Review of Royal Protege Vacuum

Royal Appliance is the parent company of several vacuum cleaner brands, including Royal, Vax, Regina, and the very popular Dirt Devil line.

While most people have heard of Dirt Devil, the other three brands may be totally unknown to most consumers.

It appears the company decided to put most of its advertising dollars behind Dirt Devil, once its line of small, handheld vacuums took off a few decades ago.

There are several Royal vacuum cleaner models, made for both commercial and household users. An interesting model is the Royal RY7300 Protege, which is an upright vacuum designed for home use.

What makes this vacuum worth a closer look is the fact that the price has been drastically cut in the last year or so. The model has a suggested retail price of $499, but can be purchased from several online sources for only $100-$130.

While this vacuum cleaner has some good features, it isn’t worth $499. On the other hand, with the features it has, it’s a great buy for $100-$130!

Features and Specifications

Here’s a list of what you get with this vacuum:

• 12-amp motor
• 15-inch cleaning path
• HEPA-type filtration system (similar to but not True HEPA)
• RapidReach™ hose to extend the vacuum’s reach
• Full complement of onboard tools
• Telescoping wand to reach ceilings and baseboards
• 35-foot electrical cord
• Bypass motor system to keep large debris from jamming or damaging the motor
• Automatic height adjustment
• Bright headlamp
• 24 lbs
• 4-year warranty

Motor

As you can see, the Royal RY7300 Protege had an impressive array of features. Let’s start with the 12-amp motor. There’s just no substitute for suction power. Except in rare circumstances, the more power you can get for your money, the better, and 12 amps is one of the strongest available.

A great feature on this Royal vacuum cleaner is the bypass motor. This prevents large or metallic pieces of debris (pebbles, coins, paper clips, etc.) from being sucked into the motor, which can jam or even destroy the most expensive part of the vacuum. For this price, you won’t find many vacuum cleaners that have bypass motors.

Width/Cleaning Path

The 15-inch cleaning path is very nice, as well. A lot of vacuum cleaners in this price range (and even some that cost a lot more) only provide 12 inches of cleaning area. While a 3-inch difference may not seem like much, over the course of vacuuming several rooms in your home, it will save you many extra passes. Faster cleaning is always a major benefit!

Attachments

The telescoping wand and long hose are very handy for people who like their vacuum cleaners to handle a lot of different cleaning chores. You can easily reach ceilings, baseboards, the tops of your drapes, stairs, and every bit of space under your biggest pieces of furniture.

Height Adjustment

Another excellent feature that is usually only found on more expensive vacuum cleaners is automatic height adjustment. This means you don’t have to stop and manually adjust the height every time you move to a room with different flooring or carpeting. The machine finds the ideal height to apply optimal suction and brush roller power.

Warranty

For peace of mind, the 4-year manufacturer’s warranty is a wonderful bonus. You may be wondering why Royal would offer so many features that normally are only available on higher priced vacuums. Well, the RY7300 Protege was originally built to be one of those top-end machines, with a suggested retail price of $499. For whatever reason, these cleaners are now being sold for a fraction of that intended price.

The Bad News In Reviews About Royal Vacuum Cleaners

If $499 was still the going rate, this vacuum cleaner would get a ‘thumbs down.’ There are some negative issues. First, there are the minor annoyances. The 35-foot cord, while not the shortest out there, is still not long enough. It’s the number one complaint of vacuum cleaner owners, and it’s a wonder why not all manufacturers have figured this one out yet. Nothing less than 40 feet will do.

Then there’s a slight weight problem. Lighter is better, and in this modern age there really is no excuse for a company charging several hundred dollars for a vacuum cleaner that weighs over 20 lbs. At 24 lbs., this Royal vacuum cleaner is just too heavy. If you have a large house, especially one with lots of stairs, those extra 5-8 lbs. will take their toll by the end of the day.

OK, so those are the relatively minor problems with the design of the Royal RY7300 Protege. Unfortunately, there is a worse problem that apparently continually crops up with this vacuum cleaner. Reading through the customer reviews, one repeating flaw keeps rearing its ugly head: the belt drive assembly. It seems to be a problem with the actual design, and not just the occasional machine, because several reviewers mentioned that the belt gets thrown off after just a short time. And, of course, the belt operates the brush roller, and without that a vacuum cleaner is virtually worthless for cleaning carpets. So, it means stopping, getting down on the floor, turning the machine over, and replacing the belt – every time it happens. Yikes!

Now, to be fair, all but one or two reviewers that brought this up mentioned that it was just an annoyance, but not enough to sour them on the vacuum completely. Why? Price. It’s just too good a bargain, even with this structural flaw, because of all the great features mentioned above.

Royal Vacuum Recommendations

Overall, the Royal RY7300 Protege is recommended, but only because the price has been so drastically reduced. Even the reviewers who noted the belt drive problem were impressed with this Royal vacuum cleaner’s overall performance.

One user said it best: “It only took me about 10 minutes to put the belt back on, and I have been more careful and the belt hasn’t jumped off since. I would not pay $500 for this sweeper, but I got a terrific deal for a great sweeper at $99!” – S. Lucas [Source: Amazon.com]