Very High Priced Vacuums - The Future?
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ralph123
Well-known member
I don't know how many consumers look to Consumer Reports for advice, but their new ratings are truly bizarre. CR has added two new user ratings to the scoring: "Predicted reliability (PR)" and "Owner satisfaction (OS)".
The top rated Shark Navigator Powered Lift-Away NV586 has ratings of 8 & 9 for PR & OS. Carpet cleaning (CC) is 7/10.
I will quote a few scores for discussion (PR, OS, and CC).
#1 Shark Navigator Powered Lift-Away NV586 (PR=8, OS=9, CC=7).
#2 Kenmore Elite Pet 31150 (PR=8, OS=9, CC=7
#3 Miele Dynamic U1 Cat & Dog (PR=6, OS=5, CC=8)
#25 Kirby Avalir 2 (PR=6, OS=2, CC=9)
So even though the CR notes that the Kirby scored the highest in carpet and bare-floor cleaning, it ranks #25 overall. Is this a bad omen for Kirby long term? Or is this a sign that CR reviewers have gone mental?
None of the other dtd brands was reviewed. Rainbow is probably happy because they tend to perform poorly in CR CC tests. Then again, with the Rainbow you have to hold a button to turn on the power nozzle, and it's not clear whether CR actually turns on the power nozzle for their tests.
Miele had several uprights and canisters tested. Sebo had a small canister tested. No Simplicity/riccar models were tested.
CR also tests some canisters that don't have power nozzles. The miele Complete c3 marin scores a 7 in carpet cleaning (has power nozzle), the Complete C3 Alize (bare floor tool) scores a 6 in CC. The Sebo Air Belt K3 with power nozzle scores a 5 in CC. Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal scores a pathetic 3/10 for carpet cleaning. Do these scores reflect reality?
The top rated Shark Navigator Powered Lift-Away NV586 has ratings of 8 & 9 for PR & OS. Carpet cleaning (CC) is 7/10.
I will quote a few scores for discussion (PR, OS, and CC).
#1 Shark Navigator Powered Lift-Away NV586 (PR=8, OS=9, CC=7).
#2 Kenmore Elite Pet 31150 (PR=8, OS=9, CC=7
#3 Miele Dynamic U1 Cat & Dog (PR=6, OS=5, CC=8)
#25 Kirby Avalir 2 (PR=6, OS=2, CC=9)
So even though the CR notes that the Kirby scored the highest in carpet and bare-floor cleaning, it ranks #25 overall. Is this a bad omen for Kirby long term? Or is this a sign that CR reviewers have gone mental?
None of the other dtd brands was reviewed. Rainbow is probably happy because they tend to perform poorly in CR CC tests. Then again, with the Rainbow you have to hold a button to turn on the power nozzle, and it's not clear whether CR actually turns on the power nozzle for their tests.
Miele had several uprights and canisters tested. Sebo had a small canister tested. No Simplicity/riccar models were tested.
CR also tests some canisters that don't have power nozzles. The miele Complete c3 marin scores a 7 in carpet cleaning (has power nozzle), the Complete C3 Alize (bare floor tool) scores a 6 in CC. The Sebo Air Belt K3 with power nozzle scores a 5 in CC. Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal scores a pathetic 3/10 for carpet cleaning. Do these scores reflect reality?
Consumer reports has long had negative reports on Kirby and i believe most door to door sellers the fact shark ranked higher in reliability then a kirby makes me discard the whole study, sharks are well known for being shitty quality that will at most and i stress at most last two years generally they only last a year and they'll near impossible to find repair parts for whereas even the most die hard kirby hater will say they'll durable and will last long
Honestly most people that bother to research vacuums will be basing it off more then what consumer reports say so I don't think it's the death nail for any company but regardless most people are just going to get the cheapest or coolest looking crap at Walmart
Honestly most people that bother to research vacuums will be basing it off more then what consumer reports say so I don't think it's the death nail for any company but regardless most people are just going to get the cheapest or coolest looking crap at Walmart
shark
Shark is junk, end of story. You will be lucky to get a couple years out of one. I'm not in to Kirby's either since I prefer canisters instead of uprights but there is no question that Kirby machines are made better than Sharks, there is no comparison there.
