This Consumer Reports: Hoover Windtunnel Deluxe

This month, the month I paid for our new windows, Max's school tuition, and our final house payment, was the month our vacuum also decided to suck in its last breath of dog hair and dirt and die.  It was a Hoover Windtunnel Deluxe, and only a year and a half old.

The reason I'm writing this down is that before I bought this vacuum, I consulted Consumer Reports and checked to see what was recommended.  This particular model was.   I realize this was not a top-of-the-line model, but a year and a half out of an appliance is not an exceptional amount of time.  Basically, it stinks.  And it's not like I was using it every day, twice a day, or for commercial use.  I used it once or twice a week to vacuum 4 rugs and one carpet.  That's it.  

When I took my Windtunnel Deluxe to the local vacuum repair store and told the man there the noise it made when it stopped functioning, he told me he was 99% sure it was the engine, and that wasn't worth repairing.  He said that for $20, he'd take it apart and pinpoint the exact problem, but he didn't think it advisable.  "These bagless vacuums," he said, "just don't last.  The dust goes back in the air and it goes right to the motor and then a year, a couple years later, the vacuums die." 

"Hmmmm."  I said.  "There are a lot of bagless vacuums on the store shelves these days."  "Yes," the man said.  "They're very popular.  But Consumer Reports doesn't call vacuum repair shops when they do their initial assessments.  What repair people find is that a bag vacuum is just better, in the long run, for the vacuum and for the house too.  Not as much dust and a longer life for the vacuum."  

So I'm writing this down for anyone else who has a vacuum purchasing conundrum.  Bag vacuums apparently last longer.  I bought a new Panasonic MC-V5737 bag vacuum from the store, and he gave me a two-year warranty.  Which, I figure, gives me at least a half year more - guaranteed - out of this vacuum than I got out of the last one.   I hope I get even more than that.