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Thread Number: 40406
/ Tag: Recent Vacuum Cleaners from past 20 years
Do you hate Hoover? This is the perfect ranting thread! |
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| Post# 429033 , Reply# 1 7/25/2020 at 12:00 (1,363 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
There was a time when Hoover was number one. They were designed and invented to get the carpet clean. Which they did. My late friend Austin always said a Hoover can get a dirty rug clean where most vacuums can only maintain an already clean rug in clean condition.
By time time Air-Way brought out the twin motor upright, Hoover's superiority was over. One of Hoover's problems was they cared nothing about filtration. The bags were horrible - they just let the fine dust fly out into the air. Air-Way's disposable bag, with the advantage of the twin motor system as well as Air-Way's "vibrators" (their answer to Hoover's beater bars) made the Air-Way superior in almost every way. Hoover did innovate with the Dial-A-Matic - but by the end of the 1970's Panasonic and a whole lot of other companies were making 'clear air' uprights. I like Hoovers, and have a VAST collection of very vintage ones as well as modern models. I think Hoover is one of the four 'great inventions' in vacuum cleaner history. But there are also three others that changed the world as well. | ||
| Post# 429035 , Reply# 2 7/25/2020 at 12:46 (1,363 days old) by RegularRett69 (San Clemente California, USA) | ||
I don't know.
Yes, the Hoover company came out with the first vacuums and things. But they don't really have the charm some other companies have. The most hoover can say is that they invented the vacuum (not really true) and that they are the most known vacuum brand. I don't feel the best writing about this, just because I think I might hurt Gottahaveahoover's feelings, but it's what I think. Also, clap clap! This is one of the first threads about hoover's, or dirt devil's decline in quality that doesn't mention TTI! I really don't like that company, and a lot of others don't too. But I'd also assume that everybody on this site that collects knows about TTi, hence it not needing to be a talking point anymore (except for here 😂).
Thanks, Garrett | ||
| Post# 429070 , Reply# 3 7/26/2020 at 09:00 (1,362 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK) | ||
I don’t *hate* Hoover, certainly the vacuum cleaner as we know it wouldn’t exist without them. But from the 1970’s onwards, they were always one step behind the completion, particularly from Electrolux and then from the likes of Panasonic and Hitachi into the 80’s. When Hoover were still churning out huffy, puffy, clunky, noisy dirty fan cleaners with poor hose suction and awkward bottom fill bags, Electrolux were producing quiet, lightweight, clean air machine which were more convenient to empty, more convenient to convert to tool use and had stronger suction so have a much better all-round clean with better filtration. They only really caught up with the Turbopower 2 but by then it was too late. They came close with the U.K. Convertible/US Dial A Matic but they were just too expensive.
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| Post# 429071 , Reply# 4 7/26/2020 at 09:04 (1,362 days old) by Turbo500 (West Yorkshire, UK) | ||
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why I really miss these fantastic regulations
The EU vacuum regulations are still in place in terms of power and filtration. The only thing that was scrapped was the performance ratings system as the testing was proving to be ineffective and did not represent real domestic use. But the wattage limit is very much still in place across Europe and the U.K.
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| Post# 429092 , Reply# 6 7/26/2020 at 23:41 (1,362 days old) by myles_v (Fredericksburg, VA) | ||
I agree 100% with the idea that they rapidly declined as the years went on, well before the brand went to Candy and Maytag (and now TTI outside of Europe). It is typical of large companies, they tend to get to a point where innovation becomes difficult and seemingly unnecessary to those within the company. Upper management of large companies tend to develop a sort of arrogance when the company is doing well, which ultimately ends up stifling the kind of innovation that is crucial for consumer product manufacturers to stay in business.
Of course, greed is a large part of why the Hoover brand is now split up between various companies across the globe. I wonder what the Hoover brand would look like today if it hadn't been for the free flights fiasco. | ||
| Post# 429109 , Reply# 8 7/27/2020 at 12:05 (1,361 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina) | ||
Sunset for a Proud Legacy Brand...
We had a Hoover Convertible with a full assortment of accessories that served our family well for about 25 years. My parents bought it new in the early '70s and passed it down to me almost 20 years later when they replaced it with a Singer upright. I used it as my primary vacuum cleaner for about 10 more years before I donated it—still in good working order, albeit showing its age—when I was moving in 1998. It was as solid a machine as one could ask for. I don't believe the same could be said for the current models but that's true of most vacuums these days.
