Tested a Miele Swing full size upright

[sebo_fan]

So WHAT????

In the U.S everyone is so het up about industry being robbed and fobbed off to China. Its the way of the times. Get over it! We in the UK had to face that years ago.

Not all Chinese produced vacuums are bad - and I bet half of the collectors on this forum aren't replacing motors in every vacuum cleaner they have. Buyers and owners won't even think about replacing a brush roll, never mind a motor.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Sebo_fan. I work for the US Navy. I'm an analyst in the weapons world. I don't give my hard earned to China. I will spare the group here the lecture, but if my Navy faces a likely conflict with another nation's navy, I am certainly not going to enrich that other nation with my business. Period.

 

[sebo_fan]

Oh I thought you had retired.

We had the US Navy in Scotland. And American cars, and American appliances. A few of my friends back then didn't moan about things made in China though.

Funny how things turn.

Here's a pic of the famous U.S.S Simon Lake in Dunoon, where it sat for many years in our Holy Loch.

 

[ralph123]

DesertTortoise:

I do applaud you for trying to buy American. However, you have to keep in mind that Riccar/Simplicity has been transitioning from making vacuums overseas to making them in the US. The motor picture that you posted has a date of 03-07-2008. I don't know if the current practice is to import motors or not. Hopefully Tom Gasko will chime in and comment about what the current practice is.

 

[DesertTortoise]

I did my active duty time as a pilot, and toasted my back in the process. Now I fly a desk and get to see and be part of all the stuff the Military and Discovery Channels can't show you. Not too many places you can work where you might have dust fall out of the ceiling tiles from the concussion of ordnance detonating nearby test ranges.

But China is bad news for us and our allies Japan and Taiwan, and the public lives with this misconception that the Chinese military is still backwards and poorly equipped.

Read this if you have time:

https://www.mandiant.com/blog/mandi...ber-espionage-units-releases-3000-indicators/

This is open source stuff that comes from the private sector. Some of the players described here are among the five PLA members recently indicted by the Justice Department. This is a unit of the Peoples Liberation Army systematically breaking into private firms, some with military contracts, stealing high tech from around the world, but primarily the US. And they apply these stolen technologies to their military hardware at an amazingly fast pace saving many billions of dollars in the process by avoiding the cost of doing original research. This is just the barest tip of the iceberg, data a private firm could develop.

Then find out what DF-21D missile, J20 fighter and the Type 052D destroyer are. I buy foreign made goods, just not Chinese goods. They don't get my hard earned.

 

[DesertTortoise]

I hope you are right about Simplicity and Riccar Ralph. I really do. It bugs me when a firm like Harley Davidson or perhaps Riccar waves the American flag while filling their goods with foreign content. I understand the economics of it, and a Japanese made Showa fork on Harley isn't going to disrupt the time/space continuum and send the entire planet hurling through a worm hole to emerge a scorched cinder in a parallel universe. It's all good. Showa makes a fine fork. Just don't wrap yourself in the flag and tout being "All American" when you aren't. And don't give your business to a nation that emphatically not our friend and wants to hurt our friends.

 

[tolivac]

US "built" items--When you buy such a thing--notice on the package or the item a label says"Assembled in the USA with globally sourced components"Both Vita Mix and Blendtec got in trouble when they said on their machines--"Made in USA"But parts in the machines came from other places than the US.Don't know if VitaMix is still doing it-they were using motors sourced from Sweden.Its a great machine-but not all of the parts come from the US-same with other things "built" here.

 

[DesertTortoise]

I pay attention to what you refer to Tolivac. But look at the way Harley Davidson advertises it's products. Levis too. Maybe Levis especially. They use all kinds of American flag iconography in their ad hype and appeal to their tradition as an iconic American product from the California gold rush era but the don't have a single plant in the US any more though they price like they did. I buy a less costly brand that doesn't oversell itself.

