Customer Reviews

Hoover Platinum Cyclonic Canister Vacuum with Power Nozzle, Bagless, S3865

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

To start, I should mention that I'm hard on vacuums. We have different flooring types, multiple levels in the house, animals, long hair and children, as well as living in a never ending construction zone in the center of allergy alley. Thus, I need a fairly heavy performing vacuum that manages flooring transitions as well as being able to do stairs and furniture.

If that weren't asking a lot already, I need it to be heavy enough to be multifiltered and high powered, but light enough that I can tote it up the stairs.

I've had the Platinum Hoover Canister for a 3 months now, and I've been pleased with the performance. This one replaced a previous Windtunnel, and while I miss a few things from the old version (like different power settings), all in all, the new version outperforms the older version.

Pros:
Suction is fantastic. Transitioning from area rugs to hardwoods and then to carpet is easy. Super long power cord lets you do multiple areas without having to unplug and replug. Filters, filters, filters. Allergies in the house have become noticeably better with this unit. It's a lot more quiet that previous versions. Powerhead is fantastic for getting critter hair off the furniture and drapes. Reset button on the main head is a wonderful thing, if like me, you have ninja shoelaces in unlikely places; such as those cleverly hidden by small children who have kicked their shoes under the couch. Almost no dust escapes the vacuum while it is running, and while it is all in one unit...but that leads us to the cons...

Cons:
Emptying this vacuum is not for the wheezy. You will get dirty, you will have a cloud of dust, you will curse yourself and the Hoover engineers if you make the mistake of emptying it in the house. Trust me on this one. The only good way to empty it is to take the canister out to your big trash can, standing upwind and praying.

As well, the canister has collection areas that cannot be touched, washed or otherwise cleaned. I realize that the engineering design behind this was to keep the user away from the dirt, but it also means that if something gets caked in there, like if you clean on a humid day...you're kinda hosed. (No pun intended....ok, a *little* intended.) It's as though the engineers had *seen* someone use a vacuum, but didn't actually vacuum anything themselves, and so hadn't quite worked through the final step of cleaning the vacuum itself.

Still, the minor inconvenience of what I think is a poor engineering decision on that one part, is outweighed by the performance, the price point, and the significant reliability that I've gotten from other Hoover products.

For a neat person with a small space, this vacuum is probably overkill...but for large houses filled with dirt tracking children and animals...this vac is a clear winner in it's price range.

This was purchased because of the positive reviews & Consumer Report's recommendation.

I was amazed at the performance of this product. I wanted to get a higher priced vac & was glad I did...at first. It sucked up animal hair & stray cat litter with great efficiency on both carpet & wood floors.

It was also the quietest vac I've ever heard...in fact, on the 8th attempt to use it, there was no noise AT ALL!

After vacuuming a 2 bedroom house 7 times, it wouldn't start. The power got to the machine but pushing the start button did nothing.

Since I live in a rural town between 2 major cities to the north & south, I'd have to drive at least 45 miles to get this repaired. So I contacted "Hoover's Exclusive Platinum Collection (TM) Member Services Line" ....impressive,eh?...I hope the folks working there get paid by their title, because all they do (& can do) is punch in your ZIP & tell u the location of the service center.

They told me that the nearest service was 32 miles away in Tehachapi, CA. I replied, "That is almost 100 miles & a 2 hour drive away" Their response? "Well, that's what it says on our computer" So much for "Hoover's Exclusive Platinum Collection (TM) Member Services"... it's just a call-center sweat shop.

There is no repair available in Bakersfield or Santa Clarita. It took a drive of 75 miles & 1hr 45min to Los Angeles to get service.

The repair center told me that Hoover is just a name & no longer a manufacturer. They also stated Hoovers are poorly made. The hose needs replacing on my vac. I asked how a hose can go bad after a couple of hours of use..."Poor quality" was their answer. It takes "weeks" for them to get authorization to do a warranty repair & to get parts.

