Pigs

I would say that TriStar CXL, Vortech Force, Patriot/Airstorm & Miracle Mate all have around the same suction power in terms of Waterlift & CFM/Airflow that their motors produce. I would also say they are all about the same quality. Some may dislike that the Patriot/Airstorm & Vortech Force have plastic bodies, but it's irrelevant whether the body is metal or not if they can hold up to wear & tear, & the plastic bodies seem to wear fine.

Of all these vacuums to own, though, if I had to pick one & one only, it would be Miracle Mate.

The original green Vortech Force is a nice vacuum, for sure. They also have had good power nozzles - first from Tecnica, then Wessel Werk EBK340. Plus the hose handle & wand design is nice, & they have good quality tools. BUT, the bag they use is just a single ply brown paper bag with no microfiltration layer, & it clogs quickly with fine dust. Not very good for filtration or maintaining airflow thru the vacuum. The bag is also proprietary to that brand - you must use ONLY the Vortech Force bags in it due to the size of the bag collar - and there aren't very many generic bag suppliers making replicas of the Vortech Force bag, either. In addition, the Microfilter before the motor does capture all the dust & ensures anything that escapes the bag & cloth holder bag does not go back into the air, but since it's not on the exhaust it's not capturing the motor's carbon dust emissions! Since this model, they have since introduced a red model with a single stage motor & reduced quality that isn't worth the asking price they are sold for new.

TriStar CXL & DXL are nice vacuums, & unlike the others, are the lightest design so they are a little easier to carry. They have excellent tools, in particular the bare floor brush which is AMAZING! No wonder why the other brands copied TriStar's tools. The power nozzle is also really good too, in particular I like that it has the air bleeder valve for different carpet styles. It could be a little better at grooming, & it would be nice if it had a geared belt design that was more reliable if you go for one of the later models, but it still does a acceptable job on most carpet styles & changing a belt once a year is no big deal. The one thing I don't like about TriStar though is their wands are proprietary - the spacing for their buttonlockers won't work with other wands unless you drill a 2nd hole. This becomes problematic if you want a 2nd set of wands to use with a floor brush & you are using the genuine TriStar floor brush, or if the power nozzle ever needed replacement & replacing it with genuine wasn't a option. Also, the plastic hose handle is very basic - no bleeder valve for suction relief on the hose, & no powerhead on/off switch. In addition, the metal stub tube on the handle can loosen after a few years & require a hose handle replacement. My biggest beef with TriStar though has to do with the quality of their bags & filters. The bag is only a single ply paper bag with no microfiltration layer, & it clogs quickly with fine dust, which reduces airflow thru the vacuum. While there are generic microfiltration TriStar bags, & there are generic HEPA Cloth TriStar bags & you can make a HEPA Cloth bag from a Kenmore 5055 canister bag or Numatic Henry canister bag, they would only be marginally better at not clogging from fine dust quickly & maintaining airflow. Also, as for the filtration system, the Filter Fresh system looks nice, but performs poorly. The main culprit is the pleated filter they use - it clogs from carbon dust quickly, & more importantly, it is NOT a HEPA filter type material they use, & it costs about the same as many HEPA filters that other brands use! And while there is a generic HEPA dome available for the TriStar, that still does nothing for filtering the carbon dust from the motor, & it would be totally useless if you used a HEPA Cloth bag to maintain airflow better, since the bag would be doing all the filtering before the motor anyways, so why would you have both in the same vacuum?

