Kenmore Intuition 3-in-1 Review

Decades ago, upright vacuums used disposable bags, so today's Kenmore Intuition 3-in-1 is a bit of a throwback to earlier designs. Still, we must admit we could all appreciate how easy and dust-free it was to use this machine's “No Touch” bag design by simply throwing away a full disposable paper bag rather than dumping a dustbin over a garbage can and hoping debris wouldn't spill out. For those with severe dust or pet dander allergies, a bag-based system might be a good way to reduce exposure to tiny airborne particles.

Performance Comparison

Carpet Performance

We test both low pile and shag carpet to assess how well each vacuum performs on different types of flooring. Low pile carpets are common in many homes, so it's important to see how the vacuum handles everyday debris, while shag carpets present a greater challenge due to their thick fibers. By testing both, we can give notes on the vacuum's performance across a range of surfaces.

Before Testing After Testing

We spread a mixture of different material from sand to Cheerios to see how well each vacuum can suck up different sizes of debris that you might see in your house. We spread this assortment on large sections of both carpet types, providing ample space to maneuver each vacuum forward, backward, and side to side. When it comes to timing, we let each vacuum work its magic for just 24 seconds, capturing as much debris as it can in a brisk pace. It's a tough test that really challenges all the vacuums we evaluate, from lightweight stick vacuums to heavy-duty canister vacuums. To ensure we get reliable results, we repeat each test 2-3 times.

Low Pile

This affordable mid-range vacuum proves you don't have to spend premium money to get premium results: It collected a chart-topping 97% of debris on low pile carpet, collecting the same amount as the Shark Stratos that costs more than twice as much.

The Kenmore Intuition backplowed a bit of rice and Cheerios, but I can't complain because it sucked nearly everything up in its path. This model is surprisingly effective and easy to use on low pile carpet.

Before Testing After Testing

High Pile

Tall shaggy carpet gives dirt easy places to hide, and to make it even harder to vacuum up, the fibers can fold over and shelter debris. To get at the dirt, a vacuum needs agitation from an aggressive brush roller to move the fibers around to allow suction to do its job. Success on high pile carpet usually requires both strong suction and a brush roller that's tuned to work on heavy carpet.

The Intuition collected an outstanding 73% average on high pile carpet. Better yet, it felt easy to push, and it never bogged down. This is one of the few vacuums where I feel confident it could get nearly all the material with just a few more passes.

Overall Carpet Cleaning Performance

Even though the Shark Stratos collected the same amount of material on low pile carpet as the Kenmore Intuition, this Kenmore model far outpaced it on high pile carpet.

What can I say? This machine is just a boss on carpet. Plus, in some ways, I like running this machine more than the fancy Shark PowerDetect because it's easy to push, going right wherever I want to take it.

Hardwood Performance

As vinyl and hardwood floors gain traction, many people seek vacuums capable of handling diverse surfaces. For example, if your open floor plan living room and kitchen have a large area rug, a flexible vacuum that can switch between the rug and hard floors could replace the broom in your cleaning routine. To evaluate their effectiveness on hard surfaces, we test these vacuums on flat floors, assess their gap and crevice cleaning, and run them along wall edges.

To test vacuums on hard floors, we start by spreading 1/2 cup each of sand, rice, and Cheerios over a 27-square-foot hardwood area. Using the same materials for hardwood and carpet tests shows how a vacuum's performance differs between surfaces, providing reliable insights instead of guesses. Each vacuum is given 24 seconds to collect as much as possible, and the test is repeated to ensure a consistent average for our rankings.

Cleaning Performance

Unfortunately, the Intuition isn't nearly as effective on hardwood as on carpet. It collected just 84% of our test debris, which is above average but not close to stellar.

OK, there's a lot to unpack here. First, as the manufacturer recommends, I ran this machine on hardwood in the bare floor mode with the brush roller turned off. The first test run dragged debris along with it rather than sucking it up, but the second run did considerably better. Why? I'm guessing that the position of the brush roller stopped in a less-than-optimal position for suction in the first test, with the bristles adversely affecting air flow, but the bristles were in a better position in the second test. If you're willing to spin this aggressive bristled brush roller on your hard floors, you might be able to tease out better collection. Still, the best option would likely be for Kenmore to upgrade a future version of this machine with a lower brush roll speed to improve its hard floor performance.

Crevice

Transition zones between flooring types can accumulate dirt and debris in their small crevices. Older, remodeled homes often have larger crevices between flooring types, while tile floors with deep grout lines are particularly problematic for some vacuums. To test a vacuum's effectiveness in extracting deep material, we scatter sand into a crevice of a bamboo mat. Each vacuum performs four back-and-forth passes, and we measure the sand remaining after eight passes. This test is demanding because the vacuum's roller bristles cannot reach the sand, making strong suction power essential for proper cleaning.

The 59% collection is not terrible, but it's also not fantastic. It makes me believe that this model's carpet prowess has more to do with its aggressively bristled brush roller than pure suction power.

Edges

Vacuums vary significantly in their ability to clean along walls. Some are exceptional at this task, while others may have difficulty accessing debris on the sides or just in front of the floor nozzle. To determine their wall-cleaning prowess, we tested them by spreading coffee grounds next to a wall and observing the results with both parallel and head-on movements.

Before Test After Test

I'm a fan of any vacuum that can ace this test with a head-on pass because it means I can nab crumbs that accumulate under my kitchen counters at the toe kick. The Intuition works for me head-on, but I wasn't quite able to nail perfection in a parallel pass. If you want an affordable vacuum that works well on hardwood, particularly with edge-of-wall cleaning, the Eureka QuickShift OmniVerse crushed this test.

