Customer Reviews

Metropolitan Professionals ADM-4PNHSF 13 Amp 4-Horsepower Canister Vacuum with Quadruple Hepa Filtration and Electric Power Nozzle

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

UPDATE: WOULD REDUCE TO 2 STARS. At no charge, the manufacturer sent a replacement cover to correct the broken rivet. The customer service was good. They suggested bending the wheel into place to straighten the Now, however, 17 months after purchase, the electric power nozzle does not turn on. This follows on several weeks of the nozzle turning on and off intermittently. Now I wish I had purchased the vacuum from a physical store with a buyer protection program. My new strategy is to buy cheap vacuums on a buyer protection plan and get the broken parts replaced. This was way too expensive for the grief.

ORIGINAL: I bought this because I was tired of the expensive, plastic vacuums falling apart within the first year of use. While this vacuum is incredibly powerful (indeed it sucks the area rugs right off the floor) it's not the indestructible stainless steel canister vacuum of my childhood. Within the first 4 months a rivet broke loose from the canister, making it impossible to close the vacuum. I tape it shut for use now. One wheel drags as well, leaving long black scuff marks on my white floors. I'm underwhelmed, but perhaps the manufacturer will make good on the warranty.

I bought this vacuum for a few reasons:
1) All the brand name vacuums listed on consumer reports have user reviews that said the vacuums were not that good
2) the user reviews for this vacuum were much higher, albeit fewer people, but I looked at both models too.
3) The reviews of this vacuum made it sound like it was amazing

I am truly wondering if the previous reviewers all worked for the company.

While I will say this IS a good vacuum, it does not live up to the hype and quite frankly lacks some key modern features or has some poor quality aspects
1) The cord just hangs out there with no place to go. You can wrap it around the body but that is a pain in the @$$.
2) The spare attachments hang onto a flimsy plastic carrier that poorly snaps onto the vacuum tube/pole
3) the long pole attachment (not the set that goes to the power nozzle but the other long one for the non powered attachments) does not clip. As you are vacuuming the pole will frequently fall off onto the floor.
4) The documentation / instructions for this vacuum are very poor at best. All you basically get is a poor quality single sheet of paper with very vague instructions. When you unwrap the vacuum, you have 4 poles and it takes a while to figure out why 4 (2 for the power nozzle and 2 for non power). No help from the directions. All it says is to attach the poles. You also are left wondering about the bag and filter insertion. there is absolutely nothing about proper installation.
5) You have two power buttons. One on the main body of the vacuum and one for the power nozzle. When using the power nozzle this design makes no sense at all. You have to turn the body power on, and then you have to turn the power nozzle power on. When you shut the power nozzle off, the vacuum is still running and still needs to be shut off. The button on the body is a toggle switch. Low to the left, Off in the middle, and High to the right. It takes some getting used to when trying to switch it off to not go completely from low-high (or high-low) instead of stopping in the middle.

The vacuum has very good suction, but it certainly won't suck the chrome off a trailer hitch. :-)

minus 1 star for horrible documentation
minus 1 star for dumb power controls
minus 1 star for nothing modern on the features/attachments

I almost wanted to give another minus 1 star for not living up to the hype.

I am not totally disappointed with the vacuum. It basically works fine. And I am not sure how happy I would be with the brand name vacuums with so many real people rating them low. I might still buy this vacuum if I did it again. But my expectations would be much lower.

UPDATE 12/27/2009: OK - its been 3 months and I would change the stars to 0. My wife says she clearly hates this vacuum and I have to agree it is a pain in the @$$ to use. It works as a vacuum just fine - but how you use it is such a pain it makes the thought of going around and picking up each piece of dirt by hand sound more attractive. Clearly previous reviewers had to be employees of the company and were forced to leave positive comments.

We just opened the box. It took all of 5 minutes to put it together. First thing I checked was the suction. It was great. Two negatives, no auto cord recoil and the exhaust is loud. It is well built, glides nicely along the floor, comes with all the accessories, including two extra chrome metal wands, has a powerful rug beater and the bare floor nozzle has great bristles. It is light weight so it is easy to carry up the stairs and makes it OK to clean the stairs, although I wish the hose was longer. We have had all types of vacuums, Oreck upright, sharp canister, Hoover canister, shop vacs, etc. After all is said and done, when you get right down to it, you have to use a canister vac if you want to really clean. It allows you to get the dirt and dust in those hard to reach places and an upright is simply not going to cut it. We looked at all the vacs, Electrolux, Dyson, Eureka, Kenmore, Bla, Bla, Bla, Ba Bla. Based on price, performance, ease of use, durability and good old SUCTION!, this Metro is the sucker of all house vacs, bar none. It has a toggle switch for low and high suction and the power head is well made. My wife just made a comment that it is LOUD, but man it really feels like the house is clean!! Go for it!!!

The classic look of the Metro was what caught my eye, and then I was seduced by the horsepower and the fact that this machine is made in the USA. I have long said that if some American company really wanted to reclaim its market from China, all they needed to do was go back to building a vacuum cleaner that is built to last, rather than disposable. In fact, if the US were serious about helping the environment, Congress should pass legislation against the planned obsolescence that is the guiding principle of the vacuum cleaner industry.

But I digress. What came out of the box was, well, a canister. Steel, with chrome-plated ends--not as pretty as pictured; quite utilitarian-looking and mostly reminiscent of a tin can. There was a nice, sturdy-looking hose, quality steel wands, and one very cheesy, probably Chinese, powerhead. Oh, and some equally cheesy small attachments: an undersized upholstery attachment, crevice tool, and dust brush.

