Customer Reviews

Hoover WindTunnel Canister Vacuum, Electronic Bagless, S3765-040

5 star:		(538)
4 star:		(288)
3 star:		(88)
2 star:		(68)
1 star:		(160)

 

 

I have never done a review of an item before but but I spent so much time researching this vacuum cleaner purchase that I decided to. The other reviews were very helpful so I wanted to give something back. Please understand this review covers the machines ergonomics and functional aspects. Since the machine is new in our home I can not address how well the vacuum will perform after extended periods. First let me say that this purchase came after a lot of research. I compared most brands on the market and and narrowed the field to the hoover and the Dyson. After a trip to the local store I ruled out the Dyson due to its cumbersome design, high price and the series of steps necessary to use the wand and accessories. What a pain!. In addition the beater brush area is very high on Dyson the and would be very difficult to get under furniture and cabinets. Now that said, let it be know that my wife if a vacaholic. The vacuum runs every day in this house. For the last several years we have used a $400 Panasonic machine and we thought it was doing a good job. We were wrong! A first cleaning with this new hoover has returned several cups of dust and dirt from EACH room!!. Really!.This hoover finds dirt that the Panasonic didn't know existed!. The beater bar is very aggressive it will actually pull the head along if you don't restrain it. At this point I think I will just list the pros and cons as that is easier for the reader. The Pros far out weigh the cons on this machine and I think with a few simple changes hover will have the ultimate machine in this line. We are very pleased.

Pros:
-Incredible suction and very aggressive beater bar.
-Excellent design with a all the controls at your fingers.
-Easy and quick access to wand and tools.
-Automatic cord recoil
-hand held suction powered beater brush
-No bags
-Ease of use
-Nice flexible hose
-convinient handle for carry.
-easy to empty dust bin
-Nice looking machine
-Good value for the price.

Cons:
-Not all the tools store on the unit.
-No electronic dirt sensor.
-brush and wand attachments are small are poorly designed.
-Brush has very short stiff bristle that not serve well on blinds, ceiling fans. etc
-The cord is bit stiff and doesn't seem to match the quality of the rest of the vacuum.
-Dust bin has to be emptied some what frequently.

This vacuum cleaner looks a tad like an offshoot of Artoo-Detoo, but it gets the job done in a jiffy. I put it together fairly easily, plugged it in, hit the button and took it for a test-drive. It cleaned my wall-to-wall carpeting in no time at all and left it looking like new. There's a foot pedal to wind the cord, and the cord is 22 feet long so that one plug-in should take care of a good-size room. And the best thing is there is no yucky bag to change (the worst thing about regular vacuum cleaners). The plastic dirt container needs emptying every three or four weeks (I vacuum three rooms of wall-to-wall carpeting once a week) but it couldn't be simpler -- push the release button, lift the container out, dump the dirt into the garbage can, rinse out the container, dry it and pop it back in. There are a several attachments to clean the stairs, the blinds, and the furniture that work well. This is a great mid-price canister vac that is a good value for the money.

UPDATE 6/9/11: After being used only once a week for two years, my WindTunnel kicked the bucket. So I replaced it with another WindTunnel, and the second one expired after a year and a half. This is a lousy track record for a vacuum cleaner. I expected to get at least four or five years use out of this thing. It cleans well while it lasts, but longevity is definitely not its selling point. I'm downgrading my rating from five stars to three.

Judy Lind

Our house is built on a hillside in four levels to take advantage of a great view, so we have six carpeted staircases to clean. We replaced an upright two years ago at a "Bed & Bath" shop, with a bagless canister vac, based upon the salespersons recommendations for using a canister with lots of stairs. We did find the canister was a good choice for the stairs, but it was not easy to clean the dust container and filters, and going from the carpet to bare floor attachment required shuffling the parts. While not particularly difficult, it was an annoyance to stop and retireve whichever attachment was needed, and it always seemed to be on the last floor I'd cleaned. When the spring loaded button that kept the attachments on the wand broke, we found no one local carried replacement parts. We tried the web and found thE part was not available anywhere. Since we've become regular Amazon shoppers, we decided to consult with other Amazon patrons opinions about vacuums before buying another.

After reading many recommendations, we settled on the Wind Tunnel Electronic and fired off the order. We have had it for about two months and we are more pleased with this vacuum than any we've had in the last 35 years. The powerful motor produces several levels of suction, which are controlled from buttons easily accessible to the thumb of the hand you are using to hold and direct the wand. Another button activates the carpet beaters, which allows the user to go from carpeted floors to hard surfaces simply by pushing the button. The canister has a handy compartment that contains a crevase tool and brush attachment. The metal wand detaches from the floor attachment with a touch of your toe to a release lever, making it possible to eaisly go from the carpet attachment to a brush to clean air vents, shelves, and tables; then reinsert the wand into the floor attachment from a standing position. The designer of this machine had obviously cleaned more than one house!

