Why Eureka Now Makes Awful Machines

[carolinaguy1996]

Anyone know how Eureka now makes awful machines? I know dumping the Boss line, the Bravo, and their high-grade canisters was a mistake. Dirt Devil has been irrelevent for over a decade (maybe Hoover, and now Oreck) thanks to TTi.

There was this one Eureka shampooer from the 90's that was to be a rival to Bissell's first upright shampooer (and whatever Hoover put out back then); there is a commercial of it on Youtube. I know the Atlantis and it's compact Little Green rip-off were awful.

The Eureka Airspead is like the Hoover T-Series. While Eureka is worsening in build quality, Sanitaire is still the same and is still kicking ass.

Eureka dumping the 4870 machines was a big mistake, because those were fucking awesome, albeit with some flaws (I had one of those when I was a kid).

I once saw a Youtube video from bagintheback that he released in late 2012, and he said that Eureka products from the 90's were shit. I need to remind him that at least it's not their modern line-up.

 

[bagintheback]

Bagintheback here

Good thing I checked Vacuumland today! I don't remember exactly what was going on back in 2012, but I've learned alot since 2012. Eureka seems to have been going down in quality since the mid-2000s. They just discounted their last consumer F&G upright. The end of an era.

I still visit thrift stores pretty often, and it's possible to find a good Hoover Elite if you wait long enough. I saw a Runabout in great shape last week, but I haven't seen a Type U-Bag Eureka for probably over a year. Hoover knew how to make a durable machine even into the age of 100% plastic.

At this point in 2017, unless you're buying a door-to-door machine or a Tacony, it's hard to find a quality new upright. Pretty sad.

 

[kirbyclassiciii]

bagintheback, carolinaguy1996

You're better off trying to find a Sanitaire upright which still uses the classic Eureka design, like an SC679, SC684 or SC899.


 


~Ben

 

[dysonman1]

Well they don't make Eureka vacuums any longer........

 

[carolinaguy1996]

There is the Miele S7/U1, but I'd boycott Miele due to overpricing.

 

[panasonicvac]

For the past 5 months, I have been using these two Eureka vacuums in my home. I think the Precision was bought new and it has gone through a hard life here but it still works surprisingly good. The Powerline I don't think was bought new but it also still works good after all these years it has gone through. I just love these Eurekas, I definitely like them better than the Elites and the Portapowers.

 

[mark40511]

I had that Eureka

mighty might pictured there. I kept it as my laundry room vacuum. I bought it off Amazon. I think it lasted like 5 to 7 years but the switch broke and it stayed on all the time, so I would have to start unplugging it when not in use until finally it completely died. That when I took my epic 6500 and started using it as my laundry room vac. The bag system is very similar. I always noticed dust in the bag chamber of the mighty might though and the outside of the vacuum would get dusty. I'm not sure why because the bags made a tight seal very similar to my epic 6500, but my epic never has dust in the chamber at all. I was a nice little light weight canister with strong suction.

 

[huskyvacs]

It's because everyone is dumb and ignorant now and doesn't know how to repair a vacuum cleaner. They pay $200 for it, use it for 6-7 months until it gets clogged up or breaks, then they leave a 1 star rating on Amazon for it saying it's a terrible piece of junk, then it gets thrown in the dump.

So coming from the company's perspective of sales, why should they even bother to make a durable vacuum that lasts when people never fix it and just throw it out and buy a new one?

 

[hank]

A lot comes down to laziness and as husky said ignorance both go hand in hand, most people can't be bothered to lift a finger if something breaks much less figure out that vac shops are still around (albeit much less now), there are 3 in my area, and the 2 I frequent both do good work and are reasonable priced. Hell I've seen both shop owners change belts for random walk ins for free right on the spot. People do know things can be fixed they just don't care, our society is so lazy now-adays its a wonder how some people tie their own shoes

 

[carolinaguy1996]

I know Bissell is rather irrelevent now too. Their machines kind of remind me of modern Chrysler. Dirt Devil is the Mitsubishi of vacuums. Eureka is also Volvo as well-used to kick ass but not anymore. Hoover is mainly the crap GM and Ford put out. Miele is like European cars: too expensive and maitenance is a pain in the ass.

Door-to-door machines, Oreck, and Tacony are supposedly the Korean and Japanese cars (minus Mitsubishi).

