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Thread Number: 32046
/ Tag: Recent Vacuum Cleaners from past 20 years
Headlights -- Why most modern vacuums don't have them? |
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| Post# 352920 5/28/2016 at 22:20 (2,881 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA) | ||
Nowadays, it seems like most vacuum manufacturers are doing away with headlights on their new vacuums. I remember when just about every vacuum had one throughout the 2000s. But since the early 2010s, I have seen them disappearing from new vacuums!
In the past, I have found headlights to be useful for vacuuming dimly lit rooms. But these days, not having a headlight is no big deal for me. I normally don't vacuum at night, but even if I were to, I would just turn on the lights in my house. My mom has moved to a new apartment again, and today I went to her old apartment to clean it up. The single bedroom has no lights, and it was a cloudy day here in Washington state, so this made me miss having a headlight on a vacuum cleaner. This may sound silly, but I turned on the flashlight on my iPhone to try and illuminate the area that I vacuumed. It worked somewhat well, but who wants to use a flashlight as they vacuum? When and why did vacuum companies eliminate headlights on their new machines? I know some higher-end vacuums have them. | ||
Post# 352922 , Reply# 1 5/28/2016 at 22:53 (2,881 days old) by vacuumlad1650  (Wauponsee, IL) |
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| Post# 352927 , Reply# 2 5/29/2016 at 02:47 (2,881 days old) by delaneymeegan (Mary Richards lived here) | ||
 It is kind of redundant, isn't it? It tends to add extra weight and height to a pn.
Frankly, even if you were Dracula, and only vacuum at night, in a dark room, the light from the pn, at that low level, doesn't represent whats really going on down there. The light is so low, it creates shadows.
But, still, for us vac enthusiasts, a light is near mandatory, so..... 
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| Post# 352929 , Reply# 3 5/29/2016 at 05:35 (2,881 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
I hardly think adding a LED light strip to a PN head is going to increase size. Its the brand at fault who hasn't designed it properly to fit the lights and a light strip isn't all that heavy when adding to a PN in any regard.
Whilst headlights or "dirt searcher" lights might be handy, I don't think they are all that necessary in UK or even Europe. Days are normally brighter in general and most homes allow for natural light to spread through. | ||
| Post# 352936 , Reply# 4 5/29/2016 at 09:30 (2,881 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
Headlights really do help clean carpets and floors. Sometimes a piece of furniture or wall will cast a dark shadow on an area of carpet and the headlight helps identify that piece of dirt that may be missed without the extra illumination. It's also a great safety device to help see socks or coins that are hiding under a bed - gives you a chance to pick these up before damaging the vacuum. And I absolutely love my SpotLight handle on the hose of my Miele S8!!!
I can think of only 2 reasons for not including a headlight on an upright or power nozzle: 1. To create a cheaper budget version of the more deluxe vac (like the Hoover Tempo upright) or to eliminate something breaking on a commercial upright that is banged around a lot (Sanitaire seems to have dropped all headlights on their Eureka-style F&G uprights). I say, when it comes to vacuums: "Let there be light!" :-D | ||
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Post# 352938 , Reply# 5 5/29/2016 at 09:47 (2,881 days old) by vacuumlad1650 (Wauponsee, IL) |
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Sorry it's blurry...my scanner crapped out
Andy Rousonelos | ||
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Post# 352942 , Reply# 6 5/29/2016 at 11:29 (2,881 days old) by Durango159 (State College, PA) |
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I love headlights!
Extremely helpful for vacuuming under beds and other furniture. Also for some rooms in homes I've cleaned where you have to go far into the room to find a standard lamp then the headlight on the vacuum is your guide before that. Sometimes I'll also just be doing a hallway but I'll do the surrounding entrances to rooms along that hallway. The headlight is great for cleaning in those doorways without having to navigate a separate room light switch and disturb my cleaning.
In terms of added weight-- I'm just quite honestly surprised at that comment!! A headlight socket, the 2 wires to run it and the small bulb it's like ounces being added to the unit, maybe, maybe a pound in some cases but to me that's a complete inexistent issue! Some headlights do add height but manufacturers have gotten much better at that over the years. There are plenty of machines out there with no headlight that have a taller housing than other machines that do have a headlight. I do house cleaning as a side gig and find headlights very helpful. I wish that commercial vacs had them because under many desks in cubicles it's quite dark and that's where paper clips and other unfriendly vacuum potentials may lurk!! | ||
| Post# 352970 , Reply# 7 5/29/2016 at 20:17 (2,880 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA) | ||
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Wow
So that's how the vacuum cleaner headlight was invented!
