Eureka Mighty Mites

I loved the Mighty Mites.

When the first version came out in the 1980's, it was listed in Time Magazine as one the 10 best designs of the year (see link below). I bought the brown/"cafe au lait" version for my brother as a wedding gift in 1987. It came with an 8-foot silver hose, and steel wands and a full set of classic Eureka attachments, including the classic "floor and wall brush" and the newer carpet nozzle with "Edge and Corner Kleener" suction notches. All tools were black. The bag was really easy to change and had a nice large cardboard neck which you just dropped into the canister while it was seated on its rear. No cord reel though - you just wrapped the cord around two hooks located on the underbelly. Very strong machine - I think it was around 3 HP....

My next Mighty Mite purchase was the Mighty Mite II which I bought for my parents in 1996. It had a sleeker body than the MM One, but a smaller bag. It was a higher end model in hunter green and was labelled "Powerline Mighty Mite II." This 9amp deluxe version included a deluxe German-made Miele-like carpet and floor nozzle with a stainless steel shoe and a toggle switch to switch between floor and carpet modes. It had a very nice neck on it that allowed the nozzle to stay flat on the ground no matter what angle the wand was in. This version also had a nice long 8-foot vinyl hose, but came with black plastic wands. The crevice tool, upholstery nozzle and dusting brush all fit into ingeniously-placed slots on the canister - the attachments were the same as sold with the contemporaneous "World Vac" canisters and "Excalibur" uprights. I even upgraded the nice little square dusting brush to a deluxe version with horse-hair bristles. The canister configuration was neat because you could change the bag without removing the hose!

One year later I moved to Israel for a few months and needed to buy a 220-volt canister vacuum for my apartment in Tel Aviv. A local 220-volt appliance store here in Toronto was selling a cool navy blue version of the same Mighty Mite II I had bought for my parents the year before! I grabbed it for $120!! The best part about this international version of the Mighty Mite II was that Eureka had slapped their "World Vac" logo onto the machine!

The two Mighty Mite II's were very powerful - 9 amps. The exhaust was so strong that it could lift up area rugs off the floor if the rear of the vac was facing them!

As well, Consumer Reports rated the Might Mite II's as the second best compact canister at the time. Number one in the ratings was a little Sharp compact canister. No compact canister ever got high ratings for carpet cleaning - but the Eureka's did very well in every other category.

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Post# 163660 12/28/2011 at 19:45 (4,501 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes I thought we could discuss the different Eureka Mighty Mite canisters. I have noticed there were a lot of versions, I think I read there was even one with a power nozzle. I have a white and gray one, and I've seen many other colors. I saw an odd one at Habitat today. It was sort of a metallic orange in color and it was called something other than Mighty Mite, perhaps Exclusive. And a while back they had a beige one with brown trim, and metal hose handle. Then there was the Mighty Mite Plus which was 4.0 HP instead of 3.0 and more rounded and then the Mighty Mite II. The things I liked was it had onboard tools and a blower port, which many compact canisters don't. Although it's strange mine didn't have a bare floor nozzle, though I know most did, maybe it was missing. The carpet nozzle didn't work well on bare floors, so I used another one from a Kenmore. Also the bags could have been bigger, but not bad for a compact.

