Community Discussions

We all like our "Premium" OPE...Now how about "Premium" IPE (Indoor Power Equipment)

I'm looking to buy the wife either an Aerus Lux, Oreck Dutchtech or Miele canister vacuum.

Does anyone have any experience with these good or bad? Any reccommendations?

                                                                                    Thanks,

                                                                                                 Dan

Dan

I don't know anything specifically about those brands but I did buy a WindTunnel (don't even remember the brand) which is a bagless (leave it alone Highwind...) vacuum and I have to say I LOVE the fact that I don't have to mess around with vacuum cleaner bags - changing them or trying to find them in the store.  Just something to consider when shopping for one. 

Paula

Of the brands you mentioned Meile would be my choice based upon all of the positive comments I have read about them.

Dan have you ever been to the old WTB vacuum forum?  Pretty darn informative and still up and running. 

C

I've always liked Filter Queen for a canister, expensive but the lifetime warranty makes it the last one you'll ever own you won't find a better one.


Filter Queen

Funny you should ask...
    My wife and i just bought an electrolux oxygen ultra(i know it's not on your list, but might be worth considering).  We've had a fantom fury for 6 years-and it's been a good vac- but with the dog coming into her adult coat, it's started beating on my wife's allergies a bit.  So she did all the research on different allergy websites, and for the money we could spend, came to the electrolux as the conclusion.  It was 600 bucks -100 mail in rebate, and it uses special bags that allegedly trap the most possible amount of stuff.  Has a highend hepa filter(washable and reusable) on the exhaust, comes with a bunch of gizmos to use with it(including a motor driven powerhead and a turbine driven mini powerhead), and has a ~14amp motor(they rate it as a 1400W machine which means about 14amp).  We've done the whole house top to bottom 3 times, plus a number of spot vaccumings(in the dogs room to keep the hair down) and have yet to fill the bag.  It's also much quieter than the fantom, more versatile, and lighter as well, and it has a couple of brushes that make doing hardwood flors/tile great.  The interesting thing i found through the whole process, is that the legendary Kirby was not mentioned on any of the sites she went to.  Anyways, take that for what it's worth :)

FWIW--According to my wife's research if you have bad allergies, a "bagless" style vac is the WORST thing you can buy, esp if you are sensitive to dust/pet dander, as the bagless designs(even the dysons) can't filter down small enough, and even with a hepa filter(keep in mind there are different levels of hepa certified filtration) still pass alot of what they suck up.  So bags are the way to go--I know it's counter to what you think, but when she showed me the websites, it made sense.  If you like, let me know and i'll get the website she used for her research and post them here if it's ok with the mods.

SO how does the "Lux" compare to the fantom?  Well, it definitely gets the rugs cleaner, and the powerhead seems to lift dirt from deeper in the carpet than the fantom could.  It also(going by pure feel) has more suction, and my wife claims that the quality of the exhaust air is much higher than the fantom, as she doesn't have sinus headaches since we got it.  Use it about once/week- just like we did the fantom.

Terrapin,

I did not like the looks of the oxygen for the money. Eureka bought the Electrolux trademark and uses it on their highend Harmony ,Oxygen and Oxygen Ultra.

The Aerus Lux is the Electrolux of old. Apparently when Areus air purificaton bought the manufacturing rights to Electrolux the brand did not come with it...so it is now Lux.

I saw an Oreck Dutchtech and was very unimpressed with the feel and construction. $899.00 10 year warranty

The Mieles handled well and for the money look good. $499-1200.00 . 5 year warranty and not a lot of dealer support in the area.

The Lux still looks like king to me.....but you need to mortgage the castle to buy one. $1049.00 for the midline 7000 model with a 10 year warranty.

My wife wants a $150 dollar machine.....but I like quality....only buy once every decade or so.

I will try to find WTBV forum thanks

                                                                                        Dan

We have central vac.Another consideration.Expensive unless you can do it yourself with pvc pipe.It works excellent.You have to get used to working the hose.You can get quilted covers to protect around corners.My vacuum head works on a vortec from the suction,and it has a belt to the roller brush.I swear by it. When anyone asks,I say my vacuum really sucks.

We have an expensive hoover and an 8 pound Oreck.  What is the one that gets used the most?  The light weight Oreck.  Easy to move around and go up and down stairs.  Another thing to consider.

Thats whats good about the central.It even has a small power head for stairs.

