Customer Reviews

Kenmore Progressive Bagless Upright with Inteli-Clean System, Purple

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

I have the Kenmore CANISTER progressive which I absolulely love, even though the power head has electrical issues. So, me being a VACUUM nut and owning about 5 at a time for each section of the house, thought I would give the upright of the same a try.

The intelli-clean works well, it's not that noisy, however....it doesn't leave lines in the rug (suction is okay, but not as good as my canister), and unlike my canister vacuum, I cannot easily run over the throw rugs in the tile areas (baths, entrances etc). I can lift the canister vac head at the end of the rug after running over it without it catching, but the upright does not have a "locking" position on the handle to make that lift. It eithers locks upright or is free moving when out of the upright position. That's a huge problem (for me anyway). I've tried lowering the suction, slowing the brush speed, etc, but NOPE - not good enough.

Also, the handi-mate (powered nozzle) is NOT POWERED by the motor, but powered by suction which we all know does not work when you put pressure on the brushes. When I clean, I put pressure - I want it CLEAN.

It has alot of great features, but after trying it for 5 minutes, I realized it's not worth the $300 I paid and it's going back in the morning!

It's hard for me to express in words how much I dislike this vacuum. If I held my own version of Burning Man, called Burning Vacuum, that might do it. I don't normally like to post negative reviews (and I usually like Kenmore products) but if I can prevent one person from making a mistake and getting this vacuum it will be worth it.

My wife purchased this vac because it was highly rated by Consumer Reports. Unfortunately, due to her back injury, I do almost all the vacuuming. First, this thing is a behemoth. It's huge and weighs a lot. I'm not a weak guy, I have my own construction company and I'm used to carrying lumber and 80 lb bags of cement around, but 20 minutes pushing this vac back and forth and my lower back is hurting. It's like pushing a Hummer through your living room. (It seems to have unusually high rolling resistance, which adds to the problem.) When using it I ended up walking all the way to one end of the room, then all the way back to the other end of the room, like I was mowing the lawn. That was much easier than standing and yanking the beast back and forth.

Given its size, if you want to vacuum in tight spaces you can forget it. Want to pick up the front of the vac to get it over a threshold or trim strip? The designers didn't bother to include a handle on the front, so picking it up is a pain, there's no good place to grab on.

The bristles on the rotating carpet brush (the main one in the head of the vac) are about as stiff as a wire brush so you have to be careful not to have the brush height set too low when you vacuum carpets. The vac did obvious damage to our expensive hand-carved area rug the first time I used it out of the box, with the height set to low. I noted that the bristles on the small hand-held rotating brush attachment are softer. Why they didn't just use the same bristles on the main brush, I do not know.

The plastic wands are the flimsiest I've ever seen on any vac, even a cheap one. They bend all over the place if you put any pressure on them. I could duct tape cardboard paper towel tubes together and have a more sturdy wand than the one that comes with this vac.

The "Intelliclean" feature is a truly bizarre concept. The idea is that when the vac senses that no (or very little) dirt is being picked up it switches the suction (motor speed) to low. When it detects dirt being picked up again it switches the suction back up to high. The problem is, once it switches the suction to low it does a poor job of picking up larger pieces of dirt, like pine needles or bits of dried mud from shoes. So, after it switches the suction to low you can run the vac over pieces of dirt like that several times and it won't pick them up. Of course it won't switch the suction back to high, which it would need to do in order to pick up the dirt, because it doesn't detect any dirt being picked up, because it switched the suction to low ... This is truly a "feature" that serves no useful purpose to anyone outside of Kenmore's marketing department.

You can't lay the vac down flat to vacuum under things. Once you tilt the body back more than about 60-70 degrees the front lifts off the ground, so it's no longer picking up dirt. (I had an old Hoover that would lay all the way flat and still keep the carpet brushes on the floor. You could lay it down and vacuum under the bed with it. There's no way you could do that with this vac.) In order to vacuum all the way under things you have to pull out the hose and attachments, and if you're on a rug or carpet, you're stuck with the tiny Handi-Mate Jr. rotating brush attachment. It is near worthless for areas of any significant size, with a pickup width of barely three inches. It's like trying to paint your house with a one inch wide brush. After running it back and forth several dozen times you'll be inclined to say the heck with it, the dirt's under the couch so no one will see it and you have better things to do with your time.

The hose attaches to the vacuum rather high up on the body, so when you try to stretch the hose to its rated length the vacuum tends to fall over on its side. Not a good thing when your house if furnished with antique furniture. If the designers had attached the hose lower (below the center of gravity) it would have been better.

