Riccar R-40 P2 Upright - good/bad?

[kitra]

Hello, We inherited a Riccar R-40, like the Title says. It looks perfect, hardly a mark on it. I think they were too weak to use it much since it's heavy. The local Riccar Dealer told us the used value to them is only around $45. They claimed the "P2" revision had lots of issues.

Is this Vacuum really problematic? I looked it up and it was a lot of money ($1500) when new. I restore Vacuums as a hobby and sell "some". My Hobby is completely out-of-control as I have too many Vacuums. I'd like to fix any issues with the Riccar R-40 but the Dealer wouldn't comment what they are. I don't want to sell it to anyone IF it's a lemon. It seems to work really well for the little time we used it.

 

[panasonicvac]

I used to work for vacuum shops. The R40 in my opinion are overrated. The predecessor models that came before them (known as RAD) were better machines reliability wise. The R40 has some user improvements over the RAD but made them more complicated underneath the hood circuitry wise. I later learned that when we had more R40 machines come in for technical repair. And now I can no longer recommend them, they're just not worth it at least for the price that is. I think I'd agree that $45 is fair enough as once it breaks, good luck trying to get it fixed as the parts are super expensive and you have to deal with getting them shipped from Asia when they're out of stock.