All About The New Eureka 169B Stick Vacuum
Posted: Saturday, January 03, 2009
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
A few years after we were married 53 years ago, a high powered salesman sold me a Kirby Vacuum Cleaner. I'm not complaining, because it was, and may still be, one of the finest constructed vacuum cleaners on the market. But the price was sinful. Kirbys today range from $489.00 to $849.00 I could have bought my wife at least 3 good Hoovers for what I paid at that time. The thing was a wonderful vacuum, but so huge our house and furniture just wasn't compatible with a Kirby so I sold it at a loss to my sister. From then on, we used Hoovers and we have no complaints with them other than they seemed to get bigger and heavier each time we needed a new one.
But one salesperson had a keen eye out for a sucker (I thought) and offered to demonstrate one and let me feel it in operation. He plugged in the Eureka model 169 and let me vacuum his aisle. The little booger wasn't much heavier than a walking stick and scooted along almost effortlessly. Yet, it has great suction and picked up everything he threw down before it. So I became serious about it. When I asked the salesman how much the machine cost, he said $37.95. I said ,"No kidding, what does it cost?" But he insisted that was the full price so I told him I would take four. No, I didn't say that but I was about hysterical when I told him I would take it. The price differs in various stores but from all I can find, the top price was $39.95. So, if you can make your wife happy for about $35.00 and stop having to buy bags besides, you are in good shape.The upper body of the thing detaches and becomes a neat hand vacuum, still with lots of powerful suction. Further investigation found that it doesn't use throw-a-way bags but has a permanent dust cage and filter. It is easily detached and emptied into your trash can and a few simple strokes with a cloth or brush cleans the filter for replacement on the vacuum. Either of these detaching procedures are far simpler and easier than removing and replacing paper bags. I purchased one and presented it to my wife who was skeptical in the beginning. She couldn't imagine such a small machine doing her carpets justice. But after she tried it, I believe she would have continued to use it if it hadn't cleaned at all. But it did, and did it well.
This has been several months ago and it performs like a full sized veteran. When I started to write this review, I looked them up and it appears they have upgraded this model a little and now call it model 169B. All I could see or learn differently was the color. Where ours is blue, the 169B is always pictured in yellow. But I suppose there are some minor changes. These muscular little vacuums weigh 5.4 pounds. Can you imagine getting all that activity out of something that meager?
Plus, taking from the booklet that came with it, if needed, I can order a new filter for $3.99, or a filter cage for $2.99. Though ours shows no sign of deterioration at this point. When it does conk out, I may turn it into a walking stick...with wheels.
This Article has been viewed 856 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (4 total)This was very interesting Joel, I too have found the new vacuums to be big and bulky!! It's like you say, it's like pushing a bulldozer ha ha......very informative, and we are due for a new vacuum, I think I shall give this a try. It's always good to get input from another consumer....I trust that more than a salesman!!! Well done, and as usual, I find your articles to be very interesting.Thank you Gary, and I'll tell you, you can't go very much wrong with the prices of these little fellows. And when you grow old and feeble the lighter weight is a Godsend.
Hi, Joel, I enjoyed this and may just buy one when our monsters conk out! ~JaneThank you Jane for reading and commenting. I believe you'll love it if you do. And for under $40. you can't do too bad regardless.
Joel,This is a great review! Very informative and helpful as well.Thank you Ronyae for reading and the kind words.
Good job in providing information I think many readers will be interested in.Thanks Robert for commenting.
We want your comments! If you can read this, you don't have javascript enabled, so you can't use this comment system. Please enable javascript.