Shark UpLight Upright Vacuum Terracotta

I have been a dedicated Dyson fan for years. (3 different models, the heavy as a boulder one and the ball I bought this so we had a lighter weight option for the kids to use, especially for cleaning under couches, This vacuum beats the Dyson hands down when it comes to suction power. As desired it works great for getting under furniture. You can essentially drop the handle down to the floor and get way back under the furniture (in the interest of disclosure, I put new feet on my counches to raise them up to 6 inches. Makes cleaning of any sort easier.) The cord is plenty long. Yes, there are some downsides. It is top heavy and will fall over. Like most vacuums I've had the tools don't want to stay onboard. The combination of tremendous pickup and a small dust cup means you have to dump the cup often. Despite that I still consider this the best vacuum I have every had. I can't count how many times it has been knocked over or how many legos, bandaids, cable ties, screws and whatnot it has sucked up. It was making funny noises this evening and I removed the following from the beater brush assembly: one ziploc bag, a a one inch x 1/4 inch bolt, a safety pin, two zip ties, scraps of quilting fabric plus another ziploc bag heading into the collection bin. I really don't understand how the ziploc bag at the top made it that far! In any case, I removed them all and it is good as new. It gets used in a house with two hairy dogs and 2 cats several times a week. We have been using it for over 1 1/2 years. Read more

This is the best vacuum I have ever owned in my life. Not kidding. I have three kids and a cat so I assume you can imagine that I must vacuum daily if not 2-3 times a day. Serious. This thing can keep up like a champ and I’ve owned it for almost 3 years and the suction has not changed. The suction on this is so incredible that I’ve accidentally suctioned up a whole toy or two (also very easy to take apart and pick out any unwanted items you accidentally auctioned up). Picks up cereal off the floor like nothing, when I give my boys their haircuts it can suction up a pile of hair within seconds leaving nothing behind. My daughter spilled glitter all over my carpet a few months ago and the vacuum inhaled every last damned spec. I love the fact that it can change from hardwood to carpet with complete ease and the best part of it all, is that emptying this beast is beyond easy. I don’t have to dig my hands inside the canister to get any gunk out. There’s two ways of emptying the canister (there’s a top and bottom) unlike my Dyson cordless which has the smallest canister I’ve ever seen and I usually have to stick a screw driver or butter knife up the canister to get any stuck gunk out-not this magnificent machine! It also has Incredible power that you’ll notice right away. I turned it on and it reminded me of a lawn mower that has the self-propelling, you can push it with ease and it almost moves forward on its own, you know what I’m talking about? Yeah, this has that. Took me a little while to get used to the maneuvering, as the head of the vacuum is a little heavy, but once you learn to use your wrist to turn it rather than your own arm, it’s a dream. If something ever happens to this vacuum I will be so upset and be purchasing a new one ASAP. If you’re on the edge of buying this, just do it. You won’t regret it. Read more

To start with, I'm not big on writing reviews. For this vacuum, I had to. Second, let me say that I'm disabled; a rebuilt man - back, leg, and recently a new shoulder. Vacuuming is not my favorite sport! Now, on with the review. My old vacuum bit the dust a month ago, and after some research I had almost decided on this Shark. Then I saw it as Amazon's deal of the day. Had to be a sign, so I ordered it. Three days later it was here. It arrived in a well-packed box, all the parts were there and in good shape. After a quick look at the directions, I snapped it together easily. My first use was a couple of days later. It took about 45 minutes to clean the downstairs - 4 rooms and a connecting hallway, with hardwood floors and 2 area rugs. A month's worth of dog hair (see photo) came up a lot easier than I expected. I had seen reviews about the distribution of the weight...not an issue, even for my new shoulder. I had also read that it was difficult to maneuver, and while it took a couple of minutes to get used to, that wasn't a problem either. In fact, I rather like the way it maneuvers. You don't turn it like most vacuums. Instead, just slightly twist the wrist of the hand guiding it, and the suction head swivels left or right. Pretty cool after the first couple of turns. What about suction power? I'm glad you asked. If you've ever had the combination of a shedding dog and a hardwood floor, you know how the hair seems to migrate to the corners and edges. Not the easiest places to get to with a vacuum. With this Shark, however, it wasn't a problem. Just getting within a couple of inches of the hair was enough, as the hair seemed to magically run across the floor towards the vacuum and disappear. On the area rugs, I'd have to say that the Shark did a better job than any upright I have ever used. And transition from hardwood to rug was very smooth, no switching levers required. Oh, and lest I forget, after cleaning the hair off of the hardwoods, I noticed that they almost looked like they had been buffed. The main selling point of this Shark series is that hair doesn't wrap around the sweeper heads. After sucking up a lot of hair (and there was a lot, look at the picture again), I checked the rollers. No wrapped hair at all...none. Are there any negatives? Well, sort of. The attachments (2 of them anyway) clip to the handle. If you don't remove them when using the vacuum, the cord (and my leg) keeps knocking them off. Bit of an irritation until I decided to leave them on the table. And if you have small rugs, such as runners or entry rugs, you might want to use the smaller attachment. I tried using the normal vacuum head and the suction kept rolling up the rugs. Probably a common sense thing, but I'm not real strong in that department. Finally, the rear wheels, which enable it to stand unsupported, but retract during use, seem to be a bit stiff to retract. That may become easier with use, but for now required bending over. I haven't tried the accessories yet, and admittedly I've only used it once, but so far these three negatives are all I've found. You may, or may not, consider these small negatives to be reasons to try something else... I don't. I very highly recommend this vacuum, and am confident that anyone trying it with an open mind will come to the same conclusion. The Shark is now my favorite fish! Read more