Overall Hardwood Cleaning Performance

It's hard not to chide the Kenmore Intuition for not being as awesome on the hardwood as on the carpet, but let me try to keep it real: This machine still scored above average on our hard floor tests.

Considering this comparison chart, it's unfair to say this model is bad on hard floors. However, when we compare it to vacuums that also excel on hard floors, such as the premium Shark PowerDetect or the more affordable Eureka QuickShift, it becomes immediately clear that this machine isn't designed for outstanding hard floor performance. If you primarily care about vacuuming carpets with the occasional hard floor pass, it's doable. If you want the best of both worlds, others offer a more compelling blend of surface success.

Pet Hair

Managing pet fur is a typical problem for owners, especially during shedding seasons. To assist you in picking the best vacuums for dog and cat owners, we perform extensive pet hair tests on both low pile and high pile carpets.

Our pet hair stress tests use a carefully weighed 4-gram handful of dog fur. We spread this hair over 13-square-foot sections of carpet. To enhance realism, we add 1 gram of long hair extensions, simulating the shedding of long-haired humans in a household. Finally, we replicate the foot traffic accumulated over time by pressing the hair into the carpet with a heavy wheel, creating the sticky, clingy mat of pet hair that frequently frustrates dog and cat owners.

Before Testing After Testing

After the epic sand, rice, and Cheerios success on carpet, I was hoping for better results with pet hair than our tests revealed. It pulled up a fair amount of fur and hair but failed to get it all to the disposable bag, which I like emptying more than typical dustbins. The problem is that the bristled brush roller collected a lot of fur and wrapped most of the long hair, which was very difficult to cut away. If you need a vacuum to suck up pet hair as well as long human hair without tangling, the Dyson Ball Animal 3 handles hair far better.

Filtration & Suction

We carefully scrutinize vacuums' filtration and suction because these are two important factors with significant effects. A vacuum with strong filtration traps potential harmful particles, ensuring they stay inside the vacuum and don't get recirculated. This creates a cleaner and healthier environment for everyone in the home.

Suction power is one of the most important variables in effective cleaning. Measuring a vacuum's suction capacity clarifies its performance in our tests, helping to explain why it might excel or struggle in various cleaning scenarios.

Filtration

We begin each test by creating a controlled environment to ensure consistent results. This allows us to establish a reliable baseline for air quality in the lab before testing a vacuum filtration system. The test itself involves spreading a set amount of flour, waiting for the area to settle, and then measuring the number of particles in the air during vacuuming. This approach ensures that each vacuum is tested under similar conditions for a fair comparison.

Our Dylos sensors are capable of detecting and counting particles from small (0.5-2.5 microns) to large (>2.5 microns), which are commonly found in flour. For those concerned with pet dander, it is often smaller than 1 micron. And those with allergies to different trees, grasses, and weeds, pollen can range from 10 to 100 microns.

Our monitors detected no significant spikes from the room's baseline during testing, indicating superior filtration from the HEPA filtration disposable bags. Dylos rates air quality increases from 0-75 on their monitors as excellent. This vacuum is unlikely to worsen sensitivities to pet dander, pollen, or dust for those with allergies.

Suction

We evaluate suction at the cleaner head to highlight the vacuum's effectiveness in the cleaning area. This involves generating a differential pressure reading by passing the cleaner head over a test box with a hole in the center attached to a manometer. By rolling the cleaner head over the hole, we accurately measure the suction power where it is needed most often — at the cleaner head.

The Kenmore Intuition recorded a relatively low, below-average suction score of 199 pascals. While this is not particularly powerful, it does reveal that vacuums with lower suction powers can still be successful on some surfaces if the brush roller and cleaner head design work well together.

Ease of Use

While most upright vacuums have similar designs and features, ease of use can vary greatly. Some models are hard to push, while others excel at churning over carpets, gliding on hardwood, and easily turning around furniture.

Maneuverability

This model cruised over more surfaces and turned easier than most. It rose onto the bamboo slats without a stutter and glided onto the carpet from hardwood — although I did have to hit a button to turn the brush roller on. It even glided around the cones and was easy to push and turn where I wanted it to go. This surprised me because the body design of this vacuum is quite bulky. Because of its bulk, I wasn't able to get underneath a coffee table or sofa.

Like many newer upright vacuums, this model has a feature that lets you pull the canister off the floor nozzle to increase mobility while using a crevice tool, duster, upholstery tool, or Pet HandiMate roller tool. The canister only weighs 8 pounds when the bag is empty, but its massive 3-liter capacity can increase its weight over time.

Maintenance

The biggest issue with this machine is that the brush roller is hard to clean. It's not removable, forcing me to pick at and cut away pet hair, and wrapped human hair. It is not easy and thoroughly annoys me.

On the other hand, installing and removing the HEPA-filtered waste bags is a breeze. The bags are not expensive, but you will need to buy them for the lifetime of this vacuum because it won't function correctly without the bags.

Upholstery & Attachments

Many people like to clean and dust their furniture with hand tools attached to their powerful vacuums, so we evaluate included hand tools. We test upholstery capabilities by spreading coffee grounds on a throw pillow and then using the most appropriate attachment to clean it up.

I used the motorized Pet HandiMate tool to clean the coffee grounds. It left a few streaks but was nice, powerful, and versatile enough to use on stairs or pet beds.

Should You Buy the Kenmore Intuition?

If you're looking for a midrange vacuum that excels on carpets and rugs, the Kenmore Intuition 3-in-1 is an outstanding choice. The dust-free waste bag design makes dirt disposal a breeze, and the machine is easy to push on all surfaces. Its hard floor and pet hair capabilities are closer to average, so it's not the most versatile option available today.

What Other Upright Vacuums Should You Consider?