Disclaimer - Am neither an expert on vacuum cleaners, nor I have any association with the vacuum cleaners industry, nor I have any association or paid by Inalsa to write this review
Before making a purchase, I reviewed many vacuum cleaners on the market - both big brands such as Eureka Forbes, Prestige, Amazon Basics, Phillips, Kent, Black & Decker and small brands such as Inalsa, American Micronic, Yozo, Agaro, Balzano, etc. We were looking for a reliable and economical vacuum cleaner. Didn't want to make heavy purchase with Dyson, Bosch, etc since the requirement was for a 2BHK apartment and not for very heavy duty cleaning
Finally settled on Inalsa because of its pedigree in the local domestic appliances business. Not only have they been around for many years but they also have a big presence in other appliances businesses - so they have some reputation to keep to ensure their other revenue streams don't get impacted due to manufacturing of low quality
vacuum cleaners. They seem to have a better reason to provide reliable appliances because they are a medium sized player and would want to provide an alternative to bigger brands
The big brands are just lets say - Big Brands. The failure rate, customer service, negative feedback was similar to the local brands. And they were atleast 30-40% more expensive than the local brands. The local brands customer service, reliability was not so great either. Infact, I could not spot any clear winner who was miles ahead. Every company had all kinds of issues - motor over heating, loss of suction power after few uses, customer service numbers not reachable, low quality plastic body, dust bags ripping off, wire length being too short, etc, etc.
So i thought, if everyone seems to have similar issues - just varied by certain percentage points, why not go for something which is an average vacuum cleaner and lower price point with a local brand? Atleast the spare parts may be easily available in the local market, and repair shops would know how to repair these local brands, as opposed to big brands where repair costs would be too high and spare parts costs are also usually very expensive.
These days the bigger brands have the gumption to even charge visit charges to the tune of 250-500 bucks for just a visit. I find that really ridiculous.
Inalsa even though not a clear winner from the rest of the lot, made it to my final short list. My thinking was - if this one also goes bad and leads to similar issues like other ones, at the most we would have to write-off 3200 bucks, as opposed to 4200-5000 bucks with the bigger brands. When I bought Inalsa, I purchased it with the mindset that if it goes bad - then I have to write it off as "money sunk".
But am glad to report that its been a week that we have been using this vacuum cleaner and it has done a good job so far.
- Suction is good (will have to wait for a few months to check the performance though)
- Body is solid
- Wire length is very decent and of good quality
- Have not used the blower yet
- The accessories are strong and made from good quality plastic
- we initially wanted to purchase a vacuum cleaner which did not have a dust bag but just a chamber for collecting dust. Vacuum cleaners with the chamber option were more expensive and having the same problems like most other vacuum cleaners. So even though, Inalsa has a dust bag, we decided to go for it for other reasons mentioned above.
- Most of the vacuum cleaners who provide a dust bag option, their dust bags rip off quite easily and those are either not available for purchase separately, and if they are then its very expensive to buy these dust bags. - Dust bag is very good quality with Inalsa and its washable. And Inalsa provides an additional dust bag as part of its accessories.
- Number of accessories/attachments are limited as compared to other brands - but that's really not an issue. Its enough for a home use. Other brands try to hoodwink you by offering more attachments and accessories, and in that process sell a low grade vacuum cleaner at a higher price point. This is not the case with Inalsa. Strong vacuum cleaner with limited attachments. It totally works for us.
- Its important to remember that every vacuum cleaner gets heated. That's the nature of these machines. So if you continuously run any vacuum cleaner for 10-15 mins, you are going to get a burning smell and the engine may even cut off. So its always a good practice to run the vacuum cleaner for 3-4 mins and turn it off for the motor to cool off. This way you can keep running the cleaner for longer duration without impacting the motor. Please remember its a machine which gets heated when overused. So use it in a manner which allows it to also cool off.
- Retracting function of the wire is smooth. There have been some complaints by other users that the function gets spoilt over period of time, so will have to wait and watch on this one.
- Packaging of the vacuum cleaner was very thorough. It came in two boxes for better protection during shipment.
- Have not used the dust bag indicator as yet - but we clean the dust bag after every use. Its just a good practice to follow from a hygiene point of view. Just like how you throw out your garbage bags everyday - you clean the dust bag after every use. We have not the need to wash the dustbag yet.
- you don't need the instruction card to use the vacuum cleaner. Even a kid can operate it.
- 2 years warranty offered. But frankly speaking we are not banking on that. Just like any other big or small brands, warranties are just a carrot. If a machine has to go kaput, it will. And if the manufacturer wants to pin the blame on you, it will. And if they want to charge you for spare parts, they will. We have never factored in "warranty" on our purchase decisions. If something goes bad, we take it a local repair shop or call someone home (not from the company, most of them are very notorious for over-charging). I don't have any experience with Inalsa yet, so this comment is not in any ways a reflection of their service levels. Only time will tell.
As I mentioned earlier, Its been only a week using this vacuum cleaner. So far so good. No complaints.
I will again post a review after few months of usage. Hopefully my vacuum cleaner would have survived by then.
I had a really tough time while evaluating for a vacuum cleaner on Amazon, Flipkart and few other sites, so I hope this review helps in some measure other people to save their time and make their decision on purchasing a vacuum cleaner
| Brand | Inalsa |
|---|---|
| Special Feature | Lightweight, Wheels, Bag, Compact |
| Form Factor | Cannister |
| Colour | Red |
| Filter Type | Cloth |
| Model Name | Spruce |
| Surface Recommendation | Upholstery |
| Power Source | electric |
| Product Dimensions | 9.3L x 13.6W x 17.1H Centimeters |
| Included Components | Main Unit, Extension pipe 2 no’s, Flexible hose pipe with Curved Hand Grip, Crevice Nozzle cum Upholstery Brush, Sofa Brush, Multi Brush for Carpet/Floor, Blower Plate, Instruction Manuel cum Warranty Card |
| Is It Cordless? | No |
| Voltage | 240 Volts |
| Item Weight | 3700 Grams |
| Capacity | 1.5 litres |
| Wattage | 1200 Watts |
| Manufacturer | Tuareg Marketing Pvt Ltd, Tuareg Marketing Pvt.Ltd, KHASRA NO.154,1092,1189, BHALSWA VILLAGE,BHALSWA, North West Delhi, Delhi, 110033. Contact No: 9773982065/66/67/68/69/70 |
| Number of Items | 1 |
| Controller Type | Electric |
| Style | Canister |
| Connectivity Technology | No |
| Manufacturer | Tuareg Marketing Pvt Ltd |
| Country of Origin | China |
| Imported By | Tuareg Marketing Pvt. Ltd. Khasra No- 1189, Bhalswa, New Delhi-110033, IND. Contact- 9773982065 |
| Item model number | Spruce |
| ASIN | B07C1C5BLV |
