Panasonic MC-V7582 Upright Cleaner

PROS:

+ Quiet enough for apartments
+ Two brush agitators
+ Light
+ Door on side to replace belt
+ Telescoping handle
+ Good headlamp
+ Good bagless design

The pros of the Panasonic MC-V7582 vastly outweigh the cons, especially if you don’t live in a household with someone with very long hair (see the cons later in this review).

The first thing that we noticed was that it is much quieter than our Hoover WindTunnel. We purchased this vacuum to use in an apartment we kept for about 2 years and it was quiet enough to not draw the ire of our neighbors. This may be one of the most important features for those of you living in close quarters with other people.

Thankfully, the decrease in noise did not translate into a big decrease in cleaning ability. This vacuum has two agitator brushes instead of just one. The two brushes turn toward one another, assisting the suction in pulling dirt up and out of the carpet. We found this design to be very effective. Considering the cost of this vacuum, we were pleasantly surprised by its performance.

This vacuum feels substantially lighter than our Hoover WindTunnel. While I have not weighed them, the Panasonic doesn’t tire you out in the same way that the Hoover does. In fact, my wife has completely forsaken the Hoover and forbade me from getting rid of the Panasonic (sheash, do we really need two vacuums?!).

Something that we didn’t know about, when we bought it, was the little door in the right hand side, that allows you to change the drive belt without removing the agitators. This feature is always nice but on this vacuum it is necessary. The agitators are difficult to remove (see cons) and IF we had to pull them to replace the belt, I would be very unhappy. As it is designed, a belt change is as simple as opening the door and replacing the belt.

The next three are small but nice.

A telescoping handle makes it easy to use for people of differing heights.

The headlamp is reasonably bright and I find it useful in seeing in the toe space of counters or in dark corners.

The bagless design is easy to empty. I like it better than the container on our Hoover. No big complaint about the Hoover but I like the Panasonic better. I get less dirty when I empty it.

CONS:

- Dirt indicator light is difficult to see
- Difficult to remove agitators

Only two small problems keep me from giving this vacuum a 5 out of 5 rating. The first is just a little annoying the second is more problematic.

The dirt finder light is mounted on the bottom front of the tank, making it difficult to use when you are actually vacuuming. It’s great for anyone watching you vacuum… but what’s the point of that. I don’t really care about this feature so this is only a small annoyance to me.

More importantly, the agitators are difficult to remove and reassemble. For many people this won’t be an issue because this vacuum has a small door on its right hand side to replace the drive belt. However, for us, not being able to remove the agitators easily is a bigger issue. This is because of my wife’s very long hair. Her hair wraps around the agitator brushes and eventually I have to take them out to remove the built up (wound up) hair. So, if you live in a house where you are going to vacuum a lot of thread, string or long hair, you might want to think about looking at a different vacuum.

CONCLUSION:

Overall we have been very pleased with this vacuum and would not hesitate to purchase it again.