I thought it might be fun to rate your vacs for the year since it's almost the end of 2008. Here is my list:
(1) Most beautiful: blue Hoover Anniversary Windtunnel
(2) Design: Electrolux Oxygen Canister
(3) Surprise: H2o TV water vac
(4) Most Fun to use: Hoover Constellation
(5) Most useless: Electrolux Cordless stick vac
(6) Best value: $38.00 Bissell upright
(7) Poorest Quality: Hoover Anniversary Convertible
(8) Overall winner: Electrolux Oxygen Canister
Of course this is JUST comparing the machines I got in 2008. This was a Hoover year because of the 100th Anniversary We collectors have the advantage over consumers because we can use our machines side by side and really compare power and features. Regular customers can only look at the pictures on the outside of the boxes at the store in most cases.

1 Most Beautiful- Hoover Model 700
2 Design - Fantom Cyclone xt
3 Surprise- Dirt Devil Soft Bag
4 Most Fun to use- Hoover Model 28
5 most useless- Fantom Fury
6 Best Value- $75 1940 electrolux xxx
7 Poorest Quality- Hoover Elite II
8 overall winner is my Fantom Cyclone XT
the reason for the Hoover elite 2 being the poorset quality is because a piece that I have replaced more than twice keeps breaking for no apparent reason. also my fantom is my daily driver and when it is not in use I use a eureka Dial a nap. once I go back over the carpet with the Fantom a large amount of Dirt and Debris is picked up.

I want to make it clear that I am just comparing the vacs I got in 2008 against each other. This is not comparing them to the rest of the vac collection or commenting on which vac I think is the best brand,type or model or my favorite maker. We all have our personel favorites. I like them all!

Amen to that

1. Most Beautiful -- Electrolux Model L (cream & turquise with cord winder -- near perfect condition)
2. Design -- Kirby Diamond G
3. Surprise -- Electrolux Model E
4. Most Fun to Use -- Electrolux Model LX (waiting for the bag to eject!)
5. Most Useless -- Electrolux Oxygen Canister
6. All the free metal tank Luxes I received from a friend
7. Poorest Quality -- Electrolux Oxygen Canister
8. Overall Winner -- Electrolux Model L
I love the Model L. It isn't as quiet or sophisticated as some of the others, but it gives this sense of "presence." I know it's working hard. The Electrolux (Eureka) Oxygen Canister turned out to be a big disappointment. We bought it at the beginning of the year when the switch on our 15 year old Ultra Lux went bad. The Oxygen started having problems almost immediately due to poor design. It's been hard to get warranty work done too. So I just threw it in the trash. Wasted money. I found a Kirby Diamond G at a yard sale for $175 that was almost new. The Kirby is used often. But then I figured out how to repair/replace the switch on the 15 year old Lux. So it's used the most often once again (along with the other new Electrolux finds from my friend).

Most Beautiful:Stanless Steel Hoover Connie.
Best Design:Windsor Sensor(tells you if anything is wrong with it)
Durable and Power:Clarke Combivac(cant get any better).
Most Fun To use: One of those Clarke 580 wide area vacuums or any other ones. those are brutes!
Most Usless:Dyson Handvac!
Best Quality: KIRBY!
Poor Quality:Regina Housekeeper.
Best Quality and Durability: Is the Once again Clarke combivac
Overall i like my Clarke Combivac. Can pick up anything,2 motors. AHHH and the best part:QUIET!

Bill,
Interesting that you had problems with your Electrolux Oxygen. I have had no problems with mine but what I have heard is it's very difficult to get repair parts. I have read reports of the same nature on LG appliances and getting repairs even under warranty. That old Electrolux "L" was a very good machine. They lasted and lasted. They always pressed us to sell the more expensive 1205 but I liked the L best too.

Rate Your Vacs
1. Most Beautiful -- Eureka Powerdrive (burgandy with box top bag)
2. Design -- Electrolux upright Lux 6000
3. Surprise -- Dirt Devil Broom Vac
4. Most Fun to Use -- New Constellation
5. Most Useless -- Kirby Heritage 84 Turbo
6. N/A
7. Poorest Quality -- Hoover Convertible from the 80's
8. Overall Winner -- Hoover Concept II

I love my Concept II the best. When I put up my Christmas Tree there was glitter all over the carpet. I tried all the machines to get it up and the only one that would fully clean up the glitter out of the deep shag carpet was the concept II!

1. Most Beautiful -- Hoover Model 63 (my all time fav)
2. Design -- Hoover model 150 (It's timeless)
3. Surprise -- Miele... I never would have guessed one would be my daily driver.
4. Most Fun to Use -- New Constellation
5. Most Useless -- Any "Shark" type thing.
6. Best Value -- I think the $59 Hoover Tempo currently in stores is a great cleaner for not a lot of money.
7. Poorest Quality -- The Eureka "Capture" currently on store shelves.
8. Best Quality -- Kirby (after seeing the factory this summer!)
8. Overall Winner -- Miele Platinum (It's the one I use most often - for it's ease of use, quality, filtration, and how quiet it is).

