Kenmore 81615 Kenmore 600 Series + Pet PowerMate Attachment

We have had this about 3 weeks and so far it is a great vacuum. We bought the Meile two months ago but it didn’t work for us. We have pets and carpets. The Miele is really for hardwood or laminate. Not great on carpet or pet hair. We returned it with no issues. This Kenmore has a powered beater bar/head with great suction. Stairs are a breeze. Pet hair gone. Carpets look great. Highly recommend!

The PowerMate (big motorized head) works on stairs and its edge cleaning is good enough to avoid bringing out the crevice tool. The Pet Tool is 1/4 the width of the PowerMate so it takes 4x longer to do stairs with the pet tool. The pet tool is motorized (not air driven) and it sucks better than any air "turbo" tool. The pet tool can do vertical stair risers. The canister has a stair grip which holds the body on the stairwell. It works but if you step on or kick the body it will fly off and (maybe) take you with it. I can carry the body while vacuuming the stairs because the entire thing is only like 13lbs but small or elderly people may feel it is too much to carry on stairs. So stairs, 7 stars, superior stair vacuum. For general tile, carpet, wood, runners and area carpets, the suction is off the charts. It will easily pick up and suck in small area carpets; there is a reason the suction adjust is on the grip. Power on/off & PowerMate on/off are on the grip so you don't have to reach down to the floor. The hepa bag and hepa body filter keep all the dirt in; you will not smell your carpet as you clean it. Like all canisters it can be a challenge getting tangled up in the cord, hose and canister. There's a definite trick to it; I stepped on the hose a few times permanently denting it...it's small and fortunately everything still works. Overall this is a 5 star vacuum and spending more will not result in better cleaning. Downsides: it's all plastic so if it lasts 3 years I'll be surprised. The hose, grip, wand and PowerMate do NOT stand secuely; falling over so easily I always lean them against something; the sound of the grip hitting the floor is gut wrenching. The cord needs to be longer but will work in any room 25-30 feet wide or smaller. Many complain the floor tool door opens up and, yes it does when you press the button. This happens when you touch the hose to the button or when you pick up the canister and touch the button. You have to be aware of where that button is and avoid touching it. The cord winds into the body and I recommend you pull it all the way out; it gets very hot in the body which is dangerous for the vacuum and the cord. The accessory tools lid only pops up 45 degrees and does not stay open by itself; irritating. The overall fit and finish are good but being all plastic it's just not as crisp as metal vacuums. I do think the wand, pet tool, crevice tool and brush are excellent; probably best you'll find at this price. As for how much the bag holds, I did 9 floors and 6 stairwells and filled it 2/3'rds. I changed the bag at that point to see what it was picking up: tons of dirt, carpet fiber, people hair and fistfuls of cat fur. The blue light will turn on when you stopper the crevice tool against a cushion or something but that does not mean the bag is full. The bag refill number is 20-53292 Q/C bag (6-pack). Should last a year for me. The bag looks 2x too big for the vacuum but it fits easily. By the way, the bags feel luxurious. I clean the brush roll every use to remove hair and carpet threads (very easy to do). The motor belt is enclosed in the head and the manual says to open up the head and clean out the innards at regular intervals. When fibers get inside the roller and belt, that will kill the vacuum so the best prevention is to keep strands from accumulating on the brush roll(s).

Great suction, but the little pop out floor attachment is useless. It isn't flexible enough to lay flat on hard floors, and the door pops open easy so I just have it tap3d shut. The pet tool is my favorite and highly effective. I suggest the bags on here that are hepa or directly from bissel because the only ones they care at Walmart are th3 Great Value Brand, thin, almost paper bag material, and I feel the let the inside of the canister get more dusty than it should. I wanted a canister I could use on carpet and hard floor. It works on both, but the vacuum head is very heavy, so getting in corners you have to go around with an attachment for sure. Use this for my cleaning business and it has held up for several cleans so far.

