Slinky cord like what's on the rotovac 360i would eliminate the cord problem... May add to the bottom line though... Also a momentary switch from I believe the Sanitary vacuums have.. I put one on my 360i after the factory one broke... I love it, 1 click on, 1 click off..
plug directly into the tool. The male end of the tool is anchored near the top of the handle by a velcro strap. You can just un-plug it from the female side of the momentary switch and plug it directly into your extension cord.
The funny thing is our earliest models had a flip on flip off type switch but I found that to be too dangerous in certain situations which I will not elaborate on.
We could however provide a small on-off, after market switch for folks that would like that feature. I personally have never experienced pain from depressing the switch.
For long periods of pressing it I usually just palm it instead of using my thumb.