Panasonic Icon

[vintagehoover]

This afternoon, I've had the good fortune to obtain, for a VERY reasonable price, an as-new cleaner - one which I believe is a very under-rated, stylish modern cleaner. It's a shame it's been discontinued, I think it's far superior to anything in Panasonic's current range.

First of all, an advert from Argos catalogue for the bagged versions - I have the white-and-lilac one, and I really, really want the silver and black one!!

 

[vintagehoover]

Another Argos ad:

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[vintagehoover]

And my new bagless Icon MC-E591

Seems barely used, there's hardly a scratch on it - only damage is to the cyclone chamber latch, due to the seller packaging it inadequately. It works like new, too, pulling quite a bit of dust from the dining room carpet, which is cleaned very regularly!

 

[vintagehoover]

A close-up of the main body:

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[vintagehoover]

Design flaw:

Looking inside the cyclone, you can see this model's biggest weak-point; the spinning filter-wiping brush. This works well for about 5 minutes, before it jams and clogs the dust inlet. There is a conversion kit available, one of which Seamus is very kindly obtaining for me, along with a crevice tool/extention tube, which is missing from the machine...

 

[vintagehoover]

Direct-Drive Agitator:

Here you can see the Icon's most innovative feature - the Direct-Drive agitator. This does not have a belt, it's turned directly by it's own motor. The brushroll itself is huge, with 4 rows of stiff bristles (very similar to those used on Sebo machines), which really groom the pile of the carpet. You can switch it off and on as needed with the foot-switch on the left-hand side.

 

[vintagehoover]

Panasonic Panarama of Iconic Angles

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[petek]

When I first looked I thought it was a Bosch or Siemens, how does the hose attachment function, ie.disconnect, etc.

 

[vintagehoover]

Hose

I took these pictures for you to illustrate the hose - just pull the end off the dirt outlet and unclip it from the top of the main body. Panasonic have always provided woefully-short hoses on their uprights, which have to be extended with extention hoses for doing stairs etc, although the hose on the Icon is deceptively stretchy. It's not really an issue for me because I have a range of machines better suited for tool use!

 

[chestermikeuk]

Icon

Morning Jack, I think Panasonic & Hitachi vacs are one of the most thought out vacs you could get particularly in the 80`s, left all the others standing for sturdiness, ease of use, super suction and features such as cord rewind and tools etc...

Those little wheels on the back look rather nifty, is it easy to move around?? that brush roll looks very impressive..

Enjoy, Mike

 

[vintagehoover]

Hi Mike!

The Icon's main issue is it's weight, I think. At 9kg, it's no lightweight - I'm pretty stong and I don't find this an issue, but someone less able-bodied might have a problem with it - like a Turbomaster, for instance. I wonder if this is why mine is in such good condition - bought by, or for, an older person, it may have sat largely unused for several years, because the owner wasn't up to handling it! That said, it has a kind of self-propelled action thanks to the brushroll, very much like a Sebo machine, making things easier.

The little rear wheels are mainly for stability when upright, the two large ones and the brushroll do most of the work.

Below is a picture of my new one and my bagged one. I've also just made a video of it (click link) - it was very rushed, so please excuse the pyjamas! The dust you see swirling around in the cyclone chamber was all removed from the small piece of carpeting during filming - seems like quite a lot considering I clean that carpet almost daily!!

The agitator has to be so large because its motor is partially inside it, spinning the brush from the inside, not the outside. It has 4 rows of stiff bristles, which really groom the carpet. I like the way they provided a large viewing-window, so you can see it in action!

 

[powerstarenergy]

Dirt Devil i

I don't know why, but to me this vacuum looks like the Dirt Devil i

 

[ilovehoovers]

That Dirt Devil was sold as a Vax and Bosch over here!

 

[luxlife]

We also had it as Bosch here in the states.

It was a very heavy machine that could be adapted to use disposable bags.

 

[panasonicvac]

And we had two under the Vax brand in the states, X3 (orange) and X5 (purple). I used a X5 at one of my neighbor's before. It was a decent machine, I liked it but I didn't really loved it. Felt solid, the wheels were rubber, had a cord rewinder, dual motor, lifetime belt, wasn't one sided suction, headlight was nice, and felt comfortable on my hand especially with the fingertip switches on top of the handle. However the suction wasn't the greatest, the brushroll was soft, it got hot really fast, smelled weird, the filters clogged easily, and the turbo brush was terrible.

Anyways regarding the Panasonic Icon, we also had one of those here in the states known as the Performance Plus Platinum. They were only sold at Panasonic dealers. It was an interesting design in my opinion. But of course, Panasonic discontinued using the beltless brushroll but they did however continued to use the dirt sensor boost feature like on the Power-On-Demand uprights. Looks familiar to that Dirt Devil i right?