Post# 163670 , Reply# 1 12/28/2011 at 20:36 (4,501 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I loved the Mighty Mites. When the first version came out in the 1980's, it was listed in Time Magazine as one the 10 best designs of the year (see link below). I bought the brown/"cafe au lait" version for my brother as a wedding gift in 1987. It came with an 8-foot silver hose, and steel wands and a full set of classic Eureka attachments, including the classic "floor and wall brush" and the newer carpet nozzle with "Edge and Corner Kleener" suction notches. All tools were black. The bag was really easy to change and had a nice large cardboard neck which you just dropped into the canister while it was seated on its rear. No cord reel though - you just wrapped the cord around two hooks located on the underbelly. Very strong machine - I think it was around 3 HP.... My next Mighty Mite purchase was the Mighty Mite II which I bought for my parents in 1996. It had a sleeker body than the MM One, but a smaller bag. It was a higher end model in hunter green and was labelled "Powerline Mighty Mite II." This 9amp deluxe version included a deluxe German-made Miele-like carpet and floor nozzle with a stainless steel shoe and a toggle switch to switch between floor and carpet modes. It had a very nice neck on it that allowed the nozzle to stay flat on the ground no matter what angle the wand was in. This version also had a nice long 8-foot vinyl hose, but came with black plastic wands. The crevice tool, upholstery nozzle and dusting brush all fit into ingeniously-placed slots on the canister - the attachments were the same as sold with the contemporaneous "World Vac" canisters and "Excalibur" uprights. I even upgraded the nice little square dusting brush to a deluxe version with horse-hair bristles. The canister configuration was neat because you could change the bag without removing the hose! One year later I moved to Israel for a few months and needed to buy a 220-volt canister vacuum for my apartment in Tel Aviv. A local 220-volt appliance store here in Toronto was selling a cool navy blue version of the same Mighty Mite II I had bought for my parents the year before! I grabbed it for $120!! The best part about this international version of the Mighty Mite II was that Eureka had slapped their "World Vac" logo onto the machine! The two Mighty Mite II's were very powerful - 9 amps. The exhaust was so strong that it could lift up area rugs off the floor if the rear of the vac was facing them! As well, Consumer Reports rated the Might Mite II's as the second best compact canister at the time. Number one in the ratings was a little Sharp compact canister. No compact canister ever got high ratings for carpet cleaning - but the Eureka's did very well in every other category. CLICK HERE TO GO TO eurekaprince's LINK

Post# 163694 , Reply# 2 12/29/2011 at 01:48 (4,500 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon)
Checkrate/Likes I prefer the 3000/3100 series Mighty Mites over subsequent generations. Especially the 3175 with the Turbo-Matic suction-driven turbine brush. ~Ben

Post# 163703 , Reply# 3 12/29/2011 at 02:46 (4,500 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)
Checkrate/Likes I had a Mighty Mite one time-bought it from a yard sale my way years ago when the yard sales had neat things to buy.Remembered for its size was a very powerful little vacuum.And if you used it like a blower-was like using some air compressors!Not the pressure of course-but the air volume from that tiny machine.I hear the new versions aren't as good a quality as the old ones.

Post# 163719 , Reply# 4 12/29/2011 at 09:31 (4,500 days old) by rob_89 ()
Checkrate/Likes *From a European perspective...* Funny, I was just looking at the Mighty Mites online the other day and curious to know more about them. Looks like a good basic design for hard floors etc around the house. Some reviewers stated they had owned one for 20+ years before replacing it with a newer version. Would love to get one myself but the cost of international shipping would be prohibitive. Have any members on here got a Mighty Mite in their collection or daily use? Rob

Post# 163723 , Reply# 5 12/29/2011 at 10:58 (4,500 days old) by rugsucker (Elizabethton TN)
Checkrate/Likes *Mighty Mites* I have always thought the original was a modern classic.One of the last of the type C bag models was I think "Floor Show"with small electric power nozzle.Also an Imperial of early 90s along with F-G upright in rose type color.I dont have these but always look for different colors.Will maybe look and make list.Floor brush was sometimes option.Yellow was common early color.

Post# 163771 , Reply# 6 12/29/2011 at 18:22 (4,500 days old) by rugsucker (Elizabethton TN)
Checkrate/Likes *Mighty Mite colors* I took a look at my "pieces of sculpture"otherwise known as the original Mighty Mite and have:yellow/dk brown(in box with 2 color panels)-white/gray(with red letters)-bright orange/dk brown-dk purple/lt purple-lt tan/dk brown-med green/black-orangey brown/dk brown.There was also Sanitaire version.I think I have seen blue.---At about this time Eureka also had the Ultra,self propelled ur with big cordwinder unit housing the switch and cord buttons and the Express canisters with new power nozzle as well as the ever improving F-G styles.A time of good design with good machines.