Patriot/Airstorm vacuums are a nice, high quality vacuum. Patriot is higher end, with the option to use a closed bag design since they have a bag door design, & slightly different blower port design that allows for easier use of the Medik Aire HEPA filter they offer. They have nice quality tools that while not quite the same as the others, are modelled to have some of the same properties of the original TriStar tools in the sense they have air relief vents built into them. Their powerheads are nice quality & groom well, & they have offered Wessel Werk & Sebo powerheads for their models. The S shape wands are unique in the sense that they allow for easier cleaning under furniture, but their unique shape does take some time to get used to. They do offer a Plastiflex hose now with a gas pump grip that has a powerhead on/off switch, a nice touch. But there's no bleeder valve for suction relief on the handle! Also, like the TriStar, the wands are proprietary due to the buttonlocker design. The bag is available as a open bag or closed top design, but it is just a single layer paper bag that clogs easily with fine dust & doesn't maintain airflow well. Like the TriStar, though, you can use a Kenmore 5055 HEPA Cloth canister bag or Numatic Henry HEPA Cloth canister bag, as well as the generic TriStar HEPA Cloth bag, but they still don't maintain airflow well. And while the Medik Aire HEPA filter is very nice & offers the best filtration of all these vacuums, it is HUGE! Very large filter that could catch on objects while pulling the vacuum around. Plus it is VERY EXPENSIVE - $200 US dollars to replace it. That would cause most people to not replace it & throw it out, or run the vacuum with a worn out HEPA filter that wouldn't do it's job effectively. One nice little thoughtful design element, though, is unlike the TriStar, they incorporated a swiveling cord hook into their design. The power on/off switch is on the back of the vacuum that you press a pedal, not a fan of that design.

Miracle Mate vacuums are a nice, high quality vacuum design. They originally had the power on/off switch on the rear of the vacuum, like Patriot/Airstorm does, but their next design changed that to a normal step on power on/off switch on top of the vacuum. They have used Lindhaus & Sebo power nozzles, & in the past the Edgelift power nozzle, but that was short lived. One nice design element they incorporate the others don't is the powerhead wand is telescopic - a really nice touch! Also, while their tools are the same as TriStar tools, they include a rug/floor nozzle instead of a regular floor brush - really nice for people that have fine area rugs, while still being able to use to clean bare floors. Like the others, the buttonlocker design on the wands is proprietary to Miracle Mate. They have used the same plastic handle TriStar & Patriot/Airstorm used in the past, as well as the Plastiflex hose with the gas pump handle. I believe each country gets a different hose, cannot be certain though. However, the difference here is with the canister design. One REALLY NICE design element is their Technostat micro filter design with charcoal built in. Not only would they do a good job filtering, but the charcoal element would help eliminate odours. And unlike Patriot/Airstrom, their filters are reasonably priced. I am not a fan of their bag - like Patriot/Airstorm, they use a closed top bag design with a plain brown paper bag with no microfiltration layer like Vortech Force which clogs easily. Like the others, you could use a HEPA Cloth bag if you wanted, which would only marginally improve airflow. But, unlike Patriot, Miracle Mate has a bag door tube right in the middle of the bag door - you could save a bag top & use a Original Miele HEPA Cloth GN bag. That bag is a 9 layer bag which the material allows the vacuum to maintain maximum airflow as it fills. The other HEPA Cloth bags are only 3 layer bags which aren't as good at resisting clogging & maintaining airflow. It isn't possible to use a Miele bag in the Patriot, because while it has a bag door tube, their bag door tube is on a angle & would cause issues mounting the bag & putting it inside the vacuum. Because of the Miracle Mate's ability to use a Miele HEPA Cloth bag, that gives it a HUGE advantage in performance over it's competitors. One other nice thing is that the Miele bags also include a cloth Super Air Clean filter with each pack of bags, so if you sealed up the 2 side filter ports on the Miracle Mate, you could use the Super Air Clean filter in place of the Technostat filter, have no filter expense & have great filtration. There is no charcoal layer, but you could add one by using a charcoal filter wrap from a Honeywell air purifier filter cut to size. The only downside the Miracle Mate has is the metal the canister is made of makes it much heavier than it's competitors, & the carrying handle is also a bit more awkward to use than the others, but you can get used to those things.

Of all these brands, Miracle Mate not only uses the largest motor - the armature/field coil is larger on their motor than on TriStar, Patriot/Airstorm & Vortech Force - but because of that, the motor compartment is also larger. That means you can put in a different, larger double stage motor with improved Waterlift & Airflow/CFM if desired, without having to modify the filter basket to do so like you would have to on TriStar or Patriot/Airstorm. And both Vortech Force & Miracle Mate incorporate a cord rewinder into their designs, albeit a shorter cord. But you could always just use a extension cord if that becomes a issue.

So, that's why I would choose Miracle Mate over the others. With the exception of Vortech Force, you could mix & match attachments, hoses, wands & powerheads to make the perfect vacuum you want. That, combined with the ability to easily change out the motor & use Miele bags for the best airflow performance from the vacuum, makes Miracle Mate the best choice if you had to buy & use only one of these vacuums.

