Sorry, been busy & forgot, I could probably do without a few of these. I've been focusing on getting one of every Fantom model & probably another Calypso water purifier (I still use mine but it's on its last legs it seems).
I persuaded my parents to buy my a Fantom at Lechmere back when they were still nearly $400 when they had just started infomercials. They had started importing them through Buffalo (where I'm near) from Canada, still remember when they were liquidating what was left. They were hesitant but that vacuum still to this day works, serial number is 10365 or something like that. These were 11amp models, I actually had an early 9 amp model but the motor went, we used it in the garage for years after I garbage picked it, vacuum is still around with a different motor, I think its in my garage now, I've got a couple of spare motors to swap around to these.
It seems that there was a higher distribution of these locally. I mean you could buy Fantoms at Ames, Sears, Lechmere, Kmart, Wal-Mart, Target, Service Merchandise and even local places. I don't know if there was higher local sell through and saturation but it was always easy to get a multitude of models easily. When Fantom liquidated I remember buying a NIB Destiny 11 amp at a local fair that my mom is still using for $45.
I used to get broken ones at thrift stores all the time for $10 and fix them and sell them to co workers for $50 and tell them how to care for it and many are still running to this day. I still have one purchased 10 years ago at Goodwill for $5 my mom has used in her basement for all these years and it still works.
But they still turn up, most commonly Thunders. I bought two Thunders & a Wildcat this year, passed on one or two Thunders. I did pass on two Furys as well.
I am going to go out on a limb and say I always thought the Fantom 11 amp was better than any vac Dyson has brought stateside. In terms of durability. Despite lack of a pre-motor filter I think it was a more durable design. That one I just picked up weighs nearly twice that of my DC07. That barely used Thunder I picked up a few years ago when I moved in here will, and I'm confident, last longer than my DC33.
