riccar starbright

The Starbright is a nice vacuum for sure. However, if I was you, I would cancel the order immediately & get the Prima. The Riccar Prima & Simplicity Wonder were designed with Tom Gasko's help, & were specifically created to address issues with the Riccar Starbright, Riccar Pristine, Simplicity Cinch & Simplicity Verve models. The Simplicity canisters are exactly the same as the Riccar models....same everything, just in a slightly differently styled body & different HEPA filter used, all controls, bag, hose, wand & tools are identical.

Here's the advantages the Wonder & Prima offer over the Starbright:

1. The Wonder & Prima have a manual suction release dial in the hose handle, the Starbright does not. The hose handle on the Starbright is exactly the same as the power hoses the Pristine, Verve & Cinch use, they just removed the PN receptacle & PN on/off switch & use blow-molded hose material to make it a straight-suction hose. The Wonder & Prima straight-suction hoses do have the same handle as their power hose cousins, same deal, & it does have the suction release dial. Yes, you can turn down the speed....but in some situations, only opening a release valve will work & turning down the motor speed is useless.

2. The bag collar on the Prima & Wonder is PLASTIC, not cardboard. This is a MAJOR issue that Tacony had to address & is a flaw with the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch canisters. What can happen is that the cardboard bag collar can "crunch in" slightly when you open the bag door, check the bag & close the bag door. That will cause the bag collar to not seal as well with the bag door tube & can cause dirt & dust to get around the bag & make the bag compartment & motor filter dirty & require cleaning. With the bag collar being plastic on the Wonder & Prima, it is much stronger & that problem is now solved. It also ensures that the bag takes the entire dust load the vacuum picks up, so filtration is improved. Also note, most dealers who sell both Miele & Riccar or Simplicity will say that the Miele is better at filtration, whereas the Riccar/Simplicity is better at performance....I think the bag was at issue & the reason they would say that, so I think more dealers will view the improved bag design on the Wonder & Prima as giving the vacuums equal filtration to the Miele vacuums.

3. Better wheel setup. The 2 roller blade wheels fixed in the back & 1 castor wheel in the front will allow the Wonder & Prima to move more freely on thick rugs than the 4 castor wheels on the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch. It is also easier to lift the Wonder & Prima by the hose on it's 2 rear wheels to get the vacuum over a threshold.

4. Better tools. The Electrolux-style 2 in 1 tool is MUCH BETTER than the odd upholstery tool with slide on bristles the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch have. No weird shape that is just odd to use, & the bristles are horsehair on the dusting brush side.

5. Simplified motor speed control. Another HUGE reason to choose the Wonder & Prima, & one of the main reasons it was designed to replace the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch. Tacony was having MAJOR PROBLEMS with these canisters....they were getting dealers opening up the box, take the canister out, & have dead circuit boards & needing to swap the canister. So much so, this is the reason why Tacony now has a dedicated assembly line opening up checking ALL the new canisters it receives from Kingclean in China. This is great that they do this, as it ensures better quality & also holds Kingclean accountable & forces them to produce better quality for Tacony. The Wonder & Prima still do use a circuit board that may be break down, but the actual speed controller it hooks up to is a rheostat, versus a plus/minus pad. That rheostat enables a much simpler circuit board design than the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch use & would be much more reliable.

Also note that the Starbright will be discontinued soon, if not already, due to the introduction of the Prima & Wonder. I would definitely take the Riccar Prima over the Starbright, due to it's better design that's less likely to cause headaches for it's owner. If you do decide to still take the Starbright, I would be demanding a discount & use the fact it is about to be discontinued as justification for it.

Good luck to you with your new vacuum.

Rob


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Post# 330910 8/4/2015 at 10:40 (3,180 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes Hey everyone, I ordered this vacuum brand new, it's Riccar's top of the line suction only canister, this will be a great vacuum to add to the collection. Interestingly, on the riccar web site, this was selling for $599, but I was able to get it for $350 from a local place. Not sure why the price is so much different. Anyway, has anyone used this vacuum and if so, what's your take on it?

Post# 330912 , Reply# 1 8/4/2015 at 10:56 (3,180 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)
Checkrate/Likes 2 We sell lots of them at the Factory Outlet Store here at the Riccar factory in St. James, Missouri. I always give the customer the large turbo brush for their carpeting, and the hand held turbo brush for their furniture. The machine uses HEPA type H bags, which are self sealing bags. It's an awesome cleaner, with tons of suction (105 inches of water lift) and perfect filtration. Next time you want to buy a Riccar or Simplicity, you should visit the Factory Outlet Store. The money you save would make the one hour trip from St. Louis well worth it.

Post# 330939 , Reply# 2 8/4/2015 at 15:38 (3,180 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes *outlet store* I would love to visit that store, I'm a blind person so I can't drive, perhaps I can get my girl friend to drive me or something. Can you tell me the difference between the starbright, the moonlight and the sunburst?