Great thread subject! Thanks for starting it, Rob!

~Fred

F
red,
I was just rating the ones I got THIS year but I do agree that the Hoover 63 is pretty hard to beat. Even the instruction book was great.
As far as design, I have never used a 150 but it still looks very modern and up to date even thought it's over 50 years old.
And thst new Constellation is just plain fun to use!
If I was considering all the vacs in my collection the list would be very different.

I have to try out a Miele,they sound great.

1) Most Beautiful: Kirby Sentria
2) Design: ANY Kirby and Roll-Easy!
3) Surprise: 80's Eureka Ultra (7450A)
4) Most Fun To Use: GE Roll-Easy
5) Most Useless: Hoover Cassette Quick Broom
6) Best Value: 80's Eureka Ultra (under $100?)
7) Poorest Quality: A modern Eureka that's going in the TRASH!
8) Overall Winner: Kirby Sentria

Yeah I know, some machines are vintage but what can be more fun than a GE Roll-Easy?!? Okay Okay, maybe a Constellation (I love those too!). I have the Eureka 7450-A, it does I really nice job for what it is. I have another that's similar, it's grey with ESP. The Hoover Quick Broom is pretty useless, I don't care for it that much. I think the Kirby Sentria is the best vacuum you can buy for 2008. Then again, it's a Kirby, all of them a GREAT!

Thank you for starting this thread!

Hi Rob!
It was dumb to throw the whole thing away. Frustration, I guess. I should have kept the canister and hose. Nothing wrong there. The problem was with the wand connections and the power nozzle. After a few uses, the wand connections would become loose and started arching. They burned out. The power nozzle clip broke too, etc. etc. etc. I took it to one service center 35 miles away and the lady told me it wasn't covered under warranty. (She didn't want to fool with it, I guess). So I called Electrolux and they instructed me to take it to another center 50 miles away, which I did. That one kept it for FIVE months. I called Electrolux again and was told to pick it up and they would send me new wands and a new power nozzle. (Why didn't they do that to begin with?) They came quickly and worked fine for a while. But then it was the same thing all over again. So I call again and was instructed to take it to a service center --- are you beginning to see a pattern? Very frustrating. After being held hostage for a month, I called the service center and was told that they couldn't work on it because I didn't bring the canister and hose too! What? So why not call and tell me that to begin with? Anyway, I was getting nowhere. -- Bill

Rob
Do I understand from what you said earlier in the thread, that "they pushed you to sell the 1205, Lux" Didn't know
you had door to door experience ? We'll have to talk !
Norm

Rob
P.S Your mantel and holiday decoarations are very nice !
Festive too !!!
Reading the whole thread I would have to say the ideal and
most practical cleaning team (as these are my favorites)
Would be a Hoover 63, with a lux L. Don't think you could
beat the two of them together !!
Norm
Well, maybe a Dual Sanitronic Kirby, just one cleaner !

Bill,
I believe your story. I was reading comments on a consumer forum about the problems with the Electrolux. Was yours the model EL7020B? That is the one I got with the redesigned power nozzle. I was told they had corrected the problem. Here is a picture of mine.
Norm,
I only sold Electrolux's during a summer between college. I was surprised at how easy they were to sell back in those days. It was a fun job and I learned a lot about the other makes during the sales meetings.

Mine didn't look quite like that. It didn't have the telescopic wand, so one of the problem areas was where the two wands connected together. The power nozzle on mine looked different too. Yours appears to have electronic controls on the canister. Mine had a slider bar to change the motor speed and thus the suction. I wish I had kept the canister. I could have used it as a straight suction cleaner. The canister was good.

First in the vintage category...

1. Most Beautiful -- Eureka BrandyWine PowerTeam Canister Two-Speed (canned ham Series).

2. Design -- Apex Upright ( the one I had at the convention). No one can deny that the design is pure art-deco streamlining at it's zenith.

3. Surprise -- Regina Cyclonic Canister. It's actually quieter than I ever expected, nicely featured with a few pushbuttons and such. And cleans rather well.. Thanks again Marty!!

4. Most Fun to Use -- Singer Golden PowerMaster U59. I just love it. The "Bananna" just makes me want to vacuum. And it grooms the carpet quite well.

5. Most Useless -- Royal built "Packard" vacuum. VERY low powered, wimpy suction and no rotating brush. But....It's a "Packard"....

