Eureka Brand “The Boss Superlight” Vacuum: Pain-Free Carpet Cleaning By: Loolwa Khazzoom, Founder, Dancing with Pain November 9th, 2009 • Living with Chronic Pain • I used to have one of those fancy shmancy vacuum cleaners that picks up everything including allergens. Cost several hundred dollars. While it worked very nicely for me when I bought it, before the onset of pain, it was basically useless after; because I couldn’t push the damn thing around. So after being at the mercy of the occasional help who came to clean my home, I ditched it. Left it on the street for someone to claim. And I bought a Eureka vacumm cleaner – “The Boss Superlite.” It is in fact super light. And it even works! How cool is that. I can’t remember how much it cost, but I think it was not more than about $50, which was easy(ish) on the wallet. I also like that there is no vacuum bag to change; rather, you just pop out the plastic contraption and dump the gook in the garbage.

But the hands-down coolest thing about this vacuum is that I can push it around with one hand. The only drawbacks are these: I frequently have to pull out stuff from the rollers, which get clogged up pretty quickly. That of course involves bending, which my backey no likey. Also there are no extensions, meaning, I can’t get at the edges of my carpet or in the corners behind furniture – where dust accumulates. I am using my mini hand-held vacuum for that, which sucks, because again, the whole bending thing. One final complaint: The upright lock is unstable. When I photographed the vacuum cleaner in my living room, I placed it on the floor and went to pick up my camera. As soon as I turned away, the whole top part of the vacuum fell backwards, leaving a black streak along my otherwise pristine white wall. FREE SHIPPING on Qualifying Orders $49 or More. Prices, promotions, styles, and availability may vary. Our local stores do not honor online pricing. Prices and availability of products and services are subject to change without notice.

Errors will be corrected where discovered, and Lowe's reserves the right to revoke any stated offer and to correct any errors, inaccuracies or omissions including after an order has been submitted.dyson airmuscle animal upright vacuum cleaner The Shark Rocket Ultra Light Upright vacuum received excellent scores in our test of picking up pet hair from carpet, but performed poorly in picking up debris from a bare floor. vax zen vacuum cleaner with powerheadOn hard floors, we found that this unit left fine particles like baking soda behind, but it picked up larger debris like oatmeal and orzo pasta. kijiji halifax vacuum cleanersThe brush roll is constantly activated when running on both the floor and carpet settings, and it lightly pulls the vacuum forward during operation.

Special Features: Turns into a hand vacuum; floor nozzle is removable to use for above floor cleaning; extension wand for under furniture and appliance cleaning; additional attachment for dusting with a washable microfiber pad Manufacturer's Warranty: 5-year limited warrantyAbout Our Testing: We evaluated 11 stick vacuums on picking up pet hair on carpet, dry spills on bare floors, picking up along a wall, noise level, and ease-of-use factors like maneuverability, cord storage, controls, weight, and emptying and cleaning the dust cup or changing the bag. Excellently removed pet hair from carpet in our test Great for cleaning under low furniture Very easy to maneuver on carpet and bare floors Poor performance at picking up debris on a bare floor Somewhat lacking on cleaning along edges Watch Robo-Vacs in Action Fuller Brush Spiffy Maid Broom Vacuum FB-SPFM Review All Upright vacuums Ratings Shark Navigator Professional Lift-Away NV356E vacuum cleaner

This 16-pound upright from Shark is bagless and has suction control, HEPA filtration, a brush on/off switch, and a 30-foot, manual-wind cord. Ratings, Reviews, Reliability & Compare are for Subscribers Only Why use Consumer Reports Price & Shop? Unbiased: Retailers cannot influence placement. Ad-free: As an integrated part of Consumer Reports, you shop in a completely ad-free environment. New products only: You will never find used or refurbished products for sale. Consumer Reports is an independent, non-profit organization dedicated to helping consumers. We do not accept advertising.Eureka started making vacuum cleaners in 1913. Since then, the company has gone through many changes and is now called Electrolux Home Care Products North America. It sells Eureka vacuum cleaners as well as Electrolux, Sanitaire, and Beam. Electrolux is a higher end vacuum cleaner, and Eureka models are usually less expensive. Eureka vacuums come in uprights, canisters, and lightweight broom vacuums.

