Absolutely LOVE IT! Best investment I've ever made! I was skeptical before the guy got here, and I had lots of questions for him. He answered every one of them, and he was very professional. I was as much impressed by him as I was the machine. It really was a no-brainer. Once he showed how well it worked and how not so well our Kirby was working I couldn't imagine letting him leave with it. I've had it for a few months now and couldn't be happier on how well it works. I read a couple of the other reviews that were negative and couldn't believe what they were talking about. I've had NOTHING but positive things to say about this machine and the company, Silver King who makes it. If ANYONE is doubting investing in one, I say go for it. I'm sure happy I did. :-)
bluemaxlvr
USA
Very poor construction of power nozzle
1
My husband and I bought this vaccum in the fall of 2006. We paid a premium price even after it had been dropped twice. The vacuum is incredible for cleaning but has major design flaws in the power head which is needed to vacuum any of your carpets. We have had the pwer head replaced twice and it is now gone again. We simply cannot afford to buy a power head now that the warranty is up. Best we can do is donate to a vaccum repair shop so it does not wind up in a landfill. This was one of the most disappointing purchases we have ever made. Works great until it breaks! The connection on the power head gets loose and gives out after about 18-24 months.
Maneuverability
Easy to maneuver but kind of heavy to tug around
Ease of Maintenance
Cleaning after every use gets a bit old if you vacuum a lot.
Suction Performance
It really does a good job of cleaning when functional
Design
the connection between the wand and the power head has major design flaws
DMBurdick
USA
They could have designed a good vacuum cleaner.
1
My wife and I have owned a Silver King Blue Max Air 2000 vacuum cleaner for a little more than a year. Having now had sufficient time to get acquainted with its nuances and foibles, I think we can pronounce a proper judgement on it. We consider it a piece of junk.
In acquiring it, following an in-home demonstration by a Silver King salesman, we admittedly violated a basic tenet of wise consumer practice: Don't buy an expensive product or service when its price, or even acquisition, is contingent upon immediate purchase. The fact that the salesman made two significant reductions in the ridiculously high initial price that he quoted us should have alerted us to the likelihood that the vacuum may have been of dubious intrinsic value.
In our defense, we didn't become aware of major issues with its operation until we had had it for some time during which we became all too familiar with its deficiencies. Cleaning house now is a much more onerous task than before and is typically an occasion of some anger and frustration directed toward the stupid vacuum cleaner.
Silver King has apparently hung the success of the product on durability. They like to say that, "You'll never need another vacuum cleaner." And, indeed, I have no reason to doubt the integrity of the materials that comprise the unit. Even the retro design of the vacuum cleaner is apparently intended to hark back to an earlier period when products with long durability were the rule and not the exception.
However, the quality of materials used in a product is only one aspect of its utility. Any product like the Max Air 2000 should be well-designed and engineered. Even though they may have been very durable, they don't still make the 47 Buick for us to get around in. Cars of that vintage have been replaced by better-designed and engineered vehicles with a multitude of technical advances that greatly enhance our driving experience. While it should be the same for lesser products such as vacuum cleaners, Silver King has apparently opted for simplicity and profit.
Let me touch on the issues we have with the vacuum:
• It is difficult to quickly and properly align the upper and lower halves of the canister, along with a new filter and the all-important rubber gasket providing the critical seal, after emptying the contents of the collection chamber. Unless the two parts of the canister are correctly sealed by the gasket, the drawing power of the unit is greatly compromised - it won't pick up much dirt. If the top is even slightly off-center from the base and/or the gasket, part of the gasket will fold under itself, precluding an air-tight seal. It sometimes takes us several tries - evoking considerable frustration and, typically, some cursing - to get the canister correctly sealed. What makes this especially annoying is the recognition that the simple presence of three or four alignment pins on the lower half of the canister would greatly facilitate the correct nesting of the upper part of the unit, along with the rubber gasket and filter, on that lower half.
• We have two dogs and on several occasions during the time we have had the Max Air 2000, we have experienced a complete blockage of the vacuum line in the power head (floor unit) by compacted dog hair and other debris. Sounds like it should be a simple matter to unblock it, right? Well, no. Seems that the power head cannot be detached from the attached wand (about 34 inches long) that connects it to the hose in order to access and clear any blockage that might occur near it. Moreover, there is a dogleg in the line near the union between the power head and wand. Indeed, it is probably this dogleg that is the underlying cause of the blockages. Well, to make a long story short, we could neither blow the obstructing mass out the power head by connecting the hose to the exhaust port on the canister nor, because of the dogleg, was it possible to push it out either toward and though the power head or up from the power head through the connecting wand. We were forced to actually "fish out" bits and pieces of the blocking mass through the wand using a long pole with an attached hooked wire at the end. This was a long tedious process and did nothing to endear the Max Air 2000 to us. As with connecting the upper and lower halves of the canister, it would seem that a simple solution to this problem exists. This would be a design that would allow the wand to be detached from the power head.
• We now do not believe that the Max Air 2000 actually provides appreciably better vacuum power than other units that sell for far lower prices. When the salesman demonstrated the unit to us, a major selling point was the amount of dirt that it picked up - dirt that our old vacuum had left a couple of days before when we last cleaned. However, this is not comparing apples to apples. As with most people considering the purchase of a new vacuum cleaner, we then had an old and generally decrepit unit. Nearly any type of appliance will suffer a loss of power and efficiency with age and use. I dare say this is probably even true of Silver King products. It now seems clear to us that the contrived comparison of a pristine product fresh from the factory with an old, used - and likely weakened - unit that may well be on its last legs, is a fundamental facet of the Silver King sales pitch. Of course, we needed a new vacuum cleaner, but not an over-priced, poorly designed instrument of frustration like the Max Air 2000.
• Finally, there is the service warranty that comes with the purchase of the Max Air 2000. We live in a major metropolitan center but there is apparently just one service facility (repair shop) to handle Silver King warranty repairs for the very large population in this area. Worse, that shop is on the other side of the city from us. Therefore, a round trip of at least 50 miles would be needed to drop our unit off to have repairs made. And then another round trip of the same distance to pick it up. So, we are looking at the likelihood of having to drive at least 100 miles to have repaired anything on our much beloved Max Air 2000. We have kitchen appliances that cost less for which we have in-home service warranties.
It should be clear that we greatly regret our purchase of the Max Air 2000. If after reading this, anyone is still determined to buy such a unit, we have one that we'll sell you - cheap.
Geoscientist
USA
Best investment I have made in a very long time!
5
I was very skeptical when I had an in home preview of the Blue Max 2000 and their methods of getting in to show off the vaccum were a little dishonorable. However, I have had my Blue Max 2000 for several months now and I wouldn't trade it for the world. It picks up the messes of 3 kids and 2 dogs with no problem, the air purifier keeps my house smelling nice despite the fact that I am a smoker. Using the diffuser can make the house smell even better in any fragrance I want. All the attachments are easy to use and change out. It works great for dry or wet cleanups. I've used this vaccum to clean up dog hair from my floors beds and couches and it works wonderful. Problems with allergies in my house have gone down, problems with dust accumulation have gone down. The Blue Max 2000 is just so easy and fun to use that I, my husband and my kids all enjoy cleaning with it. When working on a project a few months ago we even used it to clean up sawdust and screws, it is so versatile we can't imagine our home without it!