Panasonic Icon MCE593

We have had the Panasonic Icon MCE593 vacuum cleaner for at least 3 years now. The motor keeps on going and going. No electrical problems.

Initially, as with other reviewers, we had problems with moving filter brushes which kept jamming or falling off. We contacted Panasonic for replacements, and they advised us that there was a new design available. The new cyclone unit needed no rotary wipers. The new filter at the top did not need to be clicked to be cleaned, and it just needed a new foam filter that could be washed under a tap and left to dry overnight.

Pipe runs are too tight, and this can lead to jams caused by small pieces of wood jamming on bends, and then a backup of dust eventually clogs the machine. A Complete strip down of the unit is then required, which involves screw drivers and lots of screws, which means a far from straight forward removal of casing pieces to unclog fluff and remove the offending piece of wood. This could have been much better, and this was probably the result of cramming pipes into a smart sleek design.

Much cheaper than Dyson at the time, and despite the cleaning problems it has been very reliable (Which? magazine, at the time rated it far better for reliability than the Dyson).

The Panasonic Icon MCE593 is a stylish-looking upright vacuum cleaner, and features a number of novel touches housed within some sweeping, seductive curves. It even has an attractive metallic paint job. But all is not well with this design. In the process of taking the industrial designer's visionary style and tuning this into a functioning product, the engineers at Panasonic failed to adhere to the fundamental engineering tenet. They failed to keep it simple.

Starting with where the dust enters, the direct-drive beater unit is well built and powerful, and the transparent section allows you to see its operation. It covers almost the full width of the head, and performs excellently. The large wheels on this model make for easy handling when the cleaner is in use, but these large wheels would make the cleaner topple when upright. So the engineers have added small wheels which extend to stabilise the cleaner when placed upright. These are rather too small, and tend to snag on door thresholds when you're moving the cleaner around. Designing with a large wheel has necessitated the additional complexity of these small retracting wheels which are not really up to the job. Designing with smaller wheels in the first place like every other hoover on the planet would have been a sensible compromise.

The stretch hose can be used for access to crevices, but again an overly-complex design blights the functionality. This time it's the addition of a retaining ring half way up the back of the cleaner. The purpose of this seems unclear, but the effect is to prevent the hose reaching it's full potential length, and causing a nasty kink in the hose whenever an attempt is made to stretch out the restrained section.

At first the device offers quite amazing suction, but shortly afterwards the filters clog and power is dramatically reduced. The filter is of a circular concertina style, so offers a large surface area, but is more susceptible to clogging than a bag filter. It's also quite tricky to clean. The filtration unit features a "Filter Wiper": a lever you're supposed to flick back and forth to knock the dust from the internal filter, from time to time. This emits a raucous bark as its prongs engage teeth on the internal filter, but despite the exciting sound effects, it appears to be rather ineffectual; it's more effective to bash the filter unit with your hand, or to dismantle the filter housing.

A novel pre-filter system separates out the fibres and grit, and when the cleaner is working well you can see the dirt spinning round along with the yellow paddles and brushes of the pre-filter cleaner. The very existance of this is problematic. In a standard bagged vacuum, the mass of fibres usually acts as a filter in its own right, but in this model, the fibres are stripped away and held separately from the fine dust, which settles unimpeded on the internal filter So it would seem that this over-engineered unit with its spinning paddles is actually less effective at maintaining suction than a standard bagged vacuum.

Removing the dust canister is easy, with a large spring-loaded handle, although emptying the canister involves decoupling the bayonet-fitting filter housing, and this tends to drop fine dust all over the place. It's when you empty the canister that you can clearly see evidence of the poor performance of this dysfunctional filtration system - the canister contains no fine dust, apart from the stuff knocked from the internal filter - just large fibres and dense grit. One of the nice touches, however, is the satisfying clunk you get when you replace the canister.

After the powerful motor there's a HEPA filter to remove dust from the exhaust, which seems functional enough, although it makes no sense to have this in place since emptying the canister is such a messy, dusty process.

The tools are adequate and fit comfortably in niches on the back of the unit, and the retractable flex is fit for purpose, but this is all to be expected on a high-end model. The dust sensor and automatic air flow are a bit of a gimmick - honestly, when do you ever use a vacuum cleaner on anything other than full power?

In summary, this vacuum cleaner has too many faults to justify its high price tag. While other Panasonic cleaners have proven well-designed, well-constructed, reliable and economical, this one is over-engineered and far too complex, although it is definitely pretty to look at. The massively powerful motor fails compensate for a filtration system that clogs up far too quickly, and emptying the device is both messy and complicated.

Panasonic Icon MCE593 - How I wish I had researched this machine BEFORE I bought it, it is without doubt the biggest waste of money I own. We bought it 3 years ago and were impressed for a day or two. Then its cleaning fins inside the collection tank stopped spinning. We returned it and it was replaced. 6 months later, the dust sensor failed. We then discovered that to clean the thing you needed to take it apart. The design is such that there are so many beds in the piping the dust clogs within it and you cannot clear it. Off back to the repair shop again. It was returned for the 3rd time last week.....5 minutes ago it packed up AGAIN.

Do not, on any account buy this vacuum cleaner!!!

My Panasonic Icon MCE593, I can safely say is the biggest waste of money I have ever spent. All I wanted was to be able to clean my house, Ha Ha! I didn't realise I had spent my money on something which needed treating with kid gloves, The thermal cut out safety device cuts in too easily, and even though the dust bucket is empty all the 999 filters are cleaned after only 5 - 10 minutes of use it stops! you then have to unplug it and wait for thirty minutes for the pile of crud! to have a rest and revitalise itself, I am usually very frustrated by this time as i know it will happen again and does, You can imagine trying to clean up when the damn thing stops every 10 minutes then having to wait 30 minutes! not much fun. At this very moment it is having a rest, it couldn't quite manage one room! I too wish I had stuck to a dyson, but i tried to be clever and look where it got me.

This is a very stylish unit and looks good in any modern home.

It is quite easy to use, switch on and go.

The automatic sensor is really good.

Excellent suction and very little blown about when vacuuming dusty areas.

Problems

1. Bottom heavy so hard to negotiate small steps

2. When locked in upright for tool use it is too easy to unlock by mistake if lightly knocked

3. Has a very small capacity compared to other makes about this range.

4. When picking up any volume of small particle dust (Sandpapered walls or a new carpet) the pre filter blocks too easily stopping the pre-filter cleaner from rotating.

Once this has happened a number of times, the filter starts to block too easily and vacuuming 2 rooms means you have to empty it and clear the pre-filter.

I really wish I had gone the extra £30 and gone for a D***n.