It is now 18 days after I dropped it off, & the part isn't expected until next week.!!??$?% If anyone is interested, I'll update this review as time goes on....and on....and on.

UPDATE It's now day 27 since I left the vac for repair. No part has been sent to the Authorized repair facility. Another employee of the center stated that Hoover doesn't return their phone calls & that they are almost impossible to deal with.

FINAL UPDATE: Are u ready for more comedy/tears? I'll make this short, but these events played out over several weeks...After numerous non-returned phone calls (where Hoover promised each time to return the calls) to both myself & the repair center, KINGDOM Sew & Vac (the repair center, in Simi Valley & LA) felt sorry for me & took it upon themselves to contact their west coast rep to get me a new vacuum. Once he got involved, I picked up the replacement w/in a couple of days (300 total miles driven). Mind you, I didn't buy the Vac from KINGDOM, they did this because of all the lies & delays by Hoover in supplying a replacement hose. If u live close to their stores I certainly recommend this family owned business.

It's obvious that Hoover will go to extremes in order not to pay for a warranty repair. They have u'r money....now go away. They will lie to u (at one point they said the part was shipped, it wasn't) If it wasn't for a small conscientious retailer I might still be waiting & waiting & waiting.

What do I do when this thing breaks again?!?@?$?^

If I could give this vacuum 0 Stars, that's really what I would have given it!! All I can say is Buyer Beware!

I bought this vacuum (which was expensive!!) thinking I was going to get a quality vacuum. It comes with a 6-year manufacturer warranty, so I thought that there wouldn't be any issues for at least 6-years, because that seems to be how warranties are, right? WRONG!!! I had this vacuum for 1 day, and the power on/off button & powerhead on/off button failed. For some reason, the buttons wouldn't turn off at the handset -- they just stayed lit up. And no, I did not abuse this machine in any way. I emptied the cannister several times during vacuuming thru my house.
Here's how it went: I spent about 30 minutes on my downstairs and then let the unit rest (so I could rest); and then went to do the upstairs about 20 minutes later. After running the vacuum for about 5 minutes, I couldn't operate the handset control buttons (on/off and powerhead). So I unpluged the unit from the outlet and then plugged it back in and the control buttons wouldn't work at all (now they wouldn't even light up). After doing a little research on this (which I should have done more of to begin with), I found out that other people had the same issue. Some had it from when they just put the vacuum together and tried to use it for the first time. Others had it happen within the first month or two. So my recommendation to you is DON'T BUY THIS ITEM!

I wouldn't be surprised if Hoover ends up doing a recall on this piece of junk (which I'm putting nicely). In an attempt to find out how long I would be without a vacuum, I called the closest Hoover warranty service center (which was about 24 miles away). The shop guy told me that they are no longer a service center for Hoover, and apologized. He asked me what kind of vacuum I had and I told him it was the Hoover Platinum Cyclonic Bagless Canister and he said that I unfortunately purchased a "nightmare vacuum". He went on to tell me that Hoover is horrible to deal with on warranty repairs. He said that many times the repair parts are on back order and sometimes customers are without their vacuums for weeks. That's when I knew what I had to do - RETURN IT!!! Thankfully, Wal-Mart has a great return policy -- they get 5 STARS for that!! So I just returned it today, and I'm happy to say that it's going back to Hoover as a Defective Product!

Anyway, I just bought the Dyson DC23. I just used it and it's AWESOME!! It has incredible suction and I am soooo much happier now! My goal in giving this review is that other customers don't spend their hard earned money on a defective product. If you are still considering purchasing it, just be sure to do lots of research on it so that you will see that I'm not the only one that experienced this type of problem.

I received this Vacuum about a month ago. This is the first canister vacuum I have ever owned. The suction works great on carpet and my hard wood floor as well. It does not kick dust and debri back out like my old vacuum did. It fits nicely under my couches, beds, and dining room table. I love that you can adjust the level of suction so you can use it on different throw rugs in the house. The dirt trap needs to be emptied often. I carry a plastic bag with me and empty when needed. It helps keep dust down. The hose detaches easily at the top near handle or at the bottom at the touch of a button with your foot. It is not loud either. Overall I am very happy with this vacuum. I am glad I purchased after reading tons of other reviews on other vacuums.

