Is OEM the only way to go ?

[jmurray01]

When it comes to a flat belt ?

I know with round belts it is best to get an OEM belt seeing as they break easily as it is, so the better the quality the longer it will last - FACT!

But with flat belts, I don't think it is as important to be an OEM part, but perhaps somebody else here will be able to correct me if I'm wrong.

When I first got my 1994 HOOVER Turbopower 1000 from the dump back in February 2010 it had a genuine HOOVER belt fitted, and that lasted up until May 2011 before it started squeaking and I changed it with a cheaper belt I found on eBay, which is still going strong now, 8 months after fitting.

Based on that, I don't think there is any difference in the quality of flat belts when it comes to OEM or a Pattern Part.

In fact, all my flat belted cleaners ('94 Turbopower, '93 Philips U800 & '82 Electrolux 502S) are running with Pattern Part belts and aren't showing any signs anything is wrong compared to using an OEM belt (which I have done in the past).

It certainly seems the right thing to do in terms of money, seeing as I could get a pack of two Pattern Part belts for cheaper than one OEM belt.

 

[turbo500]

It depends on the part tbh. I always use genuine brand bags and filters, but I'm not as fussy about the belt. Having said that, I've gone through 2 cheap belts in a year on my Panasonic MC-E47 and I don't think my mum ever changed the belt on the MCE-44 in the 17 years it was in use, so who knows

 

[jmurray01]

Well when it comes to bags my favourite is Electruepart, because they are cheap, good quality, and you can get bags for almost any Vacuum Cleaner with them.

I do have a couple of packs of genuine HOOVER bags for my Turbopower 1000 I picked up cheap at the local recycling store, so I'll try them out some time and see how they work compared to the Electruepart ones I'm using just now.

 

[ralph123]

absolutely not

There are excellent generic bags for Aerus/Electrolux for example. Using the generics, I can easily afford to toss the bag before it starts to stink. If I had paid for genuine bags, I'd feel compelled to keep the bag in place until it was full.

 

[kirby519]

A few cotton balls soaked in your favorite liquid air freshiner can do wonders to keep musty bag odors to a minimum.

Do this with a fresh bag and again every few days of use. That was the concept behind the kirby odorific years ago. The sani emptor (500 series and earlier)had a special wick in it to hold the deodorizer. I do it today with cotton balls soaked in a deodorizer of my liking and suck it thru the vacuum.

Same concept with the deodorizers made to use in the Water trap vacuums. Fragrance is in the water each fill up.

And there is no additional powder to clog the pores of the bags or blow thru.

 

[twocvbloke]

The fun thing about Generics vs. OEMs is that often, the Generics can be as good, if not better quality than the OEM's own, Qualtex makes some decent Hoover parts to keep the older models going, and as mentioned, ElecTruePart make bags-a-plenty for many makes and models (though from experience, some of their bags aren't as well made as other bags they make, nor do they follow the pattern of the OEM, like Kirby bags with the collar shaped wrong or lacking the notches to slip the bag on and twist to lock it in place), and of course, they're cheaper, and if you get to know someone who runs a vac shop, you can get them even cheaper, and can order in obscure parts and peripherals...