Shark Navigator Upright Bagless Vacuum Cleaner, NV22L

Exceeded My Expectations, August 22, 2009

By 

M. Hester “Obsessed over vacuums” (Odenton, MD USA) –

  

I bought the Navigator yesterday from Bed, Bath and Beyond. I really am impressed with the performance and results. I have been putting in a lot of research into finding a vacuum that met my families needs.

I own a Eureeka “The Boss” and have had it for over three years. It just doesn’t pick up deep, ground in dirt. Plus it really is a pain to go to the store and pick-up bags and make sure your getting the correct one’s. That was my case against getting an Oreck.

Well I brought the navigator home and I have been converted. I like many others vegged out on the infomercial. They make the vacuum sound like it’s going to save the world from dust and dirt. They also focus on how they were able to copy the features of the Dyson for less money. I felt if they had to copy a vacuum you might as well get the original.

Well after having spent the last week vacuuming my carpet with my old Eureeka twice, then using a Hoover steam vac carpet cleaner, which actually pulled up junk my Eureeka didn’t and it’s not even a real vacuum. After the carpet had dried I went over my carpet again with my Eureeka again to make sure the carpets were clean enough for my 3 year old.

So now last night I get the navigator home and put it together ( which was extremely easy) and I carefully review the directions. I had never owned a bagless so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t going to do anything that harmed the lifetime filters. Not much to it actually. Just wash the two sponge (forgot the official names) filters every three months, they give you spares while the originals are drying, and replace the thin sponge filter every twelve months. Easy enough.

Now for the vacuuming. I went over the same exact spots in our living room I had done with the steam vac and the Eureeka. I couldn’t believe the amount of caked up dirt/dust clumps sucked into the Navigator dust bin. I was really disgusting. It was like that old insulation material that they used to use in attics. It was nasty. But that illustrated how powerfull this vacuum is. It really does get stuff the other vacuums don’t. Dirt and dust you can’t even see. I really mean this. I was blown away.

Now granted I had just spent about $160 on this vacuum so I wanted it to work. I am biased towards making it work. But the dust bin doesn’t lie. That’s another plus about bagless vacuums you get to actually see what’s in your carpets. Not pretty but eye opening.

How this vacuum exceeded my expectations was the noise level. Now there is no vacuum that is whisper quiet. However compared to my Eureeka and the steam vac, and other vacuums I and my parents had owned in the past this Navigator was quieter then any other vacuum I have had experience with. I have never turned on a Dyson only played with manuevering it in the store. But I was able to vacuum after 10:00pm in a town home with neighbors on both sides.

Another great feature is how compact this vacuum is. Now it’s not particullary light. You are not going to lift it with your pinky as you can with some vaccums(the Garry and Oreck). But I am able to haul it upstairs ( we have three levels so we are always going up and down stairs). Storing it in the closet is a breeze because it’s so small. And as I said my wife and son and I live in a town house so there is limited space.

Now here is my only gripe. This is is not unique to the Navigator. Any bagless vacuum is an absolute terror when it comes to emptying what you’ve sucked up. Sure it’s easy with the quick emptying dust bin’s but unless you wrap a bag around the bin that dust is going to shoot back into the air. YOU MUST EMPTY ANY BAGLESS VACUUM OUTSIDE. That is just the only way you can insure not to contaminate the air inside your house with the same stuff your just sucked up. This is where bagged vacuums with sealing solutions like the Oreck, some hoovers, and the Garry have the advantage. But again you have to pay for bags the entire life of the vacuum and bag vacuums lose suction the more that you vacuum. Remember dirt and dust just doesn’t automatically find the bottom of the bag. It takes the path of least resistance with most of the time is sticking to the top of the bag or near the opening which will clog the whole quickly which will impede the suction power. That is one of the reasons why I am able to pick up things with my navigator that I can’t pick up with my Eureeka. If they could ever create a clear bag, no lose of suction vacuum I will be the first in line.

So to sum this up, I don’t work for Shark and I don’t get a bonus for referring this vacuum. I just love it’s performance compared to my previous vacuums. I went with this over the Dyson because I just don’t believe that I should have to spend over $300 – $500 on a vacuum. If this vacuum holds up over time then I will have save a considerable amount of money upfront and over time. It’s just a…

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