Kenmore 31150 Floor Care Elite Upright Bagged Vacuum, 26 pounds, Silver

I bought a Kenmore Elite from Sears in 2006 and it's been the best vacuum I've ever owned or used. It's lasted me these nearly 20 years with good care and the occasional repair, but while the suction is very good, it needs a new beater brush and I can't get parts for it anymore. So I was jazzed when I saw a positive review of this one and decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. It cleans really well and does a great job of lifting the carpet pile. My carpets feel fluffier under my feet. It's a solid bagged upright with good power, handy on-board attachments, and goes from carpet to bare floors with a simple thumb switch. I wish the hose was longer -- the one on my old Kenmore is twice as long -- but is a minor detriment. I see some people have complained about the length of the power cord, but I like that I can vacuum my whole house without having to unplug/replug, and a corded vacuum had much greater power than a cordless one. I highly recommend this vacuum.

I have owned this model for 20+ years as in on my 3rd one. I can say it does a wonderful job on both thick carpet and solid floors. This thing is so powerful, and the direct drive is great on thick carpet making it easy for me to use. There is no belt to wear out or replace. I have kept mine for an average of 8-10 years than buying another and selling the used one, works for me. I have never owned a vacuum with the swivel head so I'm sure if that's what your used to this will be primitive to maneuver, it's the standard type they have made forever. It was way back than and is to this day Consumer Reports #1 bagged vacuum. Those are the pros I would say. The few negatives I will say are the hose you put the attachments on isn't super long. There is an extendable tube to make it longer for higher up stuff or longer reaching. I use that for the baseboards, behind the toilet and under stuff and it works fine for that. But over time (many years later) the flexible tube will break off where it bends. I just cut it off and it screws right back in the plastic part. There is a black rubber part around the base on the vacuum to protect your home and anything you will bump into to. Over time (many years later) it will leave a black skid mark on your baseboards. All stuff I can live with is why I would recommend it 100%.

This vacuum does the job at sucking up dog and cat hair, which is the reason I bought it. Great suction and I love the white lights on the front that let you know when the area is truly clean. Easy to empty and filters are easy to replace. The only downsides are: 1) it's HEAVY; if you'll be hauling this up and down stairs, you'll get a workout. It's easy to push/pull on a carpet with the motorized wheels but carrying it up and down stairs is a bit of a chore, and 2) the vacuum hose could/should be longer and more flexible. When using the hand accessories, which work very well, you have to keep moving the whole machine with you because of the shortness of the vacuum hose. Neither issue is a dealbreaker but just be aware.

Arrived today, and the thought of assembling it I thought would take a long time. It took more time to unpack than to assemble, only 1 screw that’s it! First impression: very favorable, sturdy construction, sleek, and clean lines. Functionality: amazing, a lot of suction, good filtration, No More Belts to change, and the attachments, the Lockable Extended Wand is a great idea rather than having 1-3 extra wands. How I got to buying a Kenmore Elite Dirt Devil, Hoover, and then BISSELL. All had good qualities and A Lot of Plastic, all belt driven very cheaply made.

