriStar, which they also own. The MG series has less suction than the old Compact-based machines, and some motors have proved problematic and short-lived. The MG certainly reminds you of the old machines, but it sure as heck doesn't LAST like them, or clean like them.

Which is why Mrs. McLendon's little boy Sandy collects vintage.

 

[joshdonnell]

Hey

None of the stores here in the us are closing the should close down tristar i hate them . Yes i have used one but dont care for them

 

[danemodsandy]

There You Go Again

"None of the stores here in the us are closing"

We lost our Aerus store here in Waterloo, IA only three weeks ago.

 

[danemodsandy]

And....

....Plymouth, MI.

Raleigh, NC.

Hadley, NH.

 

[kenkart]

Do Away with EVERYTHING!!!

And go back to making the Silverado or Model G...Not making something that LOOKS like them...but make the EXACT same thing..METAL NOT PLASTIC!

 

[joshdonnell]

Well

I thing the aerus stores to fine here

 

[goadie12]

Yes I too wish they would put a serviceable motor back in their machines but just think who today still has a serviceable motor ALL of the plastic vacs have those crap motors and so does tristar I am not sure about the other high end brands has filter queen switched to the DARK SIDE yet or not thanks? Zach

 

[gsheen]

The problem with so many of these premium brand machines is that years ago they had great motors that out powered the normal vacuums but with changes in technology the normal vacuums caught up and surpassed there cleaning ability with high revving cheap motors. so many of these premium company's have chosen to install these high revving motors to get better suction. Trouble is the higher a motor revs the faster they wear out so the premium brands have lost there reliability too. You see this in particular with sebo vacuums they used to last 10-15 years without needing repair now you are lucky if they last 2 years with out the motor blowing. Same with LUX machines when they had there old double stage motor they were faultless now with the newer single stage super sucker they last a 4-5 years before the motor explodes.

 

[trebor]

The vac companies...

used to have better attachment designs, and really put some thought into them, which made them clean better. Cleaning is about more than suction.

Aerus cares nothing for input. I am the only person EVER to have addressed the engineering and marketing teams at Aerus, at the behest of James McCain, then chief of operations. Had James had his way, I was to have headed up the product development team from the field. It was not to be. Joe Urso sold the corporation piece by piece.

The Perfect clones do very well. No reason to start manufacturing a product that cannot support a price to continue manufacturing. I seriously doubt if Kirby will even produce the 100th anniversary model. They have yet to change the color on the Sentria, which was to have happened in Jan. The new model, theoretically, will debut in Sept of 2013, which is 19 1/2 months away, less then two years. So, is it worth doing a color change on the existing model? In the meantime, sales drop, in part, because there are Sentrias all over the place on the net. The value of Kirbys is dropping. I sold a G5 with tools and shampooer for $75.00 just to move it out of the shop. I don't even take them as trade-ins anymore, except for very low dollar amounts.

The Filtro-Pur, is a joke, in my estimation. Small diameter hose and tools. Looks like a cyclonic broom vac.

Big power was at VDTA with two models, both use separator technology. DTD model comes w/ pn and a chrome top.

Health-Mor was the only other DTD brand to show at convention.

 

[joshdonnell]

I think

The perfect looks great but i dont like china products .

 

[gsheen]

@ trebor

Even here in Little old South Africa every second hand shop has atleast 2 sentria's standing in it. They have truly flooded out the market.

As for the attachments I totally agree, you used to get decent attachments with vacuums stuff that worked but now you only get junk

 

[venson]

Question . . .

How is it so many Sentrias -- relatively new machines -- are turning up for resale when they must have initially called for quite a large outlay of money to be bought?

I don't know how it is in South Africa, but do any of our American DTD brands carry financing for their machines any longer?

 

[gsheen]

In SA there is financing but I think the reason is far more simple. They just aren't as user friendly as they claim. people want instant, not to have to half disassemble the machine to vacuum the couch were the cat just lay or the wood flooring, the idea sounds great but if you don't love vacuuming ( imagine that ) its a big heavy cumbersome machine. I had some one trade in a sentria last week for a dyson dc25, he paid full price for the kirby and I offered him very little for it. I told him to sell it on ebay or gumtree but he couldn't have been bothered. he was just sick of it. I sell them to our local cash converters if they are the sentria or diamond ed, otherwise we strip them for parts

 

[venson]

@gsheen . . .