Rob


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Post# 409448 5/14/2019 at 22:24 (1,806 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I have a compact c8 and c9. There is a few versions of the pig on the market. The TriStar, patriot vaccuum, miracle mate, vortech force. There average on looks. I'd say patriot with medik Aire has filters and most efficient. The miracle mate had 10.7 or 10.5 amps. The Patriot is either 10.7 it 10.5. tristsrb i believe is 10.5. Which of these is most powerful and best quality. Thanks Les

Post# 409485 , Reply# 1 5/15/2019 at 18:27 (1,805 days old) by luxflairguy (Wilmington, NC)
Checkrate/Likes Les! I don't understand what you're saying. You say "Pig" . Are you refering to the NSS Pig machines versus Compact/Tristar etc... Pls explain. Greg

Post# 409490 , Reply# 2 5/15/2019 at 19:46 (1,805 days old) by compactc9guy (Bathurst NB)
Checkrate/Likes noo not even close greg he means witch version is more power full tristar compact or vorteh force or miricale mate air storm patriot wichtt version has the most suction air flow ect .

Post# 409493 , Reply# 3 5/15/2019 at 21:12 (1,805 days old) by Kirbysthebest (Midwest)
Checkrate/Likes *I think I can remember* Compacts having a nickname "Gold pig". I thought I had heard, and I am probably wrong, so correct me. It got the nickname when a celebrity, I had heard Shelly Winters, but she did Air Way ads, anyway sge commented that the Compact was like dragging around a dead pig. The name stuck.

Post# 409500 , Reply# 4 5/15/2019 at 22:49 (1,805 days old) by compactc9guy (Bathurst NB)
Checkrate/Likes well id say the vortech force and miricale mate canister vacuum are probably more powerfull than the tristar compact i think this answers your question Lees .

Post# 409503 , Reply# 5 5/15/2019 at 23:18 (1,805 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah)
Checkrate/Likes Hi I'm reffering to all the vacuums that are pig style. Patriot vacuum owner left iec to make patriot. Miracle mate looks like a pig not positive on origin. TriStar is company that bought out iec. Vortech force is italian but I believe it's origins are from Canada TriStar or patriot vaccuum selling over seas. I'm saying pig meaning vacuums looking similar to compacts. I know vortech force are not as dependable as other options. Les

