Thrift Store find - red Kenmore Intuition 31100

[luxkid1980]

I came across a red Kenmore Intuition upright vacuum, model 31100 over the weekend at a thrift store. Was $20 so I thought I would give it a whirl. It's quite a heavy vacuum weighing in at 21 pounds, but doesn't look like it was abused in any way. It came with the dusting brush and crevice tool, but was missing the Pet HandiMate tool.

Whoever used it last had the wrong type bag installed. From what I found, it takes an "O" type bag, but they had used a Kenmore canister "C" bag that was too small. It also appeared that someone had run it briefly with the bag off of the collar inside the bag compartment as it was very dirty. Thankfully, the pre-motor foam filter was installed and caught most of the dirt. I fired it up in the store for a few seconds and the LED light worked and it sounded A-Ok! It also had a HEPA filter installed. I bought it and brought it home, vacuumed it out with my Electrolux canister and put it to the test. It cleaned the carpet in the den pretty good I thought, I like the manual carpet pile adjustment. The rubber wheels are also a nice touch. Again, much heavier than my Orecks.

Does anyone know approximately when this vacuum was sold in Sears stores? Was it a good model? I gather that it wasn't too cheap of a vacuum, based on the prices of the Kenmore Progressives that were available over the last 5-7 years or so.

Thanks!

 

[fan-of-fans]

They weren't discontinued all that long ago, probably about 2 or so years back was when I last saw them in stores. Never used one but I think they were pretty good quality vacuums, only one or two below TOL. I really liked the Bahama Blue model they had.

But the older Progressive series back in the mid--late 2000s was more fun, as they had three suction settings, a gentle sweep setting and the Intelliclean function.

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/app...ws/a26512/kenmore-intuition-31100-vacuum-434/

 

[stricklybojack]

.
Was Consumer Reports top value upright for at least one year if not more.
I think they are great vacs and the teal blue version is one of the nicest looking vacuums of the past number of years imo.

 

[luxkid1980]

Thanks for the info on the vac. From what I have seen, Kenmore vacuums overall have been reliable so hopefully this model will be too. Was the Intuition line made in the USA by chance? I scoured the manufacturer tag but could not find info on where it was assembled.