Kenmore Intuition bagged

[luxkid1980]

Picked up a Kenmore Intuition bagged upright vacuum last week, in green! Love the color.

While it’s easy to use and was a snap to assemble, there are a few things that I think could use an improvement. First, the power cord juts out at a strange angle on the right side of the machine, and I am right handed, so I have to hold the cord out of the way with my left hand when I vacuum. Second, the power and brush roll buttons are in the body of the vacuum instead of on the handle where they ought to be for ease of use.

Those are my only two gripes thus far. The vacuum cleans great and the brush roll turns off when u tilt the vacuum back upright! The lift off feature is also handy for above floor cleaning. The suction is very strong however and it is difficult to push on carpet that has any plushness to it. This is remedied though by opening the suction relief valve on the side. I wonder though how much the cleaning ability in carpet is reduced by opening the valve.? Hmm...

The led headlight on the floor nozzle is nice and easily shows dirt and debris on hard floor surfaces and it is a swiveling vacuum so it is easily maneuverable. I love that it is a bagged unit and it comes supplied with 5 cloth like heap bags, which is nice and will last me a long while, plus it has a bag fill indicator and alerts you when to change. Also supplied are the three in one crevice and dusting tools and a separate sort of brush with stiff bristles. A hepa exhaust filter is supplied as well and can rinsed out, as can a foam filter in the bottom of the bag chamber.

The hose on the back is a bit floppy but not really an issue. I wonder though why they didn’t add some type of secure for the hose to hold it closer to the body of the machine.

Overall, I like it and hope it lasts. It comes with a 5 year Kenmore warranty and I added on an additional 2 years to that when I purchased.

 

[huskyvacs]

Oh I remember hearing about this. This one is that rebadged Shark.

 

[luxkid1980]

Yeah, it sort of looks like that. I think they do make a bagless Intuition though. The fact that it had a bag was a big draw for me. That and in the past Kenmore has been really good with warranty claims.

I think this is made by Cleva.

 

[electromatik]

I actually do like that. The color is nice. At first I thought that was one of those that converts into a canister. Not sure it does though. I'm leaning toward the new Kenmore canisters as a matter of fact as they are the only ones now with the features I most want.

 

[fan-of-fans]

It is made by Cleva and they do convert to a handheld canister. There is a bagless model as well.

 

[dysonman1]

I had the purple one. The 'pregnant whale'. It cleaned OK. The bag leaked at the connection and there was dirt all over the pre-motor filter after two uses. My vacuum club friends were over when this was noticed and I was quite shocked. There is no electric hose, so the power head cannot be used unless the entire machine is assembled (unlike the Shark Powered Lift Away). Overall, I think it's OK. I don't like the fact that there are no repair parts for the nozzle (no belt or brush roll repair parts).

 

[luxkid1980]

@dysonman......I’ll have to check the bag connection area on mine to see if have any dirt that gets past the seal. There are pros and cons to this vacuum of course. I did try out the turbo brush for cleaning oet hair and it does seem to pick up well, even with it being air driven. Did you keep yours or did you return it due to the dirt leaking by the bag?

 

[dysonman1]

I sold mine to a friend who really loved the color.

 

[electromatik]

Quick question about these Cleva machines

Has anyone ever done emissions testing on these?? How do they perform?

 

[vacuumdevil]

I was less than impressed.

I was less than impressed with the pregnant whale. Curious what happens to these things long-term?

 

[fanofvacuums2]

I have been interested in seeing inside of one of these since they were released. Parts of it seem to look like a Cleva-manufactured machine, but other parts do not. Perhaps they outsourced the canister and head to another company such as KingClean and manufactured things such as the handle and some attachments.

Overall, I like the idea of the machine and I would be interested in finding one. Looking at them, I think they could have made them more slim, though I have never handled one and therefore I am not aware if that is too big of a problem or not. Also, those plastic hoses that go from the canister to the cleaner head always worry me. They like to break on machines such as the Sharks.

I saw that Kenmore offers a bagless version of this unit (the DU2012 and DU2015). To me, they do not look very good. I see only a single cyclone on both of them and they come with typical cheap attachments. I was looking at reviews and already saw users complaining about the hoses breaking.

On the other hand, Kenmore also offers the CrossOver Max (31120 and DU3017), which are fully manufactured by Cleva and were designed by Panasonic. I do have this model and it is quite decent in my opinion. It is designed to be like a Shark, but they took measures to make it more reliable, durable, and functional. For example, the cleaner head hose that breaks on the others ones is a far thicker and tougher material, not a typical stretch hose. At the least, it is an interesting unit.

 

[luxkid1980]

So....the more I used this new Intuition upright clearer, the less I liked it. As I had mentioned, it was difficult to push on the carpeted floor without opening the suction relief valve. Then, I was unsure how effective it was at cleaning, so it ended up being a lot of back and forth opening and closing the valve, depending on the floor type. It was cumbersome to vacuum small lightweight area rugs.

I ended up returning to Amazon by way of one of the local rea department stores which accepts returns on their behalf.

As luck would have it, I came across a Kenmore progressive 360 degree swivel hose canister vacuum at nearby thrift store. It came with all its attachments, the hose, floor power nozzle, including the handy small petmate powered nozzle. My parents have used these canisters for years and always had good luck with them. This one is a model 116.28614801.

I think I'll get along better with the canister than with the upright I returned. I like the fact that the floor power nozzle has a height adjuster that is just a step to raise and lower as needed. It also has a quick release wand system that allows the wand in the power nozzle to be released quickly for using the other attachments, and all attachments are stored on board. The 360 degree hose swivel is a nice feature and I hope it lasts a good while. I have some bags and new hepa and premotor filters coming in the mail today.

 

[mieles5380leo]

I can already see that internal hose in the cleaning head splitting. I see this all the time with Shark vacuums and of course they don't sell parts for them! I'm so excited to see that Kenmore is following suit and not providing replacement parts for their machines. They've already gone down hill with this lately and it works really well with the elderly customers who tend to think Kenmore's are made of gold and invaluable and we tell them parts are no longer available.