TRADITION® Upright Vacuum SC688B

We bought a wool carpet that specified vacuum cleaners to use w/o voiding the carpet warranty. That was truly annoying since we have used principally Miele vacuums in the last 20 years, along with a lightweight Shark. Over the last 55 years I have used Sears, Hoover, and Eureka vacuums as well. With great hesitation we ordered this Sanitaire, noting the much more affordable price when compared to a Miele. When it arrived I immediately recognized it from the numerous hotels in which I have stayed during my life of business travel. Perhaps the instructions could have been more explicit, but it's a vacuum cleaner so one should have some idea of how the bag and cord brackets are attached. I found assembly to be intuitive. The motor works well, the carpet height settings are appropriate, and once set they stay in place like any other vacuum cleaner. But the big surprise was how well it cleans! And without winding up long hair on the roller, which was always a problem with the Shark. It's much lighter that the Hoovers of yesteryear and not what I would call heavy. It has a clear bumper so that it does not leave black streaks on the white baseboard. It is easy to control and work within tight spaces. As Jordan D. says in their review: "No tricks or gimmicks. It vacuums the carpet perfectly." Our Shark went straight to Goodwill and our Miele is restricted to wood and tile floors. This vacuum is fantastic.

I own another brand of upright vacuum that cleans well, but I learned recently from multiple sources that its brushroll with stiffeners is hard on carpet fibers. I watched the cleaning crew in my workplace use Sanitaire upright vacuums day in, day out, year after year, so I had no reservations about purchasing the SC688B. It lives up to all of my expectations, and with a projected motor lifespan of 2,000 hours, if I run it one hour a week it should last over 38 years! I like that this design has been out for a long time so maintenance items are readily available. Its CRI silver rating means it not only cleans well, but is safe for my carpets. It does a great job on them, and cuts my vacuuming time about in half compared to using my canister vacuum with powerbrush.

I did not find the unit to be very difficult to assemble. Mine went together in about 10 minutes with a pair of screwdrivers. It's a little noisy, but after all, it is a commercial vacuum. I could not be happier with it, and I highly recommend it.

This vacuum rules! It totally completes the job of...vacuuming the carpet. No tricks or gimmicks. It vacuums the carpet perfectly.

obviously no one tests the unit or has communication with the assembly line. i was excited to receive my TRADITION® Upright Vacuum SC688B. the first thing i did was follow the instructions, even though i am a machine repair tech, and also a mechanic. i follow the chart, only to realize later that there is a teensy itsy bitsy icon on the instructions that is supposed to tell someone that never assembled this before that the cutout notches on the handle pipes have to be aligned a certain way with each other. otherwise, you snap on the cord supports and find out if they are in the correct position and need to be removed and the pipe disassembled, rotated 180 degrees and start again.
now, that wasn't the dissatisfying disappointment that i was pretty upset about. i go to turn it on, and the stupid plastic foot switch, didn't even work properly. i pressed it down, and half the time it makes a snapping noise like its binding on the housing cover. i look, and discover that to turn it on, you have to press so hard, that the top cover is flexing and being pushed down just to get enough switch travel to turn it on.
i thought about returning the cheap thing, but i needed it for the cleaning crew in 2 days. and i thought it would go to returns and then i might get a "factory reconditioned replacement" that i didn't want or had ordered...so i removed the cover and find that the switch is sitting in a U shaped support, with a metal bracket pressed onto the plastic frame to hold it in place. now, mind you, the switch does have a threaded housing shaft, and i suspect that at one time, the switch may have been supported with a nut on both sides of that metal bracket to hold it in the correct position for ease of use. well, companies cut corners and omit the 2 nuts so that they might save a few pennies.
so instead of getting two nuts, i had to make a shim out of the packing slip, which was a simple 3/4" X about 3" long folded up paper and placed between the bottom of the switch and the housing to raise the switch up. i then realized it needed another shim, which made it work like it was supposed to for $224.99 dollars.

and when i called the company customer support to get additional info prior to the purchase, i wanted to get the comparison between this model and the similar one SC888N with the metal chrome cover for an additional $68.00. from the picture, it has the simple metal exposed switch, not a cheap plastic cap creating issues for positive movement. that support rep seemed to be making the comparison and answering a few simple questions like it was his second week on the job. unfortunately he had trouble giving me the info that was already on the website under specs. and when i told the owner of the cleaning crew what i had to do, his response was, why didn't you just send it back? he already has his own, but we need this one for inhouse use. not someone else's dust and hair clumps that come out of it on my rugs. now, i will say, this thing sounds like a gang buster. i bet it would yank a speck of dirt lodged in the rug right up and out. so don't leave it on in one place.

overall, after I fixed the switch, it seems to be working well. but it is just exasperating to have these issues that could have been eliminated with a little quality control on the assembly floor.

so one star deducted. i have only had it a few weeks, so i cant comment on any longevity or reliability issues. but wish it had the ability to also vacuum hard floors without spitting stuff around.