 

[eureka89]

The victory was perhaps Eureka's last decent residential vacuum. Not my favorite but it was quiet and got the job done

 

[ultralux88]

I will say dumping the Bravo lin was a great thing to do for the hearing of their customers, those things were screamers.

Why does Eureka now make such crap, well I'm going to be honest and say the launch of things such as the Bravo and the plastic full sized canisters marked the beginning of this. Compare the build quality of the Bravo with the F&G machines, the plastic canisters with the metal machines, it was a big drop in quality. And even before then, things were being cheapened, like that horrid plastic handle on the 1400 series.

But I'm sure you're question is WHY WOULD THEY DO THIS?? Because, they ultimately wanted the department and big box stores to move as many of the things as possible, the stores and many customers who don't know better put a lot of pressure on the manufacturer t make the machine cost less. Typically, as no one wants to sell a machine that when first taken from the box does not at least appear to be doing a good job of cleaning, the build quality is the first thing to be cheapened, thinner plastic, cheaper types of plastic, smaller higher speed motors, using hot running motors to increase the amp draw, as buyers have been falsely trained to think more amps means more powerful vacuum. This also has the fringe benefit of meaning the machine won't last as long, necessitating the purchase of a vacuum more often, meaning even more sales and more $$$$.

 

[kenkart]

NO ONE

Makes really good vacuums anymore in my opinion....Oh they make vacuums that clean ok, but the quality and useability is gone.

 

[vacuumdevil]

Eureeka's always been kind of average quality at least that's how it was first explain to me by a long-term veteran of the vacuum industry. Definitely the sanitai re line for a while Was A step above and a great product till they pulled out of Mexico. Eureeka's always tried to give people what they want which apparently is it cheaper vacuum. We definitely saw this in the 90s 2000 and today. People still expect a vacuum to be about a hundred bucks in a box store which pressures Box stores is there are pressuring manufacturers to make them cheaper and cheaper.
So what we see today is a reflection of inflation and denial that the USD now worth a third what it was 25-30 years ago.
Now that people expect more vacuum for now a third less money they're making the machine that people want a shark knock off we also TTI/Hoover doing the exact same thing. We also saw appearance copies of Dyson vacuums about 10 years ago. For the same reason people expect a vacuum to look like it has a bunch of cyclones and a clear bin assembly.

It definitely is sad to see especially after they make great products in the 80s early 90s definitely some of my favorite vacuums I've seen over the years.

 

[vacuumdevil]

Eureeka's always been kind of average quality at least that's how it was first explain to me by a long-term veteran of the vacuum industry. Definitely the sanitai re line for a while Was A step above and a great product till they pulled out of Mexico. Eureeka's always tried to give people what they want which apparently is it cheaper vacuum. We definitely saw this in the 90s 2000 and today. People still expect a vacuum to be about a hundred bucks in a box store which pressures Box stores is there are pressuring manufacturers to make them cheaper and cheaper.
So what we see today is a reflection of inflation and denial that the USD now worth a third what it was 25-30 years ago.
Now that people expect more vacuum for now a third less money they're making the machine that people want a shark knock off we also TTI/Hoover doing the exact same thing. We also saw appearance copies of Dyson vacuums about 10 years ago. For the same reason people expect a vacuum to look like it has a bunch of cyclones and a clear bin assembly.

It definitely is sad to see especially after they make great products in the 80s early 90s definitely some of my favorite vacuums I've seen over the years.

 

[kenkart]

Eureka

Up thru the early 70s was to my mind as good as anything on the market.

 

[kirbysthebest]

I agree with Kenkart

Eureka used to be great vacs. Die hard canisters, and excellent power nozzles that many manufacturers sourced their PNs from. Their direct air uprights were dern near indestructible. I think they started down the road to hell when they went to the clean air, and then all bagless machines.

For nostalgia I bought a Eureka Boss power drive NIB bagged this year. I like the design, love the attachment holder, but build quality leaves much to be desired. The thing sounds like a black hawk helicopter, but it does a good job cleaning. I keep it because I like the looks of it, I don't use it very often because the wood chipper the tree men used is quieter.

 

[tolivac]

And we thought things made in Mexico were not a whole lot better than items made in China.Both can be good or bad.