Kenmore 1.6 compact canister Made by Sanyo.

[ultralux88]

I found this nice little vacuum at a thrift store the other day and had to grab it. I remember one of our neighbors having a red Sanyo one like this, it was their only vacuum in a house with almost all carpet. It did well though, they weren't cheap little vacuums, but they did well, and the filter seems to work well, both in shedding the dirt nicely and filtering, the motor was really quite clean when I took it apart to wash the housings. The most impressive thing is how powerful yet quiet it is, it has about the same power as a Miele at the same quietness, and it has a nice cord reel that pulls the whole cord in easily. I actually like the bagless design of it and how the filter is cleaned, you can crank the filter vibrator i guess I'll call it, and let the dust settle before you pull the filter out and dump everything, then open the filter screen and tap it a couple times on the inside of the rash can to knock the all the dirt out of the screen area.

 

[eurekaprince]

Our Sears stores sold these Sanyo-made Kenmores branded with the strange product name "Let's Clean"!!!

Indeed, Sanyo made some of the best compact canisters - quiet yet powerful! Some even stored all the tools in a plastic bin that could be topped off with the main unit to save closet space. That would be nice idea for Miele to copy.....

 

[director12]

About Sanyo, they also worked with Panasonic.

 

[Panamania]

Panasonic bought the remaining outstanding 20% of Sanyo they didn't own in 2010 and shut Sanyo down in 2012.

 

[eurekaprince]

Here's a little history regarding Panasonic and Sanyo from wikipedia:

Panasonic was founded in 1918 by Konosuke Matsushita as a vendor of duplex lamp sockets.[8] In 1927, it began producing bicycle lamps, the first product which it marketed under the brand name National.

During World War II the company operated factories in Japan and other parts of Asia which produced electrical components and appliances such as light fixtures, motors, electric irons, wireless equipment, and its first vacuum tubes.[9]

After the war, Panasonic regrouped as a Keiretsu and began to supply the post war boom in Japan with radios and appliances, as well as bicycles. Matsushita's brother-in-law, Toshio Iue, founded Sanyo as a subcontractor for components after World War II. Sanyo grew to become a competitor to Panasonic, but was later acquired by Panasonic in December 2009.

 

[Panamania]

The Panasonic name did not appear until 1961. Matsushita Electric Manufacturing Company sold consumer goods under the National brand name. When they decided to enter the US market that name was already owned by another firm. For the US market only the name Panasonic was chosen. Often the same product was sold under the Panasonic brand name in the US and under the National brand name elsewhere until US production led to product differentiation between Panasonic and National branded goods.

It was only recently, around 2010 (not consulting Wikipedia for this one so sue me if I'm wrong) that Matsushita decided to stop using their historical name and re-brand all their many groups under the Panasonic name.

 

[director12]

I wish Sanyo made more vacuums.

 

[Panamania]

There is a cute red one on ebay now, though it's over priced. It's Kenmore branded but the model number prefix is for Sanyo.

 

[sbakerde]

I have this one.

This was a yard sale find from a few months ago. Even came with the original box and owners manual for a whole $10. Not as powerful as a full size but it still works great for small jobs and hard floors.

 

[fan-of-fans]

Kenmore/Sanyo

I have the Let's Clean version with the storage bucket. The manual has a purchase date of 1983. It's a nice, quiet little vacuum as others said. I like the floor nozzle, it does a good job on small rugs and doormats. For a bagless vacuum the filter bumper works good, but I find it still needs to be washed rather frequently or it starts clogging.

The gray version in the first post did away with the bucket but had onboard tools. It is in my early 90s catalogs. I saw the dark blue version in late 90s sale ads, but I've also seen an orange version of it with the Let's Clean name that I presumed was late 70s or 80s.