I find them to be handy, but not a must-have. My house allows lots of natural light in through the windows. That clipart reminds me of the Disney movie, Hocus Pocus. In one scene, Mary Sanderson (Kathy Najimy) uses a vacuum cleaner to replace her stolen broomsticks. | ||
| Post# 352979 , Reply# 8 5/29/2016 at 22:43 (2,880 days old) by tig21er (Indiana) | ||
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Headlight My Father made the remark many times that on many uprights that headlight would show you the dirt you can't get because the uprights could not go under many pieces of furniture that the power heads did. | ||
| Post# 352990 , Reply# 9 5/30/2016 at 01:16 (2,880 days old) by delaneymeegan (Mary Richards lived here) | ||
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Even though I've surpassed 60 vacuums, I've yet to use, or see in person, a pn with leds. I would think THOSE would indeed not add much weight or height.
My point of reference is Eureka, Electrolux , Hoover, and Kenmore, all from the 70s and 80s. These all had a typical incandescent bulb and needed space for the bulb, AND space for air around it, so it wouldn't over heat.
Rob, as weight goes, it isn't so much the bulb and wiring that adds the weight. It's the added "pocket" needed to hold the bulb. On Electrolux Ultralux LX , Classic, and even the uprights with the headlight, the lens was oddly thick and yes, heavy. You can distinctly tell the difference between an Electrolux pn with AND without a headlight.
Kathy Najimi ? It would be interesting to see what she's up to these days. I remember her from the Ellen show in the 1990s where she was a guest on 3 episodes, Shelly Fields character's wardrobe outfitter in Soapdish, and as Olive in Veronica's Closet with Kirstey Alley. 
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| Post# 352998 , Reply# 11 5/30/2016 at 06:20 (2,880 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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Eureka seemed to have figured out a way to include a light-bulb headlight on a power nozzle without adding any bulk to the profile of the head: take a look at the Express Power Nozzle of the 1980's. The headlight is incorporated in the design quite ingeniously. Sanyo copied the design technique on their power nozzle in the 1990's. The Sanyo-made Hoover Duros has the same headlight.
The British-made Electrolux uprights of the 1980's were begging for a headlight, in my humble opinion...the power head is so bulky that it would easily have accommodated a large headlight similar to the British Hoover Juniors. In regard to the original comment on this thread: I actually don't see a decrease in the prevalence of headlights in the North American vacuum cleaner market. With the introduction of compact LED bulbs, the headlight is quite common now - even in the Shark line-up of bagless vacs. The only manyfacturer that seems to resist adding the feature is Dyson. | ||
| Post# 353000 , Reply# 12 5/30/2016 at 06:43 (2,880 days old) by blknblu (CT) | ||
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Electrolux PN with LED bulb :)
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| Post# 353024 , Reply# 14 5/30/2016 at 20:25 (2,879 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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Any Eureka power nozzle using a three-prong plug allows the light to stay on when the brush is turned off. It's a great extra feature, but the three prongs make it more difficult to disconnect the hose from the wand. I think the orange Electrolux Oxygen power nozzle had the same feature - as long as the suction motor was running, the light to the connected power nozzle stayed on, even when you turned off the brushroll.
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Post# 353029 , Reply# 15 5/30/2016 at 23:07 (2,879 days old) by Durango159 (State College, PA) |
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Many Hoover PowerMax and Windtunnel canisters have the same feature of flipping the switch on the hose handle to turn off the brush roll while the headlight remains on. The Quadraflex powermatic nozzle works that way using the foot pedal. The motor will shut off but headlight stays on. Panasonics older Jet Flo series had a foot pedal on/off switch and I believe on that model that the headlight stayed on while the power head motor shut off.
Dyson, Sebo, Windsor are the manufacturers I can think of that don't have a headlight on machines. I serviced an Aerus/ Lux machines that had the big heavy thing for their headlight. They're the only manufacture I've seen with that!! Eureka Express, Rotomatic, Hoover Futura, Hoover PowerMax canisters, Hoover Decade uprights, Hoover Elite uprights, Riccar power nozzles all other manufacturers I've explored have a far easier, lighter weight system for their headlights! The current Rainbow power nozzle is LED and that contraption is very lightweight and it's upfront in the power head. Many Oreck uprights are a dual bulb system and a simple design. Filter Queen used to have headlights. The current power nozzle which has been on the market for them since 2003 does not have a headlight. I'll be very excited to see what Filter Queens next power nozzle will be. I'm hopeful it is a heavier duty unit with some weight to push the head further into the carpet, a headlight, quieter motor, better edge cleaning and air flow channels along the front and side of the power head. | ||
| Post# 353030 , Reply# 16 5/30/2016 at 23:29 (2,879 days old) by delaneymeegan (Mary Richards lived here) | ||
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Post# 353037 , Reply# 19 5/31/2016 at 08:06 (2,879 days old) by countryguy (Astorville, ON, Canada) |
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| Post# 353040 , Reply# 20 5/31/2016 at 08:51 (2,879 days old) by blknblu (CT) | ||
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For a retrofit, this bulb is amazing. It is very small, and it fits in the bayonet base. The LED's & circuitry are encased in clear silicone. Very bright. Ordered it direct from China.
