Top-notch Panasonic quality in purple Sears clothing!
Written: May 28 '04 (Updated Mar 07 '06)
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Pros: Lots of features, cleans outstandingly, and No. 1 in consumer magazines
Cons: "Turbo tool" not all that useful. Hose detaches at floor level.
The Bottom Line: Combining Panasonic performance and reliability with Sears value and customer service, this is a high-performing, affordable winner of a vacuum cleaner.
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| meade's Full Review: Kenmore 31912 Progressive Bagged Upright Vacuum |
Updated July 13, 2004; September 20, 2004; February 2, 2005; and March 7, 2006 -- see below
Our trusty 9-year-old Eureka upright went to dust-bunny heaven last week, and since we have two long-haired cats (one of whom is actually named Dustbunny) and a 3-year-old boy, we needed to get a new vacuum cleaner fairly quickly. The undertaker (er, vacuum cleaner shop guy who gave our Eureka its last rites) recommended a Panasonic vacuum cleaner. I did a little research and sure enough, the Panasonics are very high-quality, extremely reliable vacuums -- but I gulped at the $329.95 price tag. Sure, you get what you pay for, and I'm sure it's worth every penny, but when both spouses are working and you now have a kid, your priorities change. You have to decide what products in your home are going to be "elite-class" and which ones are just going to be the best you could afford at the time. I decided I'd rather put my money into other things than vacuum cleaners.
Giving up on the Panasonic idea, I went to the website of one of my favorite retailers -- Sears -- and did a little surfing. I found lots of vacuums to choose from, including a Dirt Devil 88300 bagless that looked great and was on sale for $99.95. I thought the bagless feature was neat, and it's all the rage right now, so I brought it home. What a mistake that was -- but I won't go into that here. You can read my review on that vacuum if you're interested.
With the horrible Dirt Devil sitting at home, I found myself at work the next day surfing a vacuum cleaner enthusiasts forum (yes, there are all kinds of people in this world). It was there that I discovered that the Kenmore Progressive series is built by Panasonic to Sears' specifications. Hmmm.
I did a little more surfing and found that this vacuum -- the Kenmore Progressive 31912 -- is a top pick in Consumer Reports and Consumer Guide. Built by Panasonic, it has all the top-of-the-line features and then some, but has the added benefit of using a bag. Yes, I said BENEFIT. Bagless vacs sound great at first, but after using the Dirt Devil I learned how high-maintenance, time-consuming and messy those vacs really are, how they DON'T save you money ($20 for a new filter at least once a year), and how the bulky bucket on the front of those vacuums makes it impossible to clean even under our bed that has a foot of clearance under it. I took advantage of Sears' 30-day trial policy and returned the Dirt Devil. I told the clerk about my experience, and she said, "It looks like you were expecting $200 performance from a $100 vacuum cleaner." I thought about that for a moment, realized maybe she was right, and -- since I'd already read the 10 reviews here, I brought the Kenmore Progressive 31912 home -- for $229.95. (It was on sale, $100 off from $329.95 -- same price as the Panasonic -- what a coincidence!)
ASSEMBLY
After unboxing the Dirt Devil to find a dozen pieces and seven screws, I was quite relieved to find the Kenmore in just two pieces with one screw to attach them together. You fit the handle onto slots on the body and secure it with a single screw. The extension wand with crevice cleaner, multi-area brush and dusting brush were already attached to the vacuum, and the bag and HEPA filters were already installed. Once I finished installing that one screw, I was ready to vacuum!
FEATURES
The vacuum has everything you'd expect and some things that you don't. First of all, in the accessories department, it has the usual crevice tool (long and thin, great for getting behind furniture), two brushes that snap into recesses in the back of the vacuum, and an extension tube -- but this one also telescopes to become twice as long as it first appears. It also snaps into a recess on the side of the vacuum. Additionally, you get a "turbo tool" device that is a little beater-bar-equipped hand tool for vacuuming furniture; however, it's only powered by the air moving through it and like others of its kind, its usefulness is limited. The big standard extra is the extra extension hose, which allowed me to park the vacuum at the bottom of the stairs of our two-story house and vacuum all the stairs using that hose and the accessories. No more dragging the upright up the stairs with one hand while using a short hose with the other! One other thing -- all the tools, hoses and tubes twist-lock onto each other. So you won't find any press-fit connections coming loose as you pull on the hose.
What about the features on the vacuum itself? To make things easier I'll start at the handle and move down.
