My new Panasonic MC-V5248

[johnsmith96]

Hey there guys,
I was on Craigslist looking for apartments and decided to check the vacuums in the area. I found a near mint condition Panasonic triforce performance plus platinum. It's a beautiful silver metallic. The bulb is occasionally flashing/flickering and I tried to remedy it. I'm going to my auto parts store to try and find one as soon as I'm done writing this. It purrs like the day it came off the assembly line. I bought it from an older lady who had a yard sale going and told me that if I didn't pick it up today it was going into the yard sale tomorrow. I drove an hour to get it (which isn't a big deal since I'm used to traveling just for groceries). She met me outside with curlers in her hair and said "come on in, we are going to vacuum my dining room" lol! So I went in and she told me how it was left here by the previous man who owned the house. Bought it at a local vacuum shop, and must have owned a dog because the bags he left with it had a puppy on the front (hahaha!). I have never used one of these triforce Panasonic's but I loved it. I paid 25$ for it with 3 cloth bags (always used in it) and a new belt. She was a hoot to talk to. Could someone please date this for me because I can't find the sticker on it anywhere!

 

[eurekaprince]

I’m going to take a guess: early 1990’s maybe? Beautiful Panasonic....love the fact that you can open a door on the back and attach a long stair cleaning hose. Is there a brush roll shut off for bare floor cleaning?

 

[johnsmith96]

Unfortunately there is not a brush roll shut off. I really wish it did have one. I just used this on our living room carpet. It does a good job. Not the best groomer on THIS rug. At the house I bought it from it did a phenomenal job, so I know it can do it.

 

[tseg]

My wife brought home a ~1990 MC6217. It was used in a retail store daily for about 15 years. Now we've had it for about another 15 years at home and still remains a favorite for my wife. All it needed was a new power cord which had become frayed... ~$15 from an auction site. You have a great vacuum there. (picture from the web)

 

[johnsmith96]

I've heard a lot of great things about these vacs. Many machines that Panasonic produced were on the "wild side", like the aeroblast, the icon, the dual sweep etc. I think these stood the test of time much longer.

 

[hooverman99]

Thats a very nice panasonic. These specific platinum line of panasonics came out in mid to late 2001 and came with that gorgeous metallic gray then later came with all sorts of colors for different models but the metallic gray are the best in my opinion.

 

[panasonicvac]

The very first Platinums came in a petrol green color before the metallic grey ones.

 

[cam2s]

Very sharp looking machine. Panasonic always made such good vacuums. I have an older Jet-Flo similar to the one in reply 3, it’s one of my favorites!

 

[lesinutah]

Hmm

The early riccar 8000 series had a dark green version and later a black version. I have the green riccar and I owned the newer black model.
They look very similar to this panasonic. I do know panasonic are great vacuums.
Les

 

[bagintheback]

Amazing Machine

Those are one of the rare clean-air machines where both the suction and airflow are fantasic. A metal baseplate and quiet motor. The brushroll really vibrates the carpet. I owned one of those before I had to downsize. If most or all of your house is carpet, that's about as good as an upright you can find. The only machines I've had that clean carpets better are probably Kirbys and Hoover Concepts. Congrats!

 

[bagintheback]

Also I think this model might have been exclusive to Panasonic dealers. I don't think it was at large retaiers like the lower end plastic models. It's been a few years since I've read about Panasonics so maybe someone else could confirm.

 

[johnsmith96]

Wow, thanks everyone!
I wish our house had more carpeting! Oddly this doesn't groom as good on this carpet in my living room. It's definitely cleaning though, our carpet is just odd. This vacuum sounds fantastic, and the airflow and suction are very very very strong as noted by bagintheblack. I should get a tool kit for it so the tool cleaning is easier. The crevice tool is super nice since it's long and skinny. I wish they put real upholstery tools on these machines.

 

[panasonicvac]

bagintheback

You are correct, that model or basically any Panasonic with the Platinum name was only sold through authorized Panasonic dealers. I still remember when I was little, I went to our old local vacuum store and they had these exact same Platinum models that I had the opportunity to try out along with the black Performance Plus version as well because they had them sold in two different colors at the time. In my opinion, I think these were the best clean air or bypass uprights that you could've ever gotten for the money. My personal favorite one from the Platinum line would be this MC-V7348 from my earlier post. Such a great performer, fun to use, love the sound of if whenever it is in use, and that petrol green is my most favorite color ever on a vacuum.

 

[panasonicvac]

Apologies

It was the grey MC-V5248 that I tried out along with the black version of it. It sounded like I was referring to the green ones but they were the grey ones that I saw from the vacuum store. And speaking of which, this one that I own was definitely one of the models that I also remember seeing from our same dealer but had not tried it out before at the time.

 

[lesinutah]

Yes

I know it's exclusive only panasonic made. The color reminds me or riccar. There was a number of years they made the same machines. Les

 

[zinda]

I picked up a gray and a blue one this week both are nearly mint!