If you are comparing the current machines on the market, I say Kirby all the way. When I bought my store, it was a Royal dealership. The owner had sold several of the newer Royals made in either China or Taiwan. They were junk. The handle releases (which have improved) would wear out so the handle wouldn't stand up, and the screw that held it to the machine would loosen so the handle would wobble all over the place. The touch toe height adjustments would either break, or just wear out from the metal parts rubbing against one another. (I never had problems with the screw type height adjuster). Some of the metal bag connecting rings would be too loose so the machine would spew dust everywhere. I don't know what they did to the bag zippers when they moved production to Asia, but the only two (new) metal Royals I personally sold both came back in the same year with a broken zipper. Not to mention the fact that they were just plain loud. I failed to see what the advantage of owning a Royal was, since the fact that it was metal was obviously a moot point with all of the problems, so I stopped selling them and only sold rebuilt American Royals.
The American made machines were an entirely different story. The 6 or 7 amp machines just ran like a dream, with very little problems. They cleaned beautifully, and lasted forever.
Now as far as the metal vs plastic fans in the Kirby's goes, I need to clear one thing up. The newer Lexan fan that Kirby is currently using is VERY durable. The older plastic fans were not. You can tell which is which by looking at the color. The Lexan is sort of beige and the plastic is grey. Don't be discouraged by the newer Kirby's not having metal fans; I've certainly seen plenty of broken metal Kirby fans so the idea that they are indestructible is a myth. I've NEVER seen a broken Lexan fan. Not to say it hasn't happened, but they've been out for several years now and I have yet to see a broken one.