Post# 409618 , Reply# 6 5/21/2019 at 02:58 (1,799 days old) by kirbylux77 (London, Ontario, Canada)
Checkrate/Likes 2 I would say that TriStar CXL, Vortech Force, Patriot/Airstorm & Miracle Mate all have around the same suction power in terms of Waterlift & CFM/Airflow that their motors produce. I would also say they are all about the same quality. Some may dislike that the Patriot/Airstorm & Vortech Force have plastic bodies, but it's irrelevant whether the body is metal or not if they can hold up to wear & tear, & the plastic bodies seem to wear fine. Of all these vacuums to own, though, if I had to pick one & one only, it would be Miracle Mate. The original green Vortech Force is a nice vacuum, for sure. They also have had good power nozzles - first from Tecnica, then Wessel Werk EBK340. Plus the hose handle & wand design is nice, & they have good quality tools. BUT, the bag they use is just a single ply brown paper bag with no microfiltration layer, & it clogs quickly with fine dust. Not very good for filtration or maintaining airflow thru the vacuum. The bag is also proprietary to that brand - you must use ONLY the Vortech Force bags in it due to the size of the bag collar - and there aren't very many generic bag suppliers making replicas of the Vortech Force bag, either. In addition, the Microfilter before the motor does capture all the dust & ensures anything that escapes the bag & cloth holder bag does not go back into the air, but since it's not on the exhaust it's not capturing the motor's carbon dust emissions! Since this model, they have since introduced a red model with a single stage motor & reduced quality that isn't worth the asking price they are sold for new. TriStar CXL & DXL are nice vacuums, & unlike the others, are the lightest design so they are a little easier to carry. They have excellent tools, in particular the bare floor brush which is AMAZING! No wonder why the other brands copied TriStar's tools. The power nozzle is also really good too, in particular I like that it has the air bleeder valve for different carpet styles. It could be a little better at grooming, & it would be nice if it had a geared belt design that was more reliable if you go for one of the later models, but it still does a acceptable job on most carpet styles & changing a belt once a year is no big deal. The one thing I don't like about TriStar though is their wands are proprietary - the spacing for their buttonlockers won't work with other wands unless you drill a 2nd hole. This becomes problematic if you want a 2nd set of wands to use with a floor brush & you are using the genuine TriStar floor brush, or if the power nozzle ever needed replacement & replacing it with genuine wasn't a option. Also, the plastic hose handle is very basic - no bleeder valve for suction relief on the hose, & no powerhead on/off switch. In addition, the metal stub tube on the handle can loosen after a few years & require a hose handle replacement. My biggest beef with TriStar though has to do with the quality of their bags & filters. The bag is only a single ply paper bag with no microfiltration layer, & it clogs quickly with fine dust, which reduces airflow thru the vacuum. While there are generic microfiltration TriStar bags, & there are generic HEPA Cloth TriStar bags & you can make a HEPA Cloth bag from a Kenmore 5055 canister bag or Numatic Henry canister bag, they would only be marginally better at not clogging from fine dust quickly & maintaining airflow. Also, as for the filtration system, the Filter Fresh system looks nice, but performs poorly. The main culprit is the pleated filter they use - it clogs from carbon dust quickly, & more importantly, it is NOT a HEPA filter type material they use, & it costs about the same as many HEPA filters that other brands use! And while there is a generic HEPA dome available for the TriStar, that still does nothing for filtering the carbon dust from the motor, & it would be totally useless if you used a HEPA Cloth bag to maintain airflow better, since the bag would be doing all the filtering before the motor anyways, so why would you have both in the same vacuum? Patriot/Airstorm vacuums are a nice, high quality vacuum. Patriot is higher end, with the option to use a closed bag design since they have a bag door design, & slightly different blower port design that allows for easier use of the Medik Aire HEPA filter they offer. They have nice quality tools that while not quite the same as the others, are modelled to have some of the same properties of the original TriStar tools in the sense they have air relief vents built into them. Their powerheads are nice quality & groom well, & they have offered Wessel Werk & Sebo powerheads for their models. The S shape wands are unique in the sense that they allow for easier cleaning under furniture, but their unique shape does take some time to get used to. They do offer a Plastiflex hose now with a gas pump grip that has a powerhead on/off switch, a nice touch. But there's no bleeder valve for suction relief on the handle! Also, like the TriStar, the wands are proprietary due to the buttonlocker design. The bag is available as a open bag or closed top design, but it is just a single layer paper bag that clogs easily with fine dust & doesn't maintain airflow well. Like the TriStar, though, you can use a Kenmore 5055 HEPA Cloth canister bag or Numatic Henry HEPA Cloth canister bag, as well as the generic TriStar HEPA Cloth bag, but they still don't maintain airflow well. And while the Medik Aire HEPA filter is very nice & offers the best filtration of all these vacuums, it is HUGE! Very large filter that could catch on objects while pulling the vacuum around. Plus it is VERY EXPENSIVE - $200 US dollars to replace it. That would cause most people to not replace it & throw it out, or run the vacuum with a worn out HEPA filter that wouldn't do it's job effectively. One nice little thoughtful design element, though, is unlike the TriStar, they incorporated a swiveling cord hook into their design. The power on/off switch is on the back of the vacuum that you press a pedal, not a fan of that design. Miracle Mate vacuums are a nice, high quality vacuum design. They originally had the power on/off switch on the rear of the vacuum, like Patriot/Airstorm does, but their next design changed that to a normal step on power on/off switch on top of the vacuum. They have used Lindhaus & Sebo power nozzles, & in the past the Edgelift power nozzle, but that was short lived. One nice design element they incorporate the others don't is the powerhead wand is telescopic - a really nice touch! Also, while their tools are the same as TriStar tools, they include a rug/floor nozzle instead of a regular floor brush - really nice for people that have fine area rugs, while still being able to use to clean bare floors. Like the others, the buttonlocker design on the wands is proprietary to Miracle Mate. They have used the same plastic handle TriStar & Patriot/Airstorm used in the past, as well as the Plastiflex hose with the gas pump handle. I believe each country gets a different hose, cannot be certain though. However, the difference here is with the canister design. One REALLY NICE design element is their Technostat micro filter design with charcoal built in. Not only would they do a good job filtering, but the charcoal element would help eliminate odours. And unlike Patriot/Airstrom, their filters are reasonably priced. I am not a fan of their bag - like Patriot/Airstorm, they use a closed top bag design with a plain brown paper bag with no microfiltration layer like Vortech Force which clogs easily. Like the others, you could use a HEPA Cloth bag if you wanted, which would only marginally improve airflow. But, unlike Patriot, Miracle Mate has a bag door tube right in the middle of the bag door - you could save a bag top & use a Original Miele HEPA Cloth GN bag. That bag is a 9 layer bag which the material allows the vacuum to maintain maximum airflow as it fills. The other HEPA Cloth bags are only 3 layer bags which aren't as good at resisting clogging & maintaining airflow. It isn't possible to use a Miele bag in the Patriot, because while it has a bag door tube, their bag door tube is on a angle & would cause issues mounting the bag & putting it inside the vacuum. Because of the Miracle Mate's ability to use a Miele HEPA Cloth bag, that gives it a HUGE advantage in performance over it's competitors. One other nice thing is that the Miele bags also include a cloth Super Air Clean filter with each pack of bags, so if you sealed up the 2 side filter ports on the Miracle Mate, you could use the Super Air Clean filter in place of the Technostat filter, have no filter expense & have great filtration. There is no charcoal layer, but you could add one by using a charcoal filter wrap from a Honeywell air purifier filter cut to size. The only downside the Miracle Mate has is the metal the canister is made of makes it much heavier than it's competitors, & the carrying handle is also a bit more awkward to use than the others, but you can get used to those things. Of all these brands, Miracle Mate not only uses the largest motor - the armature/field coil is larger on their motor than on TriStar, Patriot/Airstorm & Vortech Force - but because of that, the motor compartment is also larger. That means you can put in a different, larger double stage motor with improved Waterlift & Airflow/CFM if desired, without having to modify the filter basket to do so like you would have to on TriStar or Patriot/Airstorm. And both Vortech Force & Miracle Mate incorporate a cord rewinder into their designs, albeit a shorter cord. But you could always just use a extension cord if that becomes a issue. So, that's why I would choose Miracle Mate over the others. With the exception of Vortech Force, you could mix & match attachments, hoses, wands & powerheads to make the perfect vacuum you want. That, combined with the ability to easily change out the motor & use Miele bags for the best airflow performance from the vacuum, makes Miracle Mate the best choice if you had to buy & use only one of these vacuums. Rob

