My Hyla Experience
Hey,
I know this thread is old but I thought I would throw in my two cents. I have used and sold rainbows and own a Hyla N Series I just got through using. I sold the E2 Blue and that is the model I own. There are a few things I want to mention about the two machines. Also, you can negotiate the price of a new Hyla with the salesman, Rainbow will NOT negotiate. My grandma got her Hyla for $800 but she bought one along with two other people who also bought one each for themselves.
For one, I tend to find the Hyla easier and faster to use and prefer the way the water is deposited into the water versus the Rainbow’s design. The hose and power head are lighter and swivel, my rainbow’s does not although new design rainbow does. The Hyla uses one hose and my power nozzle cleans hard floors very well so I don’t have to switch hoses like I have to with the Rainbow.
The Hyla water basin is another thing. The port the dirt enters into the water in the Hyla is well below the water line therefore the dirt has no chance of bypassing the water. I’m the rainbow, the area the dirt gets into the water sits right at the water line and the air sort of blows the water out of the way creating a air path that some dust and debree follows before getting into the water. Some of it may not even touch the water especially lighter non-water soluble particles. They did change this on the new Rainbow model SRX but it may have an only marginally better performance. So I think the Hyla wins in this dept.
I am having major problems finding parts for my Hyla and can’t get Hyla USA to answer their customer service line. Something else you’d want to consider for long term ownership.
I’d also want to point out that when I can see a lot of dust in the sun rays by the window and run the rainbow for an hour, all of that goes away. But it doesn’t pull up nearly as much dirt from beneath the carpet that my Kirby does. So it’s up to you to decide if you want the dirt in the floor gone or the dirt in the air.
When I sold Rainbow’s we had a light that we would show people what came out of their vacuums filters or exhausts why they were turned on and the Kirby’s never released anything. The outer bags are made of the same material that doctors masks are except made thicker and the inner bags are made of the most dense HEPA material available. There are different levels, HEPA 11, HEPA 13 etc and the Kirby uses the most sense. Also, even with a a full bag the Kirby maintains 85 percent of it airflow (well over 120cfm) because the fan that generates the power is not pull in the air through the bag, it’s on the other side of it only inches away from the carpet it’s working on. The rainbows have to pull the air through the power nozzle and very long hose so at the power nozzle most of the CFM is lost. Vaclab tested a rainbow E2’s power nozzle airflow and clocked it at only 8cfm. So like I said it’s up to you to decide. If you don’t have carpet and have hard floors it won’t be a hard decision but if you do have carpet you need to research those tests on YouTube. But- if you’d rather have allergy improvement and can live with a lot of dirt beneath your carpet than you have yourself a Hyla.
Personally, I use the Hyla every day and the Kirby once a week to get the deep dirt so I get the best of both worlds. Clean air and clean carpet. Consider buying both. I got my Kirby for $90 brand new on Facebook market place. They have Hyla’s for $300 which is way lower than a new Rainbow. Hope this helps.
PS I attached a photo of what my Hyla got out of my 3-month old mattress. I used the short extension with the upholstery tool.