Dantheman wrote:
Yeah i knew that about electrolux/eureka.  Like i said, my wife did the research and her criteria was allergen removal from the air.  Regardless of who makes it, the opinions on allergy websites she went to seem to be that even for a couple hundred more than we paid, you won't get better allergy irritant removal from the air, you have to get into the "mortgage the castle" zone.  It seems more than well built enough to stand up to how we take care of things, and it's was what her research led her to get.  And true to the research, her allergies are better.  No more headahces, nosebleeds, dizzyness, or fatique.  One thing she did learn from it all is that just cause a vac may be more expensive, have a larger motor or more suction, doesn't mean it's a better vac from a clinical standpoint.  One of the things i noticed about the wtb-v forum was that while they got into things like powerhead performance, motor/impeller construction, etc, they didn't (probably couldn't) really say much about the quality of the air coming out of the things.  Kind of how like in the ope forum we say that OHV motors are more efficient, but there isn't a one of use that can say they've sniffed the exhaust of one and compared it to that of an lhead :)  Anyway, good luck on your search, below is a link to one of the sites my wife used in her research(if it gets mod removed, pm me if you want it)

allergy buyers club

Paula wrote:

Paula, Paula, Paula,

How could you think that waving a red flag would not cause a lot of bull to head your way?

The machine is not truly bagless, since the bag may very well be on the outside, not the inside.

If a man were operating it, would you still say there were no bags involved? Suppose he was a low-life scum bag, or maybe even a real dirt-bag. Again it would be technically incorrect to say the machine was bagless.

Hope that cleared things up.

Well gotta run now, I hear a lady sharpening her oriechtomy scalpels again, whatever those are. I'm just not staying around to find out.

I've got the Hover Windtunnel like Paula. I like not having to change bags,  just dump the canister and clean the filter. I am dissapointed the the direct drive brush system. Something got jammed in the brushes and did some significant damage to it. I don't think this would have happened with a belt system.

Hi Dantheman:

We have the Electrolux Epic 6500 and have had it for about 10 years now. Mrs bbwb and I really like it and have not had any trouble with it.  If I had to list a gripe it would be that the bag is a little small, but, the smaller bad forces you to change it often and thus not get the "dirt smell".  In fact we have been so impressed with the cleaner, we wound up buying an Electrolux upright to use downstairs.  If you want to save some bucks, check out ebay...they have plenty of brand new ones or "refurbished" units for a good price.

bbwb

I installed a Nutone Central  vac system in our house, after having to buy a new vacuum cleaner it seemed like every couple of years.
Jane says it is the best thing I ever did for her in 25 years.
She loves it. It is the most powerful we have ever had, it is quiet, and all exaust goes outside, so it does not recycle junk back in the room.

It is an EASY project, even in an existing house. My house is big, and i only needed three outlets to get everywhere.

Online package prices are good, and easy to get parts , etc, if ever needed.  Also adds value to the house.  Neighbors cannot "borrow" it.
I also got a "shop package" with it that is awesome for the basement, with a 50 foot hose, etc.
The "vac-pan" under the kitchen cabinets is cool.

It was a fun project...it can easily be done in less then one weekend...maybe just a Saturday.

Frank D.

We have an Oreck XL2.......Never again!

It's not bad, but other than it being 8 lbs, it's definately overpriced for the performance.   We bought it while we were expecting our first child, thinking that the floors could never be clean enough.   It is light and did a better job than our old one but it was pricey and not very well built.  Very flimsy, and kept falling apart.  I complained to our dealer and they offered to repair it. (Locktite on a couple screws).  Not long after that, it became evident that the design was poor, dust bunnies accumulated in the upright tube to the point of blokage.  Again I complained, and it was then fitted with a new tube of  new design, (appparantly I wasn't alone).  Then a couple of years later the motor developed a funny whine, took it in they replaced the motor, a couple of months later, new motor seized.  (I know you think I was sweeping out a barn with this thing and abusing it, but actually  I had it serviced annually by the dealer(included in purch. price).  They were going to  replace it again, and I had told the store mgr. that I would not buy this thing again.  She was stunned,  (why? Who knows? the emporer has no clothes syndrome?)  Any way she told me to come back the next day. I did and she gave me a brand new unit. (Newer design, with full new warranty).  I was impressed with the service, but 9 months later when it would pick up any longer, I wasn't impressed.  Plastic piece in the bottom  of the tube cracked, voiding all suction.  Took it back, they replaced it (service guy said he had seen several cases of this same problem).

My wife began selling commercial cleaning products and equipt. 2 years ago.  She brought one of her demo units home to our new house.  Staggering, was the difference!!

We had vaccumed the new place a couple of times with the Oreck already.   The comm. unit is a baggless HEPA filtered vac by Sanitaire (Eureka). Its heavy, but also Heavy Duty.  She sells them to several hospital accts.   The amount of junk it sucked out of  recently vacuumed carpet was scary.  It also showed what a poor vacuum the previous home owner had.  In each room, we got litterally 1-3 containers of dirt out of each room.  These carpets were in good shape, not  stained or showing any signs of wear, looked to be less than 1 or 2 years of age.   What we got  was a combo of dirt, and carpet fibers.  It was obvious that much was loose fiber and fuzz from the manufacture of the carpet.   Yet all the vacuuming the prior owner did and our Oreck prior didn't remove this.  And no, its not a case of this vaccum sucking or beating every last fiber out of our carpet.    It has since stopped "shedding".  This vac is not perfect, (terrible for hard floors) but it  clearly showed the short comings of our Oreck.

