He's had a couple of (3 maybe?) new batteries in that time, and when we bought the second replacemwent battery we bought some additional bits (newly designed brushes) which effectively upgraded him to higher spec model.
I've also replaced the front wheel, because it got damaged with years of pulling it out of its socket with a skewer.
He isn't, and hasn't ever been, our only vacuum cleaner. For the past few years we've kept him upstairs where he does an outstanding job of picking up all the cat hair.
Recently, and quite suddenly, his battery became useless. I had always tried to make sure the battery discharged fully each time I put him to work, so the NiCad didn't "learn". Bit I may have messed up, or maybe it was just worn out. We tried a few things to rejuvenate the battery, but no luck.
He's also lost a bit of his bin, so I needed to replace part of that. We discussed what to do. DH suggested getting a newer model... I knew how much they cost and said I wasn't sure I wanted to spend that much. DH didn't know the latest price, looked online, and then agreed with me.
We decided to buy Raymondo a Lithium battery. It arrived a few days ago and today I put him to work for the first time. He did upstairs and downstairs, and still had a bit of puff left. Now that I can see it was definitely a battery issue, I've ordered him a new, upgraded, bin and spare filters. An upgrade all over again.
He's not quite like Trigger's broom... but he's still mainly the original Raymondo.
