Sears Powermate Vacuum: Review and Comparison with Electrolux

We've owned a few vacuums in our time, and I must say, without question, our favorite is Sears Powermate models. 

While I cannot recite a lot of technical jargon about horsepower or torque or suction quotient (is there such a thing?)...I can say that I know when something works well at what it's supposed to work at, and vice-versa!

That said, here's our "vacuum-history":

Our very first vacuum was a Sears Powermate given to us as a wedding present. We used that for over 12 years and only replaced beater-bar belts once or twice. The unit cleaned to my wife's liking, which is quite a "high-standard", I might add...(and that's ok with me!).

Sometime later, we were given a nearly new Electrolux by my wife's mom. It was (one of the long, torpedo type) one she'd bought for herself, but for some reason decided she didn't want it, so she gave it to us (sometimes she was like that!). We passed our Sears Powermate on to one of our daughters for her apartment.

While the Electrolux unit "sufficed", I cannot say I would recommend it. We did use it for a few years, so it must have been marginally acceptable, but I can recall using it myself, and thinking it was not really cleaning like I would expect such an "elite" product should. In addition, I became quite frustrated at the lack of ergonomic considerations in design.
For example:
-The "cord-recoil" unit was situated so the cord came out on one side (as opposed to top), which meant that when the cord was pulled out, the unit was very likely to tip over on its side...especially when getting to the last few feet of cord...unless you put your foot on the unit to prevent it from tipping. If the cord recoil were repositioned 90 degrees so the cord came out the top, I think that would be resolved. 

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