Kenmore Crossover / Centec CT24

[scottg]

Hi All,

Just wondering if anyone knows anything about the new Kenmore Intuition Elite vacuum at Sears.

I have a central vac and was very interested in the Centec liftoff powerhead, but after reading some less than stellar reviews of longevity for the first generation model (electrical connections, rear wheels on the hard floor tool), I'm second guessing.

I know some may think that the crossover/liftoff powerheads are gimmicky, but I actually think it's a really good idea.. I know it seems trivial, but with larger areas of carpet that are truncated with hardwood and tile bathrooms, I really like the idea of just having one wand and a hybrid head. I currently have two wands today - one for carpets and one for the hard surfaces.. The idea of having just one seems really appealing to me.

Getting to the topic, though.. I was in Sears earlier this week and I came across their 2nd generation Intuition canister. It has a totally redesigned crossover powerhead and I thought that it looked and felt quite nice. Both the hard floor tool and the powerhead have been through a redesign. Both are shaped differently and the hard floor tool no longer has rear wheels - they've been replaced with brushes to glide across the floor.

I sent an email to Centec asking them if they were going to make this new model available for central vacs and I was told that they actually don't make either version. Apparently they sourced the original CT24 from a 3rd party and they assume the new version being used by the Intuition Elite is probably coming from that same source. I emailed back asking them if they could provide me with a contact, but I'm not holding my breath.

Long story short, I'd love to have the new style hybrid powerhead for my central vac.. Hopefully at some point, someone starts selling them separately.





http://www.sears.com/kenmore-intuition-canister-vacuum-cleaner-silver-gray/p-02021814000P

 

[fan-of-fans]

Strange

On the site I linked, it shows the CT24 powerhead from the blue Intuition under the Cen-Tec name along with all the older Power Mates going back to the late 1980s. However, the head alone costs nearly as much as the whole vacuum from Sears.

If the new Crossover Power Mate has no wheels then it should be fairly sturdy, as I recall that was the major problem with the old one.

One issue with using this on a central vacuum is that with the new Intuition Elite, the wand and hose connections have changed. The outgoing blue model has the metal ended hose and wands as a male connection, but the new one has plastic ends with a female connection (like the current Progressives).

Personally I like the metal ended hose and wands better as they allow universal 1-1/4" attachment connection. Not sure if there is or will be another version of the new Crossover powerhead with univeral connection for central vac market or not.

 

[kenmore81]

It looks very cool. Im not much of a fan of the new wand ends, unless yhis is different from my Progressive you need to almos always put the crevice tool on for it to pick up something quick. i.e. a piece of dog/cat food