First of all, the vacuum has a very nice handle (a loop design, and I discovered why -- more later) with the on-off switch where it SHOULD be on an upright -- on the front of the handle, where you can reach it with your thumb. The cord exits the vacuum near the top, and there are THREE -- not the usual two -- winding posts, so the cord winds up in a triangle. This made for a more compact winding area for the cord and I didn't have to keep bending up and down while winding it up like I did with my old Eureka. Underneath the cord storage area is a recessed carrying handle -- nice, since some competitors have a protruding handle which gets in the way when you try to lay the vacuum down to get under beds and other stuff.
Moving down the back of the upright we find the place where the hose enters the bag area. (You do not attach accessories here -- more on that in a minute.) Below the hose connection are the recessed slots to hold the pair of brush tools. A very nice touch, a carryover from Panasonic, is that the clips that hold these tools firmly in place -- along with every other clip on the vacuum, such as the one that holds the extension tube and the ones that you roll the cord on -- are separate pieces, not molded extensions of the plastic body of the vacuum. So if you do ever snag one on a door frame or break one being clumsy, you can replace it without having to replace half the vacuum cleaner or resorting to rubber bands or twist-ties as standard equipment. (I've already checked, and you can order every part on this vacuum on-line, referring to diagrams, from Sears Parts Direct.)
Under the tools is a little one-inch, vented hole that I had to check the manual to identify. Turns out it's a "motor bypass valve" that allows cooling air to be drawn into the 12-amp motor even if the beater bar stops or an obstruction blocks the air flow through the pickup tube. A nice touch to protect my investment. While we're on the subject, I'll mention that the motor also has a protection circuit that will shut down the vacuum for a few minutes if it overheats as the result of an unremedied clog or similar problem.
At the very bottom on the left is the foot lever to recline the vacuum from the "parked" position and for reclining it past its lower stop to get under beds etc. And it has a little surprise too. When you recline the vacuum from vertical, the beater bar turns on. When you return the vacuum handle to upright, the beater bar turns off. No ruining your carpet with a rotating beater bar when you first turn this thing on, and no fumbling for a switch when you want to "park" the vacuum and use the extension hose! Just push the handle to its locked upright position and the rotation stops! Some vacuums (like the Dirt Devil) keep the beater bar running when you're using the extension hose -- how good is that for your carpets and the vacuum?
OK, now for the front of the vacuum. Moving down from the on-off switch we find a little cluster of three lights and a small switch. One light lights up red when the bag is full or there's an obstruction in the air flow. The other two lights and switch are part of the vacuum's "dirt sensor" system. There are three sensor "eyes" in the tube that empties into the bag. They detect particles in the air stream. While you're vacuuming, one of the lights, which is red, will illuminate until the sensors detect no more particles in the stream, and then the red light turns off and the green light turns on to let you know that area is clean. The switch allows you to select between high and low sensitivity for this circuit. I found this feature interesting, and it appears to work as intended. I even tested it by moving a dresser out from the wall and vacuuming up dust bunnies and watching the lights. It worked!
Going down from there we find the door that covers the bag compartment. The standard (included) bag in this model is a non-washable cloth one that is supposed to trap particles down to 3 microns. Replacement cloth bags are more expensive ($7.99 for two) than the paper ones (about half as much), but the cloth ones are supposed to work better. I plan to try both. For now I picked up a two-pack of cloth bags. Below the bag compartment door is the door that covers the replaceable, cartridge-style HEPA filter. This filter resembles a miniature rectangular air filter for a car -- much more effective-looking than the little square piece of cloth that was supposed to be a filter in our old Eureka. It's supposed to be replaced at least annually, by the way.
The top of the base of the vacuum has the standard height-select lever and headlight. There's also a foot switch to turn off the beater bar manually for vacuuming bare floors.
On the left side of the base is a little red recessed reset button. Since the beater bar is direct-driven (with no belts to replace), this switch resets a circuit breaker that will trip if something jams the beater bars. Kenmore (Panasonic) seems to have thought of everything here!
The right side of the base has the nozzle that the hose fits on to take dirt from the beater bars up to the bag area. This is also where you disconnect the main hose to attach accessories or the included, far-reaching extension hose, right at the bottom of the vacuum at floor level. A little awkward? Maybe. Some may find it cumbersome to get down on one knee to reach down and detach the hose, but at the ripe old age of 39 I didn't have much trouble doing so.
