shanna's Full Review: Kirby G6 Bagged Upright Vacuum
It's hard to say to NO to someone selling you an all in one vacuum that will do everything from sanding your furniture to blowing up your kids pool. And yes the Kirby G6 will honestly do everything the oh-so-polished salesman promises you it will do. I swear they must send Kirby salesmen/women to the same school the military sends it's recruiters to. Regardless of how much you want to say no you will probably find yourself signing the dotted line.
The Company - Kirby has been around over 85 years. That's impressive to me to begin with. These days if a company can stay in business one year we tend to be surprised so I don't think they've stayed in business for 85 by making crappy products.
The Kirby G6 is without question a powerful machine. We've all heard the expression that "something or someone could suck the chrome off the tailpipe" well that's probably the only thing I haven't tried to do with my G6. This bugger has some serious power yet is still gentle on the carpet.
Take a deep breath Probably the biggest hype on the vacuum market today would be all this HEPA stuff. We've all heard about how the latest, greatest vacuum with not only clean your carpets but the air in your house too. While I don't believe any vacuum will completely accomplish this I would say the G6 does do the best job... and they didn't have to make their vacuum with a cute little window just to make you believe that. Personally all the vacuums that let me see how dirty my house it don't impress me much... in fact it makes me feel like ... well.... dirt! I know my house is dirty, that's why I'm probably cleaning it.... I don't need to be reminded that I should have done it a long time ago judging by the amount of crap in the little window. The G6 provides HEPA filtration better than most other cleaners with it's special electrostatic microfibers and filtration paper that keeps things so small you can't see them, inside the bag.
vacuums & Shampoos The G6 will vacuum so well that even the dirtiest of carpets come clean even before you shampoo. I live at the beach, one of our biggest problems around my house is the sand. We have very fine sand here in Florida, a lot like sugar, only in some areas, it's very red and unfortunately stains the carpet if left in and walked on. The G6 is great at really removing the sand, and not just the top layer of the carpet, it really gets it all. On days when I feel the carpet needs to be shampoo'd it takes about 5 minutes to change the vacuum into a shampoo'er and fill the shampoo tank. The thing I like most about the shampoo system is that I can walk on my carpets immediately after the shampoo and the carpet is barely wet after. The same part of the system that vacuums and shampoos will also polish hardwood floors, and clean tiles. The vacuum also easy disassembles in less than one minute to become a hand held unit that you can use on stairs and mattresses.
Attachments, Attachments, Attachments. The G6 can clean high, low, short, deep, angled, straight, square or round areas. Yep, honest to goodness, it really will. If Kirby doesn't make an attachment that will fit where you need it to go.... I wanna hear about it. I have yet to find an area in my house that this baby can't get to. There are extension poles that I can snap on so that I can reach my vaulted ceilings and fans. Don't you hate the growth a ceiling fan can accrue? We used to call it the furry fan... but it honestly looked pretty gross if you let it stop turning... we aren't now ashamed to turn off the ceiling fan. There are several attachments for floors other than carpeted ones. I have tile in my kitchen and dining rooms and after carpeting I run over to the kitchen, throw on another attachment and vacuum up my floors, around my baseboards and even under stove & frig in less that 5 minutes. That just amazes me. It would take me longer to sweep and sweeping wouldn't perform as well. There are attachments that work great on the furniture too. I no longer jump across the room if someone who's visiting happens to act like they are going to lift a couch cushion. Nope... not embarrassed one bit, because not only is the top of my couch cheerio free but the underneath is too. The crevice tools work great for getting goodies from under the cushions and work great on baseboards too.
Blow baby Blow - You're probably almost already sold, if not good, cuz I'm not done. The G6 unit converts from a sucker to a BLOWER in less than 30 seconds. Remove the bag, snap on a hose and you're ready to blow. I know you're thinking but why do I need a blower.... I can't tell you how many uses I've found for my blower.... Here's a few, blowing up kids swimming pools, floats and accessories. Blowing up balloons and air mattresses. Blowing dirt from out of my computer parts and keyboards. Blowing major dirt out of the garage and dust from other cracks and crevices. The blower ties in with several other attachments like a sprayer. The G6 comes with a sprayer that will allow you to spray paint and other liquids with ease.
You can purchase an optional accessory system that comes with a dustless sander and buffer, Yes I said sander. Your vacuum can be easy converted to a belt sander in less that 1 minutes. I have used it and it does work. I decided to sand down some old furniture that I had in the garage. It worked great for removing and old layer of paint. It might be appropriate to add that the hard surface polisher is an optional accessory also but I was able to wheel and deal with my salesman and he threw in the polisher and sander for free...
So okay, the G6 does floors, walls, ceilings, carpets, wood, tiles, sands and blows up pools, you'd think I'm done about now, right? Wrong It will even plunge your toilet. I am blessed enough to have a 3 year old in my home. While she is a blessing, she also is experimenting with what is flushable and what isn't. This doesn't always lead to favorable results. I promise you an entire roll of toilet paper doesn't flush well at all and leads to major problems. A plumber is expensive. A plumber several times a year is more expensive that a Kirby. The G6 has blown my drains out it both my kitchen and my bathroom. I know what you're thinking.... I'm not sticking my hand in a stopped up toilet. You don't have to... you just wisely look at your attachments, pop them and and blow that toiled away. It works, I swear!
On the Kinky Side Now this will simply blow your mind... after a morning of cleaning made easier by you Kirby you may still find yourself a little tired. Never fear, Kirby has thought of this, and you will find an attachment just to help you out.... I'm serious... this vacuum even includes a massaging attachment. I've never tried it, but hey it's there.
So Everything Has A Downside, Right? Well yes, the only thing I can say about the unit is that it is heavier than most other vacuums. While this can be slightly inconvenient at times, I remind myself that it's because it's a quality piece of equipment. This might be why we build our military tanks from steel instead of aluminum... we want them to last and be very sturdy. The same applies to the Kirby. It will last for years and years. I have been diagnosed in recent months with a very debilitating form of arthritis that makes walking painful for me and many other activities. The last thing I would want is more of a workout when cleaning than I already get. The G6 is heavy and durable but with the Turbo Drive system I can push it with one hand and when I have to lift the entire unit, I can do so, but I would never call the Kirby lightweight.
And finally the price.... nope it's not cheap, a Kirby is usually going to run anywhere between $1000 and $1500. That can be a big obstacle for many people. No they aren't cheap, but if you were to add up all the prices of all the items in your house that you would have to purchase in order to do what the Kirby does, you'd probably spend more. And if you broke it down into what it will cost over the lifetime of the unit you would probably find that the Kirby is less expensive than other vacuums on the market. You won't need to replace it for many years to come. Kirby offers easy financing and the salesman can usually be negotiated with.
So I definitely recommend this high quality, durable and powerful machine without hesitation.
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