UK Guys - Catalogue Scans

[turbo500]

I see as well they were still selling the Hoover Turbopower

Well, that's actually a Hoover Turbopower 2 that ran until about 2003. The last proper Turbopower was the U1650, which ran until 2001. 


 


Also, that style of Hitachi actually out-lived the newer floating head design and wasn't discontinued until about 2004. 


 

 

[vintagerepairer]

If you were lucky (and it is a word which in context is so massively subjective) you could still get the Hitachi with the floating head in 2005. Argos stopped stocking it at the end of 2004 I think, that is to say I am sure it was not in the first catalogue of 2005 but I know it was very much available in the last one of 2004. They were red by then. I know of at least one store which carried on with it into 2005. It could well have been old stock of course.

It is quite strange, as looking at all those pictures, I had forgotten so many of the cleaners. Those Sanyo cylinders were one of the worst machines I have ever had the misfortune to set eyes on.

 

[super-sweeper]

Is that a twin-tank dyson?Someone please fill me in!

-Alex.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The DC03 upright had a dust tank on one side and another tank for the two filters on the other. It was a way of designing something which looked different and also helped to make a slim machine. The 03 was designed to go flat under beds and hang flat on a wall for easy storage. In later years came the DC11 cylinder which did actually have two cyclone tanks. This I later discovered was purely to assist the physical design of a cleaner which had a wrap-around hose storage system. It had nothing to do with better performance.

 

[madabouthoovers]

The DC03 was one of the longest running models, due to its light weight, which was popular with more elderly customers. It was the first upright to feature the brush control feature (clutch) and the right hand tank had two large filters in it, one for the pre motor on the top and the post motor hepa on the bottom. This also came in the clear plastic as a special edition.
One of its main let downs was that it wasnt very powerful, having a smaller motor than the DC01 and DC04, but because of its lighter weight, it was a very big hit in the UK

Turbo500 - I know its a turbopower 2 sorry, missed the 2 off the end, but thought the T2 was discontinued about 2001, having been replaced by the Purepower

 

[turbo500]

but thought the T2 was discontinued about 2001, having been

The Purepower was launched in 1997, with both the Turbopower and Turbopower 2 continuing as more budget models. By about 98/99, the Turbopower Total System's were completely discontinued and only a basic hardbag Turbopower with no bag full light or air freshener was on sale. By 2000, this was also discontinued. The last Turbopower 1 was the soft bag U1650, which I only ever remember being stocked by the Co-Op department stores, but it could have been sold elsewhere.


 


The Turbopower 2 ran until 2003, although by the end of it's run, it had been reduced to a very budget cleaner. The last lineup consisted of the yellow 900w model, blue 1000w and bright red 1200w models with no bag full light and quite cheap looking logo's and writing. I remember the whole line up being stocked by Woolworths/Big W stores and Tesco Superstores in 2003, with the Hoover Studio cyclinders (again, another budget cleaner).

 

[jmurray01]

Do you know of the last TP2s had the Activator brush rolls fitted Chris?

 

[madabouthoovers]

So the Purepower thats in its present form in Argos today is essentially now 15 years old in design - thats some going on the same body style, now up to 2100Watts and climbing. They really do need to bring a new bagged model out to replace the Purepower. Saying that though, the Sebo X4 is getting on a bit now as well, I think it was introduced in 1999, so essentially its 13 years old as well, and based on a 21 year old design of the X1. Love the X4 though, still a great cleaner, which is more than I can say for the cheap and tacky current Purepower.

 

[turbo500]

Jamie, I think they did. It was certainly after the discontinuation of the Turbopower 2 that Hoover stopped using the activator brushroll in the Purepowers - my friends 1600w Dust Manager has the activator in it.


 


Steve, the Hoover Junior ran, with a few cosmetic changes, from 1945 - 1988 (although the later and more popular style ran from 1958 - 1988) and the original Hoover Turbopower ran from 1983 - 2001 with, again, very few changes. Similar story with the Electrolux 500/Twin Turbo cleaners which were launched in 1971 and were still on sale as late as 1994. In history, it has not been uncommon for cleaners to run for long periods of time. Although I do agree that Hoover need a new bagged cleaner. There recent Freedom, Slalom and now Turbo Power uprights have been a considerable improvement on their older bagless cleaners, it's about time they brought out a higher performing bagged cleaner. Having said that, if a cleaner continues to sell, the company will still produce them. The Purepower is the best selling bagged upright in the UK (despite the Panasonic bagged cleaners being cheaper, higher performing and better made) - as long as people buy them,  Candy will make them.

 

[jmurray01]

So by saying that Chris, you're implying that people stopped buying the TP2. Did they?

I couldn't imagine that happening as it was cheap and certainly cheerful.

 

[madabouthoovers]

I think the longest running cleaner in its current form, to still look identical to the original has to be the Henry - It was launched in 1981, so has now been going pretty much unchanged for 31 years, so that just about beats the Hoover Junior, as the early Juniors were nothing like the later 60's version which ran through to the late 80's pretty much unchanged in basic design. I would love to see another brand new Hoover bagged model, and one that runs at considerably less wattage than the current power guzzling 2 kilowatt Purepower. It would be great to see Hoover bring back the bells and whistles that the old Turbopower 1000 autosense had. It seems that the bagged range are all so basic now, with about the only exceptions being the German made Sebo and Miele uprights.
I'm going away from bagless now anyway, much prefer my Bagged Sebo X4 and Miele S6 for everyday use. The bagless novelty does wear off after a while, and most of my bagless models very rarely get used.
Having used all my models, and made the choice of my all time favourite - its the Sebo X4 hands down for the upright choice and the Miele S6 just pipping the Henry for canister choice. Says something doesnt it, A 20 year old design upright and a 31 year old design canister being my favourites. I just love the Sebo X4, and can not understand why Argos dont sell them, because I think they would be a great seller to rival the Dyson - and Sebo's are so reliable as well.

