This is a curious product for sale at a leading wholesale club. The reviews seem to be very good.  The interesting thing is that it is bagless with a dual self cleaning filter system.   apparently, a dummy light comes on when it's time to switch from one filter to the other.  Anyone have any experience with this vacuum?  Is the self cleaning filter design good? 

Electrolux® Twin Clean™
Bagless Canister with Pet Kit

Electrolux® Twin Clean™
Bagless Canister with Pet Kit

Dual HEPA Filtration
Crevice & Dusting Brush &
Bonus Pet Kit Included

Hello SEVERUS:

This is a new seller at COSTCO but has been around for awhile.  Originally launched maybe a year or so ago at $500 plus, it is way down in price now at $299 before store discounts.  Not surprising it offers the self-clean filter.  EUREKA-lux offered a similar feature on a rather old now self-cleaning spin-duster.  I suspect the filter cleaner works on the same/similar priniciples.  A nice feature to avoid getting up close and personal with the dirty filter.  Don't like the smallish 1.2 qt dirt bin container, which is very typical of bagless vacuums: small dirt bins.  Still worth a look at COSTCO for the price and features.  I was at a COSTCO just recently and this model was not there.  Recently I received a COSTCO sales brochure and this was not featured either tho the EUREKA upright yellow PET MODEL was and for $120, if I recall right. The Twin Clean must be a very new COSTCO offering.  Since COSTCO doesn't offer other canns, save the iRobot, this model will probably do very well as a vacuum seller in that venue. 

Thanks for the heads up.  I'll take a closer look now that I know.

Carmine D.

I've sampled a Twin Clean before and although it has great electronics, the cleaning filter principle is a good idea in theory but you still have to clean out the central filter which can often get blocked. Electrolux in this instance may have stumbled on a marketing exercise of cleaning filters and knowing it can be messy for owners, however if you don't clean out the central filter the machine will cut out and stop working.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z3XT7euN70

The link above briefly describes this.

Also I dont know if the U.S ones have the same floor head but although I liked the push button suction controls, the underside floorhead has the same thin bristle action that the first Ergorapido / Pronto stick vac uses and that means it snags on carpets and doesn't have a very light gliding action. You'll see this if you look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFbvznUjowk

vacmanuk wrote:

Hi vacmanuk,

Thanks for both video links.  The first I found very informative. 

 The power nozzle demoed  in the the second video (when will they ever do these videos where there's a dirty rug around)  has been sold with certain Electrolux models but usually in tandem with a full-size power nozzle as with the model EL7025A (standard power nozzle, low profile PN and bare floor tool all included).

 I had an Electrolux AB EL7020A vacuum that used it in place of a standard size PN.  It performed about as well as a decently made straight suction rug tool with a little less effort required.  In that sense I found no fault as I was dealing with low pile carpeting that could be cleaned easily with just about anything. The reason it and the cleaner it came with ended up back at the store's merchandise return desk in a matter of days is that the little wheels on the end of the nozzle popped off after catching on the edge of a floor tile that had an edge that had lifted slightly.  Not my idea of sturdy, especially at the price I got it for.  I was further motivated by the postage-stamp size bags the cleaner used.

I think the equivalent of the 7025A may also still be selling under the Sanitaire name as well.  However, though I think the idea of a low profile electrically powered rug nozzle is pretty cool, the standard size power nozzle is what's being pushed and more or less expected here.  There's not much advantage offered here if all that's needed for better control is switching down motor speed..

Venson

Despite the floor head choice, don't you think it's shocking that even with realistic views from the videos shown, the idea of Electrolux's auto cleaning functioning filters are somewhat let down by the central one that gets clogged and then shuts off?

vacmanuk wrote:

Keep in mind I have not read the instructions and/or sampled this cleaner in the store/at home.  So I'm answering your question with an observation from a 60 second video and knowledge of the the twin clean, not experience with it.

I'm thinking the self-cleaning filters are the first and primary source of filtration before the central [secondary filter] kicks in to do the work before the bin dirt is contained.  If the dirt bin is dumped and replaced empty at frequent intervals the central filter, tho a impediment if clogged, will be less so.

Carmine D.

vacmanuk wrote:

Hi vacumanuk,

My God!  What I wouldn't give to be young and delusional enough to be shocked again . . .

People are people and I don't presume to know the real deal on the effect that design, bright ideas and hype have on Europeans.  Although, yes we all have our hopes, I've always come away with the impression of there being a gentler and , to wit, more sane frame of mind  abroad when it comes to gadgetry.  Elexctrolux AB, like a lot of other vacuum makers, has on occasion shown some nice ideas and nice styling.  Nonetheless, the larger part of what has been put out for us on the vacuum market has often missed the mark when it comes to promises not being quite fulfilled.

I have never been fond of the Twin-Clean even since it was first set out on the shelf and think the filtering and collection mechanism(s) are a bit over involved and also think a different approach to a bagless design could have saved some bulk or made better use of it if no practical.  I'll even go so far as to say that this dual filtration gizmo is meant more a lure for sales than a design perspective actually anticipated to do us much good.

The same as in matters of finance -- and romance -- only a couple of things apply significantly when it comes to vacuums.  What are you bringing to the table?  What have you got that I can use?  There's always lots of talk and promises by vacuum makers to, shall we say, help get their hands past the public knee but what's talk.  Nothing!

Therefore -- yes  -- I am always disturbed over the inability of new, especially new and pricey vacuums to match up to the hype being used to push them off store shelves and that, further still, prove unable to do what I could do with an old Electrolux Model XXX (not necessarily my favorite vacuum cleaner).