Many Repairs and Less Than 3 Years in & It's a Goner I've written snippets of this review in my head through gritted teeth (yes I know if it's in my head it's not THROUGH gritted teeth please allow me some poetic license, it's been a day) while using this god-forsaken POS over the last 2+ year. While vacuuming, I'd alternate this therapeutic writing exercise with fantasizing about the unfiltered diatribe and possibly bodily harm I would visit upon this "machine's" designer if s/he ever had the misfortune to meet me. Today I've been moved to actually sit down and take time out of my day to put fingers to keyboard. Where to begin? I struggled from the onset with the decision to purchase this machine when my Dyson Animal (rival POS) did me the favor of catching fire, giving me license to relieve it of its duty. But that's another review; back to the matter at hand... I'd had a kenmore canister vacuum, similar to this one before the Dyson. So I was prepared to be underwhelmed. I finally relented and bought it because the beater on the carpet attachment is electrified whereas the one on the f-ing Dyson is "air driven" which is about as useful a you know what on a bull. I was not prepared for the hate-at-nearly-first-sight this vacuum provoked. It is HEAVY. It is BULKY. It does not really ROLL without a LOT of yanking (and correlated cursing). Rather than turn, it ROLLS OVER. Did I mention it's HEAVY? Oh, another special feature? It has a light at the base of the wand, near the floor. This is in theory a useful feature. It lights up the area of floor just ahead of where you are vacuuming. HOWEVER, this light stands nearly 2 inches off the level of the wand itself serving to prevent the floor attachment from fitting into SO. MANY. PLACES. So, turns out, this light's actual function is to taunt you as you vacuum, letting you see clearly all of the dust and pet hair that you will have to go get on your hands and knees to clean. Did I mention it's BULKY? What, else. Oh, I have dogs. They get hair on our microfiber sofa. The microfiber is great long term--really does clean up from just about anything. I've even put all of the covers through the washer and dryer and they come out looking brand new. However, the microfiber is a pet hair MAGNET. So one of the main jobs I got this vacuum for was to vacuum my sofa regularly. I was lured in by the electrified beater on the rug attachment AND the upholstery attachment. The upholstery attachment does work pretty well, but it is small. And I have a life outside of vacuuming, so I'd like to get the vacuuming over with. For the big areas of the sofa--about 90% of the surfaces, I'd prefer to use the larger rug attachment. It does FIT directly onto the handle without the wand. It even makes the electrical connection so the beater spins. However, the handle does not have the clip that secures this attachment, SO, you can push it but you CAN'T PULL it. It falls off. This is more than mildly annoying. My old Kenmore allowed this. Not sure why this one is designed without the clip. Let me see, what else does it do? Oh, yes, it BREAKS. Often. I've replaced several parts on it in the last 30 months. Less than two years in, I had to replace the entire hose assembly to the tune of $140. I suspect this broke in part because of all the yanking moving this thing requires. Maybe it wants to be carried? Did I mention it is HEAVY? The front swivel (I use this term loosely--it operates more like a brake) wheel is constructed of brittle, cheap plastic. I've replaced that TWICE. Maybe they should sell them In convenient 6-packs. Of course that would assume the vacuum will last more than 5 years. It has not. ' Not sure what you call it, but the plastic "collar" piece that helps the wand stand up straight when sitting in the rug attachment broke. So, the wand flops, sometimes whips around whacking anything in its path. Basically, most of this thing is plastic and most of the plastic breaks. That brings us to today. Today, near the close of my vacuuming session, the "check bag" alarm sounded. I opened the compartment, replaced the bag and noticed a flat plastic piece on the floor next to the machine. I looked inside the compartment and couldn't spot where this errant piece may have come from. I tried closing the canister and it became immediately apparent that this piece was the clip that holds the canister closed, creating a seal that, you know, creates a VACUUM. I figured it must have popped off and I'd need to pop that bad boy right back on. NOPE. This piece rotates on two little plastic pins that fit into corresponding plastic rings that are part of the entire canister assembly. Yup. That's right. PLASTIC. Did I mention that all of the plastic breaks? One of these tiny rings cracked. So, my replacement part this time, apparently, is the entire VACUUM CANISTER. The way this is built, the failure of an 1/8" piece of plastic has rendered this sucker D-E-A-D. So, that's where my tale ends. For now. Marooned in a vacuum-less house with two shedding dogs and two teenaged boys. I'm dreading what comes next--the search for a suitable replacement. What will it be? Join the Mielle cult for a cool $800?

Works great. Great suction

I bought this vacuum because I was using a floor only vacuum for hardwood floors but it was not picking up the cat hair on the area carpets. I should mention I also have a power vacuum on a different floor of the house so I started using that - both these vacuums are Miele and lightweight. In the end, I determined that I needed another power vacuum. After a lot of research I chose the Series 600 Kenmore and overall am very satisfied with the purchase. The dual motors are very powerful and the machine practically walks itself across the carpeted areas. It picks up any cat hair on the first pass. The power-mate for pet hair on the upholstery also works extremely well. I also like the 26 ft. cord although it sometime gets in my way. The power head is dual mode and it is easy to switch from carpet to hardwood floor mode. - no need to change heads. If I have a complaint it is the weight and the noise. I can tolerate the noise as the vacuuming doesn't take nearly as long and as far as the weight is concerned (machine plus power head) I make it a point not to carry it very far. I have a bad shoulder so am very conscious about not aggravating the situation. All that said the pros definitely outweigh the cons and I would highly recommend this vacuum.

I have been using the vacuum for a few months now and it was well worth the money. It has excellent suction - I have carpets throughout my house and with the wider power head it covers the areas quickly. I like the onboard tools - very convenient and the long power cord and long hose means I don't need to constantly move the unit. And I like the on-off on the handle. The biggest negative for me is the weight - it is heavier than the vacuum I replace and I will not use it on a full stair case as I can't easily carry it due to arthritis in hips and knees. But for use on one level, does the job well.

UPDATE: YES get the Miele, it is a lot of plastic but it follows you around not you dragging it around. It is lightweight and works 10/10. Don't let anyone but you use it, they just won't understand. ORIGINAL: I got the purple pet one. It is convenient to have all the accessories on it but... it's so heavy and bulky, the pet attachment is already broken. There is so much bulky plastic on it, you cannot just take off the brush and quickly vacuum in the corners, you have to reattach another brush since the telescopic wand is so big. The suction is okay but the brush is too powerful and gets stuck on normal flat carpeting and must be reset. I dislike vacuuming so much and this machine just makes matters worse. Now I am stuck with it at least for another year when most products decide to give up anyway. I suppose the bright side is that we do not have to keep our appliances for 10 or 20 years anymore, they would never last that long. I also wonder if the people making vacuums have ever actually used a vacuum in their lives...

This vacuum is great and i love how handy the extra tools are!