I have owned or used many vacuums over the years including a Kenmore,Tristar and 2 Simplicity.This vacuum is by far the best one I have ever used.Well worth the money.The 6 year warranty was defininatly a plus.The only drawback is it is a little on the heavy side,but I knew that before I bought it.

I got this machine on 02/10/10 because consumer reports wrote great reviews on it said it was the best. I had it 1 wk and 3 days and used it one time, the wand where you turn on/off didn't turn the machine off you had to unplug from the wall.I called Hoover and they told me to take it to the one & only repair shop for Hoover in Rochester,NY. I took it in and they said about 2-3 wks. (the circuit board had failed.) Well I waited 4 wks then called them and they said the parts from Hoover are on b/o status. I called Hoover and ask if they would replace the machine and the girl said yes you have waited long enough. Well long story short she didn't, she made me wait for the b/o parts. Then I called Hoover back and got a manager on the phone and ask who from Hoover is going to clean my house since it is going on 5 wks w/o a vacuum to clean with. She made a call that day to the shop and they told her the same thing they were told parts on b/o status. Then she called me back and said a new machine was on it's way. I did get it but by no means is their service up to taking care of the cust. All is ok w/ the new machine so far. But to have a circuit board go on the 1st use of the machine. Bad quality parts from Hoover.

I just purchased this vacuum after our Bissell Healthy Home vacuum that I purchased not more than 2 years ago died with a burning odor (checked the belt, checked for clogs...nothing...motor is burnt out) it only had a lousy one year warranty. So I went to Amazon.com and started searching for a new vacuum and reading reviews and utilizing other websites reviews and decided on a brand. Hoover. From what I can see they have the best warranty for a vacuum cleaner...SIX years! I then waffled between the Hoover UH70015 Platinum Collection Cyclonic Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner and this Hoover S3865 Platinum Cyclonic Bagless Canister Vacuum Cleaner with Power Nozzle I decided on the canister vacuum. I am glad I did. This vacuum is a POWERHOUSE! I could not believe all the dirt I pulled out of my carpets! This vacuum is very strong, in fact so strong that you can actually see it lifting the carpet when you pass over it!

What clinched the decision between the two for me is the upright does NOT have the turbo tool for doing upholstery and stairs (we have two carpeted staircases in our home) and the canister vacuum does.

This vacuum is very easy to assemble, you do not need any tools. You need to make only four connections. The telescoping wand snaps into the powerhead, the handle/hose assembly snaps into the top of the telescoping wand and then you snap in the hose into the base of the canister. That's it! The only connection left is to pull out the cord and plug it in.

This is the third bagless vacuum I have owned and by far this is the best. I am very impressed with how it empties. The first bagless I had was a disaster with a capital "D!" You had to lay the vacuum back, unsnap the dirt cup and pull it out, spilling dirt EVERYWHERE! My second was a Bissell 5770 Healthy Home Bagless Upright Vacuum and it was better but it had a major design flaw. The dirt collection cup was tapered at the bottom where your empty the dirt. The cup was round but towards the base it got narrower like a barrel. So it required you to reach up in there and have to grab all the fuzz and hair to get it out because of the shape of the dirt collection cup it did not just fall out. Now this vacuum is straight up and down. You push the button, the bottom drops out and all your dirt falls into the trash can. You do have to reach in and unhook the umbrella tube though, but that isn't so bad as by that time the cup is pretty much empty.

There are two filters, the intake filter is a permanent foam filter that you can wash out under the faucet and keep reusing. The second filter is the HEPA filter which filters the exhaust.

