Canister Reviews

It has been 20 days since my order was placed. It has yet to ship! Pay no attention to the reviewer who said he got it in 3 days.

Just received this vacuum today & it is the best I have ever used in 26 years. Absolutely beats out my central vacuum system!! Takes up ALL the dog hair, I cannot emphasize that enough.My rugs look great and so do the hard floors. Handles very easily, rolls itself along, you only need to guide it. Great price, quick shipment, I couldn't be happier.

Used by a cleaning service in the homes of executives and professionals, very fussy customers. Great power and easy to use. Have used 6800 series canisters for 8+ years, and will continue to do so.

The vacuum works ok...good suction, and rolls around well. The wand tubes don't stay attached to the hose, no matter how hard you force them in. The attachments are a joke, except for the floor attachment, which is plastic and is easy on floors and furniture. The hose is too short to reach an 8 foot ceiling unless you stand the vacuum on end. The cord retracts well, but could be a few feet longer. Forget about finding bags. Apparenty you throw the vacuum away after you use the two bags it comes with.

I bought this vacuum having had good luck with Panasonic products in the past. The vacuum is fairly quiet and follows well as you move around the house. However the hose and cord are both too short making cleaning more difficult than it should be. Also, this vacuum does not pick up as well as the Eureka it is replacing. Not sure if this is a problem with the suction or floor tool. Last, my wife broke some of the plastic parts when replacing the bag today. This may have been her fault but I would like to think that she could not break the vacuum just by changing the bag no matter how hard she tried.

Living in a shared apartment with 3 others, I'm glad we don't have wall-to-wall carpeting. However, sweeping the tile and old hardwoods never seems to do the job, and you can spend a small fortune on Swiffer cloths...what's a guy to do? Buy an inexpensive vacuum cleaner.

I first bought a Euro-Pro Shark canister vac with HEPA filtration from a homegoods store. I wasn't wild about it, as it had some design quirks I didn't like. One month later, a roommate moved out and took it with him (I'm not kidding).

I did more research, and found some good reviews of Panasonic vacuum products in general. I decided to purchase this model, and I used it last night for the first time. I was impressed. The suction is very good, and the tools are well thought out and easy to use. The canister rolls very easily, so it follows you around without incident. It is surprisingly quiet compared to other machines, at least to my ear. I used it on tile and hardwoods, but also did a little bit of carpet cleaning: the suction was able to pull dirt out of a low-pile carpet, but this is really a machine for bare floors, as there is no agitator brush.

One design I had some concerns about were the two plastic pieces that form the cleaning "wand". Instead of a chromed metal extension wand, this machine has two interlocking plastic pices. I was afraid that they would come apart often, or reduce the suction of the machine. Fitting them together tightly is just fine, and I haven't had them come apart while cleaning.

Two really important features, in my view, are the on-board tool storage and the ability to hook the cleaning wand and floor attachment onto the canister. Without on-board tool storage, try finding the crevice tool when you want to clean your computer keyboard or the dusting brush when you want to clean blinds: having them in the vacuum is priceless. The ability to hook the extension wand onto the machine while cleaning or for storage is great, if you've ever had a vacuum sprawling all over a closet floor. It makes storage in an apartment much easier.

This is not a high-end vacuum, but definitely one I feel very satisfied with for the money.

The turbo attachment worked great the first couple of times it was used. Now it doesn't even turn at all.

I recently moved to a new house with wood floors, but carpeted stairs. My old rotating brush upright just wasn't going to do the job. I bought a shark. Wow! What a great little machine! The suction power is super (if you keep the filter clean and don't try to suck up leaves and straw that can clog the hose). It does a great job on my wood floors and the vacume powered rotating fixture works great on the stairs. Yes, it IS noisy, but I can put up with that for a machine that WORKS! I'm going to buy one for my sister-in-law...that's how much I like it!

Now I want to know where I can buy a replacement HEPPA filter. I think it's a good idea to replace this every now and then. With allergies in our house, it's important!

I have an older upright without all the fancy attachements and needed something to get into the tight spots in my apartment. Instead of spending upwards of 200 bucks on a new vacuum with attachments I opted for the $40 Super Shark at Best Buy - this has turned out to be exactly what I was looking for. The power cord is long enough where it can reach most of a room without having to move it around to various outlets. The hose attachment lets you leave the main unit on the floor and use the hose freehand. If anything the filter/dust cap gets dirty and clogged up fairly quickly so you need to clean it out often so you get proper airflow - not much different then changing out the lint filter in your dryer. A nice little unit.

