New Kenmore Canister Vacuums

[stricklybojack]

.
Is Panasonic now out of the vacuum biz?
These are made by someone else then I guess...

http://vacuums.reviewed.com/feature...s-are-your-secret-weapons-for-spring-cleaning

 

[vacmaster]

Yes

Panasonic's vacuum sub-division is no longer. So Sears had Cleva make their new Kenmore vacuums.

 

[eurekaprince]

I cannot believe those new Kenmore power nozzles have no headlights. I can't understand that design decision by Cleva. Not so "clever" if you ask me, considering even Shark has LED headlights on most of their power nozzles and even stick vacs.

 

[n0oxy]

cleva

Yes, panasonic is officially out of the vacuum market, at least here in North America. If you look at the panasonic web site, they have very few of their vacuums left in stock. In a way it makes sense that Sears would go to Cleva for their new vacuums, Cleva makes the vacmaster brand of wet dry vacs, and they also make the craftsman wet dry vacs. Regarding headlights on a power nozzle, this is a feature that is important to some users, but interestingly, some of the other high end power nozzles don't have a light either, the Sebo and Lindhaus nozzles do not have this.

 

[n0oxy]

a slight correction

Well, after doing some more reading from the review site that was mentioned in the first post, it appears I was incorrect about who makes the craftsman wet dry vacs. According to this site, both the craftsman and ridgid vacs are made by Emerson Electric. Cleva does make the vacmaster brand though. Interestingly, I have a craftsman 5 gallon and a vacmaster 5 gallon in my collection of 8 wet dry vacs, and they look almost identical, though you can tell they use different motors. I was looking at more of the vacuum reviews on this site, and from what I can tell, their reviews are well done and informative, and they're not biased towards one brand or another. They seem to think pretty highly of the Kenmore canisters.

 

[mark40511]

Questions I have.

Wow - these actually kind of look like the Panasonic's in a way. I've never heard of Cleva.

The bag collar design and quick disconnect design look identical to me. I hated both designs because when I had my Kenmore can's, the bag would slip off the collar allowing dust into the bag chamber unless you taped it securely. The quick disconnect electronics would eventually always short out after 2 to 3 years (on all the ones I ever had)... And I do not believe the Panasonic's were "sealed" systems. These may be, but they don't mention it.

 

[mixman]

Kenmore and Panasonic

Every time I think about getting one of these two brands, I read read horror stories about these lasting about as much time or even less than a Shark or Dyson. It seems there is either an electrical problem or in the case of the Panasonics the problem with the bag not getting a good seal and dust flying everywhere, which of course leads to inevitable motor failure. I know these are less expensive but the quality seems low even for $300 vacs.

 

[oreck_xl]

So, correct me if I'm wrong, but it would seem as if these new Kenmore (Cleva) branded canisters share components with their older Kenmore predecessors, and use the C bag. Is this to say Cleva bought Panasonic's vacuum manufacturing plant?

 

[fan-of-fans]

Panasonic was getting out of the North American vacuum market, so in order to have an OEM for Kenmore, they sold all the tooling and designs to Cleva and shipped them from Mexico to China. From what I hear, many of Panasonic's engineers were hired by Cleva also.

Much of the parts and designs of these new Cleva made units are the same as Panasonic's, hence the bags, etc being the same. Similar to what happened when Whirlpool sold their vacuums, to Panasonic. But from what I hear, Kenmore is the only brand that these will be sold under.

 

[ryan1994jeep]

I bought the orange one when our Sears store closed in January. I still have it in the front of the closest for quick grabs. I did switch the wands out and floor tool,and using a hepa bag with it. There's far worse vacuums on the market today.