 

[turbo500]

Steve, a few points.


 


The Hoover Junior 1334 was launched in 1958 and mostly resembles the rest of the junior range. The 375, 119 and 1224 are the only Junior's that look radically different to the rest. 


 


The problem with the Turbopower 2 and 1000 is that they were very top heavy. A contact in my local vac shop was recalling how, back in the day, a little old lady had gone out and bought one from some big chain shop but found it too difficult to push - she exchanged it in his shop for a Panasonic. 


 


Argos did stock both the X1.1 and several of the K series cleaners a few years ago, but they only lasted 2 catalogues as they weren't big sellers. The problem with Argos is that people buy things based on the facts infront of them. A 7.5kg, 1150w, £200 bagged upright is never going to out sell a 6kg, 2100w bagless upright at £79.99 - your average consumer would think "this one is more powerful, cheaper and bagless - duh, no brainer!". It's stores like John Lewis, Euronics and independent retailers where Sebo find their customers, because a. the staff tend to know what they're talking about and b. the customer can test drive the machine in-store and see the performance for themselves. If Argos did a full display listing all the features of the Sebo and what makes it so good, drawing particular attention to the lower wattage motor,  S class filtration (I think those would be big selling points in todays market) and the reliability record, they'd be much more successful. However, Argos simply stuck them on the page next to all the other bagged uprights

 

[vintagerepairer]

Jamie, the Turbopower 2 won't have been discontinued as a result of poor sales, because people can of course only buy what is available, so faced with a Turbopower 2 or one of the alternative brands & models, the Turbopower was generally a good buy. As has been said just now, it was a heavy cleaner and as well as that it could be hard to push, although by the time most people realised they had already bought the cleaner.

But ultimately by 2003 the style of the cleaner was very dated. In fact, they were dated when they went on sale in 1992, when you consider that the Electrolux Contour and Glider were quite different in design and had been around for a couple of years already. Panasonic too had introduced a more curvaceous looking cleaner around 1992 and the Dyson DC01 was on sale from the end of the same year. This rather square-looking cleaner ran for 11 years, which was quite a time by standards of the day, although of course it came to be that the Purepower design is now well into it's 16th year and is still around in one variation and another. It was also probably much cheaper to make just the one design of cleaner, with the Turbopower 2 being replaced by a very basic Purepower. Although I have seen Turbopower 2 cleaners on sale for as little as £49.99 in more recent years, the typical price was around £70 and there were Purepower cleaners already being sold for similar amounts.

 

[madabouthoovers]

As budget bagged cleaners go, I think the Electrolux powerlite 1700W is a great cleaner for the price it sells for, and its very light to move about as well as light to pick up. It gives the carpet a good groom too, and the pet lover version has the mini turbo tool. I think it would have been a good choice for Argos to sell, as their bagged upright range is very limited, and the Miele S7 is so expensive at over £300 compared to the Panasonics and the Hoover Purepower, I bet they dont sell many S7's.
The only problem I found with the Powerlite is the hose is very poor and tends to kink easily on the attachment to the elbow on the back of the cleaner, other than that, I cant fault it - A great little cleaner for under £100.

 

[sebo_fan]

Chris - totally agree with you regarding the TP2/3. Buyers were getting into the lighter feel of upright vacuums, buyers finally seeing the light with Panasonic as opposed to choosing the TP2/3. I found the whole aspect quite sad, but managed to get a good price on my yellow Hoover TP2 900 watt upright when it was bought brand new, and heavily discounted because no one would touch it as it was too heavy compared to the other uprights at the time.

Actually Chris, the reason Sebo stopped selling the X series at Argos wasn't for the lack of demand but rather for the fact that John Lewis were getting fed up of customers who demanded the "knowingly undersold" policy and Argos were one of the many franchises who sold the X series at cheaper cost. JL threatened to stop buying in Sebo vacuums. SEBO UK responded by pulling the X uprights out of the Argos franchises, re-releasing the X4 Excel solely for John Lewis and leaving it at that. JL after all were one of the first independents in the UK to showcase and sell SEBO vacs.

Don't forget though Euronics, Comet, Currys and Tesco sell SEBO vacuums so its not as if the buyer is losing out.

As for the Electrolux Powerlite upright- its a budget cleaner and feels it - I found it was a great replacement when I first bought mine back in 2007 to replace my budget LG bagged upright. I find it great to use but long term it doesn't survive very well, not helped by its injection moulding feel and lack of versatility. No bag fill indicator, short and useless hose on the rear and wonky wheels, it certainly is built to a budget even if it does offer a good carpet cleaning performance. I did buy the long "Stairmaster" hose from EBAY UK a couple of years ago but sadly that hose mirrors the horrible "smooth" ribbed feel of the grey one on the back of the Powerlite - and it kinks in use as well.

 

[turbo500]

Jacob, do you have anymore of these? If possible, can you confirm the model number of that Panasonic in the top left of page 464?

 

[suctionselector]

Panasonic

Doesnt say Chris, but it is very similar to my grandma's MCE468 - the last Spanish one, but this one could have been later. I do have others and now have my working iMac back! So I will be soon uploading more photos!

 

[alexhoovers94]

what happened to uploading the 2002, 2003 and 2004?

 

[suctionselector]

Sorry Alex

I promise I will in the immediate future, I have Spring Summer 1999, Spring Summer 2001, Spring Summer 2002 and Autumn/Winter 2004. I will get them up soon.

 

[alexhoovers94]

Oh thanks very much, I am really looking forward to that!

Alex.