Vacuum Reviews

Although it has good suction and a power head.... It topples over all the time while vacuuming, gets clogged and my power head went dead and no one can fix or replace it.... so that's it! I only used it 6 times in 1 year, since I have maid service. Worst ever! This was my second and last Fantom!
Tony in Florida

I bought this vacuum because I owned the Fantom Fury upright and thought it was great, but wanted a canister. It seemed perfect- bagless, hepa, light, etc. It is the worst vacuum I've ever had. My dustbuster has more suction. The parts are made of cheapo plastic. The "adjustable suction" nob keeps opening. The body keeps flipping over. The retractable cord keeps sticking. The worst part is that dust gets so caked onto the filter that I have to scrape each ridge with a toothpick between each use, or there's no suction at all. Today I plugged it in, and it didn't turn on. I just bought this piece of junk 3 months ago. This is the first review I've ever written, but I felt I had to warn everyone.

My mom makes me vacuum the carpets and the tile floors a lot. When our very old Kenmore canister's engine burnt out we needed a very good and powerful vacuum fast. Our floors get very dirty and we have shag carpet in the basement. Its best feature that didn't come on out old vac is the hard floor cleaning tool. I was looking at the reviews all the other people wrote and they don't know what they are talking about!! I really thing you should consider this canister vac.

The information on the pages that pertain to this hose needs to be changed to reflect the fact that the hose DOES NOT fit Hoovers with a HEPA system. It only fits Hoovers with product #'s beginning U53.., U54.., U64.. I ordered it along with a new Windtunnel that has a Hepa system, since the product information stated that these 2 items were bought together by other people. Unfortunately, it does not state that these people (now including me) have to return the hose because it does not fit all Windtunnels. So be sure to check and doublecheck before you buy. ...

Upon opening the box I found that the information given in the buying information for this product did not reflect the actural product. For one thing it only fits unright WindTunnel models that use bags. This hose is for models beginning with U53, U54 and U64 only.

False advertising. It is only 15'-16' *fully* stretched and is only a "20' reach with wands and crevice tool" according to the tiny print on the bottom box. This is not an extension but fits as a replacement, so you are only getting 9'-10' more reach than the original 6' hose. That is still helpful, altho the quality of the tubing is 1/2 that of the original hose and will not sustain pulling or pinching with the same durability.

This vacuum cleaner is much heavier than expected. It is difficult to carry up and down stairs.
The delivery took 4 to 5 weeks with no explanation.
The belt comes off way too easily. During each use, I have to replace the belt.
I have gone through 2 broken belts.
I expected this with my cheap Dirt Devil, but this time, I bought an expensive version and it has more problems than the cheap one.

The vacuum worked great at first, but after a couple of weeks, you could notice a decline in suction power. Now, at three months, there is very little power left.

The filters have been cleaned regularly, even replaced once to see if that was the cause. No luck.

...

This is our second (and last) Dirt Devil vacuum.

I love this incredible machine. It is VERY powerful, goes from carpet to uncarpeted areas with ease. The only reason I didn't give it 5 stars is because of the way one must empty the collector...I always seem to get dust everywhere. That's not enough to discourage me. This vacuum is the greatest!!! Before purchasing this vacuum I did alot of research & independents rate it #2, second only to a vacuum that costs 3 times more!

We bought ours less than 2 months ago. I bought it to mainly use for small messes my toddlers make. It worked great at first. Now we would be happy if it would run for more than 3 minutes without the battery dying. We have to go over and over the specks of dirt. Sometimes it will pick it up in the 5th try. Sometimes we can even get one area rug vacumed before the battery runs out. Ours has found a new home in the trash. We found for large jobs our Bosch Cyclone is the best, and small jobs I now use a Sanyo Transformax Sc-180. I won't even bother with cordless anymore.

I bought this just to use while my hoover was being repaired. It worked great at first! It was easy to use in small places my large vacuum could not reach and seemed to suck pretty well for a small vacuum. That was for the first 3 months. Now I can not get the upright part to suck up anything. The hand held still works great but just doesn't seem to work when attached to upright. Now it is going to the repair shop! It has been used on a weekly basis, just to let you know how much wear and tear it can take. It has been more convient than my large vacuum until the upright part broke.

This cleaner never did a good job. Didn't suck up hardly any water that it put out, the attachments are a laugh. Your better off buying the low end Dirt Devil. Bissell does make good vacuums though.

I found this cleaner did a nice job on my oriental rug. It cleaned so well that the wonderful colors in my rug have come back. The machine seems well built but it is somewhat heavy to push and the water tank-in-tank is very small making it neccesary to dump and refill much too often. I find that I really should have done more research and shopped around more before making this expensive purchase. Live and learn.....

Not UL-Listed -- for a reason. Many shortcomings. In my opinion, a fire hazard. Appears not to be compliant with the NEC (national electrical code).

Safety issues:

(1) Power cord is 16 gauge, two sizes smaller than the 12 gauge which is the minimum permissible for a 20 amp load. Per my copy of the NEC, this cord is only permissible for up to 13 amps.

(2) Internal switching relay (gizmo which does the turning on and off of the dust collector) is rated at only 1/2 horsepower at 220 volts, not the 3 horsepower advertised for this device. Yes, the relay is also rated at 30 amps, but since the intention of this device is for motor control the 30 amp rating is irrelevant and the horespower rating must be observed.

(3) The circuit breaker with this device is rated at 25 amps, which might in some way help protect against overloading of the relay but would do little to safeguard against overheating of the cord.

(4) No ratings of any kind were marked on the device, nor in the instruction manual.

(5) There was no warning not to use the device to control a different machine, such as an air conditioner, which is far more likely to draw high current for an extended period than a dust collector. This only increases the risk of overheating and fire.

Analysis:

The device came without any warranty, which I find hardly surprising. If you're lucky, it will only self-destruct itself and leave your house alone.

When you consider that an operating dust collector is a large bag of flammable sawdust with a strong breeze blowing through it, you want to be ESPECIALLY careful not to have anything like sparks or small electrical fires nearby.

I would avoid this device, and urge both Amazon and Grizzly to stop offering it, in the interest of public safety. Moreover, I feel existing units should be recalled. With that in mind, I am forwarding a copy of this review along with photographs to the Consumer Products Safety Commission.

I purchased one of these assuming from the product description that it would fit my JET dust collecter... It doesn't... this remote switch comes wired with NEMA 6-20 plug/receptacle, while the JET comes with a NEMA 6-15 plug. There is no interchanging these two without re-wiring or going to an expensive international, universal adapter... JUST KNOW EXACTLY WHAT YOU HAVE AND WHAT YOU WILL GET, as the data states nothing beyond it being 220A...

These bags are a good buy here at Amazon although the bags are way overpriced by Bissel. You get the best bargain in a very good vacuum then you pay through the nose for the bags. Plus the bags are very difficult to find in general department stores ...

I bought this item when it was sold at Starbucks. The coffee is okay, but the filter between the top and bottom is flimsy plastic and will tear after a couple of months. Starbucks provided replacements, but only after ruining several batches of coffee (the grounds at the top end up in the carafe at the bottom). Not easy to clean - the bottom pot is not submersible in water, and the neck is very narrow and hard to get a sponge into. I thought it was fun to look at, but when reality set in I stopped using it.

sucking power. And you have to be careful not to seal the bag before it sucks the air out. You have to push it half way down for the vacuum, and then all of the way down for the seal. The way you have to place the bag over the vacuum opening is flimsy. I do not recommend buying it.

These are not as good as the original filters that came with the vacuum. Rather shallow in depth and [inexpensive]. But good enough.