6. Best Value -- when it was new, the Premier Cord Reel Upright ( like my green one) was only around $100.00 new, and the comparable Eureka with similar features was like $150.00-160.00.

7. Poorest Quality -- Regina Housekeeper (early series) when I started out in the -bizness- I saw SOOO many of them broken.....

8. Best Quality -- TIE- Hoover Convertible or Eureka upright, any Rugulator, Two-Speed or ESP models.

8. Overall Winner -- Eureka BrandyWine Series Canned Ham Canister. One of the most powerful of the day (tremendous suction), not to shabby filtration, excellent powernozzle, plenty of buttons to push, and can still clean better than MOST of today's cheapy vacuum cleaners.

New Stuff......

Most Beautiful- New Miele S7 Upright. Just soooo well done. I'm just in awe of it. Miele IMHO hit another home run.

Design- Dyson. Before anyone shoots, he did come uyp with 9,127 or whatever prototypes before he put it on the market. And it did make bagless technology partially viable.

Suprise- I actually like the Bissell Healthy Home. For the pricepoint, and provided that you maintain it well, it seems to hold up ok, and does a good job of picking up.

Most Fun To Use- My Miele Red Velvet. Fred hit all the high points, but it was the VERY first modern vacuum I've ever bought new, and let clean my house. That is a big thing if you know me well..

Most Useless- any rechargeable, battery operated thing. Brand is irrelevent IMHO. they all don't SUCK!!!

Best Value- Simplicity Symmetry Classic. Good solid upright with well proportioned features. Great build quality for just a (little more than what you'd spend elsewhere). and it's a good long running production model. Former Simplicity 6 Series.

Poorest Quality- Really anything with a big brand name right now. I'm not about to name names, but we "know" who they are.

Overall Winner- Miele S7. They've been flying out the door at an amazing clip, better thatn I had ever imagined. They clean like, sound like and filter like thier canister version. And uprights ALWAYS outsell canister.....That's not just my thought that's an industry fact.

Chad

Ann Arbor Michigan

Bill
It sounds like you had another model. I was told not to buy unless it had "b" on the end of the model #. You can adjust the suction level at high or low or you can let the Electrolux automatically adjust the suction according to what you are cleaning. I liked the power nozzle design because it DOES NOT just float on top of the rug. It has adjustment and a pedal to lower the handle so it's not falling over. Mine is very very quiet and I was amazed at how much the filtrite bag would hold before losing suction. It seems like my new Constelation bags hold the suction very well too. Thanks for your comments.

Well now it is my turn to join the fun!

It is very hard for me to rate my vacuums as most have special meaning for me. Many of my vacuums are gifts from friends or models that I grew up with as a child. So here it goes:

Most Beautiful: Air-Way Model 88

Design: Any of the Eureka Canned Hams

Surprise: Oreck XL21 - I was truly surprised and amazed at this machines cleaning ablilities. It is my daily driver

Most fun to use: Any of my Royals - uprights or canisters - they clean extremely well, quiet (the older models) well built and handle like a dream.

Most useless: Anything bagless....

Best Value: Kirby by far. They may be expensive up front, but they last forever. And if they don't you send them back for a good ole spa treatment and run them for a another twenty years.

Poorest Quality: Dirt Devil or Shark

Over all any of my Electrolux's would take an uppper rank as well. The flip tool design in my opinion was way ahead of the design game. The model L's though simple in design, cleaned like a champ.

But the truth of the matter is "I Love Them ALL"

Morgan

This is the one I had.

cleaner that I disliked- Shark Pursuit
Best at grooming Carpets- Eureka Express
Best looking- Hoover Convertable model 1020
best running- Eureka G2 from the 30's
Favorite all time cleaner- 1940's electrolux xxx
most fun to use- also the electrolux xxx
extremely quiet and powerful- electrolux model E
overall winner- Electrolux model 30

I really disliked the shark pursuit so much that I sucked up a massive puddle of water in it. odd to say but the water did not even damage the motor. I left it about 2 weeks after that and then went to plug it in again and it turned right on with out any problems or odd noises. I think that proved how durable the motor is but the plastic body was terrible. so I just threw it away. other than that I really love the early electrolux canister vacs. really powerful and quiet and they seem to last longer than their owners if taken care of. lol

I don't have nearly as many vacs as most of you, but here are mine.

Lightest and most quiet: Electrolux AE
Best Looking: Kirby Legend II (Could use a good buffing)
Brightest Color: Royal Canister
Most Powerful: Hard to say either the Royal or Electrolux Olympia

I really like the self propelled Eureka, I use it on the carpet pieces in my laundry room. I loaned the Hoover Convertible to a friend and she said it's better than her new Electrolux Upright.

