Panasonic MC-UG302

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richardc1983

richardc1983

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 27, 2009
Messages
308
Location
Leeds, UK
My brother has just bought one of these:

My brothers idea of getting a bagged he thought it was backwards way. I explained this is why you are replacing your bagless after a year because it was pap! The Morphy Richards was leaking air so was whistling and the seals had failed on the dust box. I hate bagless vacuums!

My parents had the panasonic model about 10 years ago and it was a fab machine with good suction, easy to push around and simple and no fuss. The difference between the new model is there is no longer a switch to turn the brush bar off when using the tools, this is a shame to be fair.

What do you guys think to this model. The only other contender was the MC-UG304 (black version) or a hoover purepower that had good reviews on argos.

Would you have reccomneded something else? His budget was about £70-£80. He hasnt had to pay though as he has taken the morphy richards back under the sales of goods act as it has failed a year and 3 months after purchase. Despite having a 2 year warranty Morphy Richards said that because they didnt register the product within 28 days of purchase that they only offer a 1 year warranty. So he took it up with Argos who honoured the 2 years.




http://www.panasonic.co.uk/html/en_.../Upright/MC-UG302/Overview/5075735/index.html
 
that had good reviews on argos

Never trust Argos reviews. Argos shoppers gave the Bush branded Vestel washing machines 5 star reviews. Says it all.

The PurePowers are pretty average performers, VERY loud with awfully cheap construction. The handle release and carpet height adjuster are the first things to go. The on switch can be pretty tempremental too. The brushroll is seriously underwhelming, being too long and soft. Thankfully, you can still pick up and activator to go in it, which will improve performance slightly.

Although the current Panasonic's are a lot more basic than the old 400 series that you're refering to, they're still probably the best upright on the market under £100. Lightweight, solid construction and pretty high performing.
 
Yeh I agree with chris, I had the same machine in burgundy that I bought new in 2008, had it a few years and it was a great little vacuum. was nice and light to use, easy to maintain and it did a good enough job
 
Yeah I am thinking of getting one for the house and getting rid of the henry and the Sanitaire. Reason being is got wooden floors and dont need the upright apart from the rugs and its a pain getting the henry out of the cupboard to do the downstairs and keeping the sanitaire upstairs to do the upstairs.

What do you think?
 
I just have carpet on the landing and stairs and rugs. The rest is wooden floors. The trouble is storage with a cylinder vac otherwise would just keep the henry and buy a airo brush for the rugs. Uprights are easier to store and the panasonic has onboard tools should I need them.

Not sure how it picks up on wooden floors though as some vacs just flick the dirt about on hard surfaces. Thats what the sanitaire does when it comes to grit or cat litter.
 
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If you were to buy something more expensive, you'd more than likely make your money back selling the Henry and the Sanitaire on eBay - both sell easilly and make quite a bit.

I used one of these Panasonic's a few months back and was VERY impressed. The tools are not on-board, but they attach through a port at the back of the cleaner (like an old Lux 500). They also have full in-handle brush controls so you can turn the brushroll off for bare floors. They're also pretty lighweight and quiet. [this post was last edited: 3/20/2013-05:52]

http://www.sonicdirect.co.uk/Uprigh...t&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googlemerchant
 
Don't bother - Keep Henry!

Richard -

I don't like the high power Panasonic uprights - reason being that out of all the things that are good about them, they have 2 drive belts to replace - the Panasonic MC UG522 I bought (which is a new model for 2013) uses one drive belt and a slight more modern design on offer with a slightly better longer hose - but still, its a traditional upright and the prices new from Amazon UK are around £70 to £80. Also the newer model has an entire wooden brush roll with no beater bars (see thread on here http://www.vacuumland.org/cgi-bin/TD/TD-VIEWTHREAD.cgi?18722)

However looking at all the responses you have got and knowing that you are in the market for cheaper cost machines, I'd say stick with Henry. Henry is by far the best choice for your flooring needs and as you rightly justify, buying the Airobrush will be enough for the amount of carpet you have and leaving the brush head out for the carpet care would be just enough if space is limiting! The suction floor head on Henry alone is great for hard flooring and there's really no need in selling Henry if you want good reliability, massive dust bags as you already know and practicality due to the long hose.