We had previously owned a "Pet Vacuum" and it just didn't go a good job. So when it was time to replace our old one I did my due diligence and searched the internet for the best one I could afford. I read both good and bad reviews to get a feel for what people are saying about a product. A Dyson was out of the question due to price, so I was after the best value. Some of the negative comments regarded the fact that the Kenmore Elite was not self-propelled, it was somewhat heavy, the height adjustment wasn't automatic and the hose was too short. BUT, it worked very well. After looking over other brands and options, I bought the Kenmore Elite Upright 31150. I was not disappointed! Yes, you have to manually adjust the height. No big deal. I need to do that once when I vacuum as we have shorter nap rugs in one area of our home. I then start in that area the next time. It is not self-propelled, but that's okay because if you have the height adjusted correctly, it will gently pull itself forward. Most of us need more physical activity anyway! I know I do. The hose is short-ish, but works for most of what I need to do with it and there is a wand for extra reach. The wand extends nicely. There are a couple of handy attachments as well, especially the mini-brush that spins using the force of the suction. We have three cats, one of which is a long hair who leaves piles of fine hair everywhere and the Elite has no trouble getting those out of our short nap carpet. Suction power is outstanding and when using attachments actually needs to be managed with the airflow gate on the hose. Maneuverability is fine, but because it isn't propelled by anything other than the spinning brush, it does take a little more effort than a self-propelled model. It is not "light weight", but I don't care about that. Like I mentioned, I like the physical aspect of using the machine. Regarding comments that said the brushes wear out; What are these folks doing to make that happen??? Even when I have the height set lower than it should be (which you should realize immediately as the vacuum wants to pull fairly hard) I still cannot imagine wearing the brush out that fast. We've had this vacuum for some time and I've very happy with it. A blue light on the nose of the machine lights up when you activate the brush then goes out after about 5 seconds. It will come on again when you go over an area with extra debris. My wife thinks it's a gimmick, but I like it because it will make me go over that area slowly until the light extinguishes, ensuring it's clean. This is typically where the felines favorite resting spots are, or near the entries to the house or around the fireplace. The LED "headlights" work great as well and really light up dark areas under furniture or in corners. The vacuum does have a bag which I much prefer over the canister type vacuums as all dust, hair and dander is contained. There are also exhaust air filters. All of these work beautifully. I don't have any Cons on this one; I love it and would by it again.

This thing is awesome. Yes, it's heavy. The job it does is worth it. I will not ever go back to lightweight bagless again. I vacuumed with my old vacuum first (broken handle not suction issue). Looked good as usual. Then vacuumed with this. I pulled the bag to see and I am forever disgusted that for years I have been living in an illusion of clean. My dog is short hair, so it was never strong, but anyone who visited knew a dog lived here. Not anymore! Ha! I dus my vacuum and treat it like royalty and I am only kind of joking. I am so incredibly thankful to have such a clean home again for real. Worth every dime and I already have a 2 year supply of bags and an extra hepa, but these genuine bags are really great and keeping any visible dust from getting past it. Ive been vacuuming for months after 2 adults, 2 kids and a dog and it looks brand new, but I clean that little prefilter with my shop vac in the garage just in case. I am in love with this vacuum.

Works very well but is heavy. Would buy it again.

——Preface: We have had a dozen vacuums over the last several years. Bagged and bag less. All high end of the product line, plug in, uprights by Shark, Hoover, Bissell, and Dyson. Everything we buy is researched thoroughly and well reviewed. We have also currently have an $890 Miele C3 Pet canister style vacuum. ——The package: Shipped fast and arrived in one piece. Very simple assembly that needs just a single screw to be tightened. ——Initial impression: Accessory storage is brilliant. Critically, the power cord is very long. Height adjustment is simple. Power and floor mode selector is very easy to use. ——-Operation: Extremely powerful. Probably the most powerful actual suction strength of anything we’ve used short of a 5hp shop vac. Simply devours dirt and dog hair. We have medium pile carpet. Beach sand, clay dust, grit and endless piles of dog hair. It’s just amazingly effective at cleaning carpet. For perspective I’d say the the Miele is 80% as effective at 3x $$$, the Dyson was 2x$$$ and about the same effectiveness as the Miele, the Sharks were 1.5x $$$ and even less effective with everything else being even less effective that them. Pro: well built, highly effective and has long cord. Pro: excellent price for this level of performance. Pro: it’s bagged which I have come to strongly prefer over bagless. Con: sort of… make sure you aren’t running to low a height setting or the massive suction will make this a little difficult to push over rugs and thicker carpets. —— Bottom line: very pleased with this vacuum and strongly rexommend it to anyone looking for a ridiculously effective bagger.