This vacuum DOES indeed have a headlight. I read different reviews where people were griping because it did not have a headlight. It *DOES* have a headlight. Maybe they had an earlier version of this model that did not have a headlight, I am not sure. The headlight appears to be LED (no more bulbs to replace!) and is pretty bright. One could wish that the cord on this vacuum was longer. I wish it was 40 foot like the Platinum Upgright version is. I can't think of any other complaints so far.

I spent so much time researching a good canister vacuum cleaner purchase that I decided to write.The other two reviews were very helpful so I wanted to give something back. Because I saw how much can cost a set of bags for some vacuums, I decided to look for a bagless canister vacuum. I have more wood floor that carpet. Please understand this review covers just the first week. Since the machine just arrived. I like that is bagless, and the fact that the cylinder is transparent, you can see how much dirty sucks up from the floor! Easy to take off the dust. Strong handgrip features electronic control buttons for power on and off, variable suction.Tools are easily attached to the telescoping wand made in metal. Not very noisy. I little heavy, but it gives you a feeling that it is more well made with strong material.

After months and months of reviewing options, my husband and I agreed that this was the best one(Also consumer reports website) so we bought in may of last year. Right away, I was surprised at how heavy it was. It can not be taken quickly from location to location. Do not buy this if you have multiple levels of your home!!! SO, right away I noticed that it lacked suction. I thought, well it is quite, maybe because I have been used to 30years of bagged vacumes. Well, the dirt/dust/hair just gets blown all over the room. When the dust, etc, settles, you need to vacume again!!! I kept thinking it would get better, so I was patient. Each time blaming myself for not following directions. I have kept it clean, eptied after each use. My husband has looked at it, and nothing is blocking the tubes, it is clean. It still will not pick up a tiny piece of paper(Notebook paper) I will try and call the number on monday, but after reading all the problems with customer service, I do not expect anything. THis was REALLY expensive, the most I have spend EVER on any vacume. My last TWO did not equal to this one. I am stuck with this one until it breaks, or it finally breaks me. I will keep you posted....

Folks, to start with I am a 67 year young, just retired Master Chief, and now a Mr. Mom!! My wife of 45 years is still working (Teaching Profession) and will not retire just yet, darn. We have a older model Hoover Up-Right Vac., model Wind Tunnel Mac 6.9. Now that I am Mr. Mom and have taken over many (not all) of the home chores, found that this machine was the "Beast From HELL!" Was like driving a 65 ton tank through a drive up window at a bank... Anyway it kicked my buttocks and did not do the job and left me with a back ache! I started doing much research trying to find the right solution for my back ache and getting the job done right to pass my self imposed inspection. The Hoover Platinum Cyclonic Bagless Canister Vac. Model S3865 was my selection and it just arrived today, "YES!" Our home for 36 years is approx 1,800 sf and we have replaced the carpet with all tile (20%) and hardwood (80%)flooring about 7 months ago. Now for the test, I first put in a fresh bag in the old Up-Right 6.9 and and vacuumed everything not nailed down, then I did it all over again with my new Hoover S3865. OMG, was I shocked at how much stuff this new machine picked up!! The low profile power head got under and around almost everything and I had to move very little to achieve total floor cleaning. With the Beast I had to move everything to try and get the job done with poor results. Folks, the canister was half full of fine dust, dirt and crap from I do not know where?? This new Hoover was like gliding over ice, one tenth the effort, the swivel power head is the best and very maneuverable with outstanding side/edge pick-up and this thing is very quite too. I used all the attachments with the handle and also with the extension tube, what a blessing it is to use this stuff, gets the job done and the back ache gone!! I did picture frames, base molding, cracks and crevices, window ledges ceiling fans, vent registers, you name it, it all met with my new Hoover and lost the war on dust, dirt, dog and people hair, all now in the waste can. I went to my wife and asked her forgiveness for not getting this Vac sooner and she asked what took me so long to see the light?? I will do a up date after using the Hoover S3865 for a few months to let you know how she holds up under a crusty old Master Chief being driven to become Mr. CLEAN!!

V/R

Kent M Whitney
Master Chief, USN Retired