I'm so excited!!!! I'm about to go crazy vacuuming and cleaning my house now! Just thought i'd share!

Anyone own one? How do you like it?

By Pamt on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 08:22 pm:

Don't get too excited. First of all, please tell me you didn't pay full price for one. We got one that had been repossessed for a steal. At first I loved it, but I've had it about 6-7 yrs and I am not so keen on it anymore and really want a Dyson instead. I like that it is so versatile, can also shampoo my carpets, and it has a really long cord. I can do my whole house (1900 sq ft) with only changing outlets once. However it is very heavy and it is a pain to change out the attachments. It also smells very musty over time and is not quite as allergy and dust free as we were lead to believe. I think it's better than a Hoover or something similar, but not worth the few hundred we paid for it and certainly not worth the full $$$$ price. Let us know what you think after you've used it for a few weeks. I hope you like yours better than I do mine.

By Yjja123 on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 08:30 pm:

I am afraid my reaction is the same as above. We received one as a gift a few years ago and I liked my "boss" better. The Kirby was very cumbersome and I just never felt like it worked any better than our other vacuum cleaner. Last year we finally gave it away as it was gathering dust. I hope the new ones are much better! Keep us posted on its performance.

By Cat on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 08:35 pm:

My mom still has one from the 1970's. While it still works well, it is SOOOOO heavy!!! She doesn't use it anymore, but my mom never gets rid of anything, so in her closet it sets. I got a Dyson a couple months ago and I love it! I vacuum almost every day (sometimes twice!) and it does a great job. I hope you have success with your new Kirby.

By Kernkate on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 09:36 pm:

I had a kirby vac last year on a 2 week trial basis, I was not all that impressed JMO. I did not end up buying it. The weight was one thing, the attachments were also a pain. And for the price I just decided not.
I hope you enjoy yours! Let us know what you think.
Happy Vacuuming.

By Boxzgrl on Saturday, January 15, 2005 - 09:43 pm:

We got it with a military discount.

I'm impressed because we have lots of animals. It works better on dog hair than anything i've tried. It will save us money because we wont have to hire and carpet cleaner, we can do it ourselves. Its actually lighter than our previous vacuum so thats not a problem. (1/3 the weight on the "original" Kirby). And the best part, its a FULL tax write off since its considered a medical expense. And I convinced the girl to date the receipt in 2004 so I can write it off now. DD's pediatrician recommended it because of her stuffiness and colds.

I love it so far!

By Marcia on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 12:15 am:

We bought one when we were first married, and it cost a fortune!! I loved it for a while, but I hate it now. It seemed to have a lot of problems, and it did stink after a while.
I tried to sell it several years ago, and couldn't. I noticed there were many listed at the same time.
I hope the new model is excellent!

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 10:34 am:

Add me to the ones who are not thrilled with a Kirby. I bought one in the 80's, a Generation 3 - paid a small fortune for it. It's very heavy, you have to get the bags from Kirby, can't get them in a store. The carpet cleaner attachment did a lousy job. And the kicker was that Hoovers or Bissells did a better job at getting the carpet clean while vacuuming. Mine stinks too. I absolutely HATE it and the only reason I still have it is that I just can't bring myself to toss it due to the money I spent on it, and I keep it around for *emergency* use for if my other vacuum cleaner breaks.

I just recently bought a bagless Bissell and it works WAY better than my Kirby and was a small fraction of the cost. JMO...........

By Amecmom on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 02:16 pm:

I had a Generation 3 also. Loved it. It lasted a long time, about ten years. Bought a Miele after that. The Miele worked very well for the first few years, but now seems to be losing power.

I don't like bagless. I always feel like I'll just put all that dust back into the air when I empty the cup.

Ame

By Boxzgrl on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 02:50 pm:

I've been using it all morning and the one thing I will admit is that it can get a bit heavy after using it for a while. But so far, no other complaints. I've vaccumed all areas of the house and even got into corners and spots that were once hard to reach. I've cleaned the carpets and love the Lavender smell of the shampoo. Only time will tell how good it does since this is only my first use.

