My Return & Finding An Oddity In The Bissell Line-Up

[wstonehockertv]

Hey y'all, this is my return to vacuumland because all my old accounts are dead.

I was at the thrift store today, and I was surprised to see the OG Bissell ProLite there (I was at Habitat For Humanity). I checked the date on it and it was made on the 252nd day of 2004. Because I have zero carpeting, I did not buy the machine. But still, it was kind of cool to see one of the unicorns in the Bissell line-up from waybackwhen.

Yes, it's the machine that was also sold under various brands like Kenmore to compete with Oreck. I do not have a picture of the machine, but that's okay. It's also still available under the Powr-Flite brand if y'all are interested.

 

[panasonicvac]

Kenmore's was a little bit different from the rest. Other than the looped handle like the Bissell, Kenmore had a dust cup where the dirt and dust would go through there from whatever can't fully make it into the bag. Oh and you can also find one of these brand new today under the Tornado brand as well.

 

[huskyvacs]

I seen one in Goodwill on 2/25/2018, I had no idea they were rare or I would have gotten it. It's numerical model number was 3560-2.

 

[wstonehockertv]

Now y'all are wondering, why did Bissell abandon producing this oddity? Too similar to Oreck? Wanted to focus on the Korean-designed Powerforce/Powerglide machines? Thank God Tornado has people covered.

 

[panasonicvac]

Bissell sold the designs, tooling, and moldings to Tacony in exchange to use Simplicity's "Healthy Home" trademark as part of the deal (That's where Bissell named some of their vacuums Healthy Home from). I'm honestly open for Tacony to make those machines for Bissell again, either under the Sanitaire and/or the Big Green Commercial line. Since Sanitaire makes vacuums for Powr-Flite and Tacony makes the cordless upright for Sanitaire, it'd make sense to me.

 

[blackheart]

A private label

I've got one of those prolites under the Piranha name. It doesn't seem as robust as some other designs I remember the nozzle having like 2-3 screws holding it together and the dual fan design didn't seem to grant it any additional power as it's airflow was in the same range as some single fan models like the R/S10 series so I'd imagine we don't see as many due to an increase production cost?

 

[wstonehockertv]

Low and behold, Bissell is selling eight-pound machines under the Big Green moniker to compete with Oreck.