Yes, Hoover, back in the day, made excellent vacuum cleaners. They were sort of the Fords and Chevys of vacuums; that is, they were designed to be affordable and reasonably durable, offering an attractive set of features bu they weren't exactly a premium or aspirational brand like Electrolux or Kirby. The problem is that whole segment—not just Hoover—has been on a perpetual downhill slide as the ratio of plastic and chinesium continued to increase to keep the price point down. As far as I'm concerned, today's 'Hoover'-badged machines aren't really true Hoovers anymore. It's just another one of those once-proud American brands that now just exists in name only, owned by a holding company with no connection to or interest in what made the brand great, but only in what they can squeeze out of that name and its (former) reputation before the cash cow dries up and they slap another name on the same crappy products. It's sad to say, but the "American century" is truly over. | ||
| Post# 429122 , Reply# 9 7/27/2020 at 17:42 (1,361 days old) by myles_v (Fredericksburg, VA) | ||
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| Post# 429143 , Reply# 10 7/28/2020 at 03:45 (1,360 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana) | ||
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Post# 429177 , Reply# 11 7/28/2020 at 16:18 (1,360 days old) by Air-WayCharlie  (USA) |
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I have owned a lot of vintage Hoovers and stopped buying almost anything after the early DAMs. I had a few Celebrities along the way also.
I am not very interested in any Hoover after about 1975 or thereabouts--part of that being due to my age and what I consider vintage. IMO, the pinnacle uprights were the 150, 825, 28, 29/63/64/634 and the 65/66. There were a few other coffee can models that were good performers but they are all similar for the most part to the 825--the only model with its number lighter in red in the front---like the Kirby Dual 50. Again, IMO, the lines of the 825 were just flawless and it was an excellent performer. The significant difference in the early uprights was the introduction of the curved helix brush roll versus the non-curved. Then the introduction of the two speed motors with the convertibles. | ||
| Post# 429206 , Reply# 12 7/29/2020 at 09:49 (1,359 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Hoover went from the most expensive vacuum cleaner on the market ($75 in 1909) to a cheap crappy vacuum ($79 in 2020). I all went downhill in 1958 when Hoover fired all their salesmen and let their (at the time) "Premium" vacuum be sold at department stores. It has spiraled down ever since - now you can buy them on-line without even seeing the machine you're buying in person first. Hoover has made a LOT of mistakes over the years.
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| Post# 429214 , Reply# 13 7/29/2020 at 11:11 (1,359 days old) by vacuumdevil (Vacuum Hell ) | ||
I actually like over a lot.
Both original Hoover and modern TTI Hoover. But Maytag Hoover can suck it. I think calling the company is greedy is kind of unjust. That really has nothing to do with poor engineering in the EU. TTI has done wonders to improve Hoover since Maytag trashed the name. They have focused on bringing Hoover back to the average man's cleaner. Yes they make junk for the masses but that's what the masses want and it's particularly better than the other junk that's offered at box stores. Hoover is still King of the cheap vacuum market. | ||
| Post# 429252 , Reply# 14 7/30/2020 at 09:20 (1,358 days old) by dysonman1 (the county) | ||
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Former VCCC President, R.J. Vanik, held shares of the old Hoover Company. Every year they would send to the shareholders a synopsis magazine of all they had accomplished that year. He was able to get all these special magazines (which only went to shareholders) going back to 1946. They contain wonderful reference materials.
When Hoover introduced their Iron with Pancake Dial, they didn't sell it through their army of door to door salesmen - they sold it in retail stores. Soon after the success of that venture, they went on to place their "factory reconditioned" uprights in retail stores too. I guess they figured the door to door salesmen were busy enough selling model 29's, Larks, 61's etc. Then, Hoover tested the waters with the Holiday tank cleaner made in England. A new Hoover available in stores for the first time. The stage was set for the next venture, for which there was no turning back. After the Citation was finished, so were virtually all Hoover door to door sales. The time had come for new Hoover uprights to be sold in retail stores. Talk about the beginning of the end. Now, a Hoover was no longer the "best" and most expensive vacuum you could get - it was now just another 'choice'. And retailers needed to start discounting it to gain an 'edge'. The Convertible Special was used as the price leader - with retailers advertising almost 'give away' prices to get the consumer in the door - where they would be shown the deluxe model first. The floating Constellation was very inexpensive to make, so Hoover decided to flood the market in the 60's with variations. Never mind that the machine was belching the dust out of the rugs to land on the drapes. Hoover stopped innovating a long time ago. Remember, after Dyson won the lawsuit against Hoover, the London Times on its front page had the following quote (and a picture of James Dyson holding aloft a DC04) "Hoover laughed at it. They wouldn't give it the time of day. They said "bags are best". "Bags will always best". Then ... They copied it. | ||
| Post# 429306 , Reply# 16 7/31/2020 at 01:37 (1,357 days old) by myles_v (Fredericksburg, VA) | ||
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vacuumdevil
Hoover is the king of cheap vacuums, but they used to be the king of premium vacuums. That isn't what I would call innovation.
