A lightweight 2-in-1 Lift-Away upright vacuum with a detachable
pod for portable cleaning power. With the push of a button, Lift
Away the pod and easily clean in hard-to-reach areas. This vacuum
is also equipped with Swivel Steering for excellent control when
maneuvering around furniture, and has a completely sealed system
with a HEPA filter to trap dust and allergens.
Review: Definitely my new first choice. - I’ve never taken the
time to write a review before but I decided I needed to for this
vacuum. To start, I hate cleaning, period. I do it because I
don’t like a messy house but I absolutely dread having to clean.
When the vacuum arrived I was excited because it’s something
shiny and new for the house. The box was in great condition and
it was a speedy delivery and arrived before it was supposed to. I
opened the box and everything was individually wrapped and well
padded which made me happy. I started unwrapping and didn’t even
look at the instructions to put it together because it was that
easy(I did check the instructions after to find that I put it
together right). In the box along with the vacuum we’re the
crevice tool, the dusting brush, the straight suction floor
nozzle and the upholstery tool. The straight suction floor nozzle
fits all the way under my couch and my recliner which makes it
much easijer to clean. Second, my one year old son is deathly
afraid of vacuums and when I turned this on he didn’t even
flinch. He just sat there and watched it because it’s not super
noisy like most vacuums. He was ok as I went toward him slowly
with it and didn’t scream like normal which made me one happy
momma. Third, I have mostly hard floors and only two carpeted
rooms in my house and I started vacuuming with the brush roll off
and was just absolutely amazed by what it picked up, and by that
I mean everything. This vacuum picked up all the dirt and crumbs
and even the goldfish that were underneath the high chair. We
also have an abc floor mat and I went over that and it again
picked up everything. So I went ahead and vacuumed the living
room, dining room and kitchen with no problems. I didn’t have to
unplug and move outlets because the cord was long enough to reach
all of it. I looked at the dirt on the floor of the mud room from
everyone walking in and out and then looked at the vacuum and
continued on and it picked up all of it no problem. I went to
empty it and there is a latch at the bottom and top of the dirt
compartment which made it so much easier to empty and I didn’t
have to get my hands dirty. After that I turned the brush roll on
and went to vacuum the two carpeted bedrooms (which had been
vacuumed the night before) and to my surprise it picked up so
much. I thought the carpets were clean but on no, the shark
rotator changed my mind about that one! By the time I was done
the dust cup was about half full. My old vacuum definitely wasn’t
doing the job correctly. Finally, the vacuum basically pulls it’s
self along the carpet so I didn’t have to fight with it to move
or turn because it goes so easily. With this vacuum I don’t have
to work to clean my floors and it’s a whole new type of clean in
my house. It takes maybe 20 minutes to do my entire house which
is astonishing. Before it would take me 40 minutes with sweeping
and wrenching my old vacuum across the floor. Thank god for
someone recommending this vacuum for us when we were talking
about getting a new one. I will be sticking with this vacuum for
life if I can. **Update time! It's been almost a year and a half
that I've had this vacuum now and it's still amazing! The suction
has never failed me and it still picks up like a pro. I still
amaze people with how much it can pick up when they watch my now
2 1/2 year old make a mess and me grab the vacuum to clean it up.
I've convinced 3 other people to buy these and they absolutely
love their vacuum and swear by it now too. I still 100% recommend
this vacuum to anyone that mentions buying a new vacuum. Still
worth every penny.
Review: Shark - Having grown frustrated with myself for only
finding time and motivation to write a review when I'm
disappointed with something, I wanted to seize this opportunity
to sing the praises of this remarkable machine!! We bought this
vacuum to replace an Oreck Touch which had failed . . . again.
Odd thing: I've always regarded Oreck as a 'top shelf' product,
and heard good things about their customer service -- while I've
always perceived Shark to be a cheaply made, lower-end product...
