Vacuumland inspired me to purchase two things I've been wanting. Make that needing. First a new Kenmore model 35923 upright, top-rated by CR. I've only had the chance to vacuum the carpet in my family room, but it seems to be doing the job very well. It's much quieter and noticeably lighter than my ailing 15-yr. old Hoover. And the self-propel feature works on the new KM!

I have two carpeted stairways to the lower level of my house and carpeted stairs leading out to the garage, so two features caught my eye: the smaller, powered nozzle for stairs and a longer than usual hose.

It has a (I'm guessing useless, but love those pretty, pretty lights) feature that's supposed to tell you when the carpet is clean (or rather, when the machine has picked up everything it's going to, LOL).

Here's the machine:

Here's the dirt sensor feature:

And here are the touchpad controls on the handle:

And here's my new shop vac. Talk about suction! I ran it around my garage a bit and it picked up a ton of debris without flinching. Not as noisy as I thought it would be, either. Of course I'm using a filter bag with it, so that may muffle the mayhem a bit.

Anyway, doing my bit to keep Sears's stock up, LOL.

WHOA! Your Kenmore is better than my Kenmore. I have the yellow version without the extra buttons. Mine is two/speed and has the bare floor/carpet switch (switches the beater on or off).

So what does the Intelli-clean do?

Hi Jason-- When the IntelliClean light glows (green), it means you've completely cleaned the carpet. There are no more particles passing through the optic sensors (located in the opening where the dirt bag collar attaches).

The sensor lights glow red (much dirt being collected) to amber (a little dirt still being collected) to off; then the green IntelliClean light comes on.

When you select the IntelliClean button (on the controls) it automatically shifts the motors (one for suction and one to drive the agitator) between gentle, medium, high and maximum, depending on how much dirt passes through the optical sensors and whether you're on carpet or bare flooring. It's an OK feature---I found the frequent speed changes a little pointless, but it's kinda cool. If it lasts into vintage status, it will be a fun machine to show off--all these gimmicky features, LOL.

It really pulls stuff out of the depths of the carpet, though! It was pulling much more grit out of the carpet than my Hoover did. And it's quieter, which is nice. I think Hoovers are great vacs, but they're SO loud.

My favorite feature is the little powered stair nozzle. I thought it would be wimpy, but it's works really well. All three of my carpeted stairways were embarrassingly filthy and it cleaned them up perfectly. And the machine balances well on steps. I set it down three steps lower than the one I was cleaning and it balanced perfectly, unlike my Hoover, which you had to hang on to while you tried to clean the stairs.

I wonder who makes Kenmore's vacuums. Do you know, Jason?

now makes Sears' Kenmore vacuums.

The link below is to the MC-V7720, which is a Panasonic baglesss model with the same three-speed dirt-sensor feature.

And about $100 less than the Kenmore, too! Well, I got mine for $279 on sale, but I think they list at $299.

Thanks for the info. I didn't even realize Panasonic made vacs. I'm new to the vac scene.

Well you know then it's a really good one. Panasonic makes high quality stuff.

Jason, your rockin' yellow Kenmore appears to be just like mine except for the rather unnecessary IntelliClean feature. How long have you had yours?

2 months now. But it's workin' fine. Mine has a dirt sensor that lights up when it sees dirt. But I find it works best if you have the carpet height adjustment right. Too low and the light stays on (it thinks the carpet is one big dirt). Too high and it won't see the dirt. But I can make my house CLEAN with it. The Kenmore is my main vac. I love my Connie and she's fun too but the Kenmore RAWKS for cleaning.

I'm thinking the Kenmore (especially the TOL) will have vintage appeal because of the buttons and tricks that it does.