Kevlar/Lexan impellers on Kirbys
Why does everyone get so excited about the name of the "plastic" that the impellers are made of? Kirby is a well-made vacuum cleaner (among the best, some would argue), and the bottom line is that the company would not CONTINUE to install an impeller that is sub-par if it demonstrated the propensity to prematurely fail. If you want to be technical, the impellers are made of neither Kevlar nor Lexan. They are made of Amodel, which is the most state of the art plastic when considering the needs that any impeller has- impact resistance combined with heat resistance and chemical resistance.
Let's put household vacuum cleaners in their place. They are made to clean/remove the stuff that you cannot easily pick up otherwise. They are NOT make to pick up spilled or dropped items without first physically sweeping up the 95% by hand that you can see. They are not made to clean up after someone tracks in dirt. They are made to clean the particles that are small enough to fall or settle deep in the carpet's nap. First you pick up what you see, THEN YOU VACUUM! The evidence lies in the vintage vacuum cleaners that still have original fan blades. Their owners used them ONLY for their intended purpose. Even the metal impellers have a propensity to fail if misused! No blade will catastrophically fail as long as the machine is used properly. Yes, sand and abrasive things like that over time will wear impellers, and the plastic ones will wear faster, but SO WHAT. That should not be a factor for the majority of users when considering the "performance" or "value" of a vacuum cleaner.
Why does everyone get so excited about the name of the "plastic" that the impellers are made of? Kirby is a well-made vacuum cleaner (among the best, some would argue), and the bottom line is that the company would not CONTINUE to install an impeller that is sub-par if it demonstrated the propensity to prematurely fail. If you want to be technical, the impellers are made of neither Kevlar nor Lexan. They are made of Amodel, which is the most state of the art plastic when considering the needs that any impeller has- impact resistance combined with heat resistance and chemical resistance.
Let's put household vacuum cleaners in their place. They are made to clean/remove the stuff that you cannot easily pick up otherwise. They are NOT make to pick up spilled or dropped items without first physically sweeping up the 95% by hand that you can see. They are not made to clean up after someone tracks in dirt. They are made to clean the particles that are small enough to fall or settle deep in the carpet's nap. First you pick up what you see, THEN YOU VACUUM! The evidence lies in the vintage vacuum cleaners that still have original fan blades. Their owners used them ONLY for their intended purpose. Even the metal impellers have a propensity to fail if misused! No blade will catastrophically fail as long as the machine is used properly. Yes, sand and abrasive things like that over time will wear impellers, and the plastic ones will wear faster, but SO WHAT. That should not be a factor for the majority of users when considering the "performance" or "value" of a vacuum cleaner.