The steel is a unique look, and the body and wheels seemed sturdy. The switch is indeed a plain metal three-position toggle. The cord wraps around a "halo" of metal at the rear end. One disturbing feature is that the hose is secured by metal pushbuttons into the bag compartment. This means that in order to remove the hose (say, to clear a clog or use as a blower), you have to remove the bag lid. I was afraid to push the hose into the exhaust opening (which would be necessary to clear a clog or use as a blower) for fear that the pushbuttons would make it impossible to remove. The "instructions" consist of a single sheet of Xeroxed paper containing very little useful information. Bags are hard to find; the ones offered here on Amazon are NOT the right ones for this machine, and I ordered more by calling the manufacturer, since their website was essentially useless.

This is not what I'd expect from a machine at this price point, but for "Made in USA" and power I put it to work, and power it does deliver--though with some tradeoffs. The canister, for its plain looks, works well, but as previous reviewers noted, it does get very hot during use. It BLASTS air out the back end--which my kids found fun, but which meant that I had to hold it pointing upward so as to avoid blowing dust across the hard floors I was vacuuming. The power was substantial enough to actually USE one of the turbo-brush stair tools that were absolutely useless with the Bissell machines they came with. Noise was significant, but not awful--much of it the sound of that rushing exhaust. There was some odor of burning rubber, maybe from the powerhead, and several kids complained that the exhaust stunk.

Moreover, the powerhead rattled. And when I opened it up to find out why (a nasty process involving two sizes of screwdrivers), I saw that a part was broken during manufacture--not surprising, because this powerhead is made of extremely cheap components which can't withstand the stress of being screwed into place. Worse still, I noted that I was going to have to screw and unscrew this cheap plastic each time a change of belt was required. Replacement powerheads are a hundred dollars from the manufacturer--and probably worth about five. (For the record, I noticed this same chintzy powerhead with a Royal canister vac in the store, albeit with some cosmetic changes.)

So, mine's on its way back to Amazon, and I've sprung for an even more expensive, German machine that will (hopefully) last awhile.

I don't know why I did not buy one sooner. This thing could suck the chrome off of a trailer hitch!!! I live in an older home and it actually took a piece off old wall paper that had been painted right off of the wall. I'm telling you, this is the vacuum to beat all vacuums. I have told everyone I know to buy one and not waste their money on store brand. I love it!!! I named mine Wilma. These guys know what they are doing.

I purchased this vacumm, complete with power brush unit, about two and half months ago, and it is by far one of the best purchases I have made in a long time. This vacuum has attitude, period! It's powerful, two speed motor allows flexibility no matter if you need to clean floors and carpets or upholstery and drapes. The stainless steel canister is very sleek and all the trim and accessories with it are quality. For the power that it renders, it is not at all overly noisy and the dogs don't seem to go into attack mode as soon as I turn it on. Having multiple pets, I am particularly pleased at how pet hair is no obstacle for this vacuum. Be aware though that this is not your typical vacumm by "design." There are two things you may find to be a awkward. One, there is no retractable power cord feature on the unit so you must hand wind it yourself and hang the cord up on a hook in the closet or where ever you store your vacumm. There is also no on-board storage for the accessories. Second, the vacuum bag is rather small. So if you are doing a full once over of say a 2,500 square foot home, you may have to empty the bag by the end of that cleaning cycle, especially if you have pet hair to contend with. The good news is that the bags are readily available and reasonably priced. I have already dealt with the company in New York who manufactures the vacuum and they were both helpful and timely in sending me a large quantity of bags. Overall, I expect to have a very long and harmonious relationship with "Sylvia," as it has been named in our family.

I love my vac - it is very powerful. I can reach the ceiling and windows with the hose. However, the vac blows hot air out of the back. So you need to be careful not to point the vac in a location that hasn't been cleaned yet - otherwise you'll be blowing dust into the air.

A little dynamo. It's powerful, but it won't exactly suck the chrome off a trailer hitch (to coin someone else's phrase). Very light weight. Rolls really well. I have 2 complaints: You have to stoop down to turn it on, and the power carpet nozzle is too high to fit under my sofa. But, overall I am pleased. Good value for the money. Sleek, looks like a little rocket on wheels! Best of all it is AMERICAN MADE!!!

It is a little old school but it does work great. I'm impressed it has a high and a low setting and work very well for a canister vac.

I consider myself a smart consumer and research all major purchases thoroughly. Buying a vacuum was a big deal for me as the last few I purchased, I hated. I had the highly rated Eureka Boss upright and Kenmore Progressive cannister. The Eureka was a bear to use due to it's weight and size. The Kenmore power head was cumbersome, wide and very heavy. I wanted a vacuum I could use without feeling like I ran a marathon when I was finished. I FOUND IT! The Metropolitan with the power head is awesome. Very powerful on dog hair and cockatiel cage mess. The cannister is light enough to carry down the stairs while I vacuum and rolls easily on carpet.

PROS: LIGHT WEIGHT BUT VERY POWERFUL.
VERSATILE AS IT CAN BE USED AS A BLOWER.
TOOLS ATTACH TO THE WAND.
MADE OF MOSTLY METAL NOT PLASTIC AND STILL LIGHTER THAN THE MOSTLY PLASTIC LEADING MODELS.
HEPA FILTRATION.
GREAT ON CARPETS AND BARE FLOORS.
2 POWER MODES (HI AND LOW).
HOSE/WANDS (METAL NOT PLASTIC CRAP) LONG ENOUGH TO REACH 7 STEPS WITHOUT CARRYING CANNISTER.

CONS: POWER CORD IS TOO SHORT SO I ADDED AN EXTENSION CORD
WAND COMES APART TOO EASILY AT THE TOP, IT DOESN'T LOCK IN PLACE
NOISEY

I would have given this 5 stars but for the 3 design flaws I mentioned as cons above. As a once professional housecleaner and innkeeper, I would highly recommend this machine to do a great job, and not drain your life force in the process.