Click the link below for the Panasonic upright if you're interested. My verified review is also on there for that model.

HOWEVER, if you feel that getting Henry out is a chore, it would still be a chore with just about any other cylinder on the market - generally speaking if you have carpets and as you say rugs to deal with, depending on how shaggy they are (knowing full well that brush rolls could destroy or the drive belts themselves requiring to be replaced), get yourself a GTech cordless sweeper.

If it was me, I'd just keep the Henry though and invest in the Airobrush. Cleanstore UK sell them for £24-99 which is a bit of a bargain if you don't like EBAY or Amazon UK, though they may be cheaper there.

Check by http://www.cleanstore.co.uk/products/Product.asp?ID=1324

http://www.amazon.co.uk/product-reviews/B009377MDO/ref=dp_top_cm_cr_acr_txt?ie=UTF8&showViewpoints=1
 
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Also, forgot to add...
The Panasonic-MC-UG614 that Chris refers to comes with an attachment bag of tools that would be required to be manually fitted - although based on an U.S Kenmore, I found it anything but lightweight - the floor head is massive and though it swivels, its not as agile as other swivel vacuums. It does feature a brush roll on/off but the plastics are not as expected for the asking price and it comes with a silly push in plastic stand at the back that can't be stored on the machine to keep the upright stable from falling over.

The bagged one I bought shares the same bags with this model, though and the MC UG522 is a lot easier to steer because of its fixed traditional position as well as being a heck of a lot lighter.
 
I've found the Sebo X series pick up on hard floors to be pretty good. Even though the brushroll gives the carpet a good grooming, it doesn't do any damage on hard floors and picks up really well
 
Richard - the Xs are good - the dark grey hood and light grey bin X1 Automatics are the best for cheap cost effective running and that model comes with a 1000 watt motor compared to the all white model that is rated at 850 watts and has slightly lower suction. Only downside to the X1Automatic is that being older, it cuts off the suction if you ever require the stair cleaning air driven turbo brush AND has a metal soleplate with no rubber squeegee built in.

Also all of the X models have an auto sensor adjustment so you have to give it a couple of seconds each time you switch it on to sense the thickness or thinness of the carpet.

The later X1.1 has an 1150 watt motor compared to the 1300 watts of the X4 - both newer models have a stepped motor that can use the turbo brush attachment and doesn't cut the suction off when the tool is fixed on. Both also have plastic sole plates and rubber squeegee built in for hard floors - they are also replaceable and available from SEBO.
 
What do you mean by cuts suction off when turbo brush is on as I use one for the car, sofa & stairs.

Thanks for your advice so far :)
 
The X1 Automatic switches off if the turbo brush has been added to the hose - or it should do! It recognises it as a clog in the hose.

Of course the exception to the rule are refurbished X1's AND the light grey with dark grey hood models *thus fitted with the 1000 watt motor. I bought one a couple of months ago and it takes a fair old time for my refurb'd X1 to recognise that the turbo brush has been added on the end of the hose before one of the lights start blinking on and off.

The newer X1.1, X4 and X5 don't shut off - SEBO updated the motor to compensate for the turbo brush when it is added on.
 
The old ones or the X1.1 or X4?

I bought an X4 a couple of months ago from a certain EBAY seller in Glasgow - they sell a lot of Sebo vacuums all the time. All was going well for a couple of weeks but I noticed the back of the floor head where the wheels were was letting out a lot of hot air than normal from the motor. What transpired was the hood not being screwed down properly. Took a look inside and the hood's inner screw bits that meet the screws from the underside had got stuck in the chassis, no doubt allowing the hood to just rest on top of the chassis held down by two out of the 4 screws.

Have since removed the ones that were stuck in the chassis and have replaced the X4 hood with an X1.1 hood (dark blue dark grey). Even though the second hand vac was in good condition I was surprised to find that - so you have to be very careful what you buy second hand, because even if the machine looks and feels like it is working, some sellers are notorious for not checking the internals properly.

