What Does Anyone Think Of The Hoover Turbopower 2?

[alexhoovers94]

I hear from a couple of people that the Turbopower 2 is such a bad cleaner, it is not a patch on the turbopower 1 but it was hoovers first clean air upright and still cleaned very well in my opinion. It is way better that a purepower even though a purepower has more suction.
I have heard people say that nobody likes the turbo 2, they are poorly made and just terrible cleaners. I strongly disagree.
What do you guys think?

 

[alexhoovers94]

Sorry Hoovers fist clean air upright with on board tools.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well... here's my tuppence worth - I was a big fan of the TP2 and 3 series, even the base model TP2's are good and I'd take them over any Purepower, if offered. Here are my pros and cons of the TP2/3.


 


I wouldn't say personally that the TP2 is a bad cleaner and I don't know anyone who mocks them, personally. Infact I've seen more TP2's still in use than a lot of other Hoover uprights and owners keep them because they're cheap to maintain and do the job intended.


 


Pros/Advantages;


<ol>
<li>Easy to use hose and tools, some models benefit from longer stair hose.</li>
<li>Easy to use on carpets and performance is pretty excellent all round.</li>
<li>Easy to maintain, changing belts, bags and filters.</li>
<li>Powerful but reasonably quiet compared to Purepower.</li>
<li>Much better built structurally, exterior plastics seem to last longer and feel better made.</li>
<li>Spares are usually better to get for these older models, but dependent on the type of spares.</li>
<li>Dust capacity is pretty good and I found that the bags would last a long time before needing to be replaced, but this depends very much on the type of dirt you're picking up. </li>
</ol>
 


Cons/Downsides:


 


<ol>
<li>The TP2/3 series is heavier - this is more apparent when trying to lift the vacuum, or even when using it to clean carpets.</li>
<li>For those who are 6ft or over, the height of the vacuum can be liable to make you stoop a little.</li>
<li>The rear wheels are too thin, often leaving track marks and wobble.</li>
<li>Due to its age, the micro filters and carbon filters can only do so much when picking up after pet hair and keeping odours in. Purepower benefitted from higher grade filters, even if the holder was liable to fall off at the back with extended ownership/constant removal. Also of course due to age, no additional modern turbo brush for stairs was made available (as far as I know) but that's not stopping you from using a 3.2mm sized universal one.</li>
</ol>

 

[vintagerepairer]

The TP 2, 3, and 1000 are not bad cleaners at all. If you compare them to their competition, the quality was far superior to the Electrolux contour cleaners, and on a par with the Panasonic. The downside, as mentioned already, was the weight. However the build quality exceeded that of the original Turbopower immensely. Let me put it to you like this, you would go a long way to find a TP 2, 3, or 1000 with a broken or worn chassis, or main body unit. The whole design of the original TP was flimsy to say the least, although I strongly suspect a lot of it was designed that way so as to limit the life of the cleaner.

One thing which I did not like about the TP 2 and 1000 was the narrow bore hose, which would clog up a lot. Great for people like me who were paid to unblock them, but bad news for the user. Hoover did change this to a wider hose, I have said so many times and am sorry to repeat myself (well I don't mind if you don't), this in the fullness of time was changed again when Hoover reverted to the original narrow bore hose towards the end of production of the TP2. Also the back wheels of all these cleaners were very thin, the whole wheel was no bigger or thicker than a crunchy style biscuit and combined with the weight of the cleaner would sink into the carpet pile, making turning the cleaner more difficult than it might otherwise have been.

To some extent comparing the TP 2,3, and 100 to the original TP is like comparing apples to oranges, as the two ranges had only the names in common. Though I am not saying I personally lust after such features, it always surprised me greatly that none of the TP 2, 3, and 1000 cleaners ever had a head lamp or automatic flexwinder. This effectively made the cleaners a 'lesser' range when compared to both the original TP line up and the Panasonic cleaners which competed with the Hoover.

 

[vacuummorgan]

some times with mine when the head goes on the floor the brush bar just cuts out
then when i lift it up again it stats spining again don't no if it was hoovers fault
or the women i got it from

 

[vacuummorgan]

some times with mine when the head goes on the floor the brush bar just cuts out
then when i lift it up again it stats spining again don't no if it was hoovers fault
or the women i got it from

 

[vintagerepairer]

That is the drive belt at fault. The belt is old and stretched and needs replacing. It will be fine after you change the belt.

 

[sebo_fan]

Re: TP 2 and 1000 narrow bore hose

HI VR et al.


 


In all my years I think I only ever had one clog with the narrow bore hoses on the TP2 models, and that was with a rather large piece of ripped paper envelope. I found more success with this type of hose compared to the one on the TP1 based "Total" models with the hose connection to the side and would need manually switching off when using the hose in the upright position. The one aspect I adored about the TP1's was that the wheels at the rear were just so much better. Also, on the TP3 model, I'm sure the T shape upholstery tool with lint pickers had one row of thick red brushes on one side and lint pickers on the other. Lesser Hoover models just got twin lint picker strips and the tool could also be slipped onto the end of the crevice tool/scabbard tool due to two channels of plastic inside the main dust channel of the upholstery tool.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Well I have seen a good deal of them blocked, often when something was stuck and bridging the hose. The debris got caught around that.I agree the same hose on the original TP was prone to blocking too, especially where it fitted into the cleaner.

 

[sebo_fan]

Infact, the same narrow bore hose was an extension hose that Hoover shortened and made available for the Junior stick vacuum. I had one of those for my black stick vac and it worked okay, but not of much help.