We have two cats and a dog, so every cleaning we are amazed to find SOOOOO MUCH hair and fur along with dander in the canister. We can not imagine how the pets haven't disappeared, since we pick up enough every cleaning to build another small cat. That said, there is no discernable odor from the air pulled into the canister and filters, which are easy to clean and are washable, so every time we begin to clean it's like starting with a new machine.

Hoover has made the perfect machine for us and we recommend it to anyone with pets, stairs, and mixtures of carpet, wood, tile and vinyl floors.

This cleaner has great suction, it's ergonomically designed, the HEPA filters are washable--which simplifies cleaning, and the revolving brush on the rug attachment really is effective. That said, it's been a nightmare. I think the electronic control on the handle that is attached to the hose is the culprit--the replacement part sells for $160. After it was replaced once by the Hoover company because the revolving brush stopped revolving, it again died within a year. The second time the brush kept revolving but the suction stopped and the control buttons stopped working so the only way to turn it off was to pull the plug. The Hoover company said it warrants replacement parts for 90 days and declined to offer any relief other than selling me the failed part. OK, the cleaner is out of warranty, but before you spend money on this vacuum spend some time looking at alternatives. I'll never purchase another Hoover product.

What a delight. We have a platoon of vacs (Hoover-2, Electrolux, Panasonic-2, Sanitaire, Fathom) in the garage and not one works as well as this vac. The Hoover description is an understatement. I will not waste your time and restate the already stated.
A couple of matters come forward, however. The cord is 22' long; however, that is from the wall to the bottom of the canister. You have to add the additional feet from the bottom of the canister to the end of the power nozzle to determine the actual effective feet. With the wand fully extended I calculated the additional length to be about 11 feet. When compared to a 29' Panasonic cord it is about the same.
The cup does fill fast if the floors are really dirty. Our little 1600 sq ft abode fills about one half the cup on each floor cleaning. When the cleaning is finished your are finished and do not have to worry about more dirt in the carpets. They are clean.
The vac weighs 30 pounds. That is a lot if it is all in one unit such as the 30 pound Hoover upright. If it were not for the self-propelled feature of that machine one would successfully attain a full sized hernia. This vac distributes its 30 pounds over the entire unit: power nozzle, canister, cord, wands and hose. With the relatively lightweight nozzle and large canister wheels you would never know this is a 30 pound vac.
Bottom line: This is the best of the bunch. One other comment. Amazon has consistently demonstrated a superior attitude towards its customers and this purchase was no exception. Even though other internet sellers had a cheaper price, we chose to use Amazon for its known super service.

If there was an option to choose 0 stars on this one I would. From day one, we saw problems with this vacuum.

We have been servicing and selling vacuums for 35 + years. The first time I saw this vacuum in for service, a very nice woman brought us the vacuum in 4-5 pieces.

I thought the vacuum had just made it back from Iraq! I asked her what happened, and she told me that she had accidentally dropped the machine down the stairs while vacuuming her stairs.

The main housing on this vacuum was so brittle, it broke multiple times, in multiple places. I asked her how long she had had the vacuum, and she told me a little over 1 year. This was out of the warranty period for the vacuum, and we had to charge her. The total repair was $120. The main housing itself sold for $74.99!

In my years of servicing vacuums, I have never seen such cheap, cheap plastic. You literally can break the plastic by squeezing the housing in your hands! I would by lying if I said that was the only time we have seen this problem. I would say that in the two years this vacuum has been out there, we have serviced 15-20 units. The plastic is not the only problem though.

The electric hose, has all the controls on the handle of the machine. Very convienent, however VERY problematic. We have replaced several of these hoses because of short circuits.

The main problem we are having right now is, the main HEPA Filter: Hoover WindTunnel Bagless Canister Filter # 59134033, is not available from Hoover. We have currently 30-40 of these on back order from JUNE! This is the main filter for the vacuum, without replacing this filter, the motor will surely fail. Check around and see for yourself, this filter is NOT AVAILABLE PERIOD! I expect to be replacing motors on this unit on a mass scale in the coming months. PLEASE, PLEASE stay away from this Hoover WindTunnel. You will be sorry.

Hoover has sold their company 3 times in the last 4 years. The first sale was to Whirpool. Whirpool then sold out to Maytag. Maytag sold the Hoover company again in March to TTI Floorcare, the parent company of Dirt Devil, and Royal Vacuums. It is unfortunate to see such a good brand name at one point, fall like Hoover has.

The title above is a quote from a consumer report source online at :

http://www.consumersearch.com/www/house_and_home/canister_vacuums/

I was looking for a good solid vacuum cleaner to replace my old Eureka which was inherited from my husband's bachelor days. I actually immigrated here a few years ago and not familiar with what America vacuums have to offer. My country usually sells only canisters so I found the upright vacuums an interesting alternative.

However, in my research, I read that canisters actually suck more powerfully than uprights and I think it would be easier to use it to vacuum the narrow stairs of my townhouse. Thus, it was back to the old canister style for me.

There were three brands that I had narrowed down to :- Dyson Low Reach or Canister, Bissell Lift Off and this Hoover. I would love to get a Miele but the price was way above my budget.

