Upright Vacuums Reviews

I was very excited when we purchased our Fantom Crosswinds from Overstock.com...(for around $180-200) it's nice-looking and from the features it offers, we thought we had found a goldmine for a vacuum. After only cleaning one room, we noticed it began to lose power, overheat and shut itself off. Sooo, we're left standing there with many more rooms needing vacuuming. Uh, okay, what do we do now? Well, we checked the filters, read the manual and it explains that if it should overheat (if??) you will need to check and clean the filters after every use. Well, in our case every use meant after one room of use!!! This is VERY annoying and a complete and utter waste of money and time because the manual also states that your vacuum should cool down and be ready for use again in a few hours! That's a lie!! Our Fantom will not even power up again unless we wait 24 hours!! So, if you can picture this: a washed out filter lying on the edge of the bathroom tub (which has to stay there for 24 hours to completely dry before we can use it again) and a "dead" overheated vacuum which won't work for 24 hours...after only cleaning 1 small room area. This is what we deal with with our Fantom!! We will NEVER buy another Fantom again!! I cannot believe this company has so eloquently deceived the public with their more-than-phenominal infomercials into believing their products are any better than a $70 upright my husband bought over 20 years ago! We still use that old upright--(not that I want to, but we have to because of the Fantom)--the old Hoover still works, yes, it's very loud (I call it "Old Bessy" because it moans like a cow) and we do have to change bags and belts when they break, but at least we can vacuum the house without waiting 24 hours to do one more room! I urge everyone NOT to buy Fantom products! NEVER!

The Crosswind 600XL does not come up to the usual quality that I have come to expect from Fantom. I sold my Fury and Thunder to upgrade to the Crosswind. Worst mistake I ever made! I have 1 cat and 1 dog. The Fury and the Thunder handled the pethair effortlessly. The Crosswind will only run 5 mins before the automatic shut off kicks in because it overheats. You have to wait 30 mins before it will restart. Spent the whole afternoon trying to vacuum a livingroom, diningroom and hallwy. I'm awaiting Europro's response now that they have taken over what was once a good product.

Ok firt I have owned 2 different FANTOMS well kind of 3. A fantom fury and a fantom lightning and they are both still great but slowly dying after the years of labor they have gave me. the almost 3RD but it is a westinghouse wired DELUX same as fantom CW600 and I love it. It is by far one of the best machines I'v owned. yes fantom is out of business but there are plenty of carriers of fantom parts on the internet if you even need any. [which I havent] my machines have only gotten cloggeg a couple times [ONLY THE FURY] the reason for this is that I have a long haires bichon in my house and the fury was an older model [the first fantom] and I gues it was a faulty design problem that was worked out before they made they next models [thunder, lightning, cyclone xt, and all crosswinds and special editions]. I was able to unclog it by simply opening the flap in the back on the bottom and removing the hair. I belive that after all the service I have recieved from my vacuums that fantom is the BEST!!!!!!!!!

My DC07 animal is barely two years old and bits are breaking off already. Factor in the high purchase price with the cost of replacement parts and this is a very expensive machine to own. For a lower cost of ownership buy a fantom cyclone, dirt devil cyclone or similar and throw away when it finally breaks down.

I expect premium priced products to have better perfomance and last longer. check out the Consumer Reports, its not even the best vacuum - and the better ones cost less.

The only reason I gave one star is because that is the minimum. 0 stars from me

I bought this same dyson new and have yet to be disappointed. I have 3 great danes and 3 cats not to mention my 2 kids and all their friends that over non stop. I was averaging one vacuum every year. I've had this one over a yr and its still going as strong as the day I bought it. I will NEVER buy another brand of vacuum. By far the best vacuum I have ever owned or used.

Very happy with the purchase. I vaccumed a room with my old vaccum and then used the dyson on the same room. I was suprised to see the amount of dirt this one could suck up again.

My model was a Hoover U6616-900 WindTunnel Self Propelled Bagless Upright

This thing was great for two months while it lasted. The first 800 sq foot of carpet looks great compared to the rest of the house. However the Hoover went up in smoke. The manual says it has an over heat cut-off, but it over heated and all I could see was smoke. I had to air the house out. Taking the machine to the only authorized repair in the area 30 miles away, they laughed when they saw me coming in with the vacuumed. The said don't tell us it over heated. Yep and the motor fried $$$$$.

I admitted that the house was extra dirty but that was no excuse. Their official stand is that the final filter was too dirty and it was my fault. I should not have relied on the heat cutoff and not let my filter get dirty. WHAT! Not let the filter get dirty. Yep if it gets dirty all warranties are off.

The dealer said any fool that would buy a Hover that is now made by Maytag off shore deserves what I got.

So much for the Warranty.

This vacuum cleaner was advertised as "new" when I purchased it in December 2004. I received a remanufactured item with broken parts. I requested the "new" vacuum that was advertised and assured that a "new" one would be shipped. Instead of the new vacuum, I was sent another remanufactured cleaner. I contacted customer service to correct the problem by telephone and email. One of the customer service representatives informed me the the information about remanufacturing was in the details (listed on a separate page as the vacuum advertisement). I requested the phone number of an upper level management associate and was told that the number could not be given out but management would contact me. They never did. I finally just returned the vacuum but still have not received my refund! I purchase a new Hoover Windtunnel from VCD with a 2 year warranty for $100 more. I received free shipping and the vacuum is great.

