Tried out a Shark!

[charleskirby66]

@dysonman1

Wow! I can't believe a canister outperformed an upright on carpets! The physics of that is hard to compute. Are you sure there wasn't some left-over debris in the water pan or the hose of the Rainbow? Crazy!

Alas, one man's junk is another's treasure. How much are you selling your Sentria II for?!

 

[rvarley]

I knew this would get interesting when Kirby came up

As soon as I saw comment about Shark being better than the Kirby, I knew this would get interesting. I thought it was pretty much common knowledge among vacuumlanders that the vacuum that finishes 2nd wins. I have heard from several friends that the Shark is a great, cheap vacuum. No, it won't last as long as a Kirby, but for what it is, it's supposed to be good. I've got at least a half dozen vacuums and must admit that I used the easiest, lightest vacuum most frequently because it is just that - easy. I like small vacuums because they fit where the big ones don't. My cheapest vac, a Simplicity F3500 which was given to me because it smelled bad, is one of my favorites. I've got an old Kirby and I've no doubt it cleans well, but it doesn't fit under a lot of things and it's a bear to push. We use what we like and often times, we like what is easy to use.

 

[kirbymodel2c]

Hi Charles

<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">When people don't like a brand they often "do it down" whether it's true or not. And it can quickly become brand bashing. Peoples "tests" can often also be influenced by their view point as well.</span>


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">Not to mention the general rule "Who goes last wins".</span>


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">If you look at CRI they rate the Kirby as gold on carpet pick up not to mention someone on here listed all of a  current comsumers magazines "Excellent" rated vacuums when tested on carpet. Kirby was on that list but no canisters.
</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">But if you can get a good deal on a Sentria II go for it!

</span>


 


<span style="font-family: book antiqua,palatino;">James

</span>

 

[charleskirby66]

Bye bye Sentria II, hello Rainbow and Vac-U-Flow!

@kirbymodel2c- Hopefully I can get a good deal on @dysonman1's Sentria II, before he realizes... I mean, now that he has ascertained that his Rainbow and Vac-U-Flow are better performing vacuums!

@dysonman1- Remember me when you want to get rid of that Sentria II!  

 

[dysonman1]

I was happy with the Kirby. It cleaned the carpet just fine, in my opinion. I know the 'he who goes first - loses' trick. I guess where I was surprised with the sand and grit in the Rbow pan came from the fact the rugs are not old, had been professionally shampooed before they listed the house for sale, and no one had brought in dirt. We're not even living there yet. I had vacuumed the rugs four or five times with the Kirby. We hung my pot rack in the kitchen and installed my 1984 KitchenAid Superba (and got rid of a new Maytag that was in the kitchen when we bought the house). But no real 'dirt' entered the house. That's why I was surprised at the quantity of sand.

I still like the Sentria 2, but I don't think I'll be using it much. Probably just for quick pick ups. Donnie hates it (his mother had a Dual 80 when he was growing up and he HATES Kirbys). He can't wait for the dual motor commercial Vac-U-Flo to be installed. We'll use a Riccar dirt sensor power nozzle and hose with it. He wants a Wally Flex and a Vac Pan.

 

[ocscott3085]

Tom - this is a bit off-topic but definitely consider skipping the vacpan and put in a Hide a Hose Outlet. I literally forget we even have the thing because it's so hard to access under the toekick of our kitchen island. It's also extremely loud in operation! We have about 9 standard outlets that we can use an electric hose with the Vacuflo Edge powerhead kit. However, for our main level with all wood floors and wool area rugs we installed a 40ft HAH outlet and now we rarely bring out the electric hose. We hit the furniture and hardwood with the HAH and when we want a deep cleaning, use the Riccar Supralite vacuum I bought from you last April. Best combo for us!

 

[tolivac]

Too,for me I just can't see the need for a "Vac-pan" when you can just use the hard floor tool and wand and just vacuum the stuff up."Vac-Pans" were common in some woodshops so large amounts of sawdust could be swept into the floor sweep unit connected to the shop dust collector system.--And these could even pull in small wood blocks,too.In one really old dust collector(old high school) the motor and fan was in front of the cyclone-We loved tossing woodblocks into the floor sweep for that system and listening to the "CLANG" as the block went thru the fan the peices rattling down the cyclone!the fan was powered by a 5Hp 3ph motor!In the new high school the system was "clean air"-cyclone ahead of the motor and fan.The fan discharge on that system had a "baghouse" unit that caught the fines.You shook a lever to empty the baghouse into a 55Gal barrel.
Central vacs are neat-but I LOVE my Kirbys!!!Same with the Royals and Tacony tandem air vacuums.

 

[rvarley]

KitchenAid

@tom - this is also off topic, but I had to grin when you said you were removing the new Maytag and installing the 30 year old KitchenAid. I assume you are referring to a dishwasher since its in the kitchen. My huge family of rowdy kids had a KitchenAid dishwasher throughout the 70s and 80's. I only recall it being serviced once. When I moved into my new (old) house, it had a Hobart installed which is indentical to our old KitchenAid. It has run flawlessly for the past 11 years and I'm sure for many years before that. Friends remark that it is so noisy compared to new machines, but I'll bet it will outlast most of the new ones by at least 2 times.

 

[ralph123]

If the carpets were professionally "shampooed" rather than steam cleaned (i.e. hot water washed), the shampoo bonds with the dirt/oils/etc and crystallizes. Could this be the source of the "sand"?

 

[mark40511]

Kirby and Rainbow

are WAY WAY WAYYYYY better than a Shark could ever think about being!!

But the shark is light and easy to grab and run through the house....But without my Rainbow or Lux, it would be hard to keep the dust clouds at bay during emptying..But thanks to my Rainbow and Lux, I can keep the shark running great with max suction...

I only wrote this because I didn't want anyone to think that I was claiming Shark was better, because it's NOT! If I didn't have my Lux or Rainbow, I probably would never use the Shark - back when I had a Fantom Fury in the late 90s, it was my ONLY vacuum...Emptying it, dust flying collecting on the outside of the machine while vacuuming was horrible. I hated everything about bagless after that vacuum. If this Shark was my ONLY vacuum, it would be the same horrible experience trying to keep the vacuum itself clean and running good. The only difference from the Shark and the Fantom is the Shark is sealed and everything is tight fitting so not dust escapes like it did with the Fantom Fury I had. I dealt with that Fantom Fury for 2 solid years and hated it.