Thanks, gsheen. I heard the same Kirby stories here last year. People bought them but ended up leaving them in the closet because they found them too complicated to handle. And they say we're all going broke . . .

 

[gsheen]

@ trebor

I was just thinking of something you said "Aerus cares nothing for input" I have never come across one company that does, they are all set in there ways and will only change when the competition starts taking all there customers, Take dyson..... Hoover, Electrolux , AEG, Hamilton Beach all rejected the idea saying customers would not want it, I can guarantee you every one of them wished they had bought the rights to it now

I have worked in vacuum engineering for a few company's and not one has ever held a customer clinic like the big car manufacturers do, considering how much some of these machines cost I cannot understand why you wouldn't do that. Instead most of the bigger company's rely on what the retailers tell them and all they are interested in doing is moving more units every month so they concentrate on more power and gimmicks

 

[danemodsandy]

Excellent Points

The lack of consumer focus among vacuum manufacturers is shocking. Take my favorite vac brand, TriStar -

When they were designing the MG series, they had a chance to address the shortcomings of the Compact-based legacy models. The lack of a cordwinder on such an expensive vac was one huge drawback, and the lack of a dedicated PN wand was another. Tool storage was always an issue, too.

So what did they do? They failed to give the new machine a cordwinder or dedicated PN wand or any tool storage, and got rid of EVERY LAST FEATURE that was desirable on the legacy models. No more lifetime-quality metal tools. No more metal wands. No more heft to the PN to help in grooming. And pretty soon, no more Ametek motors.

And they expect people to line up to purchase these things at $2000 apiece? Hell, I have passed up used ones very cheap, because they all have wand problems and missing tools and I'm not paying TriStar's replacement-part prices for plastic. Metal, yes, but not plastic. Plus I'm leery of the motor quality. They essentially converted a brand loyalist into a non-buyer with decisions that cheapened the product past the point of acceptability.

A focus group composed of legacy model owners might have prevented at least some of this. I note that TriStar clones like Miracle Mate have addressed some of the old Compact convenience issues while retaining quality.

 

[trebor]

The Sentria has been produced for...

...nearly SEVEN years now. Naturally there will be more of them turning up in different venues.

How do they manage to sell them? It isn't all pressure sales. The customer sees the dirt and says "OMG, I'm living in filth!" and thinks, "If this 20 year old male who knows nothing about cleaning can use this thing, how hard can it be?"

Don't think that women are immune to the sexual sell. A young, strapping, testosterone oozing young stud, with broad shoulders and a big bulge in his trousers will cause a 45 yr old woman to melt like buttah, without doing anything untoward or indecent, just flash those pearly whites, and bend over while she is on the couch. "Honey, he just wouldn't leave!" or "You should see the crap he got out of our rug!" she will tell her husband later.

Why do so many voluptuous young women hawk power tools and lawn care equipment at shows? Because the subliminal sexual sell is effective.

 

[tolivac]

I like the Tristars as well as most here-but---not mentioned-how 'bout variable suction motor speed?This could be helpful in some jobs.and of course the higher quality USA made Lamb-ametec motors-not the Chinese made ones TriStar uses now-its said the newer Filter Queens use the same or similar motor.Explains why these newer machines are less powerful than the older ones(Lamb)when measured on a suction meter and a Baird meter.and sadly--TriStar MG series machines are starting to line up at the Greenville Sew&vac for motor replacement-or wand replacement.and for the TriStar-liked those older transparent plastic metallic speckled hand tools-and yes really liked the METAL hard floor tool-not the cheezy "lux like one.the New MG type dust brush is horrible-the need for the variable speed-the bristles get sucked into the brush opening-and the tiny brush opening blocks airflow.You can't "gulp" a pile of stuff with this new brush like the larger opening older ones.Too sum it up--the high end DTD vac builders are cheapening their products---the more plastic and less metal,poor quality motors that don't hold up.I think the DTD vac builders need to go back to their roots.