what is the next kirby model

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thekirbylover

thekirbylover

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 27, 2012
Messages
959
Location
Warrington, cheshire
ok so i really want to know dose anyone have any good evidence on the coulor scheme i really need help on this thanks its just im wanting to get a sentria but if the new model is nicer then i will wait and get that one instead
 
The next model is the one that will be released next...

(I.E.Nobody knows, there's plenty speculation, but little fact)
 
Very well put David!

There has been much conversation on our forum about this very subject.

Kirby is very private about their research and future models. Until production actually starts only a few selected folks will know about it.

With out a doubt, it will be a very nice machine. Kirby has always maintained quality and performance.

I might also add, they (someone from the company) does watch this site. Several years ago after we toured the plant we were asked to have some photos removed from the site....so they do watch and they know we are wondering....

Morgan
 
hey, when is kirby's 100th annivarsary? because they are keeping the sentra but changing the colors to keep it the current model until the hundredth birthday, saves time and energy. Im sure about this.
 
"they are keeping the sentra"

Erm, the (Nissan) Sentra is a car, the SentrIa is a Kirby...

There may be no I in teamwork, but there's definitely an I in Sentria... :P
 
There have been links...

to patent drawings which allegedly portray the essence and direction of the new Kirby design. There have been serious rumors about at least a color change in the Sentria, since it has been the current model for six years now, seven by the time of the introduction. The actual sale of the first new machines is normally in the fall of the previous year. I do not remember if that was the case with the Sentria, which would make it actually an eight-year run.


 


Scott and Fetzer has been producing cleaning equipment since 1914, "The Grasshopper," however the very first machine called Kirby was produced in 1935, but I am sure S&F will exploit 20145 as the 100th anniversary of the Kirby, taking some historical license.


 


By autumn 2014  Kirby will have had nothing but cosmetic changes  and tweaks since the sales of the first Generation 3 'by Kirby' in late 1989. I know the charts say 1991, but the first Tech Drive units were produced alongside the Legend II for a solid year before the LII was discontinued.  Gene Windfeldt had to quell the unrest in the ranks over not pursuing the "Endeavor" bagless OBT upright, James Dyson's technology, and so the Tech drive was brought out while still producing the LII to keep the distributors happy. Many, but by no means all of them disliked the Tech drive initially, and wanted to see a return to something like the 500 series, but lighter with more powerful motor.


 


If Kirby had gone with Dyson, they could have had a 17 year lead of cyclonic bagless technology, with on-board tools in this country.  Makes one pause.
 
I have to agree with Kirbyloverdan. If Kirby had adopted a bagless design it would have been the end of them. Most bagless vacuums don't last like Kirbys do, don't have as much power as Kirbys do, and don't filter as well as Kirbys do. Sure, they would have been the first, but when they broke-down, blew dirt out the sides or needed as much cleaning and servicing as bagless vacuums do, that would have put the nail in Kirby's coffin.
If there is going to be a new model introduced in 2014, it is unlikely that the Sentria will be changed at all before 2014. I have heard that the reason that there was no change to the Sentria was sluggish sales due to the 'Great Recession', and that there might be a totally new design on the horizon.
So, I guess we'll have to see what happens at the end of 2014. Maybe there will be something new and wonderful... and maybe there will just be a redressed Sentria... how many more shades of grey can Kirby use??? Please, try red or blue (if someone from Kirby IS reading this forum.)
Justin
 
A return to the 500 series...

with lighter weight, more power, disposable bags, and the newer handle conversion, belt lifter, and exhaust configuration would have been the end of Kirby? Or the bagless OBT? It certainly was not the end of Dyson. I'm not fond of bagless, but to have been the first and the only for 17 years? The Kirby as it has been known would have been gone, but that does not not mean the name and the company would have vanished. Short sighted to assume that because something other than what you would have preferred had happened that it would have to mean the end of all that is. Is that not precisely the kind of illogic we battle in our daily lives?


 


And just because bagless vacuums are built as junk does not mean they have to be built as junk. Filter Queen has a prototype built by James Dyson. I have not seen it up close, however that does not mean it is automatically a piece of junk.  The original Fantoms were decent vacuums, the first 500,000 to roll off the assembly line of Iona Canada. Use a better grade of plastic, a better height adjustment, a serpentine V belt, and a wider diameter hose and handle/wand.  Put 50.00 more into the manufacture (it probably cost 25.00). They sold for 400.00 originally.  It would have been possible to make them better, sold them door to door, and everyone make money. Could have been done, wasn't. It is what it is, but that doesn't mean it would have been the end of Kirby. The CMS sold for 1000.00! thru Amway.
 
Imagine a bagless vacuum made out of aliminium like Kirby's current models, I agree with trebor. It would have been nice but there is no chance of that now


For vacuum collectors like ourselves Kirby's are great but in reality they are two heavy, and not easy enough to use for your average consumer. Many people are wowed by the initial sales talk and in the end the machine ends up standing in the cupboard while a cheaper lighter vacuum is used every day.