Ame, I have the same concerns about a bagless.

These are honestly the first complaints i've ever heard about the Kirby. I would say about 5-6 of my neighbors have them and swear by them for allergy control. But I guess when you live in base housing, it really can have a good effect because these places are never really thoroughly cleaned between tenants and the dust that collects is amazing. I have to fully dust my house every 2 days!

By Mrse on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 02:57 pm:

HI, boxgirl
Congradulations on your new purchase! I have never had a kirby vacum, only an electrolux. I am sure you were expecting a different response when you asked how people liked thier kirby vacum, I just wanted to say congrat's since I think you might be feeling a bit down from the response when you are so happy about it. No disrepect to thoses of you who were only being truthful about your kirby's vacum's, just know I would have felt. Enjoy.

By Pamt on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 03:27 pm:

Mrse, I agree with you which is why I did try to throw a few positives in with my post so as not to be TOO discouraging. A Kirby is not a bad vacuum, just not worth the $$

And Melissa, waaaay back when I got mine I posted on MomtoMom (back then ) asking for opinions about Kirbys and was met with rave reviews. I honestly figured I would be the only dissenting vote here. At any rate, I am glad you are liking yours and hope it works out well for you.

By Karen~moderator on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 07:29 pm:

Ditto Pamt. I guess *I* didn't think of how all the negative responses would make you feel - sorry!. As long as YOU are happy with it, that's what matters. I'm glad it works for you. Like I said, my biggest complaint was the weight, and as far as the bagless vacuums go, I guess the dust in my container doesn't fly all around because there is so much dog hair holding it together! LOL But - that is testiment to how much better my Bissell works for ME than my Kirby.

I'm interested to know the long term results with the carpet cleaner with your Kirby.

By Boxzgrl on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 07:50 pm:

Thanks everyone. I didn't feel bad from the negative responses. It actually encouraged me to test out the Kirby a bit more to see if I really felt good with it. Karen, i'm interested in seeing the long terms results for the carpet as well. But, with our living situation, long term isn't very "long" when your run by the military, lol! But I think i'm done with the Kirby today, i'm worn out and did a lot of cleaning. I *may* ending up disliking this thing for giving me more chores to do, lol!

By Kernkate on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 09:22 pm:

Ditto Pam and Karen. If it works for you thats great! Everyone has an opinion and what works for you can only be determined by you. Best of luck with your Kirby

By Beth on Sunday, January 16, 2005 - 09:27 pm:

The only expierence I have had with a kirby was back when my dh was a bachelor. His roomate at the time bought a kirby brand new from one of a salesperson that came to the door. Now I suspect that this sales person had to be female and hot. Because I could never see what a single struggling guy would want with a $1000 dollar vaccum cleaner. Unless he thought it would help him pick up a wife later. LOL! Anyway dh and I teased him about this for a long time! I will have to ask his wife whatever came of that old kirby.

By Breann on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 11:29 am:

My inlaws have one and they don't like it anymore either. I hate to use it.

I'm happy that you like yours so far and hopefully you can still say that in a couple years!!

I thought I read on one of your previous posts that your uncle, or someone close by, owns a carpet cleaning business and you get free carpet cleanings? Maybe I misread....that isn't uncommon lol

Hope you enjoy your KIRBY!!

By Boxzgrl on Monday, January 17, 2005 - 12:03 pm:

Thats a funny story Beth!

Breann, my Stepdad has owned a carpet cleaning business for 12 years but these days he's stuck in his own world with his new love interest. He didnt even send us a card for Christmas, call to wish us a Merry Christmas or mention anything about DD. If I call his house and ask to speak with my Mom, he doesn't even ask how were doing. So yeah, I dont think I can get him away from this girl for more than 5 minutes these days.