Product Review: Kenmore 600Series Canister Vacuum

Kenmore 600 Series Bagged Canister Vacuum w/Pet PowerMate

sold by Sears

About the Product: This is what one of my sisters, I believe, calls a "dog on a leash" vacuum. Kenmore is a Sears brand name and, I think, is only sold by Sears, K-Mart, and Amazon. The actual manufacturer, supposedly, could be Cleva, Panasonic, Eureka, PhoneMate, and TTI according
to Reviewed.com. This style of vacuum is a bagged canister model that pulls along behind by a hose with a handled telescoping wand extension that attaches to a variety of vacuum tools, as opposed to the upright, all-in-one, compact style of vacuum. And, the vacuum is purple. (Just in case you couldn't tell!)

All but one of the vacuum tool/head attachments are stored in two compartments on the top of the rolling canister. The one lone ranger without a home is the carpet head. 

The hard-surface floor head is stored in the handy "pop-n-go" compartment on the end. This is supposed to allow you to quickly open and snap on the floor brush (which is conveniently popped up at the push of a button) without ever bending over, or using your hands.

The other tools- long-haired soft brush, small cracks and crevices attachment, and the Pet PowerMate -are stored in the larger compartment on top. They do require the use of your hands, and bending over. The vacuum bag, which collects all the dirt, is installed in the open compartment beneath these attachments.

Why I Chose this Product: I don't know if you recall, but a few months ago the canister on my bag-less vacuum (of which I was not that fond) broke. (You can read my product review about it here.) It was still functional for the most part, but I was glad for a reason to start looking for a new vacuum. After polling my entire family for their likes and dislikes, and after considering my own experiences, I was pretty sure I did not want a bag-less upright vacuum. Jason had never seen, or heard of, this pull-behind bagged canister vacuum and thought it was odd. We researched many vacuums, looked at many prices and reviews, and I settled on this one. After using if for a few months, I thought I'd give you a product review on how it works!

Cost: $359.99 Retail; I paid $241.47 after a sale and two coupons, along with free shipping.

Use: It is supposed to suck up dirt and dog hair like a champ! Two things I was interested in trying out was the carpet head and the Pet PowerMate attachment, both of which are supposed to have a second motor inside the head to improve suction power.

Conclusion: Thus far, after two months of use, both Jason and I really like it. Jason mentioned that it seemed to have a lot more power than our Bissell upright vacuum did. My observations have been that the carpet head will pull itself across the carpet if you let it, and the Pet PowerMate has done a much better job of cleaning dog hair off of upholstery than the Bissell attachment did. I actually put the Pet PowerMate attachment to the true test today by vacuuming off Gunther's bed- I was impressed! A few other things that I really like about it: the telescoping "wand" (it's a pipe) extends really far so that I can reach the corners of a 10ft. ceiling with ease. It is also nice for if Jason ever vacuums he can extend the length to fit his height and not have to hunch over.

As you can see, the pipe also compacts short enough for even the littlest person to comfortably use! I really like that it uses a bag to collect all the dirt and that I don't have to empty it multiple times during one use. There is a blue light that comes on when the bag is full, and I have changed the bag once since we started using it. The vacuum also has a slide switch to decrease and increase suction....and it actually works. Not exactly sure how, but it seems to accelerate and decelerate the motor which not only increases or decreases suction, but also the noise level. So, if you need to vacuum "quietly," it's possible! At least to a certain point. One aspect of this "dog on a leash" vacuum that I really like is that I can vacuum the stairs easier. I don't have to wrestle the entire machine on each step; instead, I leave the "dog" on the landing and just move the hose/pipe and attachment up or down the stairs. I can vacuum 6-7 steps without having to move the canister part. Another "plus" for this vacuum is that no matter what attachment you are using, carpet or hard floor, the wand/pipe/handle will lay almost flat on the floor without the head raising up off the floor. This means I can vacuum all the way under beds, bookshelves, cribs, etc. without compromising the suction to the floor! As I mentioned earlier, so far Jason and I both really like this vacuum and have been impressed with multiple aspects of it abilities.

Would I recommend this product? Yes, I would recommend this product! I know many of my sisters are strongly opposed to this style of vacuum, but I have found that I like it better than most of the uprights that I have used. I also think it has a lot of excellent features- telescoping wand, flexibility in angles (both the hard floor and carpet attachments can angle about 60 degrees side to side), it is fairly light (22.6 lbs. altogether), has good suction power, and is easy enough for an 18 month old to use!

She doesn't actually pull the canister around, but she can vacuum the same spot on the floor many times over! And, she knows how to get the hard floor attachment out, and how to retract the power cord!

Feedback: So how about you? Would you ever use a "dog on a leash" style of vacuum?

*I, nor A Journey Thru Pictures Blog, was not reimbursed, paid, sponsored, or given free product for doing this review.*