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Kirby vaccums...they suck a lot

vi edit

vi edit

Elite Member
Super Moderator
***NOTICE: I DON'T WANT A DYSON(hate my current bagless)***

Wife let a Kirby guy do a demo yesterday. No less than 2 hours before he showed up, she did a very thorough vacuuming of the place with our 3 year old Hoover Windtunnel bagless.

They did a few areas in the house and this thing pulled up what amounted to buckets of pet hair, dust, ect. Pretty freaky how much crap the old vacuum missed.

They left it at our house overnight and I used it on the wood floors and in the 1000 sq/ft carpeted basement. It's a really nice machine. Self propelled motor made for effortless movements and the carpet has never looked better. The hardwood floor attachment was great too.

We're sort of looking at new vacuums and want to go bagless this round. After having the bagless type for a few years with a pet we've grown to not like it. It has to be dumped multiple times per cleaning (we vacuum once a week) to maintain maximum suck and it's just a mess to dump and clean.

I've read up on the price ranges. Seems like the typical deal is to show a price of $1800 and then present an offer of $1200 making you feel like it's a great deal. But by many accounts people are walking away with them for $750-$900. There's a number of them on Ebay with a BIN price of $600-$750. So I've got an idea of their market value.

I know it sounds like a lot, but many people do keep the things for 20 years, so that is easily good for 3-5 "lesser" vacuums during the time. So you pay up front for something better rather than nickel and dime along the way for disposable ones.

Regardless of it's merits, I'm still on the fence about spending that much on a damn vacuum.
 
We just got a Dyson after numerous POS bagless units. It rules. Get a Dyson.
Yes, I did see your first sentence.
 
Originally posted by: Modeps
We just got a Dyson after numerous POS bagless units. It rules. Get a Dyson.
Yes, I did see your first sentence.
Click to expand...

I've got an 80 pound dog that sheds it's body weight in hair (seemingly) each week. Pretty much every objective resource out there says for that type of of environment bagless are both less effective, and less convenient. By my own use I can't help but agree.

Plus with hardwood floors a canister type is a much better option. Something like the Kirby offers both upright and canister style in one device.
 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Originally posted by: Modeps
We just got a Dyson after numerous POS bagless units. It rules. Get a Dyson.
Yes, I did see your first sentence.
Click to expand...

I've got an 80 pound dog that sheds it's body weight in hair (seemingly) each week. Pretty much every objective resource out there says for that type of of environment bagless are both less effective, and less convenient. By my own use I can't help but agree.

Plus with hardwood floors a canister type is a much better option. Something like the Kirby offers both upright and canister style in one device.
Click to expand...

In that case, it is my recommendation to get a toy poodle to replace your giant doggy.
 
Originally posted by: dquan97
we have a rainbow vacuum and very happy with it. No bags to replace!
Click to expand...

So do you just dump the sludge that collects in the bin down your sink?

I can't imagine what that would happen the volume of pet hair that we pick up.
 
My sister sold Kirby's for a few weeks when she couldn't get a job out of college. At the time (20+ years ago), they didn't use a proper filter on their demos. All vacuums will suck harder (no pun intended) without a good filter. Check the filter on your demo unit and see.

My mom bought one from her because she felt sorry for her. It was a good enough vacuum and still works fine AFAIK, but it was overpriced by a huge factor.

Get a Dyson 🙂.
 
does the technology seem sound? What i mean is do you think the motor and vacuuming power will last for as long as you want it to last? Your situation sounds similar to one my dad underwent when I was a kid. Except he has a Rainbow vacuum. These guys are notorious for walking door to door, the thing still works 20 years later. It has a water bucket which captures the dust. If you feel that the vacuum cleaner is structurally sound and doesn't use parts that are cheap and rupture/break easily, the price could be ok.
 
Originally posted by: SearchMaster
My sister sold Kirby's for a few weeks when she couldn't get a job out of college. At the time (20+ years ago), they didn't use a proper filter on their demos. All vacuums will suck harder (no pun intended) without a good filter. Check the filter on your demo unit and see.

My mom bought one from her because she felt sorry for her. It was a good enough vacuum and still works fine AFAIK, but it was overpriced by a huge factor.

Get a Dyson 🙂.
Click to expand...

There is no "filter" per se in a bag style. The bag *IS* the filter.

As for the build quality - yeh it's a rugged device. Cast aluminum for most of the "body" of the machine. Impeller is kevlar for what value that is. Hell even the light on it is a very bright LED that technically would never need to be replaced short of electronic malfunction.
 
We have an Oreck, it's a great vacuum. Sucks up plenty of my 80lbs dogs shedding, and only ran about $300 or so. The 8lbs is also great for taking it upstairs and down, and you barely exert any force while using it.
 
Originally posted by: vi_edit
Originally posted by: dquan97
we have a rainbow vacuum and very happy with it. No bags to replace!
Click to expand...

So do you just dump the sludge that collects in the bin down your sink?

I can't imagine what that would happen the volume of pet hair that we pick up.
Click to expand...

I dump it outside in the garden. We had a kirby prior to this and prefer this one because there's no bags and seems to collect more "stuff"
 
If you want the best vacuum made get a Kenmore Progressive upright either the 35923 bagged or the 36933 bagless. On sale at sears for $279 right now. I have the 35923 and it's the best vacuum I've ever owned. These Kenmore's are Consumer Reports top rated vacuums.
 
i am not paying $600 for a vacuum

my wife and i decided our main problem is we try to keep/use them past their useful life

so we bought a $90 one from costco and we are going to throw it away and replace it after one year

that is right, no matter how much it seems ok, we are just going to buy a new one every year
 
While the Kirby, for the most part, is designed to last for decades, you are still gonna have to buy maintenance parts for it, especially with the dog hair situation. Hair tends to take it's toll on the brush roll and belts. No biggie really. I sold them out of high school and some of my customers had machines that they had owned for 25+ years.

High priced...yes. But, if you consider that one kirby will last longer than 6 or 7 conventional hoovers and other store bought vacuums, then the value is there. It's not suction that cleans, but airflow. The Kirby does a good job of moving air thru the machine.
 
Originally posted by: compuwiz1

High priced...yes. But, if you consider that one kirby will last longer than 6 or 7 conventional hoovers and other store bought vacuums, then the value is there. It's not suction that cleans, but airflow. The Kirby does a good job of moving air thru the machine.
Click to expand...

There's definitely something to it. We have some rugs in the house that are virtually impossible to clean with our current vacuum. It will "suck and hold" onto them and drag them around..but still just leave tons of crap still in them. You have to resort to using the hand tools.

The Kirby on the other hand just sort of glided over them grabbing everything embedded without peeling them off the floor.

Hard to explain unless you actually see it done in person.
 
Originally posted by: FoBoT
i am not paying $600 for a vacuum

my wife and i decided our main problem is we try to keep/use them past their useful life

so we bought a $90 one from costco and we are going to throw it away and replace it after one year

that is right, no matter how much it seems ok, we are just going to buy a new one every year
Click to expand...

I've had my Kirby for 6 years, and it still works the same as the day we bought it.
You'd have spent about the same I did, and had to deal with a cheap vacuum the whole time.

My mom has had her Kirby for ~20 years. You do the math on that one...

OP: They're good, solid vacuums. The only real complaint that I have is that all debris goes through the impeller. But, I've sucked up all kinds of things and never broken a blade.

Oh, and the self propel feature is nicer than I would have thought.
 
We've had a Kirby for awhile now as well. The thing sucks up an incredible amount of crap from the carpets. Even after vacuuming first with another vacuum with a nearly empty bag.
 
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