Panasonic/Sears canisters

[williamr1248]

Panasonic/Sears canisters

Rex,
I agree with you about the Kirby. I was a Kirby user for over 20 years at my last house with one floor and all wall to wall carpeting. After I moved into this house with multiple floors and started having allergies the Kirby just had to go. I hated to admit it but it became just too heavy to carry and it always smelled even with the heap bags. They are great machines and so durable.
My new interest in the Panasonic is just from a collecting stand point and the fact that I never owned one or knew anyone who had a Sears or Panasonic machine.

All thing equal I still like the Kirby and I never had any trouble using the tools. The Rainbow spoiled me as there is just NO DUST, NO ODOR EVER to deal with and so much less dust in the house with its use. It is heavy too but I can carry it in separate pieces and the new Black Rainbow is so much more user friendly than my older SE.
I will give you an update after I get the Panasonic. I want to see how it compares to my Hoover Spirit canister with the Quadraflex power nozzle.

 

[mark40511]

Well speaking on the connections

The Electrolux Epic 6500 that I bought USED off Ebay.......they have quick disconnect, and so far I have had no trouble at all with them shorting out. I think I have had it perhaps 2 years or so.......Although I MUST say, as far as using it compared the the Kenmore Canister........(although I do LOVE the Epic 6500) I think I liked the Sears canister a bit better....(but not by much)...also, like the bag changing better on the Electrolux.......The bag changing on the Kenmore was EASY..........BUT............The collar system was somewhat flawed because (whether you had a Cloth high quality bag, or a paper bag, it's NOT the bags themselves that would leak, it was the was the bag met the collar/hose. It's like it barely touched when fully connected......So I think during cleaning some of the dust you would see in the BIN itself was not from the bags leaking, but from the collar/hose/bag connection barely touching and some of the dust getting past that .....My theory anyway..........The Electrolux bags are idiot proof and don't leak at all from what I can tell.......

 

[durango159]

My experience with the Kenmore/ Panasonic wands is that it is better to have a separate set of wands for the bare floor brush and not constantly be utilizing the quick release at powerhead. Primarily I've seen the connections burn up at the quick disconnect and I think everytime that convenient feature is used, the connection gets weaker. It's almost better to find a non quick disconnect wand system where it is a single cord leading from power head up wands and having connection lock into hose. I think the older style gray colored hose has a good sturdy lock and would have no problem with a long term connection from hose to wands.

The Kenmore Intuition TOL model greatly sees more problems because that power nozzle bare floor brush connection that is built into the power head doesn't last long. I've seen the tiny wheels and primary connectors on the bare floor brush break off and while this is all happening the electrical connections get loose too. Eventually the bare floor brush doesn't even lock back into the power head again without a really good fight!!

I've used the Hoover Windtunnel Anniversary canister S3670 for about 2 years. I had no problem with the power head. That Windtunnel power head on that model was Maytags design back around 2000 when the first Windtunnel power head canister hit the market. So as flimsly as that plastic looks, it still holds up well over time. The wheels on that power head are the bad part and don't work well for rear or front. The hose, wands, tools and circuit board are the disaster in my mind on that unit. The tools go along with many other big box store vacs on the market. All these very teeny slim designed tools with crevice tools that can barely reach down the sides of a car seat, upholstery nozzles that have no means of agitation and take 3 times as long to cover a step or sofa cushion because of size. It's ridiculous!!! With new technology one would hope that most peoples dreaded chore of cleaning becomes more efficient but the attachments these days VOID that hope!!! The hose on that Hoover Windtunnel Anniversary is the clumsiest, hardest maneuvering material ever with that awful wire shrinking the air path inside the hose since its not spiraled into the design and actually more of a long hard plastic line going all the way down. The handle is uncomfortable to use as the seem of the 2 pieces just feel quite uncomfortable. As for the canister mobility, I've noticed with machines with the 4 small independantly spinning wheels that they get stuck on everything. When all clear they work well, but roll up to door jams, cords, area rugs and those small wheels on this Hoover, Riccars and Mieles I've used can't do the job, the older machines with large rear wheels can!!

Enjoy the new Panasonic MCCG902. I'd get a separate set of wands with 10" all bristle bare floor brush for floors. This will help wand connections last longer and also clean better on hard floors than the short, stiff bristle Panasonic floor brush with bristles that don't really flex to sweep all dust from floor into air path. The canister body on these machine is a good sturdy design of the original Kenmore Progressive line, very different from the current Progressive canister line.