I'm very unhappy with this vacuum, for the following reasons:

1. Poor suction. I have cat hair on my rugs, and all it does is clump the cat hair up, so I have to pick it up by hand or by taking off the brush and putting the tube right over it. Also, it doesn't begin to get all the hair out of the rug.

2. It scratches my bare floors, even on the floor setting, plus it makes a loud scratching noise on those floors.

3. It is awkward and timeconsuming to take the brush off for areas where you want just the tube, like corners.

4. Seems very cheesy. Why do they use plastic in these things.

It is a complete waste of money. One use, and it is headed into the rubbish. I would return it, except I bought it quite awhile ago and just used it for the first time.

The vacuum works but I can't find Type R bags for it at any stores where bags are sold, must have to be ordered special, which is not good.

What you'll like best about this Hoover vacuum is that it's light weight (approximately 8 pounds) gives it a tremendous advantage over traditional cannister vacuum cleaners. This is most noticed if you're using it on stairs or carrying it out to the garage to vacuum the car.

Other great features are the extra-long vacuum hose (6-feet), and the 18-foot electrical cord. Both of these add to the item's ease of use.

Changing the bag is very easy, and this unit uses the Type R Hoover bag, so you can do quite a bit of vacuuming between changes.

I own a small home and figured a little canister would be perfect. This vacuum has excellent suction on hard floors, but make sure you pre-sweep. The opening on the hard floor attachment is large but narrows to a steep bend only a couple centimeters wide. This means anything bigger than light debris will get stuck and choke the vacuum. This is not a practicle idea for those with kids. (Never seen a kid to make a 'light' mess with 'small particles'. I have three, so I *know*). I can sum the carpet cleaning abilities in one word... UUUUGHHHHH! The brush is *air* powered, not electronicly driven. This creates a huge problem. I own a Newfoundland (130lb shaggy black dog) that constantly sheds. The brush is not strong enought to fully pick up the hair, which then clogs the little plastic turbine that powers it. This can take hours to clean. The canister has a 'trap door' release that works great at first, but after a couple of large loads gets stuck and forces you to manually remove the contents of the canister. GROSS! Recently my vacuum has aquired a smell of coroded batteries after ~10 min. of cleaning, and three COMPLETE (removal of filters, scrubbing, etc.) cleanings have not done away with it. Overall, I am glad I bought this thing on sale. It is a waste of money for anyone even with *minimal* carpeting (like me). I won't be buying anymore Euro-Pro Products!!

After waking up another morning barely able to breathe (welcome to Texas!), I got a little obsessive and decided it was time for a new vacuum. After reading hundreds of online reviews, I decided my top 3 choices were... the Dyson Animal (2 cats) the Westinghouse 1551 (the original Fantom), and the Shark Pursuit. I eliminated the Dyson based on price and looked everywhere for the westinghouse... unfortunately I couldn't find any retailers who carried the product. I didn't want to order online because I wanted to be able to return the product if I didn't like it. so that left the Pursuit. Let me clarify...as far as I can tell, the Pursuit and the Stealth are the same product. I brought my little canister home and started on the living room... I had to empty the canister at least 3 times! I was soooo pleased! :) The amount of hair I picked up was literally disgusting. But I was also encouraged and couldn't stop sucking up cat hair! It actually brought back the bright navy color in my fiance's couch! We had been talking about having it reupholstered but now it looks so much better I think we can put it off for a while... And I'm SURE we picked up hair from the previous owners' two dogs... we have been here 2 years. (!!!) I was disappointed, however, in how it worked on the floors... I wasn't altogether pleased with the floor tools. So I brought home the Pursuit upright and the Ultimate Roadster upright... both were great for the floors, but I couldn't get under the furniture and when I tried to clean the upholstery the hoses would contract and pull the main unit up against me. I guess it shows how great the suction is, but it's NOT exactly easy to use this way. SOOO... after even more searching, I found the greatest thing!!! Linen's and Things www.LNT.com carries this product in their stores and online for $129.. WITH a MOTORIZED power head!!! it's GREAT!!! well worth the extra $30!!! NOW the floors get REALLY clean, and I can suck all the junk out of the upholstery too! YAY!!! So, here are the specifics for the model I'm keeping-- The Shark Pursuit canister, model number EP724M... The main unit is 10.3 amps and the power head (the floor brush) is 1.7 amps... still a total of 12 amps for cleaning the floors, slightly less for the above floor stuff, but I can't really tell the difference, and it's probably a good thing considering the suction power.

pros: -Cleans great! good little sucker, especially for the price!

