Panasonic/Sears canisters

[williamr1248]

Panasonic/Sears canisters

Just reading the reviews on the HIGH end Sears canisters. It is very sad as page after page of unhappy owners with all about the same electrical problems.
It is strange that the expensive Sears seems to have a lot more problems than the less expensive models.
You always know there might be a few customers where the machine was abused but when you see so many with the same complaint it makes you wonder.
It was the same with the reviews of my Electrolux Oxygen and the Hoover Anniversary canister.

 

[suckolux]

I know with my high end and lower end machines, the connections to the hose/ wand are different! The cheaper machine the plug clips in and out.

 

[mark40511]

I LOVED the three that I had

of the Sears canister vacs......but with my experience (even if they are babied), yet used a lot.....and correctly - they ALL short out on my after a couple of years.....Granted, I vacuumed my 1300 sq ft home about 5 times per week for 2 years before the connections shorted......I never ever once had a problem with the motor themselves....The OTHER thing I hated was the fact that it was NOT sealed.....I guess if you use a really good bag, it's ok.......but why is it so difficult to seal a vacuum?

 

[eurekaprince]

My personal experience with the highly-rated Sears Kenmore Progressive ("Elegance" in Canada) is as follows: I bought the hunter green version (model 27210) with telescopic wand in 2001 for myself. Great performing machine and lots of conveniences such as a 7 foot hose and 30 foot cord. It is pretty much the same machine as the less deluxe Panasonic CG902.

But in 2005 the original Kenmore motor blew for no good reason. I had treated that motor with kid gloves all through those years - frequently changing the bags and filters and monitoring the red warning light which warns of stress on the motor. Because I loved the vac so much, I decided to spend $140 dollars to replace the motor with a compatible Panasonic motor - rather than buying a whole new vac. Well, that replacement motor is still going strong in my mom's apartment.

Considering I spent in total about CAD$750 on this vac over a 12 year period, I think I got a great deal!

 

[eurekaprince]

By the way, I never had a problem with the electrical connections in the telescopic wand. Probably because it has only been used about one time per week over the years!

 

[williamr1248]

Panasonic/Sears

Brian,
That sounds reasonable for 12 years of service.
I am not finding a lot of feed back on the Panasonic motors failing just service may be hard to locate.

Mark,
I remember well you telling about buying multiple Sears vacuums and how they failed after about 2 years. Also know you are person who does take good care of your equipment from our conversations on our Rainbows.

I don't have the same expectations from a vac that is less than $200.00 that I would from my Rainbow. Although I think there must be an element of truth in so many people reporting the same exact problem in such a short time frame.
What I see as the catch is that the replacement part is VERY expensive and not sure if it is available from regular vac shops.

 

[eurekaprince]

Just another note to throw into the discussion: the original Kenmore Progressive telescopic wands were made of heavy chrome or steel. It has always been extremely difficult to separate it from the hose handle. The connection is VERY tight. I noticed that several years ago, Sears changed to an easier-to-use aluminum wand with a more comfortable disconnect button. I wonder if these lighter wands have looser electrical connections. If so, the conundrum is: how to create a dependable electrical connection across vac parts that are still easy to separate. I wonder if Miele owners have the same problems.

 

[williamr1248]

Panasonic/Sears canisters

Brian,
I have enjoyed your input as I know NOTHING about older Sears machines.
I can say that I hated the heavy steel wand on my Miele so much I took it back and the retailer was kind enough to exchange it for the older Miele style matt grey finish wand that was somewhat lighter in weight.
It was so stupid as the Mile canister itself was very light weight and easy to pull around and nice quiet, very powerful motor but the whole effect was ruined by the heavy wand and short electric cord and the stiff, short hose. The machine was under foot all the time. The power nozzle also pushed very easy too but it was tiring to use with that heavy wand always pulling your arm down. I had the lighter weight power nozzle. Not sure how effective it was at getting deep sand and grit.
I think Hoover, Electrolux and Air-Way had it right with the lighter weight aluminum wands.
The older Filter Queens had heavy chrome wands but somehow because of their "S" shape they did not seem heavy in use.
One of the nicest wands and rug tools I ever used came with Michael Turner's GE canister. It had a flip over rug tool and it had a light feel easy feel in use.
His GE also had a nice long hose that swiveled like the Air-Way.

 

[eurekaprince]

Rob...glad to be of help!

All theses issues with electrical connections and heavy electrified wands continues to support my constant advice to vac-buyers these days: better to get two simpler vacs than one that claims to clean everything - an upright for carpets and a canister for everything else!

 

[tolivac]

Rob: Glad you have found my entries useful-Quite the converse-found yours useful,too.Glad you like your Rainbow.I have several in my collection-including their latest E2 model-but just don't use them much.Honestly-like my Kirby and others better for the carpet-but the Rainbow is sort of interesting to use.Rainbows new "Whisker Brush" powernozzle is lots better than that older one.Now,if only other canister vac makers could only use that new Rainbow style powernozzle on their machines we would be really getting somewhere.
I don't like the idea of Panasonic and some other vac makers selling in both box places and dealers.Dealers can best demonstrate the machine by a person that knows it-as opposed to a Big Box store with a static display often involving a "dummy" non working machine.And the box places "undercut" the dealers in prices-angering them.Remember this years back-when Royal--before TTI took over-Bill of the Vac Hospital was an official Royal dealer for this area-He dropped them when he saw Royal metal commercial uprights at Sams Club under the "Dirt Devil" name.-and at lower prices--He even said to me-they sell the machines at a lower price than what they sell to me wholesale. That angered him and he dropped Royal.Don't blame him.Now Greenville Sew&Vac is a Royal dealer-but Mike doesn't want to stock them.He will order a machine if a customer requests one.There is a vac dealer in Goldsboro that stocks Royals.Thats about an hour from me.
Rob,Hope you like your new Panasonic-will be interesting to see how it works for you-even though your Rainbow is your daily driver.
My Stepmom bought a Sears machine from them years ago from the Rapid City Sears store-looked just like Panasonics do.Was a nice vac-she has died-and since her and my Dad moved to an assisted care place don't know what happened to it.She usually took good care of her things.

 

[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