the Kirby vacs tend to go through belts, are hard to reconfigure for different uses, and heavy. For you Kirby owners, what are your opinions on that? Keep in mind we live in a 3 story townhouse, so ease of use on stairs and toting it up/down stairs is a huge factor for us.
Chris
Belts. Yes, Kirby's like belts. The very old Kirby's were somewhat of a PITA to change belts on. I don't know when the redesign happened, but my I can swap belts on my G3 in under 5 minutes.
Reconfiguration. Not a problem. I can have it switched from beater head to hose in under 20 seconds. As for not carriying it's hose on board, well, all I can say is the Kirby will hands-down outperform every one of the vacuums I've used with an on-board hose. Plus, most of the units I've used with on-board hoses suffer from hose retraction problems, the hose trying to accordian back into itself under vacuum. That means you're constantly fighting the hose (on Kathy's Dyson the hose retraction is enough to pull the vacuum over. I've tipped it many times). Poor performance and constantly fighting the hose are not worth the minor convenience of an on-board hose.
Heavy. Yep, it’s heavy. All cast metals and thick plastics. It will also outlast and outperform those lightweights from mfgs more concerned with amps and ‘cyclone chambers’ rather than how well the unit cleans. You mentioned stairs. Low marks there because of weight. You might do like Mom did. She picked up a garage sale lightweight to use on the stairs.
Bag vs Bagless. Sorry, but bagless sucks. Period. Sure, you don’t have to buy and replace bags. But that doesn’t make up for the dust storm you suffer when you empty a bagless. When you pull off a bag there is a bit of dust to deal with, sure. But when you empty a bagless canister it’s a pretty accurate recreation of the Dust Bowl years. It goes everywhere and settles on everything. Mostly you.
Parts. Retail vacs are made pretty much like everything else these days. Disposable. The unitized construction makes parts replacement a potentially pricey affair. Replacement of a single part often means purchasing an entire assembly. Those assemblies will can be pricey enough that wholesale replacement of the vacuum is a better long-term option. It’s great for ease and speed of assembly during manufacture but that’s about it.
If I had a very small home or a ton of furniture, maneuverability or size would be a real issue and a smaller, lighter vac would definitely be a consideration. In that case I’d probably be looking at something like an Oreck XL. Otherwise I’ll stick with my full size Kirby because it cleans like a demon, is easily serviced, and as a brand they have a well-earned history of reliability and longevity.
Brad