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| Post# 353046 , Reply# 22 5/31/2016 at 13:11 (2,879 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 353144 , Reply# 23 6/2/2016 at 16:04 (2,877 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA) | ||
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Come to think of it... | ||
| Post# 353148 , Reply# 24 6/2/2016 at 17:37 (2,877 days old) by kenkart () | ||
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Ill tell you why new vacs dont have lights! The same reason new stoves and washers and dryers don't have lights on them anymore..CHEAP CHEAP CHEAP! Thankfully some vacs still do, but about everything built now is cheap flimsy plastic. | ||
| Post# 353158 , Reply# 25 6/2/2016 at 20:42 (2,876 days old) by cocobird (Laguna Hills, California) | ||
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Headlights My new Panasonic canister has a headlight, but only if i am vacuuming carpet. i guess it is harder to see dirt in carpet. | ||
| Post# 353165 , Reply# 26 6/2/2016 at 23:32 (2,876 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
I like the headlights on my three G-series Kirby machines. They're nice and bright and do make it easier to see what the machine has—and more importantly has not—picked up. I wish I could say the same for the one on my Filter Queen's power nozzle. It's a joke. The light is dim and doesn't project onto the carpet in any meaningful way. I can see why they deleted that feature in the years after mine was produced.
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| Post# 353183 , Reply# 28 6/3/2016 at 10:54 (2,876 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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| Post# 353186 , Reply# 29 6/3/2016 at 11:04 (2,876 days old) by sptyks (Skowhegan, Maine) | ||
 I have several different Kirby's and a Royal. All of them have headlights that are more than adequate in lighting a 4 to 5 foot path in front of the machine. I also have a bagless Hoover windtunnel Air that does not have a headlight and I sure do miss the headlights on my other machines whenever I use it. | ||
| Post# 353190 , Reply# 30 6/3/2016 at 11:59 (2,876 days old) by sebo_fan (Scotland, UK, member AKA ukvacfan, & Nar2) | ||
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The Lift off Vax Cordless Air has an LED strip which is unusual for a cordless upright sold in the UK. Shame the normal Cordless Air doesn't feature it, though.
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| Post# 353212 , Reply# 31 6/3/2016 at 20:51 (2,875 days old) by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA) | ||
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On the other hand...
The U.S. equivalent of the normal Vax Air Cordless, the Hoover Air Cordless, does feature an LED headlight. I don't own this machine, so I did a quick search and found this image on Google.
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| Post# 353226 , Reply# 32 6/3/2016 at 23:58 (2,875 days old) by delaneymeegan (Mary Richards lived here) | ||
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| Post# 353248 , Reply# 33 6/4/2016 at 08:27 (2,875 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
If anything, I think more vacuums in the United States have headlights now. Typically the low end upright range from various makes does not have them, and never did. But the Sharks and many others are starting to have them, especially the LED lights. Power nozzle canisters used to not have them on BOL models, but these days most all canisters offer them, even the BOL do.
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| Post# 353250 , Reply# 34 6/4/2016 at 10:27 (2,875 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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| Post# 445570 , Reply# 35 9/3/2021 at 13:17 (958 days old) by jay (Lower Earley) | ||
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Vacuum headlights I have a battery powered Shark. I would like to switch off the headlights so that the battery power is saved for the motor. If I want light I will switch on a ceiling light which is brighter anyway. | ||
| Post# 446809 , Reply# 39 10/4/2021 at 15:04 (927 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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Re-reading this thread several years later brought back a childhood memory of our Hoover Convertible, which did not have a headlight but had a spot on the front of the motor cover where I felt one should rightly be. The lack of a headlight really bothered the eight-year-old me.
Looking at my collection today, all of my uprights have headlights, with the exception of a Sanitaire and an Electrolux Discovery II. The only ones with LEDs are my two Kirby Sentrias. Conversely, only one of my canister power nozzles (all Electrolux) has a headlight and it's the newest of the lot, a model 1623 that came with a Diplomat LX canister that I rescued from beside a dumpster. | ||
| Post# 446811 , Reply# 40 10/4/2021 at 18:28 (927 days old) by Hoover300 (Kentucky) | ||
Human | ||
| Post# 446813 , Reply# 41 10/4/2021 at 20:18 (926 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
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It was the classic 'Brady Bunch' Convertible, beige with a lime green motor cover. We had the full toolkit for it but that stuff pretty much never got used. I have no idea what the model number was but we got it in about 1972. It got passed down to me in late '80s and I kept it until 1998. I always thought the beige bag with all its little air holes looked like a giant Band-Aid.
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