Post# 409621 , Reply# 7 5/21/2019 at 07:28 (1,799 days old) by bikerray (Middle Earth)
Checkrate/Likes So? Where's the NSS Pig??????

Post# 409649 , Reply# 8 5/21/2019 at 17:11 (1,799 days old) by compactc9guy (Bathurst NB)
Checkrate/Likes read up he is talking about COMPACT Tristar not mss pig he means the tristar ,compact ,hayleys comet , air storm, patriot, miricale mate , vortech force vacuum read up no pig here .

Post# 409684 , Reply# 10 5/22/2019 at 20:11 (1,798 days old) by compactc9guy (Bathurst NB)
Checkrate/Likes Wel l kirbylux77 provided some info but hes right too , i helped a bit got anymore question send me via my email.

Post# 409656 , Reply# 9 5/21/2019 at 21:53 (1,799 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah)
Checkrate/Likes *Antoine* Holy cow you just summarize every single model in detail. I'm not surprised you know alot . I want to thank you for the information. That was explanation I was looking for. I have looked at electroluxes on eBay the jubilee and another ugly one right around the same time. I will not buy those machines I'm just wondering how the performance is compared to c9. Thank you Mr. Vacuum information guy. Les

Post# 409690 , Reply# 11 5/22/2019 at 21:09 (1,798 days old) by Lesinutah (Utah)
Checkrate/Likes 1 *Ouch* I just read kirbylux77 or robs post. I thought it was compact guy. Thanks Rob that covered all the basis and very informative. That's what I was looking for thank you. Les