Just be honest about your content. I might be satisfied buying an assembled in the US vac with US made plastics and a motor from Mexico. That's better than a Mexican assembled Kenmore with a garbage Chinese motor, at least to me.

 

[tolivac]

I am not real happy with Mexico made motors-but they are a little better than Chinese ones.What parts of HD motorcycles aren't made here?Thought at one time the HD folks made all of their parts.Just about all clothes are made overseas now-very few clothes factories in the US anymore.Used to be a Fruit Of The Loom" underwear factory in Grimesland,Nc several years ago-it closed down the factory was vacant for several years-Grimesland used to hold an annual yard sale there for a few years-no the place is torn down and the lot empty.The only textile things we see here are thread spinning--thats about it-Sometimes you see cotton crops grown.But not this year.Old timers here remember when fabric and clothes were made here.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Like pretty much every motorcycle made, Harley buys suspension, forks and shocks, from Showa, or in the case of their new 500 and 750 Street models, Endurance of India. Starters are either Nipponseike or Hitachi. Cast wheels come from Australia, wire wheels from Japan. Brake calipers can be either Kelsey-Hayes (US), Tokiko, Nissan (both Japanese), Endurance of India for the Street Models or Brembo of Italy for the touring bikes and V-Rod line. Brake rotors usually come from Sunstar of Japan. Coils and some other electronic components that were once sourced from Delphi in the US now come from three or four Chinese suppliers ( and my brand new Chinese coils failed the primary and secondary resistance tests right out of the box!). Pistons come from Mahle of Germany (best pistons you can buy honestly so no complaints), and V-Rod and Big Twin transmission gears and shafts come from Getrag of Germany. Harley has never built the whole bike in house. The suppliers have changed over the years, forks once were from Ceriani and shocks from Gabriel, brakes were sourced from Lockheed, etc.. Perfectly normal automotive and motorcycle industry practice. My BMWs are likewise assembled from components from multiple vendors, including some vendors Harley also uses like Mahle, Getrag, Showa and Nipponseike. I am pretty sure the powder forged conrods in my V-Rod are from the same vendor BMW and Porsche use. They have "Germany" stamped into them in big bold letters.

The only motorcycle company I can think of that even came close to making every component in house was Moto Guzzi. Even still, their starters were the same as those used on BMW twins and some air cooled VWs.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Tolivac, there is a thriving garment industry in Los Angeles and California is a major cotton producer. NAS Lemoore, east of Fresno, is surrounded by cotton fields.

 

[tolivac]

Well,HD motorcycles can be truely termed a product "Assembled in the USA from globally sourced components"! didn't realize that.
Cotton is a crop that likes to grow in either hot,humid areas-or hot dry areas-sometimes you see lots of cotton crops here-its the crop rotation to keep the soil here fertile.Hardly see tobacco grown at all out here anymore-that used to be the king cash crop here.Now its soybeans,peanuts,corn,cotton.-then occasionally tobacco.That is another crop that likes hot growing conditions-but no too dry or it dies.A big threat to tobacco is the tobacco hornworm moth or "tobbacco fly" as the locals here call them.The tobacco moths are closely related to the tomato hornworm moths-both can destroy the crops quickly when in the worm larvae stage.The moth-esp females lay their eggs on the crops.The tobacco stalks are promply "disced" after the harvest-the discing destroys the moth pupae.But won't get them all.Often it goes to handpicking-folks out here tell about it.I just can't get into picking up fleshy,soft green worms as big around as your thumb and several in long--GROSS!!!!!!When picked they get stompted,poisoned,or one fellow loved throwing the worms down the exhaust stack of his JD deisel tractor and gunning it--the flaming worm shot high into the air-but don't let it land on you-YUCCHH!!

 

[DesertTortoise]

When I was a kid my neighbors mom was growing some tomatos in the back yard. We used to take those big fat worms and either heat them up good with a magnifying glass or we'de light up the barbie and toss them on the grill until they popped.

Ok, now back to talking about vacuums, lol.