Lindhaus DP-5 Backpack Vacuum Cleaner

One Comment

1. organic says:

   December 31, 2009 at 3:19 am

   Lindhaus DP5 vacuum purchased from Amazon.com
   
   When my 20 year old canister vac died a couple of weeks ago, I decided to get a backpack vacuum – I’d seen them used in schools and they intuitively looked like an easier and more effective way to vacuum a house like ours – old, hardwood floors, high ceilings, with furniture that needed to be vacuumed under and a strong tendency toward cobwebs. I don’t enjoy vacuuming, so when I do it, usually it really needs to be done – so anything that makes the task easier and more pleasant would be nice. Shopping around on the internet was not much use – I could find plenty of websites selling the backpack vacs, but none that actually compared them for ease of use, comfort, effectiveness, power etc. So, I had to go on what ‘looked best’ which ended up being this Lindhaus model.

   Now, after getting it assembled and doing the most challenging room in the house, it definitely has its pros and cons.

   Set up – my first complaint, and it is a major one. The box came with a manual that is not for the model I purchased! There is a stapled in, poorly copied sheet that apparently is meant to customize the booklet for my model, but the pictures throughout the booklet are 1950′s style black and white ‘Betty Crocker’ type pictures, not even of the machine I have, and very hard to see what is being shown, with very minimal written instructions in English, French, Italian and German – all intermixed. It is poorly organized and it is really hard to find the information I needed to get the pieces together. It would be much easier to read if the instructions in each language were separate. It also would be nice to have a list of accessories appropriate for this model so I could be sure that the box included everything it should.

   Not only that, the machine pieces don’t seem to be exactly designed for each other – there are ‘push buttons’ on the wand that don’t match up with corresponding holes on the hose, the backpack straps came twisted, but the instructions are little help, so I had to put the thing together without really knowing how it was supposed to go. With the straps and the hose both coming out of the top at basically the same place, the straps don’t lie as straight as they should.

   Operation – the machine is remarkably comfortable to wear, it is not heavy, and moves easily when vacuuming. The cord is quite long, so I could do several rooms easily from one plug. Getting cobwebs and other high areas works very well with the wand extension – it has enough suction to do this well. It is easy to switch attachments while operating. It is a little more challenging getting under furniture – getting down on my knees with the machine on my back was interesting. Its a good thing I’m a farmer used to carrying feed bags around, I can imagine that most people might find crouching down with a vacuum on their back rather difficult.

   I also found it really annoying that because the hose comes out the top of the machine, it kept flopping over and around my head when I was vacuuming under the bed. Why couldn’t have come out of the bottom? Note also that for no apparent reason, there are 2 on/off switches – the prominent one on the front is impossible to reach when you have the machine on your back, and there is a less obvious one on the side that can be reached. Why? Don’t worry, the instruction book surely won’t explain!

   Storage – there is apparently no provision for storage and I have yet to figure out how to best store the thing up with all its pieces without it falling over. Perhaps we’re supposed to hang it on a hook, but it desperately needs a rack or stand.

   Also – Getting the machine on and off will also take some practice. It reminds me very much of when my kids were small and I ‘wore’ them in a backpack – I was quite comfortable while wearing the backpack, but putting it on and taking it off is not easy. Here’s another suggestion for future models – what about putting wheels on the front or bottom so it could be used as either a backpack or a canister, that would make it much more versatile.

   Overall – I will probably keep it, but am not really all that pleased. For a machine that costs this much, there should have been better forethought for ease of use, and storage – and at the very least, it should come with its own instruction manual in reasonable English! Before I purchased the machine, I read the Lindhaus website, which speaks glowingly of state-of-the-art European engineering and world class engineers. It is awfully hard to believe that these engineers have ever used this machine to vacuum their own houses – perhaps their wives do that!
   Rating: 2 / 5