-easy to maneuver

-my house smelled much fresher after using it, so I guess the HEPA filter is doing it's job....

-FABULOUS for cleaning upholstery, etc... I even sucked cat hair off the curtains (be careful!)

-the air powered turbobrush did get clogged alot, but since I bought the motorized powerhead I don't have to worry about that.

Cons-- I agree with everyone else, the filter is very difficult to clean... the dispenser somehow traps all the hair around the filter, so you have to reach in and pull everything out. I'm considering trying a few things, like waxing the inside of the canister, etc... to see if I can't get this resolved. I also plan on buying a second hepa filter at the suggestion of another reviewer and switching out so I'll always have a clean one. I also have been vacuuming the filter with my old hoover upright and that seems to help alot, too. PLUS, my upright uses hepa bags so the mites and yuck stay where they belong. (this vac was good for sucking dust, but not much else)

The cord is quite short, but I have lots of outlets so it's not a huge problem for me.

Doesn't come with the little pet hair turbobrush, but I found them to be incredibly noisy-painful even- I'm going to order one from another company (about $30)to see if theirs works better.

Somewhat inconsistent product quality-- I recommend buying local and if you have a problem with one exchange it for another one before you give up entirely. of the four I tried, one smelled funny when I turned it on... If I had decided on that one, I would have exchanged it.

OH! by the way... I started this project on Sunday, and Monday morning woke up much less congested..(even though we have a HEPA air purifier in the bedroom) Tuesday morning even better... looks like it's working! I think I'm going to vacuum the mattress again..... ;) byebye dust mites!!!

When it case to buying a vacuum cleaner, I was looking only for canister. This is partly influenced by my european background and by the fact that I live a small apartment. Looking for canister in US is a challenge, considering absolute domination of uprights; lookin for good canister is even harder.

I bought this vac after trying DirtDevil vacuum with HEPA filter, which was a big dissapointment, both in suction and absence of good carpet brush.

This vacuum picked up lots of dirt after DirtDevil! I was quite surprised. I don't know yet how this fellow will behave on maintanability front, but so far I consider this as a great buy!

As to troubles with cleaning HEPA filters: well, you have to pay the price for having a clear air! You will need to clean filter by "tapping" it after each use and also you will need to rinse all three filters roughtly once a month or two or when experience rediced suction power. Also you will probably need to carefully clean spinning brush from hairs after each use, but I'm sure this is true for all turbo/power brushes.

Pros: moderate price, turbo brush, terractable cable, very good suction, HEPA filtering, still handle, compact design.

Cons: you will need to change brushes going from a carpet to a bare floor, handle may be a bit short for really tall people (probably above 6 feet).

In short - I would absolutely recommend this vacuum for small-mid-sized appartments.

reason this is not good, there is not any kind of a vacumn seal to keep the dogfood fresh.

super cute.. i ahve a little dog and this holds all her food very well. looks nice in the kitchen as well as being functional.. not for big dogs or heavy uses..would reccommend for a small dog(s)..

This is perfect for the small to medium dog. i have a min pin and this is an easy way to store her food and stylish enough to put on the floor in my kitchen. not for big dogs. won't hold enough food for them.

The Reviewer makes an excellent point! This unit will not provide HEPA filtration of exaust air. So if you are buying this unit due to allergies or based on the procaimed HEPA filtration you would do best to pass this unit up. However as a normal vacuum, the unit is very good. Due to its small size it is very easy to manuver through tight spots. Suction is very good as well as the power head. The hose is of poor quality and tends to kink, but all in all a good vacuum. They just shouldn't claim HEPA filtration as the previous reviewer (mictrik) has pointed out so well. These days it isn't hard to find vacuums with HEPA filtration so passing this unit up wont be to big of a loss. Fix this issue and Bissell would have a true star.