I have been proven profoundly wrong on both counts! While I have
had no need to interact with Shark's customer service so far, I
couldn't be more pleased with the thoughtful overall design,
imaginatively useful features, and surprising feel of quality I'm
experiencing with this vacuum. One of our foremost gripes with
our prior vacuum had been its absurd vulnerability to clogging if
you ever tried to have it pick up anything larger than an
eyelash... (Yeah, okay... That's a bit of hyperbole -- but even
being more careful about what we expected it to pick up than we
felt we needed to be, it would clog on virtually EVERY use.) THIS
vacuum is proving a wonderful contrast to that experience! Last
night I was using the wand to reach some dust-bunnies behind the
toilet in my girls' bathroom and inadvertently sucked up one of
those protective plastic caps you need to remove from a stick of
antiperspirant before use. As I heard it get sucked up, I
immediately thought, "Oh, crap! How much of this machine am I
going to have to dismantle in order to find the spot where this
thing will become trapped?!!" Following the suction path through
the hoses and 'elbows', etc, I came up empty -- until I finally
noticed the cap reposing in the dust container, 'comfortably'
nestled into the dust and dog hair! THAT truly impressed me!
Additionally, the headlights on the base are both well placed and
bright enough to be of real use! Particularly on bare floors,
where they illuminate any debris or hair, etc. amazingly well.
This makes it easier to discern the areas of floor still in need
of attention. And, even on bare floors, it does a terrific job of
picking up whatever -- from pet hair to fine dust. The easily
detachable wand makes grabbing debris behind dresser legs, etc a
breeze. The ability to detach the handle portion of the hose FROM
the wand makes use of the brush attachment (or furniture
attachment) quick and easy to wield. Lamp shades and bases etc
are receiving far more frequent (and quicker!) attention because
this is so much easier than I'm used to! Oh, and it's SO much
quieter than I've grown to expect! The dust container is easy to
remove and empty. Opening at both ends, there are no cavities
where hair can get trapped. (On our previous vacuum, this would
ALWAYS require getting your hands filthy, necessitating digging
well up into the container with your fingers to remove large wads
of hair and dust trapped by the design of the inner cone). Every
time I empty this, I am so pleased with how simple, quick and
relatively clean the task is! Our last vacuum's filters became
clogged after nearly every use. This vacuum's filter chamber has
a sticker affixed to it recommending the filters be cleaned once
every three months. And based on what I'm observing so far
(nearly three weeks in), it looks like that will be about right.
(I ended up literally throwing away our previous vacuum with
three years left on its warranty. Though we had given those dang
filters FAR more attention than they should have deserved--while
there was VERY little discussion in their literature given to
emphasizing that priority--the repair agent informed us that this
second warranty repair for the same problem (loss of
suction--even when the filters had just been cleaned--and a
strong ozone odor) in a very short period of time, was being
denied 'because we had failed to adequately service the
filters'!! Already, the Shark is proving a vastly superior
design, and I'm experiencing none of the frustration with the
filters that had become 'par for the course' previously.) The
"Lift Away" feature is a real bonus. By pressing one button, the
canister (lighter in weight than I'd have expected) lifts away
from the floor base to become a 'carry-along' unit, making
reaching for cobwebs high on a wall or ceiling, etc a quick and
simple task. And if a 'roll-along' canister vac is your
preference, there is a thoughtfully designed wheeled-base
provided for such use. Some reviews have noted this unit's
propensity to tip over -- and if you're using the wand for
reaching things while the vacuum is still in 'upright mode', that
is true. But I haven't found that to be an issue if you're using
the roll-around base. So far, the only "con" I can think of is
that the canister portion of the vacuum is bulky enough to
prevent it from reaching very far under furniture -- like say, a
bed or coffee table. Given all the other upsides there are
though, that seems a pretty small downside. And there is a
full-width floor attachment that can be connected to the wand
making reaching far under such items quite easy. So
congratulations Shark! You're really changed my mind! I never
thought I'd find myself gushing with enthusiasm over one of your
products. But I'm really enjoying using this. I'm very impressed!
You might have gotten a boost from our bitter experience with
your competitor's product -- but I sincerely think you deserve
nearly all the credit. This is a terrific machine! Well done!
___________________ Follow-up: About nine months later, and I
still couldn't be happier with this machine! It still feels
solid, performs incredibly well, and has been so easy to live
with! Sometimes we buy things that look good at first blush, but
it doesn't take long for them to start falling apart. NOT true
with this vacuum! Even the pieces that usually bind or break,
such as the small rollers on the leading edge of the pick-up
head, are still fully intact and have never gotten bound with dog
hair, like I believe every prior vacuum we've ever owned did. I'm
still very impressed, Shark! Well done!!!