I had a EuroPro Shark upright once it was the biggest POS I have ever seen. Within five minutes of turning it it would overheat and shut down, the filter in the dirt chamber wouldn't stay on. I took it back to Best Buy two days after I bought it and got my money back.

Most Beautiful: Twin Motor Air-Way Model 37

Honorable Mention: Air-Way Dirtmaster

Best Design: Hoover 150--Hoover at it's best, a true gem.

Surprise: Kirby Sentria--who knew it was built like a Sherman tank until we visited the factory?

Fun To Use: Miele Champagne

Most Useless: Eureka Vibra-Beat....remember the cleaning competition from a few years back? Oy!

Best Value: Air-Tec Black Knight 2000--yes, I am biased since I sell them!

Poorest Quality: EARLY Kirby Dual 80--the new plastic green handle at the top broke all the time until the plastic was re-engineered. I even broke my Mother's!

Poorest Quality: Any plastic bodied "dust blower" from the big box stores. I won't even touch them. They are a bane to the industry.

Overall Winner: Tie between Miele Champagne, Air-Way 88 Mark II, (with power nozzle) and Air-Tec Black Knight.

I agree with Morgan that I like them all and enjoy using them. I've finally whittled the collection down to what I really like and what they mean to me.

Charlie W.

Charlie
when I got my Dual 80 the handle was broken so what I did was I took the handle off of my Classic Omega and put it on the dual 80 it made a great difference. reason to this was because I have 2 omega kirbys and one of them was in really bad shape so I just use it for parts

Mike,

When I broke the handle on my Mother's, she, typically, went ballistic since it was new.

I went to the vac store that I liked and got a metal handle from a Dual 50 that the owner gave me for free. I went home and put it on and it worked fine even with the tan hand grip contrasting with avocado green.

(I don't why Mother got so worked up over it--she pushed it maybe twice before it was replaced)

Luckily I left for college shortly thereafter and when I came home the next time, it was gone!

lol
I do not know why appliances have gone to hell over the years. I really miss the metal made machines. and that is odd that I say that because I was born in 1989 when the all plastic machines were becoming really popular. oh well I still love all metal appliances the less problems the better

Well, we definitely need the next generation to carry the torch. Many of us are old enough to be your father or perhaps grandfather!

I only grew up with all metal vacuums and the Hoovers did use some bake-a-lite.

The first really plastic vacuum that I remember, (I only speak for me), was when Electrolux shifted to an all plastic bodied vacuum after the Ultralux family ended.

I'm not sure when Hoover when all plastic. They did of course have plastic hoods on the convertibles and 62/63/64 models. They went through some issues too with warping due to the heat of the light bulbs and their proximity to the hoods.

I liked it when, you needed a vacuum, you went to the local vacuum store(s), or dealer. NOT to Best Buy, Circuit City, Target, etc. But it seems specialty stores are becoming a thing of the past. Look at Hoover closing 25 of their stores.

Meanwhile, keep saving the older metal monsters--the vacs that really cleaned!

Most Beautiful: A certain rare General Electric upright I bought over 3 months ago, which is STILL making it's way over here from Australia. More on that when it arrives...IF it arrives!

Honorable Mention: Dyson DC02 Recyclone - I believe they only made 400 examples!

Best Design: A tie between the Hoover Model 150 (many thanks to Tom Anderson!), and the Airway Fleetwood Special - both such contrasts to the other machines of the era.

Surprise: Maytag Windtunnel - I'd heard mixed reviews of these from the metal-construction purists. Sure, it won't last as long as a vintage Hoover model, but I'm very impressed with the performance. Also, the Hoover Slalom - performance and built-quality lightyears ahead of anything Hoover's made for the last 10 years.

Fun To Use: OK, these aren't in my collection, but very little will ever compare to using either Kyle's Model O, or Tom's Model 961, on 08.08.08!

Most Useless: Oreck XL, Hometek 'Tradional Upright' (Oreck rip-off!). Sorry, no offence, I know they have their fans, but I'm not among them!

Best Value: Rare, fragile Hoover 'glass' Turbopower Autoflex U2336 in hardly-used, near-immaculate condition - cost me £4.50 from the market in town.

Poorest Quality: Dyson DC03 Clear (beautiful transparent, but fragile, plastic), Hoover Turbopower Autoflex U2336 (again, notoriously brittle plastic). Also, the Miele Revolution 500. I know so many people, myself included - who suffered from the problems with the powerhose, and had to spend £99.50 having the machines reconditioned. What a great disappointment from what should be a flawless machine.

Best Quality: Any of the pre-war Hoovers, Kirby Diamond Edition (sold to help pay for my trip to NorCa!).

Overall Winner: Very, very hard to pick just one, but if you insist...Hoover Minor 200B. Rarer even than the original Minor/Duster 200. Never thought I'd own one!