Someone else noted their difficulty in using this vac on small throw rugs, and I've had the same problem. Even with the brush height all the way up and the suction on low it still wants to eat throw rugs, and the rear wheels won't roll smoothly from a hard floor up onto a throw rug. Given the heavy weight of the vac, the rear wheels should be larger diameter so they would roll over offsets in the floor more easily.

Bottom line, I'll be doing most of the vacuuming using my Electrolux Sanitaire Commercial canister vac (http://www.amazon.com/Electrolux-Sanitaire-SC3683A-Commercial-Canister/dp/B0006HUYTE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1234749076&sr=8-1) which is so light and compact you can put a luggage strap on and hang it on your shoulder - no dead weight to push back and forth or drag behind you. Only problem is it doesn't have a rotating carpet brush, so I'll be stuck wrestling the Kenmore beast when I do the carpet.

To be fair, there are some good things about this vacuum. If you're a professional football player or bodybuilder and you want vacuuming to involve an upper body workout, this is the vac for you. You'll definitely build your biceps yanking this monster back and forth around the house. It also seems to do a very good to excellent job pulling dirt out of carpets. If you have a house with large, open, carpeted areas this may be a good vac for you. And the 30 foot long cord is really, really nice. I have to give Kenmore credit for eliminating my need for an extension cord (which I've had to use with every other vac I've owned). The long cord also makes this vac useful as a boat anchor in water up to 30 feet deep.

This vacuum is great. Besides being able to "see" the dirt my other vacuum missed, I've noticed that it's also bringing back the carpets "piling" if that's the correct terminology. In other words, I can see my footprint in the carpet now and that wasn't happening with my other vacuum. My previous vacuum was the blue Kenmore Progressive with a bag. This new bagless Progressive vacuum has much more suction.

This vacuum has plenty of suction and I am generally pleased with the way it cleans my carpet, but I definitely regret buying this bagless vacuum cleaner--for several reasons.

First, it's heavy and awkward to maneuver. I can't tell you how frustrating that is at times. Second, I can't get under low things to vacuum because the handle won't lie down completely. Third, the attachment tools are like little toys and seem hardly worth the effort it takes to make use of them. They certainly don't do a very good job on carpeted stairs. And that leads me to number four on my list of complaints: trying to use the vacuum on the stairs without the tools is ridiculously awkward because there's hardly anything to hold onto to lift or carry it. And if it slips up into its upright/locked storage position as I work it won't pick anything up. Finally (and this is my GREATEST complaint), the filters are expensive at $20.00 each and they clog up with gunk very quickly. It is possible to clean the filter in soapy water with good results and re-use it, but that means washing it out every couple of weeks and taking the trouble after each use to run my fingers up into the filter's accordion folds to manually pluck out debris, dust, dirt, and pet hair--not pleasant under any circumstances, but especially if you have allergies.

I selected this vacuum thanks to the good review Consumer Reports gave it. I don't know what they were thinking, because it certainly doesn't match any real-world experience I can imagine. One reviewer I noticed commented on the Inteli-Clean System feature. This feature seems odd to me as well. Why in the world would I not want maximum suction all the time?

In a nutshell, I don't recommend this vacuum at any price. Look elsewhere if you want convenient features and ease of use.

We purchased this model Nov. 2009 at the store for $220 including tax and 4 months later I regret buying it. Initially I loved the light sensors (green-yellow-red) that indicate whether the carpet is clean or not. The first time I used it I'd have to sit the vacuum in one spot until it indicated a "green" light and then move inches to a new spot and repeat. It was slow going but well worth it to know that the carpets were clean. This was our first bagless vac and I loved being able to see the dirt and pet hair accumulate inside the canister. I will continue to buy canisters from now on for that reason!

But (you knew that was coming, right?) that's where the satisfaction ends. To describe our use, this vacuum is used once a week on 5 upstairs rooms. We have 3 cats who are upstairs only part-time and our kids don't wear shoes in the house. The litter boxes are in the basement, so I'm not vacuuming up litter with this vacuum.

The problem is that the filter becomes clogged after a very short time and the sensors stop working as a result. Within 5 minutes or less the vacuum indicates only "red" and will not switch to another color even when pausing on the same spot for minutes on end. To confirm it isn't just a "new" dirty spot, I go over the area of carpet which was previously "green" and the vacuum will only light up "red." To fix it, I remove the pet hair accumulated in the canister, which is smaller than my fist at this point, take many Q-tips and clean each of the ~80 folds of the filter one at a time until all the dust and dirt is removed. Then I can resume vacuuming for a couple minutes before the machine indicates only "red" again - even over the already "green" cleaned areas.