Turning the vacuum over, we find a very substantial-looking beater bar. Large in diameter, with lots of firm, bright red brushes. There are also two smaller sets of brushes, one set on each side of the beater bar right up at the sides of the base, for brushing carpet right up against the wall. And the front and sides of the base are covered with a durable-looking, soft rubber cover to protect your baseboards and the vacuum from bumps and scuffs. One more thing -- another little extra I didn't see on any other vacuum that I looked at -- the wheels on this vacuum have rubber inserts. No rattly, bare-floor-marring plastic wheels here!
One quick note about the color. Friends, it's purple. If you own one of these and the color really bothers you that much, why do you still own it? You had 30 days to return the vac for a full refund, and you decided to keep it. So stop complaining about the color! Frankly I like it. It's a really deep "grape juice" color, not Barney-violet at all. Frankly I think it's a handsome product. When the sun hits it, it actually sparkles! But who really cares? It's a VACUUM CLEANER!!!
PERFORMANCE
The first thing I noticed upon turning the vacuum on was how quiet it is. I could talk to my wife at a near normal voice level while I was using it.
Now, about that looped handle. You'll find out why it's there the moment you release the handle! As a result of that substantial beater bar, this thing takes off across the floor! Some reviewers have claimed that the vacuum is self-propelled; while technically it's not, I can understand the claim! NO effort is required to move the vacuum forward. The looped, ribbed handle makes pulling it backward very easy. I appreciate the design of the handle; I have sweaty hands, and if the handle were just the molded plastic or vinyl stalk found on many competitors, I wouldn't be able to get a good grip on this roaming marauder! You are forewarned. Be ready to start walking when you start vacuuming!
The vacuum did a very good job of grooming the pile on our medium-height rugs upstairs and our berber carpet in the living room, along with the oriental rug in the dining room. It also did an admirable job vacuuming our hardwood foyer with the beater brush turned off. It did so well right up to the baseboards, when moving along them sideways, that I found no need to get out the crevice tool. And it made the transition from carpet to hardwood floor very silently, even while crossing metal thresholds with the beater bar on. I wish I could say the same for our old Eureka!
As I said earlier, the dirt sensor feature worked as advertised. The vacuum did get under our bed, but it won't lay completely flat -- even if you push the reclining lever again when it reaches the first stop. The lowest stop leaves the vacuum just a wee bit higher than horizontal, I guess so you don't find yourself running over the hose where it connects on the back of the vacuum.
I really liked the accessories. Using the telescoping extension hose and the long (more than a foot) crevice tool, I was able to get to the top of the baseboards behind our dressers and our king-sized bed without moving furniture. It also made for easy removal of cobwebs, even in the ceiling corners above our stairwell where the old Eureka's attachments couldn't reach. The smaller brush, which is round on many vacuums, is rectangular and slightly larger -- and it made cleaning the TV screen and the components in our entertainment center easier. A nice feature about the other brush -- a "combination" brush that you'd use under furniture or on tables -- is that its brush assembly slides off the plastic housing of the brush, so you can opt for using the brushes on it or not. (You can also replace just the brushes and not the whole assembly if the brushes ever wear out.) All in all I found the vacuum easy to use, and even though it's full of features, they did not detract from my ability to tidy up our house in swift fashion.
A nice thing about having a Kenmore vacuum is the Sears Protection Agreement I was able to purchase with it. The vacuum comes with a one-year warranty, but by purchasing one of two agreements (two years for $29.95; three years for $49.95), you have full coverage (except, of course, for bag replacement) on the entire unit -- even if YOU do something stupid. On top of that, the agreement allows you to take the vacuum cleaner to Sears anytime you want for a full cleaning and maintenance checkup at no additional charge. Being a sucker for these things, I purchased the three-year agreement. Even if nothing ever does go wrong, having no worries for a little more than $16 a year is worth it to me.
CONCLUSION
If it's possible to get excited about a vacuum cleaner, I am about this one. It's actually fun to use. It's also quiet and does a fantastic job. The extension hose makes it very versatile, and the little lights make it almost entertaining while you vacuum. I've vacuumed the house once with it, and it filled up the bag about a third of the way -- even after having vacuumed two days ago with the Dirt Devil. So I know it's a good performer! And it's attractive too! I'll update after a few months with the Kenmore Progressive 31912.
UPDATE July 13, 2004
Well, it's been a little over six weeks now, and I've used the vacuum at least a half-dozen times to vacuum our entire house. Let me first say I'm just as pleased with my purchase as I was on day one. I actually look FORWARD to vacuuming the house (don't tell my wife)!!!