Long story short, my opinion of Oreck is a lot of hype.  It is lightweight and if that infuences how often you use it, then it may have merits, but for a avg. joe that wants clean and reliabliltiy, Oreck falls short.  My .02.

Emmo--
    I too got the same impression of the Oreck, as did my wife.  And to be perfectly honest, i'm none too impressed with my brother in laws 2 year old Kirby, either.  I mean it's a nice vac, but 1500???  Really?  For that money i know there is better, and, i think there is better for way less too.  Nice to know i'm not crazy about the oreck though, LOL ;) 

Mc master-Carr has one called a wisper vac that is excellent.Best canister vac I,ve ever used.

http://www.mcmaster.com/

why can't I post a freaking link?Never mind.Have to highlight it.

terrapin24h wrote:
Yeah, I know my Oreck isn't as "high end" as a lot of the vacs mentioned in this thread, but we paid $500 roughly for the Oreck, (it came with the little cannister vac as a "freebie") bags, belts, filters and 5 year annual service included)and to me, $500 is real money. Our previous vac was a 15 year old $100 hoover that was still going strong and never needed anything but belts and bags.  My brother and his wife had an Oreck for a couple of years and loved it.  My wife was expecting when we shopped and of course fell in love with the 8 lb aspect, so we bought it.

The Sanitaire demo that my wife has retails at about $350 but you can find them on the web for  less than $250 (Her cost in volume is like $170!, She has to buy like 20 minimum to get that price).

The Oreck dealer has certainly stood on her head to keep me happy (which is rare anymore) but I'm just not sold that it is anywhere worth the $$.

"Hey Emmo, you talkin to me?"

The Oreck we have is 8 years old.  The only servicing that I have had to do is replace the belt.  Caught a small hinge and the brush stopped and the little engine just ripped the belt to shreds.  Since it is used once or twice a week the service requirements were very low.  I only wish my OPE required as little attention.

 I like the weight of vacuum.  In order to come it at 8 lbs. you need plastic and as little metal as possible.  You will not get Ariens/Simplicity type construction and weigh so little.  Maybe I have been lucky but the unit works.  I also seem to remember that Consumer Reports has it in the middle of the pack. 

If you want heavy duty, high tech the Oreck is not your machine.  If you want a light weight unit that will do an acceptable job cleaning the Oreck is something to consider.

I went with the best on the market, takes very little power to run, even works well when there's no electricity (which happens frequently in good ole Nova Scotia)...it's a broom and dustpan.  LOL  Very inexpensive and Chris even uses it.

Sherri

TomP wrote:
LOL Tom!!

I'm happy that you like yours. Obviously many people do or they wouldn't still be in business.  I definately would rather push the Oreck around, it is much easier.  Glad too that you have had better reliability than I have.   My dealer has been super, I would buy from them again, but they ONLY  sell Orecks.

Tom, hahahaha! 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Taking your advice I got on our sister site "what's the best vacuum .com". This site is filled with knowledge and advice from vacuum dealers and techs.

After looking at the Aerus ( read Electrolux) cannisters both used and new my wife was horrorfied when I told her the prices.I then began looking at the Aerus uprights because some are slightly cheaper.

A dealer from Indiana told me that the Sanitaire 6600 is made by Aerus under contract. The agreement with Sanitaire (read Eureka ) is for 24000 vacuums or two years which ever comes first. This is a commercial vacuum that does not have a lot of the expensive attachments of the Aerus. It has a expanding hose, dusting brush and crevice tool. Two  motors. 8.5 amps. This gentleman said that the 6600 is a stripped down Aerus 4000 that was sold betwen 2000-2001. 

Online I paid $318.00 plus free delivery and no sales tax. The Aerus uprights are around $700.00 plus tax.

The Sanitaire 6610 is geared for the home owner (navy blue with head light) for $499.00. You can purchase more nozzles and stuff for this one. 

If anyone is looking for a bargain this is it.  Aerus Lux quality at a Hoover price.

I'll let everyone know how it works after we get it and use it a few times.

                                                                Thanks everyone,

                                                                                                           Dan

Dan

I am curious...is it a bagless vacuum? 

Paula

Paula,

No, it is not bagless. Just do a google search on Sainitaire 6600 or 6610 and you can see photos of them on different vacuum sites that are selling them.