Eureka’s best vacuums are its full-sized uprights. Its Boss SmartVac 4800 series did very well on a leading consumer test (was ranked one of only three best buys). For the money, it was exceptional. It outperformed vacuum cleaners several times its cost. The Eureka Boss SmartVac was great on both bare floors and carpet. It has a switch to turn off the beater brush which is best for hardwood floors and more fragile floor rugs. When it vacuums carpet, it has a manual pile adjust which is crucial to properly cleaning carpeted flooring. If you’ve never set a pile adjust, you should. If the pile adjust is set for high pile carpets and you have Berber or other low-piled carpet, the beater bar is not hitting the carpet fibers to extract the dirt. If your pile adjust is set too low and you have high pile carpet, you are beating your carpet too hard, and it is likely damaging your carpet fibers. This is one of the main reasons carpet pile unravels and pulls from the carpet backing. These are definitely two features you should look for in any vacuum if you have both carpet and bare floors.

This Eureka vacuum cleaner line also has an excellent filtration system that allowed hardly any emissions to escape the exhaust. It’s a true, sealed, HEPA filter that traps almost every particle in its path, and it actually stays in the bag. Eureka suggests replacing this filter once every six months with “normal” household use. Normal use is usually weekly vacuuming. If you vacuum more often, you should periodically check your filter as it will probably need to be replaced sooner. The filter costs around $20 to replace. Replacement bags are inexpensive – about $2 each. This is a little below the average cost of vacuum bags. Eureka bags are recommended for optimal filtration. One of the best features of the Eureka Boss SmartVac 4800 series is the “Power Paw Stair Brush.” This is a mini turbo attachment that is excellent for stairs. It specializes in picking up pet hair. With regular vacuums, pet hair that is tangled in the carpet fibers is often missed. Most attachments offered by uprights don’t have a spinning brush roll.

The Power Paw is a 5 1/2” spinning brush attachment that penetrates carpet pile to deep clean stairs, corners, and rugs. The switch to go from upright to hose power is large, easy to turn, and conveniently located on the machine. There are a few drawbacks to this Eureka vacuum cleaner. It is a little harder to pull than other vacuums. It weighs a little over 20 pounds and is not self-propelled. It also lacks suction control which is good for draperies or delicate rugs. You have to bend over to adjust the pile control and turn the brush roller on or off. It also doesn’t have a light or other indicator to tell you when the bag is full. The Eureka Boss SmartVac series is not the best machine available, but it’s the best one available for the low cost. The machine retails for $140, which is low for vacuum cleaners. For twice the money, you can get a better vacuum with additional features including self-propelled motion, a longer hose, and suction control. For the money, however, this line is excellent.

Eureka’s High Performance line offers a bag and bagless model. It’s a powerful vacuum that offers a longer power cord, longer hose, and more attachments that are conveniently stored in the machine. It doesn’t offer quite as many features as the Boss SmartVac line, but it’s a good vacuum for about $80. Falling below expectations is Eureka’s Boss SuperLite line that includes the top-selling model 402A. At 7.6 pounds, it truly is super light. It’s around $50 and can be found for less online. This model only uses 2 amps of power, so it’s not very powerful and is more of a “quick vac” for spills or spot cleaning between regular vacuuming. There are better performing lightweight machines for the price. Eureka also offers model 4750A of its Maxima line that is nice for allergy sufferers. It offers exceptional filtration like most Eureka vacuum cleaners. It has an added bonus of a no-touch dust bag. You drop the bag into the collection container, and you dump it out with the mess, having never touched any of the dirt.