Post# 331003 , Reply# 3 8/5/2015 at 10:52 (3,179 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes *difference between starbright and prima* Upon looking again at the Riccar web site, I noticed there is a straight suction prima available. I have a starbright on order, but wonder what the differences are? Should I have gone with the straight suction prima? I don't need a power nozzle since I have all hard wood floors in my apartment.

Post# 331032 , Reply# 4 8/5/2015 at 16:43 (3,179 days old) by Miskini (Northville, Michigan )
Checkrate/Likes I have the prima with the power nozzle. It's such a well rounded, great performing machine. You can't go wrong with any of the riccars.

Post# 331033 , Reply# 5 8/5/2015 at 16:46 (3,179 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Mike* The Starbright is a nice vacuum for sure. However, if I was you, I would cancel the order immediately & get the Prima. The Riccar Prima & Simplicity Wonder were designed with Tom Gasko's help, & were specifically created to address issues with the Riccar Starbright, Riccar Pristine, Simplicity Cinch & Simplicity Verve models. The Simplicity canisters are exactly the same as the Riccar models....same everything, just in a slightly differently styled body & different HEPA filter used, all controls, bag, hose, wand & tools are identical. Here's the advantages the Wonder & Prima offer over the Starbright: 1. The Wonder & Prima have a manual suction release dial in the hose handle, the Starbright does not. The hose handle on the Starbright is exactly the same as the power hoses the Pristine, Verve & Cinch use, they just removed the PN receptacle & PN on/off switch & use blow-molded hose material to make it a straight-suction hose. The Wonder & Prima straight-suction hoses do have the same handle as their power hose cousins, same deal, & it does have the suction release dial. Yes, you can turn down the speed....but in some situations, only opening a release valve will work & turning down the motor speed is useless. 2. The bag collar on the Prima & Wonder is PLASTIC, not cardboard. This is a MAJOR issue that Tacony had to address & is a flaw with the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch canisters. What can happen is that the cardboard bag collar can "crunch in" slightly when you open the bag door, check the bag & close the bag door. That will cause the bag collar to not seal as well with the bag door tube & can cause dirt & dust to get around the bag & make the bag compartment & motor filter dirty & require cleaning. With the bag collar being plastic on the Wonder & Prima, it is much stronger & that problem is now solved. It also ensures that the bag takes the entire dust load the vacuum picks up, so filtration is improved. Also note, most dealers who sell both Miele & Riccar or Simplicity will say that the Miele is better at filtration, whereas the Riccar/Simplicity is better at performance....I think the bag was at issue & the reason they would say that, so I think more dealers will view the improved bag design on the Wonder & Prima as giving the vacuums equal filtration to the Miele vacuums. 3. Better wheel setup. The 2 roller blade wheels fixed in the back & 1 castor wheel in the front will allow the Wonder & Prima to move more freely on thick rugs than the 4 castor wheels on the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch. It is also easier to lift the Wonder & Prima by the hose on it's 2 rear wheels to get the vacuum over a threshold. 4. Better tools. The Electrolux-style 2 in 1 tool is MUCH BETTER than the odd upholstery tool with slide on bristles the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch have. No weird shape that is just odd to use, & the bristles are horsehair on the dusting brush side. 5. Simplified motor speed control. Another HUGE reason to choose the Wonder & Prima, & one of the main reasons it was designed to replace the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch. Tacony was having MAJOR PROBLEMS with these canisters....they were getting dealers opening up the box, take the canister out, & have dead circuit boards & needing to swap the canister. So much so, this is the reason why Tacony now has a dedicated assembly line opening up checking ALL the new canisters it receives from Kingclean in China. This is great that they do this, as it ensures better quality & also holds Kingclean accountable & forces them to produce better quality for Tacony. The Wonder & Prima still do use a circuit board that may be break down, but the actual speed controller it hooks up to is a rheostat, versus a plus/minus pad. That rheostat enables a much simpler circuit board design than the Starbright, Pristine, Verve & Cinch use & would be much more reliable. Also note that the Starbright will be discontinued soon, if not already, due to the introduction of the Prima & Wonder. I would definitely take the Riccar Prima over the Starbright, due to it's better design that's less likely to cause headaches for it's owner. If you do decide to still take the Starbright, I would be demanding a discount & use the fact it is about to be discontinued as justification for it. Good luck to you with your new vacuum. Rob

Post# 331093 , Reply# 6 8/6/2015 at 09:48 (3,179 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)
Checkrate/Likes 3 Rob hit the nail on the head. One fact though: Kingclean does NOT make the Riccar Prima / Simplicity Wonder models. They are made to our design by a totally different company. The Prima/Wonder canisters are the quietest models Tacony has ever offered. They have many features that have been "cherry picked" from history (the Electrolux design for the cord winder is one such thing). I'm quite proud of these models - we've sold a good number of them since the launch and have had nothing but compliments from customers. The build quality is outstanding, and they are very ease to repair.