Ok. I reported "air flow problem through power cord attachment place" to the Bissell and that's what they gave me:

"I have been advised that the air release you describe is in the design of the machine and this issue is not unique to your vacuum. It is normal for some air to pass through the filter and some to vent from the bottom of the machine.

The air that passes through the HEPA filter captures over 99.9% of dust mites, pollen, and ragweed."

No offence to the customer support agent she just gave information what she had to give (provided by tech department, I believe)

But still.. this is a crap. How come HEPA filer could work if more than 90% of airflow goes not through the filter?!

If you do not care about HEPA filter, it still very good choice - it's quiet, has a nice look, very good telescoping pipe.

Originally, bought this the first time I saw it at Linens-N-Things, then decided to see if I could find it cheaper online. Cheapest I could find was the J&R Music and Computer World price at Amazon, but when I read the customer review that said, despite its claims, it didn't actually work on hardwood floors, I decided I had better test out the one I'd already bought since ALL I have are hardwood (90%), vinyl, and a bit of ceramic tile.

IT WORKED BEAUTIFULLY ON MY HARDWOOD FLOORS, picked everything up, and I have not admittedly swept or vacuumed them since before Thanksgiving, PLUS I had just gotten rid of some cats, so there was litter to sweep up - just make sure the beater bar is turned off, but the suction is turned on (which it is not turned on out-of-the-box), either that or you have a defective product.

On top of that, it's lightweight, swivels nicely, is quiet (as vacuums go), easy to lug about the apartment, has strong suction power, the bag appears to be easy to replace, and the attachments are fabulous - I actually prefer the smaller size. The trim around my floors is carved and caked w/years of re-painting; so, it was hard to clean them w/a rag - the crevice tool worked like a charm. I also cleaned a couch w/rather rough upholstery, two chairs w/smooth, silky upholstery, and a my computer chair with the upholstery attachment; as well as sweeping the window sills and attempting even to sweep the blinds with the dusting attachment. All of them rated 5 star in my book...

So unless you are really super duper concerned w/all that HEPA filter jazz another reviewer was complaining about, I would highly recommend this product. I've used really bad, old canisters, and mostly used uprights, and this vacuum is the best - if you have hardwood floors the canister is the way to go, but, even on carpets, I think I would prefer this particular model to an upright anyday, which are generally heavy and clunky to lug around, in my opinion (I originally tested the floor model on the berber carpet at LnT and it worked very well there, too, but I couldn't say for higher/thicker/whatever carpets).

i have worked on this vacuum several times, always something new.1st it was the retractable cord, no prob. made a new guard for it, works great, 2nd it's main mtr stopped, thermal fuse goes bad, replaced works great. 3rd brush stops spinning, red light comes on. brush mtr going bad, repaired brushs inside mtr. relubed bearings in brush. works great. to get parts for this go to [mfg. website]they still have parts for it.
tim

I purchased this vac less than 2 yrs. ago. I have been very pleased with it. I sent in my registration form. I thought I was getting the best on the market at the time. You can imagine my surprise today when I found out the company is out of business. The vac was running fine and suddenly just quit. I have no idea with is wrong. It just will not start again. I called the hot line to find a repair shop close by, but was advised on the telephone that the company has no office at this time. I am really ticked off. Now what do I do. Who out there repairs these vacuums? Response from anyone will be appreciated. Thanks for letting me air my feelings.

I have just received my reconditioned Fantom and it looks like new! I bought it as a replacement for my old dead Fantom. I understand Fantom has gone/is going out of business. I will mourn their demise. I have 5 chhildren ranging from 1 yr to 13 yrs and this vacuum deals with their debris - no problem. It is the only bagless canister I could find when I moved here from europe and I was desperate to find a Dyson equivalent. This is it. I hope somebody else at least takes over the technology and design, otherwise I'm just going to have to buy in bulk now, while they're still avaiable.

This vaccuum cleaner is horrible. The hose pulls out of the canister, the cord will no longer retract (after just one year!) The suction is disappointing. I have to say I will never buy another Hoover.

This vacuum has excellent suction and seems to have decent filtration, but somebody at Hoover needs to sweat a few details. Ergonomics on this machine are absolutely dreadful; the ease-of-use factor is extraordinarily poor. Here's why:

The canister has two buttons on top of it; one is the on/off switch, and the other is for the cord rewind. Both are black plastic, with moulded-in markings that are absolutely unreadable. The result is that one is forever pressing the wrong button, retracting the cord when one wants to turn the machine off.

