What's the opinion of this vac?

[DesertTortoise]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/GREAT-Sanit...310514198781?pt=US_Vacuum&hash=item484c16a8fd

The owner of my favorite vacuum shop has one of these in for service. I was looking at it and said I had never seen a Sanitaire canister before. Looking at their uprights I never assumed Sanitaire would make a high end canister vac. The data tag said it was made in Hungary. His words; forget what Consumer Reports or the like says, this Sanitaire is a great vacuum. What does the assembled brain trust have to say?

 

[gsheen]

These were sold as a Electrolux ( eu version ) or AEG , some times even a Volta. I had one years ago( AEG here in SA), It was a pretty well built machine for its price. Our version did not have a PN though. It had a good suction ( 220v motor here ) but as their was no PN I ended up selling it. 
 
I would get it if you like it. All that said I cannot comment on the PN and hose set up of that particular model as I have never had experience with it .
 
I never trust consumer reports. When was the last time you went online and wrote a report over how happy you are with your toaster or car. 90% of people dont, You only go online when your unhappy about something and while their may be many more bad Vs good reports the reality is that those bad reports make up a very small number of people who have purchased the product. 

 

[eurekaprince]

Consumer Reports is a highly respected testing organization that has rarely steered me wrong. As a student of science, I trust the scientific method to offer me information about how a variety of vacuums perform under identical conditions. And when combined with brand reliability surveys which take in thousands of responses by consumers, you can get a pretty good picture of what products to avoid.

Unfortunately, many vac shop owners are not as honest as we'd like them to be and I therefore would trust a report by CR more than the words of many a vac salesperson. When encountering me in a store, they don't realize that I know a lot about vacs, and I can't believe the outright snake-oil lies I have been told over the years. On the other hand, there are indeed a few honest vac shops I've discovered over the years, and they will always get my business.

I don't have the time to measure airflow through a hose for 30 of the latest vacs on the market. CR does that for me. And when I read that a $300 Hoover Platinum upright scores "excellent" for deep carpet cleaning, why should I spends twice as much for poor carpet cleaning? Closely scored vacs are not the issue - you can pick and choose which ones serve your particular needs. But when you have test results for over 50 uprights, it makes sense to stay away from those at the bottom.

The Sanitaire you are looking at was never tested by Consumer Reports so I don't know why the sales guy even bothered to mention it.

 

[vac-o-matic]

I don't have "hands on" experience with this model, however, the power nozzle and wand setup looks very reminiscent of lower end Eureka canisters and also it looks like the one that came with a GE branded power nozzle canister I used to see at Walmart years ago. The vacuum itself might be from Hungary, but my guess on that power nozzle is China maybe? With the Sanitaire name on it, I would've thought they could've put on a better quality power nozzle.

 

[DesertTortoise]

Eurekaprince, this is a small independent shop, the vac was in for service and not repair, and he was frank enough to tell me subsequent Sanitaire canister vacs are not very good. To him this was like the golden exception among Sanitaire cansiters. He wasn't going to sell me that vac because it wasn't his to sell. It was just a conversation we had.

My opinions of Consumer Reports are based on their auto and occasional motorcycle testing and their ratings of vacuums. I find they have their biases and when it comes to motorcycle are the worst ignorants imaginable. I have enough seat time pushing both cars and motorcycles to their utter limits on and off the track and when I read some of the groaners they produce all I can do is roll my eyes. They don't know crap about cars or motorcycles. They are like white Europeans who have never once set foot in Asia trying to rate the quality of Chinese regional cuisine. Do they even know the difference between American and Chinese wheat flour for example and could they taste the difference? Would they be able to tell whether a noodle is rice or wheat? Do they even know there is a difference. That the Kenmore Progressive canister comes out on top of canister vacuum testing when it's tools are simply among the worst in the industry for above floor work and there are nearly identical Panasonic canister vacs for less money with the same motors, same floor brushes but honest to goodness adult sized dusting tools tells me they are either not honest or they have their biases in their testing. Side by side a Kenmore 21514 Progressive or a Panasonic MC-CG902, the Panasonic ought to be the best buy, not the Kenmore, and I'm the Kenmore head around here.