Remember the Dirt Devil Spinnergy upright from 2 years ago? After a short "sabbatical", it's made a comeback, but now as the Hoover Turbo Cyclonic. Aside from the color and a few minor differences, they're identical cleaners. At $99, it's priced the same as the former Spinnergy and fills the gap the since-discontinued Hoover Whisper previously occupied, next to the Mach 3/5/etc. and the Windtunnel T-Series.
The first, most important feature about this cleaner is that it is a true multicyclonic bagless, in other words it works "properly". Unlike the Mach and Windtunnel T-Series, the shroud is correctly designed, pulling the air horizontally through the holes and effectively separating fine dust from pet hair and larger debris. Drywall dust, flour, etc. will not harm this cleaner as long as it is not vacuumed up rapidly. After using the machine extensively, the pre-motor filter still remained clean. Just as with any other multicyclonic bagless, wash the pre-motor filter every 3 to 6 months to keep the cleaner in peak operating condition.
On carpets this cleaner is a great performer, within 5 seconds of vacuuming the bin already had a surprising amount of lint in it, and by the time I was finished it had also removed an appreciable amount of grit as well. The handle body is metal and the plastic grip did not feel flimsy at all. I did notice one annoying quirk, when the cleaner is still running and the nozzle is not in contact with the carpet, the brushroll did rattle excessively. After taking the cleaner apart I found that this was due to very little reinforcement in the nozzle, specifically the brushroll housing. Make sure all hair is kept off of the brushroll to prevent any possible melting. There is no way to shut off the brushroll for bare floors, so it is probably best to use the attachments for those areas. If you have mostly bare floors, this cleaner is not for you.
For above-the-floor cleaning, the stretch hose is nice and long, although as with any other stretch hose, make sure you have the cleaner close by as the powerful suction will want to drag the cleaner towards you. The handle removes and doubles as an extension wand. The crevice tool and brush are on the small side, but what $99 vacuum is equipped with decent attachments these days? There is also a mini turbo tool for pet hair removal on upholstery, I have not tried it. Chances are, if this cleaner was previously a Dirt Devil, there's a good chance the turbo tool could be among those recalled due to flying apart while in use.
Despite feeling somewhat cheap construction-wise, I would recommend this cleaner to anyone who needs a good vacuum at a reasonable price, especially over the other offerings from Hoover and Bissell, most of which are improperly designed. Why Hoover would not use this same shroud on their more expensive bagless cleaners is beyond me, but this one works much better for much less. Which also brings me to this: Consider the average lifespan of this cleaner under normal use (in a normal household) to be 5 years. Over a 20-year period, even with 4 separate cleaners purchased over this time, there would still be obvious savings over a high-end cleaner with a 20-year lifespan in both initial cost and maintenance costs, not to mention the difference in performance. This cleaner is a great performer that, with constant suction, will outclean both low and high-end alike. And obviously if you take care of the machine, it will undoubtedly last longer than it would otherwise.
If my review sounds overly negative it is because I am comparing it to the previous Whisper, which was a fantastic cleaner for the price in every regard. Since it came along a year after the Spinnergy there were obviously some advantages. While the Whisper had no problem sales-wise (where else could you find a 2-motor upright for $119, then $99?), I imagine that it was not as cheap to produce as TTI would have liked, so they axed it and rebadged the much cheaper Spinnergy to replace it. That being said, my criticism of the Spinnergy/Turbo Cyclonic comes from a quality standpoint; performance-wise it is much better than most (with the exception of Dyson, of course!) and compared to other $99 (and less) cleaners there's still a difference in quality over those.
Date Purchased: 10/09
Price Paid: $100
Recommend: Yes |
Pros:
Powerful suction, excellent performer on carpets, true mutlicyclonic design for a fraction of the price.
Cons:
Not nearly as well built as the Whisper it replaced. Brushroll rattles slightly when not in contact with carpet, hose is short unless you're using it with the wand handle, and the mini turbo nozzle may or may not be among those recalled by Dirt Devil/TTI. I find the bottom bin trap-door release to be somewhat inconvenient, although the bin and cyclone assembly do separate for easy cleaning. |