Best,

Venson

Well Venson that isn't the worst design of Electrolux's current ranges. The prize for bad design in my book goes to that awful Intensity model. When I first saw it, it reminded me of a single hand / single spine rotary lawn mower we had in the 1980s under the Black and Decker & Qualcast brands.

Hi vacmanuk,

It reminded me of a lawn mower too.  The idea was to concentrate suction by eliminating lengthy airways and lessening teh reduction of suction by way of leaks and friction from fan to floor.  I suppose that was achieved.  (Oreck uprights employ the same idea.  Fan chamber right down there on the floor and a short airpath to get you some bang for your buck.) However, the Infinity suffered from a most ungainly shape and -- worse yet -- no attachments.  Back in the '70s Eureka came out with a model or two that had motor, brush roll and disposable bag all under the lid of the cleaning head that were a heck of a lot prettier.  Nonetheless, they did not last long on the market.

By the way, whatever happened with the Miele "Art" series? I think they'd have been truly great if there'd be a way to work in a revolving brush.

Venson

On a positive note, price is down from $299 to $170.  Has a cord rewind [like the twin clean].  Only 16 pounds, officially classified as a lightweight.  Easy to store away due to the collapsable handle].  Excellent rug performer.  As I recall in a suit filed by the former CEO of a big box bagless brand against the Intensity, a panel of vacuum industry experts/pros found that the Intensity claim that it outlceaned the bagless brand by 60 percent [EVEN WITH A FULL BAG] was accurate, truthful, and correct.

Carmine D.

Venson wrote:
Carmine, Venson etc
For a start the Intensity uses a high filtration synthetic dust bag so it's no surprise it has down well in tests. However like the Miele D'Art series (where it is still sold in some countries) the fact that you have to bend down all the way to the floor (or I suppose you could lift it up, but can all walks of life do it?) to change the bag.

The Miele D'Art wasn't particularly successful despite their arty colour finishes and has become a rarity find on EBAY UK. Most owners complain of a lack of pick up and no wonder - no beater bars and a suction only floor head with a small 2.5 litre dust bag has sealed its fate despite it being very versatile with its swap around tube/to suction. It also clogs easily because of the dust channel to the bag which sits at an angle. Also the tool caddy on some of the models are known to break off. My own tool caddy clip holder on my old S4 is about to crack one final time.

How often does one change the bag?  To mind bending down to do so?  Vice wrapping the cord on a DC24?  Or dumping a smallish tiny dirt cup after every use or two?  All relative pain/effort.  Choose your poison.  Most would say, like me, that having a lightweight high air filtered bagged rug cleaner that consistently proves it can outclean the supposed TOL bagless [EVEN WITH A FULL BAG VICE THE EMPTY BIN] is worth the occasional costs and replacing of bags every so infrequently.

Carmine D.

CarmineD wrote:
Well Carmine the fact the Miele D'Art has a small dust capacity means owners were usually changing them in less than a month. Regardless of the "bottom fitted," dust bag, for the price paid for a premium machine the D'Art wasn't successful. It clogged too often, had a great foot pedal activated cord rewind however and the ability to have its handle turned into a suction tube. NOT the most ideal vacuum for elderly people who may find grasping and bending over difficult. The whole idea of the Miele D'Art was offering customers something different in an upright design. Not a standard vacuum cleaner by any means not only judged by its various body finishes, colours or spec. That the design clogged on the very basis of its function however must be questioned. You really don't like the idea of bagless do you? Bagless mini vacuums aren't that bad - its what the owner's expectations have of them that often go against their "natural," function.

If you were to offer me a free Dyson upright and a free Oreck or even a free D'Art, I'd take the Dyson!

vacmanuk wrote:

I was referring to the Electrolux Intensity in my post not the Miele Art series.  I was never impressed with the Miele Art.  My feeling is that Miele was capitalizing on a market of baby boomers in the early 2000's who had more money than sense.  These were the target market buyers of these lightweight uprights for small living quarters [recall the artzy fartzy designs and colors].  When the tech sector went bust in the USA, and the baby boomers found themselves with 1/10 of the wealth they had once amassed, the Art series died.  Along with the teckies who never recovered their money status either.  Soon to follow was the home market.  Once an American dream, the truth of the bust of 2008 in the USA is that home ownership is no longer an American dream and status symbol of working Americans.  Most Americans from now out will be renters not buyers.  Not a bad thing.  THis was the norm in the US prior to WW11.

Carmine D.

PS:  Sadly, some veteran posters and readers here may recall I predicted this would come to pass, [economy tsunami], on the weekend of MLK holiday in 2008 when Ben boy Bernanke pulled several all nighters to keep the US markets from tumbling after a weekend of market collapses overseas.  Our Forum censors locked the thread.  Said it had nothing to do with vacuums.  Don't take my word.  The unabridged version of the thread is still here.  Have a look if you time.  Interesting reading for those inclined IMHO.

CarmineD wrote:
Apologies there!

Actually its in the U.S that the Miele D'Art is still available amongst few countries where it is still popular. I don't find it a bad idea particularly when it copied a rare and small company called Princess, who in the 1980's sold catalogue only electric mains powered sweepers. The difference is that Miele made the mistake of producing suction only floor heads and poor motor power coupled with a clogging design. My grandmother had two of the electric sweepers and they were brilliant and yet simple in their design; a motor driven brush roll depositing light dust into a cloth bag that could be emptied, washed completely or damp cloth washable and then just replaced back into the machine. To activate it, you had to stand on a plastic pedal that pushed down on a coil within the base of the handle. My grandmother used her walking stick to get it going but she could successfully lift it up on a table (only weighed around 2kg) to open the hood when getting to the bag. I wish I could find a picture on the internet to show you this sweeper, I believe in the UK it would certainly still make an impact on sales following the poor reliability of battery cordless types.