• "Likely the best hand-held available."

Review excerpt:

The power on this thing is unreal; it pretty much picks up anything you need it too. The only downside is that the cup fills kind of quickly. Otherwise, you can't do without it.

(5 Stars)

Relevancy: 92% (out of 13 total votes) thought this review was helpful.

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• "A lightweight vac for lightweight use"

Review excerpt:

I bought this vac when my relatively expensive one died some months ago. I generally like it, but it's not really intended to replace your "real" vacuum if you have carpet (especially if you have kids or pets), and that's what I'd been hoping for. Here are a few things you should consider:

* Cordless is great, but cordless vacs never have as much "oomph" as corded vacs. If you need heavy duty cleaning, you need a "real" vacuum cleaner. On the other hand, you'll probably pull it out much more often for little tasks, because it's so convenient.

* It's designed for "lightweight" uses, such as picking up crumbs under the table, and it shows. For example, it doesn't clean the edges along the walls very well, and you can't adjust the height for different kinds of carpet.

* It weighs "only" as much as a gallon of milk, and you have to lift it UP (an inch) to get it out of its re-charging cradle. If you were considering a lightweight vac primarily because of back problems, then you need to decide whether you can lift it before you order it. (I can't use a regular upright because pushing that much weight tweaks my lower back, but this has been fine for me.)

* Speaking of the charging base, dirt accumulates in it. It seems to fall out of the vacuum/beater bar. Plan to dump out the dirt every ten or twenty times you use it. (The dirt also seems to fall out of the vacuum on occasion when you turn it off. This may be common to other cordless vacs, but plan to look at the floor to see whether you have a pile of dirt underneath the vac after you turn it off.)

* I have had some trouble getting the dirt cup clicked back into place. You have to (lean over and) line it up correctly and push firmly while holding the vacuum (so it doesn't fall over). If you have severe arthritis or wrist/elbow problems that are aggravated by pushing, then you may find this aspect undesirable and should look for a regular (bag) vacuum.

* I have to dump the dirt cup at least once every two minutes. A quick run through the main pathways in the entry and living area usually means dumping the dirt cup two or three times.

* The directions say that you should clean the inner filters every single time you dump the dirt cup, and they're not kidding. We find that taking the filter assembly outside and tapping it firmly on a flat surface causes a surprising amount of dust to fall out. (Slamming it straight down on a fence post seems to be most effective.) The vac works MUCH better if you do this often. The suction loss as the inner filter gets clogged is very noticeable. We have even washed the inner filter in plain water to good effect (dry thoroughly, of course).

* The battery is usually adequate. If we try to vacuum everything (almost 1000 sf of carpet), then we sometimes have to let it recharge halfway through.

* I sure wish someone would invent a beater bar that didn't get clogged up with hair or carpet fuzz.


This vac would be perfect for:

* the kids to grab to clean up the dirt they track in
* the upstairs vac for everyday use (bring the real one up every few weeks to do a thorough job)
* as a broom substitute on tile or wood
* if you can't push (or the kids can't be trusted with) a large vacuum cleaner
* in an office
* in any situation where the point is to clean up a small mess before it gets ground in permenantly


What it's not good for:

* a thorough job before you shampoo the carpets
* a total solution if you need to vacuum thoroughly to cut down on asthma/allergy problems
* picking up a lot of hair or large crumbs (like Cheerios)
* getting carpet as clean as humanly possible
* someone who's unusually tall and don't want to stoop a little to use it.

(4 Stars)

Relevancy: 97% (out of 214 total votes) thought this review was helpful.

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