                                                                                                                                  Dan

Paula,

Take a look at a photo of the Sanitaire 6600 and print it or make a mental picture. Then do a Google search: Aerus Download.

That site will download owners manuals of any Aerus Vacuums they've sold over the years. This download will tell you all you need to know about the mechanics of the vacuum,

Scroll to the Aerus Lux 4000 upright and download. You will see that it is the same machine as the Sanitaire 6600 !!!  The Aerus Lux 4000 sold between the years 2000 and 2001 and the MSRP was $1199.00!!! They both have 319 air watts as does the current Aerus commercial upright. This WAS a "BEST KEPT SECERET "

I'm told the Sainitaire 6610 ( home owners version at $499.00 ) has 395 air watts like the current Aerus Lux uprights. I'm aso told that they had to redesign the casing to fit the larger motor in the 6610.

Look at the photo and owners manual and compare for yourself.   What a Steal at $318.00 !!!

                                                                                                                                           Dan

Dan

Googled it and found it just fine, even the price you were talking about.  I like the feature of the sensor alert for reduced suction flow...(read: a clog ) so if your mind is somewhere else (like mine usually is during housework), you haven't vacuumed half the carpeting before you realize it isn't picking up. 

I am suprirsed, however, that these higher end vacuums are not bagless.  The bags are a pain in the butt to change, a pain in the butt to find in the stores and expensive!  I am sure that my WindTunnel is louder because of it being bagless...I can live with that.  I know that the suction is much better than my previous vacuum (I was embarrassed at what came up the first time I used it versus my previous vacuum! ).   I wouldn't consider the Wind Tunnel a high end vacuum by any means but I am curious why the end vacuums don't have the convenient feature of being bagless?  Perhaps they make so much money on vacuum cleaner bags, it isn't an option they want to offer? 

Paula

My solution to the vacuum and floor cleaning...

...a dirt floor... !

...soaks up spills too !   


Dave...

terrapin24h wrote:
Paula,
We bought our Meile because of the pets, and we wanted the air to be as clean as it could be when it came out of the vacuum.

Sorry Mints (and Terrapin24)..missed those previous posts. 

I wasn't aware of the problems with allergens with the bagless but my youngest daughter has allergies (mold) and she actually seemed to clear up a bit (were able to stop Claritin), maybe because we were pulling more dust and hair out of the carpet. 

Paula

Paula,

Consumer Reports stated that if one suffers from severe allergies or ahsma (Spelling?) that they should wear a dust mask when emptying the cannister of dust...being that the dust may fly up into one's face when it leaves the cannister. Some bags claim to have micro-filtration properties.

I know from using an Electrolux upright in my former life managing a Shoe Town Outlet store in the mid 80's that they are one of the easiest bag swaps going, compared to some of the other brands that I used during my illustrious retail career.

But hey...if your happy with a bagless and it works for you God Bless...A lot of other people must feel bagless is great too  because it seems that every company offers several models.

I just think it's funny how a manufacturer can put a different name and color on a vacuum and get hundreds of dollars more for it.

                                                                                                                             Dan

Hi All,

Well, I changed the order to the more expensive Sanitaire Sytem Pro 6610 on Monday morning. It was delivered on Thursday morning.

The thing works great !!! I can see where the beater brush grooms the carpet. The profile is so low that it goes under just about anything. I was a little disapointed that the 6610 is sans the headlight..apparently Sanitaire made a design change. Perhaps it was a clearence issue. But I did get the 3 way power switch with this one so when the wife uses the on board attachments the beater brush won't dig a hole through the carpet. It also has a two year warranty as opposed to the 1 year on the Sanitaire 6600.

If I were to do it again I would get the ProTeam 1500XP. Same basic vacuum as the Sanitaire from another commercial vacuum company. The 1500XP has the 3 way power switch, on board tools, 15ft more cord and 18 gauge at that. It also has a built in exhaust filter. That filter is a $20 dollar option on the Sanitaires. The 1500XP also has the power switch and onboard tools more convenietnly placed.

The warranty is 2 years also but more extensive inculding time periods for labor charges, 10 years on the canister etc. And the same price I paid for the 6610 $499.

But overall it does exactly what I want it to ... and the same thing as an Aerus Lux except  $400 cheaper

                                                                                                                  

                                                                                                                    Dan

 

  

Go with the Lux. I have 3 that I have inherited. One from my mothers mother which is now 72 years old and still works. The second is one my mother bought 55 years ago and the third is a Lux Epic 6500SR. That one is about 15 years old. They all still work and suck real good. You just can't kill em'. I would highly recommend buying one on ebay. You can save $1000 or more and have a great vacuum that you will have for ever. The lux in the last 20 years havn't changed much at all except for looks. Even if the lux you grab on ebay needs a part here and there you will still save a bundle.