Why have vacuum attachments gotten so dinky over the years?

Most any vintage vacuums I've seen had pretty decent to very good attachments included.

Somewhere along the line, many of them started to cheapen the attachments or include ones that are too small to be useable.

It seems to me this likely started around the time upright vacuums started having attachments on board. But perhaps not quite exactly, because even Hoover Elites and Dirt Devils even came with a pretty good set of attachments. A separate upholstery tool and a fairly soft dusting brush. Same with Panasonic uprights.

By at least the mid 2000s though, many of these attachments were smaller and the combo dusting/upholstery tools were common. Dusting brushes with stubby, scratchy bristles and the like.

Then we started having canister vacuums (especially compact) canisters with combination tools as well. Some models today have a crevice tool that serves as a dusting brush by simply sliding bristles on the end. A dusting brush the size of a toothbrush! Can't imagine cleaning a car interior or dusting the table tops or upholstery with that! LOL

Today's door to door vacuums still have excellent attachments. And even many independent brands include good generic, but full sized and horsehair attachments.

Other than those and makers like Miele, many of the big box and dept store brands such as Hoover, Eureka, Kenmore, etc have less than optimal sets. Kenmore's horsehair dusting brushes in the past several years are little softer than their non-horsehair equivalents. Not to mention the crossover handles of some models that are simply too big to fit into tight areas.

Look at the attachments from the Hoover Air Revolve. They did include a generous set, but most of them are clunky, huge oversized things!

And trying to use the hose on many tool on board uprights, sends the whole machine tumbling over as soon as the attachment makes contact with a surface. Too much suction through the springy hose. Although I have seen a lot of improvement as far as this in recent years.

But it seems as if today's vacuum designers have never used the attachments on a vacuum or expect that people won't do so.


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Post# 429635 8/7/2020 at 21:37 (1,356 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 Most any vintage vacuums I've seen had pretty decent to very good attachments included. Somewhere along the line, many of them started to cheapen the attachments or include ones that are too small to be useable. It seems to me this likely started around the time upright vacuums started having attachments on board. But perhaps not quite exactly, because even Hoover Elites and Dirt Devils even came with a pretty good set of attachments. A separate upholstery tool and a fairly soft dusting brush. Same with Panasonic uprights. By at least the mid 2000s though, many of these attachments were smaller and the combo dusting/upholstery tools were common. Dusting brushes with stubby, scratchy bristles and the like. Then we started having canister vacuums (especially compact) canisters with combination tools as well. Some models today have a crevice tool that serves as a dusting brush by simply sliding bristles on the end. A dusting brush the size of a toothbrush! Can't imagine cleaning a car interior or dusting the table tops or upholstery with that! LOL Today's door to door vacuums still have excellent attachments. And even many independent brands include good generic, but full sized and horsehair attachments. Other than those and makers like Miele, many of the big box and dept store brands such as Hoover, Eureka, Kenmore, etc have less than optimal sets. Kenmore's horsehair dusting brushes in the past several years are little softer than their non-horsehair equivalents. Not to mention the crossover handles of some models that are simply too big to fit into tight areas. Look at the attachments from the Hoover Air Revolve. They did include a generous set, but most of them are clunky, huge oversized things! And trying to use the hose on many tool on board uprights, sends the whole machine tumbling over as soon as the attachment makes contact with a surface. Too much suction through the springy hose. Although I have seen a lot of improvement as far as this in recent years. But it seems as if today's vacuum designers have never used the attachments on a vacuum or expect that people won't do so.

Post# 429638 , Reply# 1 8/8/2020 at 00:46 (1,356 days old) by MadMan (Chicago, IL, USA)
Checkrate/Likes 1 I'd expect cost is a big issue. But also, most vacs nowadays have onboard tool storage, and people don't like to push around a heavy vacuum cleaner. So, weight is an issue. It also affects shipping weight, too, which goes back to cost.

Post# 429640 , Reply# 2 8/8/2020 at 01:04 (1,356 days old) by mariotron (Texas )
Checkrate/Likes 1 A pet peeve of mine is stuff dusting brushes. Like seriously some of the things are like a scrub brush you'd use for cleaning a tub not dusting delicate surfaces

Post# 429812 , Reply# 3 8/11/2020 at 17:28 (1,352 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes I think MadMan got it right - it's so they can fit all the tools on the vacuum because people are too lazy to have a toolbox for their vacuum. Also it is a cheat tactic - when you have a vacuum with a small eco-friendly motor, if you fit a small hose and tools, you increase the suction force to compensate for the smaller motor power. Versus a big motor with a big hose. The Hoover Airlift Deluxe, they went a bit overboard with that vacuum. It looks like a housemaid's cart crashed into it. lol And yeah it is hard to find a vacuum with a good dusting brush. I like my vintage Electroluxes for that, with the horsehair brushes.