I striked out the Bissell because of the dirt cup, it didn't have a cover like the Hoover does. This helps me to control the dust when I dump it into the trash. In addition the canister part of the Bissell was way too heavy to carry around on the stairs. The Hoover canister body is much lighter in comparison.

As for the Dyson, I tried to get a good deal on Ebay but even through that source, the prices touches around $300. Frankly, I wouldn't mind paying for the high price but it seems that the suction power is about equal and the Hoover has extras like the headlights and retractable cord (which makes life much easier).

So, I bought the Hoover online at DigitalFotoclub.com for $197. I decided to get the S3765 for the turbo head as my stairs is my main concern. It comes with free shipping too.

Assembly is pretty easy - I probably did it within 5 - 10 mins. All the controls are on the chrome handle which was great as I don't have to bend down to the canister to turn it off and on. It also has an automatic carpet height sensor which I thought was really smart - no more guesswork for us. To start, I pressed down, "Suction control" and for the carpet, I pressed, "Floor/Carpet" ..wow..the machine ran off and took me along literally. After a while, I got used to it.

For the stairs, I used the mini turbo head (aka Powered Hand Tool). There's no instructions on how to apply it to the wand. All you have to do is just pop it at the end. The little brush does have the bristles spin around which makes me feel like it's going to give my stairs a deeper cleaning than if I just use the dusting brush. As I got higher, I brought the canister with me and plop it down on the lower steps. My stairs are narrow but it fits there nicely.

It's also great to reach low places like under the bed or your coffee table coz the handle goes flat down. This gave the same benefit as the Dyson Low Reach.

There are two tools that doesn't have a place on the canister and that's the Hard Floor Tool and the Powered Hand Tool but I don't think that should be a big problem for me.

The cons are that after a while, the chrome handle with the Windpowered nozzle tends to get a bit heavy. The nozzle is a bit big in my opinion and tough to maneuver around furniture. It also flops down when I pull the handle and nozzle up to avoid cables. I wish the nozzle could stay upright until needed to be flexible. I must say that I got a nice workout every time I vacuum.

If the canister faces away from the chrome handle, the handle will fall down fast so make sure you're not bending down in it's way. The handle is not that light either.

With bagless vacuums, we are exposed to the dust. It's easier if we take off the cover in a plastic bag and shake it in there. This is probably the only point that Dyson is better at as they have a system where one just have to push a button to get rid of the dirt.

The consumer report also mentioned that the Hoover goes to the repair shop quite often so I'm hoping I got a good one.

Overall, I still think it's a great vacuum and worth the price.

I had also read all the great reviews which is why I purchased it. It has caused me nothing but aggravation and now I'm tossing it after just 1 year. Huge waste of money! It overheats a lot and has now completely stopped working. When it worked, I still didn't like it. Yes, the suction was good, but otherwise I found it cumbersome, heavy, difficult to change attachments, and I had to empty the dirt collection container constantly. It was a mess! Also, mine wouldn't vacuum up anything hard. Even just a piece of string would jam the roller. Maybe I just had a lemon - but I don't have anything good to say about it!

[Note: I've never written a review about anything, but I had such harsh feelings about this that I felt compelled. I also feel bad about writing a bad review, but perhaps I can save someone some money and aggravation. Besides, I don't think Hoover will suffer in any way from my negativity - so I can write this conscience-free!]

This vacuum is absolutly wonderful!!! I researched for days upon days to the point where people were calling it an obsession ;) This seemed to be the most logical choice. I decided on canister vacuum though I have never had one because I have a large kitchen and I wanted to do the lanolium in there with ease. Well this does the job. I have burber throughout the rest of the house and this vacuum cleans it like a champ! I wanted bagless because I hate the cost and hassel of bags. This is the first REAL vacuum Ive bought. Others have been dirt devils lol. I got this with free shipping at the buzz electronics for 193.99! Mine is model S3765-040 But I cant find the difference between this one and mine. Mine has the attachement with the brushes in it too. This is the only place I could find the model they have listed. So if you want a GREAT vacuum this is the one!

I searched all over the web for a bagless canister vacuum and decided on this Hoover. Great choice. It's not too expensive and although I selected free shipping with the order, it was delivered within 3 days - that's fast!

The plastic on the canister is a bit cheesy and the power cord doesn't always completely retract, but there is a handle on top for easy carrying and stair cleaning. It's rather quiet compared to other brands, but it's a vacuum - it makes noise.

The power controls are conveniently located on the handle with an on/off carpet/bare floor switch and 3 suction speeds, the highest having great suction cleaning to really get the job done. Better turn that baby down or it will suck in your drapes!

The telescopic wand seems sturdy and is neat for either short or tall people while the motorized brush is heavy enough for deeper canister vac cleaning. There is also a bare floor attachment which does not come with many other bagless canister models.

Overall, I'm pleased with my purchase and recommend it to anyone wanting a good vacuum for an economical price.