Kenmore Intuition 28014 Canister Vacuum Cleaner Review

Introduction

Design & Usability

Internal competition

The Intuition's design is similar to all other Panasonic-built Kenmore canisters, with a few upgrades. Instead of a separate storage area for a bare floor brush, it slides right into the top of the powered cleaner head. Unfortunately, removing it proved a bit tricky on our tested, as the foot pedal often got stuck. Up on the handle, electronic controls turn the powered brushroll on and off and toggle among power settings.

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The power cord offers 26.5 feet of freedom from an outlet, and the hose gives another eight feet from the canister. The extendable wand stretches for an additional 4.3 feet of reach. And while the vacuum weighs a whopping 26.1 lbs., its canister design means you'll only pbe pushing the wand and brush, and you can split that weight when you're carrying it.

Features & Performance

Good, but not fabulous

First, debris: It got up about half of the standard mixture of weights, rice, and macaroni we put down on carpet, but failed at picking up smaller objects off hardwood floors. Instead, the bare floor brush just pushed them along the floor surface. It did a better job getting dirt off a hardwood floor, picking up 96 percent of what we put down. That's what we like to see. Pet hair cleaning was superb, and the small, powered Pet PowerMate brush made it easy to get a lot of dog and cat fur off of surfaces.

On high pile carpet, the Intuition got up about half of the mixed dirt we put down. Other vacuums have done better, but that's not bad. Even with the brush on its lowest height setting, the Intuition struggled a bit on low-pile carpet, picking up only around 85 percent of dirt. Many vacuums get closer to 95 percent.

It also proved to be loud and hungry, drawing 1396 watts and putting out around 78 dBa. Be careful if you're plugging into a circuit with other appliances, as you could blow a fuse. And don't do any vacuuming while pets or kids are sleeping.

Conclusion

Stay in the same aisle, but check out the rest of the lineup

The Kenmore Intuition 28014 proved to be a strong performer with some interesting features. Its $599 MSRP, however, was nearly twice the cost of the Kenmore 21514—a more modest canister with similar performance. Unless you're smitten with the 28014's trick floor brush, extra lighting, and digital controls, the less expensive Kenmore is a better bet.

Introduction

Every vacuum that comes through our labs goes through a rigorous set of standardized tests designed to replicate how folks clean in their own homes. If you want to know just how well the Kenmore Intuition 28014 performed, keep reading.

Cleaning Performance

For hardwood floors testing, we put down 12g of 40-50 micron dirt and spread it around. Using the hard floor brush, we got up 95.8 percent of that dirt. Most vacuums pick up between 90 and 100 percent of dirt off hardwood floors, so there's nothing out of the ordinary going on.

On carpet, we put down 100g of a dirt mixture that ranges from coarse sand to talc. Short carpet is usually a cakewalk for vacuums, which normally get up more than 90 percent of that dirt. The Intuition got up 86.8 percent of that dirt. Thick carpet is a difficult task for any vacuum, and numbers as low as 30 percent aren't unheard of. The Intuition got up 50.1 percent of dirt, which is good.

Debris is a little tougher: Heavier items often get tossed around by a vacuum's powered brushroll, and thicker items can get pushed along instead of sucked up. That's just what happened here, as the hard floor brush wasn't tall enough to glide over thicker noodles, and the powered brush shot pennies and dimes across the floor.

Noise & Efficiency

With the power brush on, this mighty vacuum pulls nearly 1400 watts. Many other vacuums pull between 1200 and 1300. Make sure you're not plugging into an overloaded outlet or you may trip a circuit breaker.