Also, I would agree that they aren't outright greedy as a company, but they have made greedy moves in the past which backfired and resulted in them being bought out by Maytag in the US. TTI has improved them since Maytag, but they aren't back to being the same company that they were before Maytag. | ||
| Post# 429362 , Reply# 17 8/1/2020 at 11:50 (1,356 days old) by vacuumdevil (Vacuum Hell ) | ||
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@myles_v Hoover hasn't been top-of-the-line in almost 40 years.
It would seem they followed what's the consumer wanted . But it seems to be very typical of American companies to go through this process. Great examples are Cadillac, Colt, singer. I'm sure everybody here can put a few more examples in. | ||
| Post# 429400 , Reply# 18 8/2/2020 at 10:38 (1,355 days old) by S31463221 (Frenchburg, KY) | ||
Do I hate Hoover?
In short no. I can’t hate something that LITERALLY saved my life once, and a Hoover Convertible Elite did just that! Now don’t get me wrong, this stuff with a Hoover badge on it now certainly isn’t the quality Hoover products that was produced a few decades ago. I absolutely LOVE the pleasing hum of my coffee can Hoover’s, and my Convertibles. I purchased a newer bagless Hoover a few years back and gave it to our neighbors because it gave me a royal headache every time I used it! So in my opinion, older Hoover stuff is fantastic, new stuff, absolutely not!
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| Post# 429401 , Reply# 19 8/2/2020 at 12:09 (1,355 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA) | ||
I don't have anything against Hoover.
These days, especially after the SP Windtunnel was discontinued, there's not a lot from them that's much different than other TTI made stuff under the Dirt Devil or other brands. However, the commercial line is still pretty nice with the Portapower and Decade style machines still made, as well as the Conquest. Hoover's best era to me, was 1940s-70s. I like the old metal Convertibles, DAM, Constellation, Slimline, Celebrity, etc. The color schemes were nice too. The 1980s-90s plastic models to me aren't that exciting, but still were very good machines. 1990s are pretty nice too, the Elite and Powerdrive had some nice designs, but to me the Elite was the beginning of when they were starting to become really cheap, and like anybody else - Eureka Bravo, Bissell and Singer PowerAmp, etc. Just noisy, all plastic machines, but they worked well. Still American made though and reliable! The PowerMax uprights were probably some of their last really good machines, although I still liked the Windtunnel. I wonder sometimes if Hoover hadn't sold to TTI if they would have retained more of their heritage models and designs. Would parts have still been available for vintage machines, etc? | ||
| Post# 429404 , Reply# 20 8/2/2020 at 12:51 (1,355 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
I think it's important to keep in mind that Eric is writing from the UK where the history of Hoover is quite different than the history of The Hoover Company in North America. Hoover Europe was bought out by the Italian "Candy" company many decades ago...maybe even before 1980. And so the split between the American company in North Canton and Hoover Europe happened long ago and the quality of the cleaners have to be evaluated separately.
The sale of the American Hoover Company to Maytag and then to TTI did not affect the Candy-owned Hoover in Europe. Interesting to note that Candy sold their Hoover division to Chinese appliance giant Haier just about when Sweden's Electrolux sold off its Eureka division to the Chinese Midea company...I guess that was about three years ago. | ||
| Post# 429420 , Reply# 21 8/2/2020 at 18:34 (1,355 days old) by eurekaprince (Montreal, Canada) | ||
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| Post# 429426 , Reply# 22 8/2/2020 at 21:47 (1,355 days old) by panasonicvac (Northern Utah) | ||
I always like Hoover, regardless of which company they are owned by. The only Hoovers that I could care less about are the Floormates but those don't really change my opinion about the brand. Before Hoover was acquired by TTI, they were owned by Whirlpool for a short period of time (Part of the Maytag acquisition). I wondered to myself of what Hoover would've been like had Whirlpool not sold Hoover to TTI.
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| Post# 429427 , Reply# 23 8/2/2020 at 21:50 (1,355 days old) by panasonicvac (Northern Utah) | ||
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Clarification | ||
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