 

[williamr1248]

Panasonic/Sears canisters

Rob,
Thanks for you idea of just getting a second set of wands for the floor brush.
You hit the mark on that Hoover Anniversary machine. I don't understand why any maker would put those toy looking useless tools. I agree with you 100%.
With so many customers reporting the SAME problem over several years you would think they would WANT to correct the problem as the Panasonic/Sears model seems to be well liked by the owners except for the electrical failure.
This will never be a machine used for regular use but I wanted to see what a Panasonic machine was like in operation.
Rob

 

[durango159]

It's a great unit!!

Actually I really think that you're going to love using that Panasonic!!! I'm a fan of the larger rear wheels, I find they get over door jams and their own cord better than small wheels. Lots of air flow on those machines, all the tools on board. Both motors are pleasant sounding and fairly quiet. The power head is very quiet. Cosmetically I think the entire machines looks great. If I was to be "knit picky" and find things to criticize it would only be a couple issues as follows:

1) Powerhead will not stay completely flat to floor when handle is all of the way down. It will lift up a little in the front going a fair ways under beds.

2) Small or no suction duct channel for belt side edge cleaner. Sometimes dirt can clump up in that area and you may see dust on top of power head housing in that area cause there's not much an airway to suck that stuff in.

3) Bare floor brush has very short cut bristles that tend to not dust floor as thorough and lack of bristles along side can allow front plastic of bare floor brush to scrape on floors

4) I don't believe suction unit wheels are rubber coated.

5) Long term durability-- motor, wand connections

That's really it!!!! Again, I think everyone would agree that there is no perfect machine. We can all find something about ALL machines on market whether it's weight, color, noise, attachments, maneuverability, etc, etc. But for the price point of this machine especially, it's essentially a no brainer design to go and get one. I can't think of another machine anywhere near that price range with that nice of an attachment set or cleaning performance. Consumer Reports has consistently rated this machine and other Kenmore/ Panasonic styled machines as great cleaners over the past few years. In fact lately Consumer Reports has gotten cheap with their reviews and they only post in the magazine the top ranking machines and this model has been posted in all those issues!!! Truly a great machine, I know you'll love it. As bad as I've played out that power head to be above with the "knit picky" remarks it's actually a great head!! Very powerful agitation, dual row chevron design, low profile, quiet, 4 position height adjustment, serpentine belt, brilliant headlight, motor/ belt protection system, brush roll on/off switch, quick disconnect wand system, heavy duty chrome wands, wrap around furniture guard, very sleek and mean looking, great color, wand lock and release pedal. It's a great system. Plastic on machine is a good grade too. I like mean looking machines. For some just of the look of how the front looks, it looks like a work horse and this one is a perfect fit for that. Some other machines I love the look of are Hoover Decade hoods, most Hoover headlight equipped power nozzles, Eureka RotoMatic power head, CenTec CT20DX heads, Riccar Brilliance.

Some websites complain about the filtration of Kenmores and these style machines. They're not Miele systems or priced at Miele either though. But there's no dust cloud escaping, you can use HEPA bags, they have a thick pre motor filter with nicely designed compartment for that filter and a HEPA exhaust filter. I'm an allergy sufferer that has problems with some vacs, and I've never had a problem with one of these units, and that's with primarilly running them with the classic yellow paper bags and not the HEPA ones.

I've seen this model with both styles of hoses. I'm curious which one you have. I hope it's the gray colored, more curve style hose handle as shown in this picture below as opposed to the straighter hose as shown on the full vacuum picture in your thread for the Panasonic MCCG902.

 

[durango159]

Other hose

My opinion is that this hose is not as good as the one above. Curious is anyone has any other experiences with that!!

 

[williamr1248]

Panasonic/Sears canister

Rob,
Thanks for the information and email. I can see the difference in the hose. I will post some pictures after the machine arrives.
We are on the same page. It seems like a lot of money and features for the price point.
I was reading some more reviews on the higher end models last evening and almost every one had problems with the power nozzle connections failing in about 2 years. I cannot understand why they would not be RIGHT on that problem as so many of the owners were REPLACING their machine with a similar machine BECAUSE they liked their first unit.
Also thanks for your input on the email about the Anniversary Hoover canister.
I just knew I was not the only one with the same thoughts after I had read the Hoover web site reviews by customers.
You will always have some who abuse a machine or for some reason it just does not suit them but when you read so many unhappy customer reviews with the same problems and dislikes you know their must be some truth to the problems.
Rob