I actually think you should buy the Panasonic upright I have. I bought it initially at £129 from Amazon but the price has now dropped to a better bargain of £79! The brush roll doesn't scratch hard floors.
 
The brush roll doesn't scratch hard floors

But does it just scatter grit and blow dust across the floor? I won't use an upright on hardfloors if it doesn't have the feature to turn the brushroll off.
 
Well, you were quite happy to push for Richard to consider the X range when the brush roll doesn't switch off. Depends on the kind of dust you're referring to whatever you pick up in that regard. I think I'll do a video test right now and see what the Panasonic and Sebo are like with rice.

Generally, I find the Sebo is okay for dust on hard floors - but give it the rice test and it can ping bits off - not all of the major heap but just slight bits of rice. The Panasonic has a wider mouth, edge to edge cleaning unlike Sebo's flywheel to the left hand side part and as you know, where the Sebo fights back is the front edges that pulls dust in due to its flat streamlined front plate.

At the back of my mind though, I'm trying to keep Richard's cost prices low. A second hand Sebo X1.1 or X4 will seldom be cheap and the Felix is a bit more expensive, even though it is better on hard floors with the brush roll on/off function.

In terms of the Panasonic - it isn't any worse than the Sebo for picking up dust - as you know where the Sebo fights back is with its wand release and hoister - but now the Panasonic MC UG522 has that design addition too with its quick draw tube and hose added together.

The Sebo would be a better bet though if Richard wants to swap his vacuums around plus the running costs would be cheaper on account of using the bigger capacity dust bags that are also usually cheaper to buy.

The Panasonic though has a 3 litre dust bag putting it directly against the 3.5 litre capacity bagged 100 watts more Felix.
 
Im only going by your previous responses. If money was no object you could by any vacuum cleaner you desire.

If you're only prepared to pay £100 for a vacuum cleaner there's no way you'll get a Sebo X1.1 - unless by a stroke of luck there's someone on EBAY who is selling an X1.1 second hand.

If you favour bagged vacuums, its harder to choose - if it was a bagless upright you were after, Id say the Vax Mach Air Reach model is the best - comes with a long extension hose attachment and mini turbo tool as standard -plus a long cord. Brand new they have dropped in price considerably since the swivel Air2 and Air3 were released but I find those swivel ones to be more fragile than the traditional push forwards backwards Vax Mach Air - and all Mach Air uprights have a brush roll on/off button as standard. (Click the link to EBAY listing, £89-99)

If however you say you've used a Sebo X1 before and the suction didn't stop functioning with a turbo brush added to the hose, then look for a second hand Sebo X1 in combo grey (not the all in white model) and make sure it has at least been serviced or refurbished. There are a few on EBAY but only one or two that are the light grey bin and dark grey hood model.

Having just done the video tonight for the Panasonic versus Sebo, a few interesting details - both were successful at picking up loose tea and rice - but being the cheap plastic that it is, the Panasonic made quite a racket picking up the rice compared to the Sebo X4. The Sebo picked up most of the rice with one or two granules left over - the Panasonic left five bits of rice - but these are opposite vacuums in terms of price and quality, so naturally the SEBO was better. Will let you know once the video has uploaded.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Vax-U90-M...358?pt=UK_Vacuum_Cleaners&hash=item3a7f4e3a66
 
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Will get back to you soon haven't had chance to view yet as been busy with the snow and other house stuff.

Think will prob keep the Henry and sell the sanitaire. Get a turbo brush for floors for Henry.
 
Thats good. I used to have an extension hose that came with my Electrolux Powerlite - its 32mm sizing fits perfectly onto the end of Henry's hose, and so it used to be mega handy just to leave the hose and turbo brush out when it came to having to clean the stairs, particularly if you have a right angle staircase with a small landing at the top and then a couple more steps. Henrys hose used to reach the top of the first set of stairs but required the extension hose to go beyond.


 


Eventually had the flat rewired and put a proper set of plugs at the top of the stairs though. 
 

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