Well, based on the Consumer Reports review, I thought I was getting a top of the line machine. Not so. For the low price, I didn't mind the remanufactured aspect, but I did expect something somewhat better. The suction is decent, the on-board hose is ridiculously short - it stretches to 6 feet but that drags the machine with it or topples it. But my biggest problem is how freaking LOUD it is. It sounds like you're in an airport hangar! It is so loud that you can't hear the phone ring when standing next to it! My old (and hard to get bags for) Riccar whispers in comparison. Had I tested this in a store, I would not have made the purchase, based on noise alone and the absurdly short hose. I am considering buying the extended hose, which is 15 feet (advertised as -reaching- 20 feet WITH the wands and crevice tool) but if it's as tightly wound as this one, it won't be much better.

Still, if you don't mind the roar, it's a good vacuum for the remanufactured price, along with Amazon's extra $25 off sale and free shipping. I'm keeping it as a backup for upstairs and using my 15 yr old Riccar whenever I can.

the rotating brush on my fantom no longer rotates after less than a year of use. The customer service office is closed "until furthur notice" and the e-mail address for customer service cannot be displayed. I bought the fantom for the filter system and because it is lightweight enough to carry upstairs, but its useless now because i cant find a place to get it repaired.

When I bought this vacum, I had real high expectations because of previous Fantoms that I had owned in the past. Fantom has really gone downhill, because this thing is junk. First, it seems to clog up all the time, I am constantly cleaning the filter out. Second the piece that holds the floor attachment broke off when I slightly bumped something! So it must not of been very well put together! Im giving this thing 2 stars, which is being nice... go buy a Hoover!

I am a very picky - some would say almost finicky - housekeeper and I can highly recommend this product. You can vacuum your carpet with your present vacuum and then pick up some much more dirt with the Fantom. The hepa filter feature and bagless system are the best. I wouldn't use any other product. I have one for every floor in my house. THE BEST!!

This is my third Fantom vacuum. And it is by far the worse vacuum that I have ever purchased. It does not work well and it is very very heavy to push. It does not pick up well. This vacuum was not build by someone who knew how to build a vacuum or has ever used one. I will never buy another Fantom... Thank you

And that includes my first bagless, a bissel that shot sparks from the power cord.

This cleaner is by far the worst. We purchased this cleaner in Feb 2004 after our old dirt devil finally went to vacuum heaven.

First the good:
This cleaner has a large cansiter and is easy to empty. It is lighter than some other vacs and has great suction. I once sucked up a toddlers t-shirt that ended right up in the canister without jamming the machine.

The bad:
within 24 hours of first plugging the machine in the light burned out. After a period of abotu 4 months it had significantly lost suction despite cleaning the filter multiple times. We had problems with the on/off button from the get-go, it was very hard to push and unpredictable.

6 months after purchase it died. Just turned off in the middle of cleaning never to restart again.

Euro pro customer service leaves a lot to be desired.

Now I will be the first to admit, we are hard on vacuum cleaners. With 5 kids ranging in age from 2-10 we clean a lot off our floors. However I have never had a vacuum last less than 2 years besides this one

Don't spend your money on this thing.

First off I would like to say that alot of people accuse people who write good reviews for this vacuum of working for Euro-Pro/Fantom. I am only 14 years old. I will update this review if the mechine breaks. I had a old Fantom Thunder with Dual Cyclonic Technoligy. It was still working. I bought the Twister.Ran over the 5 by 7 carpet with the Thunder then the Twister. Wow, did it pull out alot that was left behind. I love everything about this vacuum.The bottom empting canaster with the Twister nob you turn, the Hose handle, and its carpet to bare floors setting. Finally, I bought this vacuum new at K-mart
for $159.99 and it even came with the air driven turbo brudsh.Buy it.

This was the biggest waste of money
The circuit board that controlled the brush died along with the useless lights in the first year. $50 to replace.
Did they offer warranty replacement - NOPE. Fantom - "No longer supported this model" So I did it myself
If the dust bin is sparkling clean it has good suction, if not
use a broom. I will say that the handle/wand is a great idea but with no suction, no pickup.

This vacuum had wonderful suction at first, but only lasted one year. Now I can only vacuum one room, and then it loses its power because it's overheating. It then starts spitting everything back out. It doesn't pick up anything of any size, such as small playground pebbles. This was a waste of money - I've bought a new vacuum and will just keep this one for the basement.

Just a few words in defense of the Fantom Cyclone XT: I bought mine at Target 4-5 years ago and it's always worked well. It has a few minor quirks which some seem to think make it worthless: The lights don't last long, but they're cheap and easily replaced, and to those who experience shutdown, mine did that for the first time recently. I popped out the small prefilter on the canister top and couldn't see through it, so I ran it under the faucet to rinse out the dust, tapped the water out, and after it cooled down, the vacuum worked like new. Not a big deal. It really is a good vacuum.

My model was a Hoover U6616-900 WindTunnel Self Propelled Bagless Upright

This thing was great for two months while it lasted. The first 800 sq foot of carpet looks great compared to the rest of the house. However the Hoover went up in smoke. The manual says it has an over heat cut-off, but it over heated and all I could see was smoke. I had to air the house out. Taking the machine to the only authorized repair in the area 30 miles away, they laughed when they saw me coming in with the vacuumed. The said don't tell us it over heated. Yep and the motor fried $$$$$.

I admitted that the house was extra dirty but that was no excuse. Their official stand is that the final filter was too dirty and it was my fault. I should not have relied on the heat cutoff and not let my filter get dirty. WHAT! Not let the filter get dirty. Yep if it gets dirty all warranties are off.

The dealer said any fool that would buy a Hover that is now made by Maytag off shore deserves what I got.

So much for the Warranty.