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Thread Number: 46014
/ Tag: Recent Vacuum Cleaners from past 20 years
What Happened To FantomTechGuy |
[Down to Last] |  |
| Post# 474893 12/29/2024 at 09:32 by wstonehockertv (North Carolina) | ||
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Back in 2017, a guy named FantomTechGuy set out to revive Fantom. I'm led to the belief that he abandoned that journey for something different. | ||
Post# 474897 , Reply# 1 12/29/2024 at 13:25 by RainbowD4C  (Saint Joseph, Michigan ) |
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So Fantom Technologies went bankrupt back in 2001. It was then purchased by Euro-Pro. Most likely any patents and licensing would most likely held under Euro-Pro.
Trying to revive an old company like this would be next to impossible. The money and legal process would take years to complete. or an agreement might never be made. | ||
| Post# 474904 , Reply# 2 12/29/2024 at 19:09 by Lesinutah (Utah) | ||
Umm | ||
| Post# 474944 , Reply# 3 1/1/2025 at 15:27 by panasonicvac (Northern Utah) | ||
Honestly
There's no way he'd be able to revive the original Fantom company, I simply chose to not say anything until now. Even if he was successful of doing so, Fantom would've quickly went bankrupt all over again. But he should be grateful that WMJ Refurbishing is still making and selling the Amway ClearTraks, they're the closest you'd ever get to buying a old Fantom today and that company is apparently doing really well so supposedly they shouldn't be going anywhere anytime soon.
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| Post# 474952 , Reply# 4 1/1/2025 at 19:38 by mark40511 (Lexington, KY) | ||
In the late 90s around thanksgiving my grandma bought me a phantom upright...because I had told her I had been watching the informercials and it would be amazing to not have to deal with bags... because back then, finding bags were so difficult.. and even though the internet was a thing I didn't do much ordering online in the early years of the internet.
I HATED that vacuum with a raging passion. I would use it and I could literally see dust collecting slowly on the outside of it.. when taking off the dust cup to clean it and put it back, it felt like it barely made a seal..I hated everything about it... emptying it...I dealt with it for 2 years. Did I miss something? What was so great about this vacuum? | ||
| Post# 474960 , Reply# 6 1/1/2025 at 23:06 by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, IN) | ||
 I wouldn't say a liar per se, just making a bunch of ambitious dreams. All kids do that. You get passionate about something, set out to do something about it, and find out it's way bigger than you and you move on to other tasks in life eventually. @mark40511 The appeal in them is purely because they are rare and hard to find. Many models take several years for someone to find. They have a following among people that their parents had them when they were kids and they grew up with them, or they seen them in the store and wanted one, or who knows what. Early bagless vacuums are fascinating to study anyway. Also people love things because they are so bad, as well. I have that godawful Shark monstrosity that looks like a Bionicle figure, and it is so horrible in every sense of the term, but I love looking at it and having it, because you look at it, and you are just in awe at how something like that could be made, and virtually none survive either. I had a search saved for 5 1/2 years before one came up for sale. | ||
| Post# 474961 , Reply# 7 1/2/2025 at 01:14 by niclonnic (Bonney Lake, WA) | ||
huskyvacs
Yes, I am one of those individuals who greatly understands the appeal of Fantom vacuums. My parents had a 10 amp Fantom Fury (likely purchased through the infomercial) when I was a kid, so I grew up with it in an apartment. Watching my mom vacuum with that Fury, I admired the design of it, as well as seeing the dirt spin around in the translucent, dark green bin. Due to a damaged cord, we ended up getting rid of that vacuum in the summer of 2001 prior to buying our first house.
It took me YEARS before I could find another Fantom Fury. I had a 12 amp one that I purchased, refurbished (with a BRAND NEW motor), in early 2018 off of another user here on Vacuumland. I made the mistake of using that as my daily driver. As a result, the motor died on me after a couple weeks. Whatever happened to it was rightfully described by the seller as "pretty unexplainable." Eventually, I got that motor issue taken care of. In early 2021, I resold the vacuum on eBay because I wasn't quite satisfied with it compared to my childhood one. So, I wanted to find the very original Fantom Fury model. Finally, in the summer of 2023, a good collector friend of mine came across a 10 amp Fury on eBay and sent me a link to it. This one had very low mileage; the seller had purchased it new in 1997 and put it in storage shortly afterward. I ended up winning the vacuum for a rather expensive price. So I got it in one piece, although the vacuum only came with two attachments (crevice tool and bare floor nozzle). However, I was able to buy a dusting brush separately off of a different seller on eBay. This 10 amp Fury even came with all of its original paperwork, not to mention the how-to VHS tape. Learning my lesson with the 12 amp Fury, I will NOT be running my current 10 amp one into the ground, due to its rarity compared to the more common 12 amp models. I just love looking at it and being in awe of what an early bagless vacuum was like. I haven't seen many 10 amp Furies survive. I do take mine out and run it every now and then, just to verify that it still works. | ||
| Post# 474968 , Reply# 8 1/2/2025 at 13:59 by panasonicvac (Northern Utah) | ||
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I like Fantoms more as a collector but not as a consumer. They were very cool and interesting looking machines when I was younger. I still stand from my other post that Fantom would've easily gone out of business the second time because overall, they really aren't good machines. Personally, I would've bought a Regina Housekeeper over a Fantom instead if I had a choice between the two.
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| Post# 474974 , Reply# 9 1/2/2025 at 15:16 by huskyvacs (Gnaw Bone, IN) | ||
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