| Product: |
Kirby GSix Vacuum |
| Date: |
02/04/02 (4054 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Powerful
Disadvantages: Weight, Manoeuvrability , Price
Many of the existing opinions are about the sales pitch rather than the machine itself and since I was given mine I thought an opinion unbiased by the feelings of having spent an inordinate amount of money on a vacuum cleaner might be useful.
The Kirby was passed on to me by my ageing Aunt who found it impossible to use because of the weight. Having no demo by which to judge performance, I just switched on and tried it out. Of course, (Murphy's Law) the height was set at the lowest possible. The test piece, a rug, almost disappeared into the Kirby complete with the cat sleeping at the other end in blissful ignorance of what was about to befall him. I swear the carpet underneath the rug (a fitted carpet) lifted from the floor as well. The power was like nothing I had ever experienced - past cleaners had always been cheap and cheerful. When the last one had finally ‘died’, I had dreamed of being able to buy a Dyson. However, I was endowed with a Kirby, the performance of which was seemingly quite brilliant. The manoeuvrability was like trying to drive a hippopotamus around the furniture but even so, suction was supreme!
Two days later, I discovered the first disadvantage. Merely trying to carry the machine upstairs is a nightmare. The sheer weight is extraordinary. It’s not that it is impossible to carry upstairs but it’s not actually conducive to doing the housework and believe me I need all the incentives I can get! Seriously, though, I can understand why said elderly Aunt had not used the Kirby and was happy to part with it. I don’t generally like to admit to needing a man to do anything but this needs a level of strength and physical fitness I don’t even aspire to. My guess is that it was deliberately designed by men trying to convince themselves that women still needed them to get by.
Nonetheless, I continued to use the Kirby (less so upstairs than down). A large house with large expanses of carpe
t made the Kirby seem rather useful. However, as time passed warp threads were appearing in doorways where carpets were joined and at the edges by the skirting boards. It took some to realise that the Kirby was responsible – the second disadvantage.
The third and final problem I have is that they are so well made that I don’t think it will ever wear out. It’s just been serviced – at a cost of £70. It looks like any part is replaceable and it seems unlikely that I’ll ever see the back of it and be able to justify buying an alternative.
We have now moved to a smaller house and the problems manoeuvring the Kirby around furniture and carrying it up and down stairs far outweigh any advantages of the powerful cleaning performance. I am glad that I didn’t spend a huge amount of money on buying it in the first place but whilst it still functions I guess I stuck with it.
My advice would be don’t buy one. It’s efficient but at a price and just think how many times you could pay someone to clean your carpets for the difference in price.
Summary:
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Last comments:
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- 01/09/04 very amusing! I laughed about the cat (I hope it survived?). I may have to test-drive one for myself to make my mind up. But not with a salesman demo. |
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- 19/08/04 this review came at just the right time i was going for a job interview to sell kirby's, and it was realy usefull to hear/ read a review not biased, i was thankfull and blessed. They demonstrated the kirby and the sales pitch well it was the new g7 and ok it was a good machine but not yet convinced at the price well thankyou for your review God bless you |
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- 22/03/03 All of you that do not like the Kirby G-Six ask yourself this, why spend $100 to $500 on a vacuum that does not get all the dirt out? Kirby is one of the very few successfull businesses in the entire world that have been around almost 91 years. I am very sure if we were CONNING people for 91 years we would not have been in business that long huh? Most of the time when people say that we only shampoo on little square of the carpet, that is usually the person that kicked us out of their home. I am an independent Kirby dealer and I always shampoo an intire room of carpet wheather they buy or not. As for Kirbys being heavy to push, their are 2 switches on the back of the machine N and D. When you are vacuuming hit the D switch and it will be easier than most of the vacuums on the market. For anyone wondering how much a Kirby costs, it's simple it doesn't cost you anything and actually pays it's self off. I read that one person beilives it would be cheaper to pay someone to clean it proffessionally a lot of times, but add that up through the years and they are still paying to get it done Right? Buy owning a Kirby you are paying yourself to have it done and getting it done right. If you did not get all the dirt out when you vacuumed and poured water into the carpet which is what professionals do to clean your carpet, and then they say not to walk on it for 24 to 72 hours, that is because they know that water and dirt makes mud and that is what is underneath your carpet and that if you walk on it it will make another stain by pushing the mudd up through the carpet. If we continued to clean our carpet like that, how long would it be before we had to replace it? Doesn't carpet cost a few thousand dollars to replace? If the answer to that is yes, and the Kirby has been proven to get all the dirt out, that would make the carpet last at least 2wice as long wouldn't it? And if it did, the Kirby did not cost a dime right? Anyone that has had someone from Kirby come by and claims that they only cleaned part of the carpet, call the home office and they will send some one out to finish your carpet. If you do not let some one from Kirby come by and finish the carpet or will not call the home office, you have no right to say anything against the sales reps tring to make an honest living like everyone else. |
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