I am continually amazed by the power of this vacuum in the absence of a lot of noise. This thing is sucking cat hair off the carpet in bunches while I'm carrying on a conversation with my wife across the room at a near-normal voice level. Astounding compared to some little "devils" of vacuum cleaners I've experienced lately. I'm also amazed by how easy it is to use this vacuum. The attachments are easy to get to and use, the switch is in the right place, and the foot levers to recline the vacuum and stop/start the beater brush are easy to press and all switches have a very tactile feel.
One thing that amazes me even further may actually be a problem for more diminutive folks who lack upper arm strength. The beater brush is so large, "brushy" and powerful -- I guess since it's direct-driven, it can't slip like a belt-driven brush does -- the vacuum literally pulls you across the room. You have to use quite a bit of upper-arm brawn to control it, and a little more to pull it back in the opposite direction. I can see how some new owners might find this vacuum a little hard to control -- I'll admit my right arm is getting quite a workout using this vacuum!
One last thing -- this is the first upright vacuum that I've actually found useful on hard-surface floors. Just make sure you turn the beater brush OFF or you'll find the vacuum kicking stuff out behind it as you move it along. Mine even picks up hard granules of cat litter (like small pebbles) as long as I move slowly and make a few passes. Our old Eureka, which advertised a similar ability, could not pick up the cat litter. It's nice to be able to tidy up our large kitchen floor and the hardwood floors in our dining room and foyer without having to drag out the Shop Vac like I used to. Remember that the vacuum's exhaust vent blows air out the front, so don't let the vacuum get too "upright" when vacuuming hard surfaces or you'll find the vent blowing what you're trying to vacuum away from you and all over the room. Keep that vent pointing upward and you'll be tooling around your kitchen quite proficiently!
UPDATE September 20, 2004
Well, Four months have gone by and two months since my last update. I am now using the Purple Suckasaurus to vacuum the kitchen linoleum on a regular basis. I used to do this job every other week by dragging out the ShopVac, which does a great job, but now I've found it's much easier to use the Kenmore more often -- so I'm vacuuming the kitchen once a week (which it really needs -- I just kept putting it off when I had to drag out the ShopVac and its hoses and accessories). I still bring out the ShopVac to get behind and under the fridge and in some hard-to-reach corners under cabinets, but only once a month or so. The Kenmore does a fine job of getting up cat hair, cat litter tracked out of the litterbox, debris from the attached mud room, etc., by just pushing it across the floor with the beater bar off.
This vac continues to impress me with its high suction, low noise and usefulness of included accessories. With a king-size bed that our long-haired cats love to lay on, groom on, play on, etc., and a washing machine that, despite its "large capacity," cannot swallow our king-size comforter, I've found the Kenmore very useful for vacuuming cat hair off our comforter using the floor brush attachment. The telescoping wand, in combo with the long crevice tool, makes for a crevice device par excellence -- I can get behind most of our furniture without stooping since the combo tool plus telescoping wand add up to nearly four feet in length. That length helps a lot too when I'm trying to reach the corners of the ceiling to get cobwebs.
UPDATE February 2, 2005
Well, eight months have passed since I purchased this vacuum, and despite a couple of negative reviews from others, mine -- which is used at least three times a month to vacuum a 1900-square-foot house with lots of cat hair, cat litter and dirt from a 3-1/2-year-old -- is gobbling up everything with impeccable regularity and reliability. I've changed the bag (using only the cloth ones) twice since purchasing the vac. I'm still impressed, my friends!
I was in Sears the other day and I found that they've replaced this vacuum with a new one (which is red, all you grape-haters, lol) whose only new feature is an electronic, pushbutton on-off switch to replace the 31912's mechanical switch. If anything, manual switches are more reliable! Other than that, I was told it's the same vacuum cleaner, still coming with the same features and accessories. Happy!
UPDATE March 7, 2006
Wow, another year come and gone! I'm older, heavier, and my bones creak more loudly now than ever, but guess what? The good ol' trusty Kenmore continues to suck with astonishing regularity! I change the bag about every four to six months with a new Kenmore HEPA cloth (not paper) bag -- yeah, they're about $8 for two; what's $8 over a year's time? Get the good stuff and see the difference! After almost two years of ownership, I'm still in love with this little appliance. Everything still works like new. I do think I'll take advantage of the 3-year service warranty I purchased -- sometime in early 2007 I'll take the vac in and let Sears do a cleaning/checkup job on it since I've paid for that service -- whether it needs it or not. My guess is, it won't be needing anything.
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 229.95
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Epinions.com ID:
meade
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Reviews written: 11
Trusted by: 0 members
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