 

[alexhoovers94]

I like the narrow hose on the turbo 2, having the wide purepower (or pureshit) lol, hose on a turbo 2 just looks so silly and way to big for the machine.
It would of also been nice if they had put two extension wands on the turbo 2 and kept the short crevixe tool, as you have to use the long crevice tool as another extension wand and useing the tools on the end of the crevice tool, or even just the end of the hose, it makes a loud pssssssshhhhhh noise because of the little channel in the tools. Though the long and short crevice tools have there uses.

 

[vintagerepairer]

Well I cannot argue about the benefits of two extension tubes, but again I come back to the same thing (and on another thread someone in the USA raised the same issue), the cleaners were designed to give the consumer what they were wanting. We on here are not the vacuum cleaner consumers, we are in one way or another lovers of these appliances. Vacuum cleaners were not of course built for us, or with our thoughts in mind.

Panasonic had a massive share of the UK vacuum cleaner market back in the 1990's. They had a few innovative features on them, especially the tools, which were taken on-board (do please excuse the pun) by other manufacturers. Hoover began producing cleaners with an extra long crevice tool stored inside the extension tube, and attachments which were capable of fitting the crevice tool to make two tubes. This was a Panasonic idea. Electrolux went on to produce cleaners with tubes which fitted inside each other for storage, and in 1996 began a range of cleaners which had true floating heads, just like the Panasonic always did.

The idea of on-board tools was to supplement the main upright cleaner by having the facility to do quick cleaning jobs which required a hose. When you take into account the small size of a good deal of British homes, a cleaner like that was probably enough to satisfy your average consumer.

 

[sebo_fan]

Panasonic may have started the trend but I found their dusting brush is nasty and cheap. I much prefer the vintage butterfly Electrolux tool - such a novel and enterprising design.

 

[turbo500]

Alex, is your whole argument for not liking to use the long crevice tool as an extension tube just "because it makes a loud pssshhhhhh noise"? Do you really think your average vacuum cleaner user gives a toss whether or not it makes a "pssshhhh" noise as long as it does a good job? There are far too many people around these parts that do not consider the market, target audience and average users of old vacuums when making an opinion on them. Try and consider what your Mum would've chosen in a new vacuum - I find putting myself in the mind frame of the average day to day vacuum user helps a lot when forming opinions on such things

 

[vintagerepairer]

I must suggest that a good deal of people probably never knew that the crevice tool on the Hoover and Panasonic cleaners could double as the extension tube. Sebo-fan. the Electrolux combined dusting brush and upholstery nozzle must be one of the few products in life which combines two features in one and does both of them as well as separates. One doesn't see that often. My mother had a pale brown and white coloured tool with her Electrolux 504, and a white one when she bought a 302 later on. Both of them were so very well used, I remember how one of the wings eventually broke off one of them and mother kept that tool until the very end as she used it for suction dusting the more dirty surfaces. She kept the intact one for cleaning furniture and so one and so forth.

 

[sebo_fan]

The problem with copying though is that some brands only go as far to include the long extension tube with the tapered crevice end as the <span style="text-decoration: underline;">sole</span> tube that comes with the upright vac. The Argos Value bagged upright suffers from that.


 


One point that I forgot to add about the Turbopower vacs that have the straight extension tube AND the scabbard long crevice is to give the tools an added stretch factor. I found it very useful to have, regardless of escaping noise, especially when cleaning dust off the top of picture frames. I could never go far enough with just one straight tube and the hose. 


 


That however brings me onto another issue. The Sebo K1 may be an old vacuum, and whilst it may not look as streamlined as the Miele series, I can't stand using the short crevice tool on my Miele S4, S6 or older machines - far too noisy when used - the Sebo K1 has a proper long extension crevice which is super quiet. I wish brands really thought about the tools they make for their machines rather than just pass off what's been done before. Miele already improved the dusting brushes by replacing the old "clog-dependent" castle cut dusting brushes with proper long bristles; they should do the same with their crevice tool.

 

[alexhoovers94]

Chris (Turbo500)


I just thought it would of made more sense to have one crevice tool and 2 extension tubes, because why do you need two crevice tools, really?
It also doesn't feel very sturdy using the long crevice tool as another extension wand.
If I was not a vacuum collector and just a general consumer I still wouldn't want that loud "pssshhhhhh" noise, because it hurts my ears and I think it would bother other people when I was using it.
Although the turbopower 2 does make that noise and can get quite annoying when using the tools for a long period of time, it is worse on the new purepowers that really hisses and your ears are crying out for ear plugs!

Alex.

 

[vintagerepairer]

The consumer didn't need two crevice tools, which is why the smaller one was discontinued when the TP3 was put on sale and the TP1000 removed. Originally the early cleaners had only one extension tube but Hoover then decided to do what Panasonic did and put a long crevice tool inside a slightly shorter tube, and adapt the smaller tools so that they fitted the crevice tool to make a double length tube. One can only assume that either Hoover were originally not allowed to copy this design, or that they simply never thought of it. Either way, they obviously thought it was worth including at the first opportunity, and rather than leave a hole where the small crevice tool used to be, they put one in as well as the scabbard crevice tool.

 

[sebo_fan]

I thought the Scabbard tool was better than the original crevice though - better for getting under car seats, in between the vents of cooker hoods and getting right down into the permanent filter entrance on tumble dryers. I agree sliding the T shape upholstery tool on the end was less successful no matter if the original tool had twin walls inside in which it would allow the top of the Scabbard to lock into.