 


Kirby needs to catch up with the times, I am not bashing the machine but think fit from someone who has a house to clean everyday, Not as someone who loves to vacuum. Hand a sentria to your average home owner   and this will be the responce, Too heavy to lift and carry, not easy to manoeuvre , to many complications to attach the hose,  cant easily be used to switch from carpets to hard flooring. To your average consumer vacuuming is a chore that needs to be done as fast as possible with the least amount of effort.


 


A large amount of homes these days do not have wall to wall carpeting but rather wall to wall hardflooring and large throw rugs. 


I believe for Kirby to stay around for the future  they need to shed some weight,( keep the metal but make it better) add on board tools( but why not incorporate a non stretch normal vacuum hose in a clever way), have a hard floor setting that is easy to operate. 


 


I love they way kirby's look I love the soft bag and I have every g model up to the sentria but I don't use them. In my house with two sons one of which is a special needs child and cats dogs and a normal life to lead i simply don't have the time to push that heavy machine around my house twice a day. ( between Joshua & Anthony and the cats we need to vacuum twice a day ) 


 


I have been running my own vac shop for a while now and have never seen so many Kirby trade inns before , on average 5 a week , Mostly ultimate G's and sentria's. Always the same complaint , its just to heavy to use. 
 
David, there are vacuums that are named after Nissans, though you're right the Sentra isn't one of them :o) Eureka has the Altima and Maxima (and Optima, I guess they are borrowing from Kia too!)

It would be nice if the vacuum manufacturers really did read and care about what we say here, we love the machines more than they do and they could stand to learn a great deal from some of the insight posted here.
 
Gsheen...

You get it because you wait on customers every day, and hear what they say.

I no longer even accept Kirby trade-ins. I cannot get even 50.00 out of a Sentria because no one wants them.

Posts here on the forum will proclaim that someone in his/her 80's uses a Kirby and the hose attachments, without acknowledging he/she is the rare exception.

In the USA 5,000 people turn age 65 EVERY SINGLE DAY. This will continue for the next 15 years. The vast majority of these people have not the inclination or the time to use a Kirby, not even addressing the strength concerns. Many people cannot project what that means for sales and come to the obvious conclusion: THE MARKET FOR KIRBYS IS SHRINKING. The number of people who can physically use, aesthetically appreciate, and financially afford a $2000.00 cleaning system is growing smaller. It just is. A smaller, lighter machine with OBT would give Kirby a fighting chance to stay around for awhile. If they don't, the question remains, who will buy their machines in sufficient numbers to keep them in production?
 
Trebor 


 


Thank you, I trade them inn as its a policy I made a while back , at the moment I have an outlet to dispose of excess  ones. I love vacuums to much to ever take them to the metal yard. 


 


My source who takes them works for the brand and resells after he has refurbished them, I had a good chuckle today when a customer traded in one and said that she had bought it refurbished from them, I had to wonder if it was one of the ones I had already supplied him.


 


 


Quick and easy is what workes these days not heavy and well made, I am always amazed at the amount of perfectly working vacuums we get in as trade inns because " we thought its time for a new one " people don' want stuff to last forever , they want a new one once every 5 or so years. If a company wishes to survive in this economy then they have to conform or fade into the distance never to be seen again.


Its sad but its reality 


 


 
 
I think the time has come to re-envision...

the 'team' concept of vacuum cleaners. Many people do not want, need, or desire a canister/tank/pull-behind vacuum (call it what you will) I think instead a direct-air upright and a clean fan upright with OBT would be much more satisfying combo. Or, does anyone remember the Hamilton Beach stick/hand vac combo unit with detachable handle and strap carrying handle on the tank. It was a direct air with a perforated bag chamber, probably to save weight, but plastics were not what they are now. Just three standard tools along with the floor nozzle. The handle was not hollow and could not double as a wand. The Metropolitan hand vac has great possibilities as a 'ride along' on an upright. The Hoover Handi-Vac was a great companion to a Convertible, just no one thought to market it in that way.

The OBT function well for quick dirt grabs, and a larger, more inclusive tool kit for upholstery, stairs and the like, and daily carpet/rug cleaning, leaving the weekly deep cleaning of the carpet and rugs for the direct air upright.
 
Inteesting I use the following, a light weight dc40 for day to day cleaning and a dc27 for my weekend cleanups , as well as a dc29 for above the floor cleaning. 


 


I think you are on the right track there Trebor. the fact that Kirby has kept the g series going for so long makes me wonder what there R&D department has been up to all these years, how many brilliant and fantastic concepts they have made. I do hope its something revolutionary rather than evolutionary. 


 


On the canister machines , one machine I never understood was a rainbow, I always found them awkward  to use ( granted Im not a canister fan ) However when we went to house sit a friend of mines luxurious estate house with the average room measuring 100sqm and the living room almost the size of my house I got to se his rainbow, in a house that size with no step down or ups it was ok to use but maybe its a personal thing I still would have preferred a upright.
 
Gsheen...

In order to appreciate a Rainbow, you have to use it exclusively, and almost daily for 30 days. The reduction of dust is noticeable, as is the improved quality of air. That insistent, consistent, persistent airflow really does work.

I would take a Rainbow over a Kirby any day. I would venture that anyone who says otherwise has not really taken the Rainbow challenge. Every day for 30 days, and nothing else.