Mike
Shark is junk, end of story. You will be lucky to get a couple years out of one. I'm not in to Kirby's either since I prefer canisters instead of uprights but there is no question that Kirby machines are made better than Sharks, there is no comparison there.
Mike
ralph123
Well-known member
User reliability is a very subjective score for Consumer Reports to use. One lady wrote that her Miele upright was crap because when she used it to pick up pine tree needles (Christmas tree), the hose clogged. Obviously the vacuum was defective.
A Kirby reviewer complained that the she didn't know what to do when the belt needed to be replaced. She had no idea how to get a replacement belt.
A Kirby reviewer complained that the she didn't know what to do when the belt needed to be replaced. She had no idea how to get a replacement belt.
human
Well-known member
In both of the scenarios above, the defective component is the user.
ralph123
Well-known member
So does anyone have access to sales data for these high dollar vacuums to see how they are fairing? what are the sales trends? I'd also like to know if Simplicity/Riccar sales have plummeted after relatively mediocre ratings in Consumer Reports (CR) compared to Miele which has very good ratings? Have Tacony's sales dropped so much that CR no longer considers them relevant, or is CR showing favorites/bias?
I also hate the idea of in home demonstrations. Sure it's good for embarrassing people into buying an overpriced vacuum, but it seems very creepy to me. I like the idea of Tom selling premium vacuums in his store. I assume he doesn't have to grovel and beg for names for future sales leads and other nonsense.
I also hate the idea of in home demonstrations. Sure it's good for embarrassing people into buying an overpriced vacuum, but it seems very creepy to me. I like the idea of Tom selling premium vacuums in his store. I assume he doesn't have to grovel and beg for names for future sales leads and other nonsense.
The Areus-Lux place near me sells vacuums,air and water purifiers and Laundry Pro units from their store with no home demos anymore.Also central vac units.For the Laundry Pro and central vacs they send someone to your place to install those.
My thoughts on this are that a handful of these companies will stick around, but that none will increase sales, and probably sales will fall. Reason for my opinion is that first, the door to door method of sales is dead. Most communities don't allow it without a permit, and even if you jump through that hoop most people HATE door to door sales people of any kind. I've seen so much negativity regarding them on the FB page for my community. They literally post pics of the sales people and shame them online. Second, the brick and mortar shops selling vacs are typically located in older buildings, in older parts of town. Here those buildings are being demolished and replaced with buildings these mom and pop shops cannot afford. And the biggest reason I feel like sales of these machines will falter is that anyone interested in a heavy but well built vac will likely buy a used one for a fraction of the price of new. Case in point: I have had 3 Kirbys. First one I bought for $80 from an old lady who was conned into buying it for $1,200. The sales person should have known she was too weak to use it, but he sold it anyway, and it was used once when I bought it. IT was a G4 with all the attachments. Then one day I was vacuuming and hit something with the head, which broke off one of the 2 metal tabs which hold it to the machine. A replacement head was over $100, but I found a complete G4 Diamond for $60 so I bought that instead. It was well used, but worked like new. Then I saw a literally brand new Sentria for sale for $40, I bought that too but ended up selling it for $100. My point is, there are way too many nearly new machines available for $100 or less, there is no way anyone with half a brain would spend $1,000 or more for basically the same machine. And that brings me to my final point, these machines are basically the same. If you look at the Kirby you can go back 20, maybe 30 years and they are all the same. Yeah they change up the colors, maybe make the metal look more streamlined, but it's the same, there isn't any reason to upgrade. Even the Rainbow is basically the same going back to the beginning. Yeah they added a second speed, but who buys a vacuum to "clean the air"?? It's a cool marketing trick, but I don't know anyone running a Rainbow 24 hours a day on low speed to clean their air. And on top of all that you got people who can't see beyond Dyson for whatever reason.
ralph123
Well-known member
I'm surprised that no state has gone after the DTD vacuums' 3-day return policy. If these products are so great, why not at a minimum a 30 day return? Somebody has got to be greasing the palms of politicians to prevent that from happening.
