Carpet Cleaning

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So far, I’ve reviewed 2 recommended vacuums, and haven’t been particularly impressed with either of them. I received the Fantom Twister this year for Christmas. To be completely honest, I’m a little leery of writing a review this soon based on other reviews, so I’ll reserve the right to re-evaluate my comments later if necessary.

As of today, there are things I love about the Fantom and things I really wish were different.

Things I love: It does a good job of picking up household debris, including dog hair. We have 3 German Spitz mittels, and it does as well as my Hoover Windtunnel cleaning up after them. Someone else on here did not have good luck in the dog hair department with this machine, so it’s worthwhile to mention that my dogs weigh 15 pounds or less each, and their hair is not as long as that of a Golden Retriever. The real test will be in April when they molt like nothing else, so my opinion may change when the the dog hair is at its worst in our house.

It glides very smoothly. For a vacuum that is not self-propelled, this one requires little or no effort to push, and there is no drag on the pull.

The attachments are on board, and the storage for them seems to be pretty sturdy. Time will tell on that. Hopefully, I won’t have to employ the bungie cords to hold them in place.

The telescoping wand is excellent, and the hose is long enough to make it worthwhile to use this feature.

The stair cleaning tool is wonderful, and the length of the cord and hose make it easy and worthwhile to use. It also does a good job on furniture. If you’re not careful, it might pull the stuffing through the upholstery.

The cord is longer than standard vacuums, which enables me to vacuum the entire length of the stairs without having to stop halfway, unplug, and replug.

It makes less noise than either the Hoover or the Oreck I’ve used and written opinions about.

The recovery tank is large, easy to remove, and easy to empty.

The on/off switch is not foot operated.

What I wish were different:

It does not leave vacuum cleaner tracks on the carpet. I realize that might be a pro to some. However, I like to see evidence of accomplishment and to me, a clean floor complete with vacuum cleaner tracts indicates accomplishment. The floor does look clean, but I like the tracks.

While bagless is a nice idea; I prefer bags. There is less dust redistributed in the air when carefully changing a bag than there is dumping a dust bin. This one is easy to remove and empty. There’s a knob you turn to help remove more of the dust from the cyclonic chamber (that twisting thing in the middle of the dust bin), but when you turn the knob, quite a bit goes in the air, while the larger tufts do fall in the trash can. The dust cannister appears to hold a lot, but the fuller it gets, the less the machine picks up. If the cyclonic chamber has something large or too much in it before the debris is spun into the cannister, it makes a whining sound. I end up emptying the chamber after every time I vacuum to maintain performance of the machine up. Even with the dogs, I empty the chamber before it reaches even 20% of it’s total capacity.

The cyclonic unit needs to be cleaned frequently–every time you vacuum is recommended in the instruction manual. The performance of the machine is compromised if you don’t. I don’t always want to take the time to do that, and having to do so makes vacuuming a bigger chore than I’d prefer. Cleaning it requires disassembling the dust cannister and wiping out the unit with a damp sponge or rag. It’s not hard, it’s just a nuisance that makes a 15 minute job take 25. I’m not used to having to clean the vacuum cleaner. I’m used to depending on the vacuum cleaner to clean the floor and merely changing the bag and the filters on occasion.

The on/off switch is on the body of the unit rather than the handle. This is a vast improvement from the switches located on the bottom of the machines that you turn on with your foot. I’ve not found an upright vacuum with an overload protection feature on it–where it would automatically turn off if the motor was working too hard–like sucking up the fringe on throw rugs or a dust ruffle, etc. In such circumstances, it’s so much easier to turn a unit off if the switch is on the handle.

Replacement filters, etc. have to be purchased from the company, and possibly on-line, but not at Wal-mart or Target. That’s highly inconvenient, and unnecessarily expensive because of shipping and handling charges.

The warranty is terrible. I haven’t had to use it yet, thankfully, but HSN offers no refunds if there are problems, you can’t take it in locally for a repair under warranty–you have to ship the machine back to Fantom/EuroPro. That’s ridiculous considering the size, weight, and difficulty in finding a box to ship it in. EuroPro has had so many bad reviews on Fantom products, they should at least be willing to send a postage paid carton–free of charge to ship a broken unit back to them for repair.

Given all the caveats, I still haven’t decided whether I’d recommend this to a friend or not. I guess I’ll check yes on that box in a minute because I haven’t had any problems with it yet, and I do like it better than my grandparents’ Oreck for the money and attachments, and just as well as my Hoover Wind Tunnel. At least for now, the construction on this one seems to be of higher quality than the Hoover and the cleaning job is equivalent. However, whether or not one would like this machine would certainly depend on the bag or bagless preference, the necessity to clean the chamber and cyclonic unit as a part of the vacuuming chore, and the bad luck others have had in light of a terrible warranty. I wish I could check maybe on the recommend it to a friend box.

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