Post# 331097 , Reply# 7 8/6/2015 at 10:52 (3,178 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes *going to hopefully get the prima* Thanks for all of the information about the differences, much appreciated. I called the store that had ordered the star bright and explained that I wanted to cancel the order because it was a discontinued model, they were not aware of that, their rep did not know either I guess. Anyway, I asked them to cancel the order and issue me a refund, apparently they need to talk to their rep first to see how to handle that, but I'm actually going to visit the St. James store this weekend and hoping to get the prima. Really, if these stores are going to sell these products, they need to keep track of changes like this. The prima sounds awesome for sure.

Post# 331115 , Reply# 8 8/6/2015 at 15:23 (3,178 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *one flaw of the prima* Hey everyone, I was looking at the items available for the prima and it appears that the end of the hose is not standard since there is an adapter you need to purchase to allow you to use standard attachments. I definitely still want it, but I think that going this route was a bad idea. The standard size should always be used, it makes things much easier. Electrolux also does this. I know in Europe, the standard size is 35 MM instead of 32 MM, but even European vacuums are somewhat different. The sebo hose is slightly larger than the Miele. Just curious, why was a decision made to use a nonstandard hose end with the prima? I'll have to remember to get that adapter when I get the prima this weekend since I have lots of standard sized attachments.

Post# 331411 , Reply# 15 8/10/2015 at 17:28 (3,174 days old) by Miskini (Northville, Michigan )
Checkrate/Likes Congratulations. It's a great piece. Its the only vacuum in my collection that my wife will use. Although, sometimes I wish she wouldn't. I can hear the canister banging into walls and the power nozzle slamming into baseboards. This post was last edited 08/10/2015 at 17:52

Post# 331189 , Reply# 9 8/7/2015 at 15:07 (3,177 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *got my refund* Well, I was able to cancel my order for the starbright and get a refund. The interesting thing was, apparently the rep was not even aware that this vacuum was discontinued. They were also saying there were 2 models of this vacuum, a star 2 and a star 4 or something, who knows. There does seem to be a lack of communication along the line somewhere. When it comes to purchasing vacuums on the web site, Riccar does make this more complicated because the prices are higher. The price you will get from a dealer seems to be cheaper than buying it from the Riccar web site. They should do things the way Miele does. If you go to the Miele site, their prices are usually the same, or very close to what you will find in a store or from a dealer, Riccar should do likewise. Definitely looking forward to checking out the Prima this weekend, as well as the full sized canisters, would love to hear about those if anyone has one.

Post# 331191 , Reply# 10 8/7/2015 at 15:31 (3,177 days old) by Miskini (Northville, Michigan )
Checkrate/Likes *I ordered* The prima from Tom when they were first released. Like Tom said, it is a suction monster. The most impressive thing about it is the noise, or lack of it. It is the most quiet vac I own, and I have a central vac also. The wow tool, is the best hard floor cleaner I've used. The air flow is louder than the motor. Your gonna like it.

Post# 331192 , Reply# 11 8/7/2015 at 15:38 (3,177 days old) by Miskini (Northville, Michigan )
Checkrate/Likes 1 Also, you're right about the dealers, not being up to date with product. I went into many shops inquiring about the wonder and prima, and nobody knew what I was talking about. I had to show them the thread Tom posted a year ago about the wonder.

Post# 331219 , Reply# 12 8/7/2015 at 23:24 (3,177 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes *stores not keeping up to date* The store I had ordered the starbright from had never heard of the prima, and had no idea that the starbright was discontinued. If you're going to be a dealer for a company, you need to keep track of product changes, this is one reason why I wish the prices on the riccar web site were closer to the store prices, sometimes it's good to eliminate a store and purchase what you want directly.

Post# 331238 , Reply# 13 8/8/2015 at 09:11 (3,177 days old) by dysonman1 (the county)
Checkrate/Likes 1 One way for dealers to keep up with 'new' products is to go to the Trade Show for Vacuum Dealers, held every year in Las Vegas. The Prima/Wonder were shown to dealers almost two years ago. The customizable feature of the Prima/Wonder models means that those two machines can replace 8. For example, the difference between a Simplicity Cinch and a Simplicity Verve is the power nozzle (and machine color). That's two different model numbers, and two different boxes, that have to be inventoried. Making one cleaner customizable by offering the different power nozzle options makes far more sense. By the way, all 'Starbright' models are the same. The "dot" after the model name signals the attachments included. For example, a Star.2 has the rug/floor nozzle, while the Star.6 has the Wow Tool (bare floor tool). By increasing the diameter of the hose end and hose, the airflow is increased proportionately. There is a very inexpensive adapter to allow standard size tools to be used with Prima/Wonder. Myself, I only use the tools that come with the machine. Some folks do enjoy the 'mix and match' of using their favorite Lux or Compact tool with their new Prima - and the adapter is the perfect way to do so.

Post# 331400 , Reply# 14 8/10/2015 at 13:01 (3,174 days old) by n0oxy (Saint Louis Missouri, United States)
Checkrate/Likes *got the prima* I got the prima and so far, it's awesome. Going to use it to clean my whole apartment this evening after work, I plan on writing a full review of it once that's done, the museum was awesome as well, I wrote more about that in the vintage forum since it's more on topic there.