Kenmore 81615 Kenmore 600 Series + Pet PowerMate Attachment

This is our 3rd purchase of this model Kenmore over a 28 year period. Our earlier ones have moved to the garage where they service our cars and the garage floor. It's a great vacuum with lots of suction power and you probably won't be able to wear it out.

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).

My old vac was a Dyson ball stand up and it was a beast to lug around but it was an amazing piece of machinery that we used like crazy. The build quality was excellent. When we moved, I tossed the old broken down Dyson and opted for this canister vac because we have mostly bare floors instead of carpet. The vac handle doesn't stand up by itself nor when leaned against the wall. That's annoying because it's not a light piece of equipment. I appriciate the hanger tab for the handle when the canister is standing up, its good for storage, but when you're cleaning, you're not going to have the canister on it's end. The handle has side to side give, but it doesn't move the attachment so you have to jerk your arm around in order to stear the head. Annoying. How can this not be steared? So getting under things like the dining room table, is a bit difficult. The pet power attachment works well. It will make your sofa threadbare in no time, it's so abrasive. I tend to use the upholstery attachment instead, unless I can't get the hair up . The pet power brush also isn't flexible, it's fixed and sort of flat, so that means you have to angle it correctly to work on 3D shaped things.

First let me say I have been a 50 yr supporter of Kennmore products as has been my family. So, when my previous kennmore canister vacuum expired after several years of rugged use (teenagers & dog), it was a no brainer for me to replace with another one of the same type. It arrived swiftly and was gladly received with enthusiasm to get to work. Functioned terrifically....hardwood floors, area carpets, great suction and power for pet hair. Very pleased. But then...after only one months use, the hose detached/seperated from the canister in a way it wasn't designed to. I attempted to reassemble. Plugged it and turned on. Sparks flew like crazy. Scary! Amazon was great about returning it and sending a replacement. Two months later, exact same thing happened to the replacement. My husband attempted to gently reassemble and once again, sparks flew like crazy. Dangerous to say the least!!! Came back to my transaction account on Amazon to see what the next step might be. Apparently Amazon only makes good on one return. After that, I was directed to the manufacturer...Kennmore. At this point, they are not sending a replacement. They are going to send me a new part. However the part is out of stock and on back order. Actually, the part they are sending goes to another model, I was told but it's the same for both models but might be a different color. May be on back order for one month and if not received by then, call them back. In the meantime, my house is full of pet hair from my large Labrador shedding his winter coat. I asked about just having a whole replacement instead but according to what I was told, the whole vacuum is also on back order. I have to wait for the part and if it doesn't come, then they will decide how to handle it next. Really, this is a huge issue for me. I can't give the vacuum itself a good review since both of them broke in the same way. There must be a weakness or defect in the product. I also can't say Kennmore has been good to work with either. 4/28/24 I just came back on here to check if there were any follow-up comments by either Amazon or Kenmore as I sometimes see when I read a review that gives a low rating. No comments, but I decided to read some of the other poor reviews while I was on the site. I wish I would have read them first!! I am having the exact same problems....the hose connection, the burning and sparks. I never read the reviews, because as I initally wrote, I have been a Kenmore product user for at least 50 yrs and my family before that even....( washers, dryers, stoves, refrig, freezer - actually have a 43 yr old Kenmore chest freezer in my basement working beautifully, vacuums and probably other things too). So, I figured it was a no brainer, no need to read the reviews. What a mistake. 5/30/24 So the new hose/part arrived about a week ago, maybe a week and a half. Due to illness I didn't get to try it out right away. Able to get to business today. Surprise, surprise....the new part does NOT work. Looks just like the part that failed. Although the representative did tell me the replacement would not be the one that went to the model I purchased, but one that went to a similar model that used the same hose. Well....apparently not!! At this point, I do not know who to contact anymore. I am now at 6 mos past origional purchase. When/if I finally get through to customer service today, will they say time has expired and I am past warranty date?? So, $348.15 down the drain!?? I will repost an update after today with the results. By now, I should be sent a refund, obviously another new machine will not solve the problem since it seems this model is defective.

After ditching my ancient Electrolux I purchased the kenmore canister vacuum cleaner. I was pleasantly surprised at how well it works for my carpeted and tiled floors . So light weight it is a pleasure to vacuum .

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...

Good product and company well respected. Easy to change one nozzle to another