Like Kirbys, Rainbows have their detractors and their loyalists, but if properly used and cared for, Rainbows will last just as long as a Kirby.
 
Trebor


I don't doubt that they are good, I did some years ago use a e rainbow for a while , to see what it was like, I think it was for about 3 months , It was bought brand new by the company I was consulting for, it was the first brown e series, I loved the powernozzle.


I found it bumped into things allot, I also did not like the having to fill up with water every time I wanted to vacuum.


 


I would never say it was a bad machine at all maybee its just my preference for uprights, that said if I had to choose between the two for my own use I too would take the rainbow, I hate having to buy bags and I think it is more useful and easier to clean house with than the kirby. 
 
Kirbys are certainly Too heavy, too large and can be hard to use if you are not VERY familiar with them. Kirby needs to make the machine small, lighter and easier to use with out giving up what they are good at... Powerful, multiple uses and HEPA filtering DISPOSABLE bag system.
If they did that, ditched the Door-To-Door sales and offered them at Wal-Mart, K-Mart, ShopKo and such they would do very well. If Dyson can get $500 at Wal-Mart I think Kirby could get $600, but I'd go no higher then Dysons. Even if they just offered on-line sales they would improve their sales numbers by a big margin. The days of D2D sales are over and so many of what D2D is left is less then honest sales tactics. I know that I would never let a D2D salesman into my home.
I would just like to see Kirby do three things, make the vacuum smaller and easier to use, lower the price to something reasonable and end the Door-To-Door sales.
Just my two pence.
Justin
 
Kirby

Haha kirby wont stop door to door. People needs josh. As much as i hate walmart they wont ever goaway either. We can wish what we want but it wont happen. I would much better spend a lot and have something for a life time. Then throw my money away on something that wont last me . I take care of my vacuums . But you wont see a plastic vacuum last a long time.
 
The Kirby...

is utterly impossible to learn to use without a live action demonstration, video won't do it, no matter how good. If they ditch DTD, selected vac shops as dealers would be the way to go.


 


Electro-Hygiene/Royal offered a system similar to Kirby: polisher brush, portable handle/cord and small bag w/ disposable bags. There was a front hose mount coupler, but w/o the belt lifter, a screwdriver was needed to remove the nozzle. The older straight suction machines had three flanges on the nozzle and the coupler with an attach/release lever on the machine. The short-lived Galaxy 990 by Royal utilized a belt lifter that kept the Adjust-O-Rite. Kirby threatened to sure for patent infringement and Royal ceased production. No shampooer was ever attempted by Royal.  The three position handle on the Royal uprights make them easy to use to clean mattresses, carpeted stairs, and upholstered furniture. The curved blade fans tend to spit damaging objects out as opposed to swallowing them.


 


I keep seeing a carriage with wheels and height adjustment like the very old Health-Mor uprights that would let the motor snap in and out. Make the handle detachable with a separating handle grip/switch/cord that could just plug into the handle socket on the motor unit, and include the small bag. Smaller nozzle with revolving brush for upholstery and stairs and vehicles.  The motor unit by itself would be light enough to use wands and tools directly off the front, sort of like the Vorwerk, with the ability to use a short hose and shoulder strap.  Anybody besides me feeling this? Super light, super powerful, super sturdy. Polisher/Renovator available and the OLD MOTOR-DRIVEN Handi-Butler to compete the ensemble.  At the time of purchase, a second motor unit would be available, (or included as an incentive to purchase) so the customer could have one set up as an upright and one set up as a hand unit.  I can see this in red and stainless steel and polished aluminum/magnesium. With a 50 foot cord! GAME ON, Baby!

[this post was last edited: 6/4/2012-20:17]
 
some things that I hope for in the next model: an electric hose, a motorized upholstery tool, and a power nozzle for canister mode with a head light. I am considering buying a kenmore progressive, but i still am loyal to kirby.
 
i also want to ad that that i hate turbo brushes. I feel that if it had it's own motor then it wouldn't slow down like my dyson one does.
 
Gsheen...

The early Vorwerks did not have hoses, but were light enough to swing around for above the floor cleaning. Our metal casting, molding, and stamping technologies are so much more advanced now. How light could we get a full-size upright to be? The back end of the wheel carriage would have to have enough weight to counter the pull of the nozzle on the rug so it would not pull the rear wheels up at all. The motor-fan unit could be very, very light. With the advances in motor technology, how small, powerful, and quiet could it be?

I suppose a full length hose could be included, or available for use as a tank-type unit, but with properly designed wand and tools, I see the almost complete elimination of the hose. A telescopic straight wand, a curved wand, a dusting brush, and a flex crevice tool, a floor/rug tool with a clip-on felt pad. The main tool would be an upholstery nozzle with a swivel neck with three slide on shoes, standard crevice tool, wide dusting tool, upholstery with stiff brush at the back, with red lint pickers behind the brush and in front of the opening.

With a super powerful, super quiet, super light unit, giving the belt lifter more leverage, and making the conversions from one unit to another easier, including the second motor unit to keep set up as a hand unit, I think Kirby could take the market by storm once again.
 

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