IF Your Daily Driver Could Do Something Extra, What Would It Be?

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<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva; font-size: medium;">Luckily, I bought a floor demonstrator from a wholesaler on eBay; I paid a little over $100 for it. It was a good deal, but the canister is a disappointment.</span>
 
My daily driver is the Turbopower 3

I have to agree with Jamie...I can't think of anything else I waould want it to do than what it already does. If I was to change anything about it, I would put on two extension tubes and it would come with a hard floor tool or have a brushroll on off with a squeege at the back of the sole plate so it didn't miss anything when cleaning hard floors.

I don't see why people don't like Autosense, it does work and If it does leave patches of carpet slightly cleaner than others, at least it is in full contact with the carpet while it is cleaning it, unlike a Sebo Automatic X.....Which in my experience it just skims the surface of the carpet, like a Panasonic and not clinging at all.
 
Alex, I've said it before and I'll say it again - you're the only person I've ever heard that has that problem with the X series. I've had an x series cleaner now for 6 years and never had a problem with the cleaner not keeping in contact with the carpet
 
It does but not properly...

It just skims the pile and doesn't dig into the carpet like a manual adjustment cleaner, I have never like the silly computer controlled height adjustment and I doubt I ever will. I have used your X1 and I feel yours just glides along the surface too which is exactly what the Panasonics do. The Felix is much better at sticking to the carpet but I don't like that either! Haha.
 
Sebo contact

They use the X4 here in the carpeted areas. The carpet pile is very short in the corridors and the lady who cleans it tends to tilt the cleaner off the carpet before using the cleaner. I asked her why and she showed me; on it's own the head is not always in complete contact with the the carpet, and by tilting the cleaner the sensors allow the head to lower further. The green 'down' light comes on as she does so.

It's made worse by the fact that the carpet is stuck down tight and the floor is not perfectly level (it is slightly domed in places). Conversely, in our community room the carpet is very thick. The ladies say it works better on that floor. Another thing which annoys them is that the cleaner head raises itself when stood upright, meaning if they use the hose (no matter how briefly) they have to wait for the head to re-align itself to carpet once the hose is replaced. I have no dislike of the cleaner or the brand, but I can see why the ladies find the height control system irritating.
 
On our hallway carpet the Panasonic works great, brings up the pile really well, but then again a reason why it does so is the fact that we haven't had an upright in the house for 8 years! It's been Henry, Henry, Henry...
 
I love my Electrolux UltraSilencer Green canister vac! But I would want the following improvements: a nice long 9 foot hose, a separate Tool Pak to carry a variety of Electrolux attachments and bags, and a special bare floor tool that would take Swiffer dusting cloths to wipe the floor as it cleans!
 
With regard to the X series auto height adjustment, I experienced this exact same problem too. It was the one and only fault I could find with this cleaner, but was bad enough that I eventually threw in the towel and sold it on.

We have a good quality short pile berber throughout the entire house. With the standard brush roller fitted, the cleaner would barely skim the carpet, and surface litter pickup was poor. So I ordered the optional soft bristle roller, knowing that it makes the height adjustment ride slightly lower than usual. Problem is this worked too well, and while performance improved significantly, the cleaner would clamp itself down tightly onto the carpet, making it incredibly difficult to push and manoeuvre.

Now this isn't a case of brand bashing, as I do like Sebo products very much and am quite happily using a D2 as my daily driver right now. I just think it's a case of being unlucky enough to have one of the very few carpets that isn't best suited to this particular cleaner. For what it's worth it worked just fine round my mother's house, but that doesn't help me much.

Perhaps the Felix would have been a better choice, and this it what I'll try next time I buy an upright. With four manual height settings and variable suction, in addition to the choice of two different brush rollers, there's bound to be a combination of variables in there somewhat that would work well.
 
AlexHoovers94

You would have a field day with the carpets at my house, I can tell you that!

The Panasonic's Brushroll is alright, not thorough like you said, a Hoover TurboPower one or something.
 
Gary, I agree with you, canisters are my preference for daily use. NOTHING can beat the versatility of a canister with a long hose, good powerhead & well designed attachments to get in all the nooks & crannies. I agree with Brian....it would be nice to see canisters with long generous hoses & cords. But what I REALLY want to see, is for a company to come up with the ULTIMATE creme-de-la-creme canister vacuum that has EVERY feature ever made. For instance, you can buy a Sebo & get the ETC powerhead with computerized controls, but you can't get the LED headlight, quick-release pedal, powerhead on/off switch on the handle & charcoal-HEPA filtration like Miele does. And yet if you buy a Miele, you can't get the steel 3 row brushroll & dirt sensor that Riccar/Simplicity canisters offer. Why can't there be one manufacturer who can make one ULTIMATE canister vacuum with ALL the features, for those people who want only the best & can afford it? I sure would buy it!!

John-Portable....One thing that occured to me when I first saw the new Kenmore hose & tool design a couple of years ago....the crevice tool looks to be 1 1/4 inch size, like it may have been carried over from their older designs or like it would fit the older-style Kenmore hose handle (which is 1 1/4 inch). Now, if that's the case, I have to wonder if a Panasonic/Kenmore upright vacuum hose adapter would work or be slightly modified to work? It may be a short plastic stub, but at least you could use universal tools & solve your problem. Or, if it would fit & you wanted something with a longer stub & in metal, there is also a adapter made for Samsung canister vacuums. Again, perhaps this would work fine as is, or be slightly modified to work with your Kenmore. I will post a link to both of them later so you can see what I am talking about.

Rob
 
I tgink the Panasonics have a great brushroll, I think they would be much better if they had four adjustable settings instead of that silly floating head.
 
The Panasonics Floating Head is utterly useless, it dosen't self adjust for hard floors & when you retract it the brush is in it's lowest possible form. However what's good is that when you put it in Upright Position the brush rises very high off the floor, but the Brushbar ON/OFF feature on the older Panasonics would be great.
 
"left handed"

Gary,Another leftie here.Most products seem to be for a right handed world.Two vacs that I have noticed in particular are--A deluxe Sanitaire upright with the switch to one side of upper handle not easily used by a leftie.--The deluxe Sears canister with remote switch at center of hose handle and equally convenient for either handed.
John,As to the Sears I agree with good and bad.Good vacuum,good bag,good price,many good features but the one time I used one for any length of time and with all attachments I didn't 'like' it.As above you could pick and choose favorite atts that would fit.It seems to be the best choice in its price range and with good value although not as long life of a motor as previous.None are perfect but I have already used an Automatic F this morning and it worked fine.
 
I have to agree that Kirby needs a much better floor tool and a metal adjustable wand to go with it. A floor waxer that was not "one use only" disposable would be nice.
 
<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">I want the TriStar EXL to have variable speed to lower suction power when vacing delicate surfaces & headlamp on PN & MiniStar to see areas where light is limited (under furniture)</span>


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<span style="font-family: verdana,geneva;">Why did TriStar do away with two speeds after the red CXL & make single speed CXL after then?</span>


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[this post was last edited: 6/5/2013-16:25]
 
smaller head

although i love my kirby i would really like a smaller floor nozzel i find it just a bit two big for the average UK home when i say smaller i mean about the size of a Hoover junior i know they were available in the states at one time but not over here i have seen one but even that is still two big .there are places in my house where the kirby just wont go without moving major bits of furniture where as my mums old junior gets in there no problem
 

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