Kirby vacuums

[Bucky]

We just received a translation request to work on some labels for the Kirby company -- the place that makes the big heavy vacuums.

I am curious has anyone ever seen a Kirby vacuum in Japan?

It is like a Ford LTD of vacuums.

[Taro Toporific]

...Has anyone ever seen a Kirby vacuum in Japan?

Back 20-30 years ago rich Japanese had Kirby vacuums they bought in the US on extended postings there. Occasionally I see them in homes of older Japanese.
[floatl][/floatl]
Worst-in-the-world Japanese vacuum cleaners suck so the high end of the Japanese market was mostly Electrolux since theKirby business modelcouldn't adapt to Japan ( Kirby needs to reintroduce their vibrator attachment).
Now it's only Dyson, Dyson, Dyson, for the high end here.



Why Kirby Vacuums Rock ---Last forever with all die-cast aluminum parts and almost no plastic except the Bakelite handle.
Why Kirby Vacuums Suck --- http://www.kirby.com/Portals/0/howtobuy.html

[INDENT]The History Of The Kirby Vacuum Cleaner
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kirby_vacuum
The Kirby Company is a manufacturer of high-end vacuum cleaners and home cleaning accessories, based in Cleveland, Ohio. It is a subsidiary of the Scott Fetzer Company and part of Berkshire Hathaway. Since the 1920s, Kirby's products have been sold only door-to-door using in-home demonstrations.[1] Kirby vacuum cleaners have a retro look reminiscent of a 1920s model
[/INDENT]

[james]

japanese vacuum cleaners are frickin useless pieces of junk. i had a kirby dirt devil back in canada and it totally kicked ass and will be going a lot longer than any of the national pieces of shit i've owned here.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I thought I was just being too anti Japan and imagining it. I'm glad to hear from others that the vacuums here are as bad as the washers and dryers.

[james]

Kirby vacuum cleaners have a retro look reminiscent of a 1920s model

i'd pitch a 1920's kirby versus a current era national p.o.s. any day.

[Greji]

I thought I was just being too anti Japan and imagining it. I'm glad to hear from others that the vacuums here are as bad as the washers and dryers.

Noriko is better !!!

[kurohinge1]

We just received a translation request to work on some labels for the Kirby company -- the place that makes the big heavy vacuums. . .

Is that why Nintendo's "Kirby" has a vacuum ability?

[Taro Toporific]

i'd pitch a 1920's kirby versus a current era national p.o.s. any day.

I thought I was just being too anti Japan and imagining it. I'm glad to hear from others that the vacuums here are as bad as the washers and dryers.

Worst-in-the-world Made-in-Japan

• Japanese washers and dryers (especially the $2,000 combo washer-dryers that take FOUR hours to wash ONE pair of jeans)
• Japanese vacuum cleaners
• Japanese electric shavers
• Japanese dish washers (the counter-top is not a place for a dishwasher unless it's Noriko naked)
• Japanese windows (even the double pane windows lack weather stripping
• Japanese flooring with 10 minute lifespan for either linoleum or wood
• House wiring (only 20amps per residence -- no ground-fault breakers)
• R-2 house insulation--never a vapor barrier
• More please....

Notice the pattern. If it's for the house, it's crap in Japan. (Ok, ok, the J-crappers and tub[color="Silver"]girls[/color] are good.)

[Samurai_Jerk]

Worst-in-the-world Made-in-Japan

• Japanese washers and dryers (especially the $2,000 combo washer-dryers that take FOUR hours to wash ONE pair of jeans)
• Japanese windows (even the double pane windows lack weather stripping

Notice the pattern. If it's for the house[color="Silver"]girls[/color] are good.)

Tell me about it. I've got one of those washer-dryers. At least I got it on sale for the bargain price of 158,000 yen. Still, it beats the old blender style washer-dryer I used to have.

Yeah, thanks to my shitty windows, with the exception of October and May, it's alway either too hot or too cold on my couch.

I'd say if it's for the house it's crap unless it's designed for home entertainment.

[Taro Toporific]

I'd say if it's for the house it's crap unless it's designed for home entertainment.

As far as quality/durability goes, Sony is all crap.

Counter-examples: As air conditioner for cooling (not heating), Japanese aircon with highly efficient scroll compressors are fine even though the whole idea of hanging wires and crap in your living room sucks. Household-grade Japanese blenders, specifically Panasonic and Hitachi, with blend my cat in two seconds and last forever. Japanese microwave were great but for the past 6-to-8 tears Korean (and Chinese) ones are cheaper, more powerful and more durable.

[halfnip]

Tell me about it. I've got one of those washer-dryers. At least I got it on sale for the bargain price of 158,000 yen. Still, it beats the old blender style washer-dryer I used to have.

Yeah, thanks my shitty windows, with the exception of October and May, it's alway either too hot or too cold on my couch.

I'd say if it's for the house it's crap unless it's designed for home entertainment.

I've been through 3 of those pieces of shit in 6 months and am on my fourth one now. All of a sudden the fucking thing just starts taking like 4-6 hours to dry my skivvies (amongst other things) and when the cycle is done the fucking things aren't even dried! So I call the support line and some old bugger comes out to service the damn thing---it works for about 2 weeks and then the same thing happens again. Luckily for me, the wifey is good at shit like this so she starts screaming at them and in return, they've ended up shipping out a completely new one every time. Too bad the shit happens again in about 2 years, but luckily while the warranty is still valid.

The flooring is another topic. I had some friends over one day and one of the guys was wearing one of those fucking chains that keeps his wallet in his pocket (like he has anything in it but!) and I noticed after he left that my flooring was completely scratched up right where he was sitting. It's not like he was trying to do his impression of a ninja turtle or even mimic the Jabbawockeez or anything, just sitting there seemed to completely fuck everything up.

[Visitor K]

Japanese microwave were great but for the past 6-to-8 tears Korean (and Chinese) ones are cheaper, more powerful and more durable.

man, i loved the microwaves in japan.. im sure people have them now, but i had never seen a multifunction microwave before going to japan.. so convenient.

[Samurai_Jerk]

My shiny new flooring in my shiny newly built mansion looked like shit after a couple of months too. I personally think it's a conspiracy by the scumbag landlords of Japan. Finish rooms with the cheapest most breakable crap possible so you can deduct an arm and a leg from the security deposit when the renter moves out.

Off topic, but in the same vein ...

I was over at my girls place last weekend. When I was in the shower the bathtube almost tipped over because I put all of my wait to the side facing away from the wall. I would say it's just because I'm a fat ass, but she weighs less than 45 kg and said the same thing happened to her before. Basically they put a nice jacuzzi tub in her apartments unit bath but didn't bother to actually fix it in place. Just dropped it in the slot.

They also have super hot built in halogen (?) lighting. Aparently it started a fire in one of her neighbor's aparments one day. The lighting is so damn hot the nearby wall burst into flames.

By the way, they also put a see through glass door to the unit bath so anyone in the kitchen can watch you while you take a dump or get out of the shower. Fucking weird.

[halfnip]

They also have super hot built in halogen (?) lighting. Aparently it started a fire in one of her neighbor's aparments one day. The lighting is so damn hot the nearby wall burst into flames.

<Bullshit>
I used to use that technique a lot back in the day as well. Make my place unbearably hot so that when the ladies came over, they'd have to remove whatever clothing they were wearing just to keep "kuuru". Buwahahhaahaha!
</Bullshit>