Post# 429815 , Reply# 4 8/11/2020 at 18:46 (1,352 days old) by Hooverman99 (Pennsylvania )
Checkrate/Likes My biggest pet peeve with some modern vacuums especially the budget ones is lack of upholstery tool. They want you to rely on the turbo brush or the dusting brush to do the work for upholstery but some turbos are useless when its something like a bagless bissell that doesn't have enough airflow to spin it and just immediately stops or slows down and the dusting ain't ment for upholstery duty so what's the point of giving people tools when some of them are useless or not ment for the type of tasks you want. I don't know why some companies are so hesitant into giving just a normal upholstery tool and telling people you have to use this tool to do the job it just annoys me.

Post# 429816 , Reply# 5 8/11/2020 at 18:47 (1,352 days old) by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, Indiana)
Checkrate/Likes I've never seen a turbo tool actually work at all for that matter. I always keep a Royal hand vac around for upholstery

Post# 429819 , Reply# 6 8/11/2020 at 19:42 (1,352 days old) by fan-of-fans (USA)
Checkrate/Likes Me either. LOL At least Lux has an actual motorized upholstery tool on their uprights. Kenmore/Panasonic actually did this too in the past on some models. I agree too on the dusting brushes. The thing I don't get is, it doesn't make a vacuum all that bulky to include some decent attachments. Look at the 90s/early 2000s uprights from Hoover and Eureka. Most of those had a good set of full sized on board attachments with a separate dusting and upholstery brush. Regina and Dirt Devil did as well. And Fantom's attachments were good too. Even the Eureka SmartVac still had good full size onboard tools until it was discontinued just a couple years back.

Post# 429820 , Reply# 7 8/11/2020 at 20:00 (1,352 days old) by gottahaveahoove (Pittston, Pennsylvania, 18640)
Checkrate/Likes *I tthink Hoover's best tools were up to the 70s* The floor brush, upholstery brush, and dusting brushes were great. Now, they're like dollhouse tools. toys. Awful. I'm glad others have stated this. across all other makers, too.

Post# 429821 , Reply# 8 8/11/2020 at 20:15 (1,352 days old) by human (Pines of Carolina)
Checkrate/Likes Yes, a lot of turbo brushes are garbage. I'm a big fan of the Electrolux SideKick motorized mini power nozzles over just about any turbo brush. That said, Kirby's turbo and Zipp brushes work surprisingly well.

Post# 429832 , Reply# 9 8/12/2020 at 02:27 (1,352 days old) by tolivac (Greenville,NC)
Checkrate/Likes When I received my Patriot Purple Heart Edition vacuum it had FULL SIZE hand tools-no dollhouse size.And it has a FULL length crevice tool-not a STUMPY one-those are USELESS for car cleaning and cleaning sofas.

Post# 429886 , Reply# 11 8/12/2020 at 18:36 (1,351 days old) by KirbyClassicIII (Milwaukie, Oregon)
Checkrate/Likes I know Kirby had gone all out at one time during the Classic 1CR/Classic Omega 1CB period, when they introduced an accessory for the Handi-Butler called the "Swedish Massager." ~Ben

Post# 429889 , Reply# 12 8/12/2020 at 20:17 (1,351 days old) by Thevacomaticiec (Bathurst New Brunswick Canada )
Checkrate/Likes Thats why i will NEVER own a 2020 vac only vintage qhit quality tools ie Filter Queen ,Electrolux Tristar /8Compact in my book best dusting brush upholstery tool in the cleaning buizz

Post# 429990 , Reply# 13 8/14/2020 at 00:45 (1,350 days old) by vacuumdevil (Vacuum Hell )
Checkrate/Likes @Thevacomaticiec you're missing out there are plenty of new vacuums with great tools.

Post# 429867 , Reply# 10 8/12/2020 at 14:42 (1,351 days old) by vacuumdevil (Vacuum Hell )
Checkrate/Likes I would agree with @MadMan 💯 on this. would also mention that a lot of manufacturers are selling attachment kits with full size attachments. So extra money to be made on additional accessories. Another thing I would mention is that some vacuums have gotten less powerful so smaller attachments make sense in concentrating the power. A great example of this is Dyson.

Post# 430060 , Reply# 14 8/15/2020 at 11:24 (1,348 days old) by kirby519 (Wisconsin)
Checkrate/Likes I agree some of the attachments with today's vacuums are not the useful tools they once were. I myself have had good luck with Kirby's zip brush. Probably the only air/turbine powered attachment that has really impressed me. It seems those tools lend themselves better to a built in vacuum cleaning system where you can produce more air flow and suction power than a portable vacuum. Not that aren't some good canister vacuums out there that can efficiently operate a air/turbine powered tool. But that is just my own opinion.