My disappointment is that although it does a good job of sucking up the dirt and pet hair, if the indicator lights are misleading then I don't know whether the carpets are totally clean. The only way to know would be to repeatedly vacuum the same room over and over again and continually check if anything is being collected in the canister. That's too high maintenance.

I replaced the filter once a couple weeks ago. At $20 a pop... and for me I'd need a new filter every 1-2 weeks for one pass on the 5 rooms, that's way too expensive. For that money I could buy a Dyson instead. I hate the idea of having to spend $500 on a vacuum cleaner, but at $220 + $40-80 monthly filter expense for this Kenmore I might as well.

To address an earlier comment, I'm not that strong and had no trouble pushing the vacuum on the carpets. Makes me think the gentleman who had trouble in this regard had a lemon?

This vacuum is a real pain, it is heavy and bulgy, not a great item for a pregnant woman to lug around. Living in a 3 story house it was a pain to drag up and down the stairs when not pregnat now it is worse, there is no handle in the front to get a good grip. The extension wands have pluses and minuses, they are flimsy, however nice to use to get under the beds and fruniture. Like using a tank vacuum. The ohter issue with this item is pain getting over thresholds etc. Also, each time you hit something all the extra brushes fall off and the bagless tank comes crashing off.
The good thing about this vacuum it does vacuum well, great suction. I have two cats and it picks up the fur no problem love that.
So all in all it is ok, just heavy. Guess it best for the main living area and better to buy smaller one for the other floors in the house.

1-22-11 Piece of junk,this broke within 1 yeaar of owning.

I purchased this vacuum due to the excellent reviews received by Consumer Reports. I'm not sure what vacuum they tested but it sure couldn't have been this one. I'm on my 3rd one of these in less than 8 months. They work great for a month then they clog, blow out dust, make weird noises and just plain don't pick up anything.

Luckily I was able to trade in the non-functioning one before my 3 months was up each time but this is getting ridiculous. This will be my 3rd one now and it too is not working already, after only 2 months.

I vacuum approximately 2 to 4 times per month so I don't overuse it. Yes I do have pets but seriously can't a vacuum pick up pet hair and still suck? Not this one!!

For the price it sucks. If it were only $100 it would still be a piece of crap!

Save yourself some hassle and continue looking for a vacuum that actually works! This one is NOT the one you want...

My husband purchased this vacuum six years ago and it's still going strong. It does a terrific job picking up materials off of all different thicknesses of carpet. When using the upright on hard floors I do find the brushes tend to "spit" the crumbs instead of sucking them up. However, for all my hard floor needs I use the large brush head attachment on the hose and it does a terrific job. The inteli-clean feature works very well and I love the four function buttons on the handle. Very easy to use.

Our only complaints are:
- the system is a bit on the noisy side. Definitely not for use while the kids are sleeping.
- the canister can be a bit tricky to remove and makes a loud pop when pulled out, almost as though you are breaking it. Putting it back in is very simple, though.

I've owned this vacuum for several years. I never thought it was that great - it was just OK. Suction was decent and it was quieter than my old vac, so that was an improvement. But the honeymoon did not last. We have a dog, and this thing does not do well with pet hair. One of the discharge ports (?) kept getting clogged up with hair and the vacuum would lose suction. The filter must be cleaned after each use because it gets badly clogged up as well - dog hair tends to wrap around it and form a barrier that entraps dirt even more. And those filters are expensive and very unpleasant to clean (but in fairness, I suppose that that's just a fact of life for bagless vacs). Plus, this beast is heavy!

The "Intelli-Clean" feature is... interesting, but not really useful. The canister: when removing it, it sounds and feels like the handle is going to break because there is very sharp snap. Emptying it with the handle-mounted switch is hit or miss. Sometimes it'll work, sometimes it won't and you might have to open the bottom of the canister manually. The spinning brush attachment is a joke and utterly useless because it is so weak. Cleaning furniture with it? Don't bother.

Then, a few months ago, something must have come loose inside the vacuum because now it is unbearably loud. It's so bad that I have to wear hearing protection when using it because if I don't, I'll have ringing in my ears for an hour afterwards (and no, I'm not exaggerating). Everyone in the house hates it when I turn it on. This vac is just not good enough and it's not even worth getting fixed.

I would never buy this vacuum again.

This vacuum just went into the garbage after less than 3 years. Developed some kind of suction problem. I couldn't get it apart. The vacuum absolutely had great suction, but it was so heavy, I had to buy an additional vacuum so I wouldn't have to lug it up and down stairs. Most of the weight is in the very generous, very long accessory hose. Maybe if they made that detachable, the vacuum might be more user-friendly. But it broke, much sooner than the 25 year old hoover I've still got in the basement.