The attachment system is downright strange; all attachments insert INTO the wands instead of slipping OVER them, as is the case with every other vacuum I've ever owned or used. One must operate a lock button every time a tool is put on or taken off. The lock system holds the tool in one fixed, unchangeable position; there is no possibility whatever of swivelling a tool to get to a hard-to-reach area. The tools themselves have no swivelling capability, either, with the exception of the seldom-used hard floor brush. The angle provided for the dusting brush and upholstery tool by Hoover's design is the only one available; Hoover does not even sell upgrade tools that can swivel.

The dusting brush is especially bad; the lack of swivelling capability means you can't choose a different tool angle to readily dust, say, the tops of books while they're still in the bookcase. You have to take out a few books, dust them, return them to the bookcase, then go to the next few books. Sorry, Hoover, June Cleaver doesn't live at my house! Also, the brush's bristles are stiff plastic, not horsehair, and tend to leave fine scratches in varnished surfaces if you aren't careful. There is not a horsehair brush available as an upgrade, either.

The upholstery brush has little rubber 'fingers' that will not glide readily across fabrics; I have to use the dusting brush on my nubby-weave upholstery.

The strangest part of this vac's design is the suction control- a little plastic slide, to allow suction to be adjusted so that you don't suck curtains, etc., into the attachment you're using. The control is on the wands, not the end of the hose, as it is on most vacuums. This means you MUST use a wand when you want light suction, making vacuuming lampshades, etc., a strange, arm's-length process.

Yes, this vacuum picks up dust. But the design is so quirky and non-intuitive that I would not buy another- unless Hoover completely redesigns its tool system, and marks those darn buttons clearly.

I have had the Hoover Powermax Deluxe Canister vacuum S3607 since October 30, 2002. This vacuum is wonderful. I am a college student and bought this for my fraternity house after past experience of similar models that I use at my parents house. They are Hoover TurboPower 5000- S3577, Hoover Powermax S3603-040, and Hoover Powermax Runabout S3614. This vacuum is extremely easy to use, quiet, has good filtration, made well, and most importantly the cleaning power is superb!! I buy vacuums according to cleaning performance then I look for features- this vacuum is the best I've used and seen. I have used many different vacuum models over the years from different brands. I have used commercial vacuums from different work places in restaurants and have had a house cleaning job that I do on the side. The machine is very lightweight, has a low profile power nozzle that fits under beds, bureaus, desks, chairs and most any furniture with a 3 inch clearance. The double brush agitator is very powerful; it does an excellent job of grabbing deep down dirt for the suction to grab, grabbing pet hair and leaves carpets very well groomed.
I love the attachments- it is better to use the wall/floor brush on large areas of flooring rather than the carpet head due to the special design made for floors. If you decide to use the carpet head on floors you should unplug it from the hose so it is only suction on the floors and not a rotating brush. With any vacuum I found it is better to use straight suction on a floor and not a rotating brush. The agitators are made strictly for deep down cleaning of carpets not on hardwood or tile floors. The upholstery nozzle is phenomenal, the rubber fingers cause static on the rug causing deep down dirt to pull up better and grabs hair faster. It is very rare to see this technology on other vacuums most manufacturers use plastic or bristles on upholstery attachments.
I have noticed in other reviews of this product that people have had problems with cracked bag compartment doors. I have not had this problem with any of the four machines of this type that I have used. My recommendation is make sure the bag is installed CORRECTLY. Hoover makes many of the parts for this machine with a break-away feature- if the part is pushed back too far, it will come off. You have to make sure that you realign the hinges on both sides and push it back it in, you will hear it click into place. The bag slides into a bag holder make sure that is correctly notched into place, the bag collar is pushed forward all of the way onto the holder and all parts of the bag are below the seal where the door will shut. Also there is no need to firmly open, push, or slam any parts back into place. All of the locks open easilly and shut easilly, no hard touch is needed. I have used other vacuums that need parts practically slammed into place; not the case on the Hoover Powermax Deluxe.
I bought this vacuum as an addition to my roommates Hoover Caddyvac upright. Although the Caddyvac did a decent job, my dust allergies were still bad and needed a more powerful vacuum, that could also get into more places. The S3607 accomplished and surpassed my expectations for these tasks, and whenever my allergies perk up, I run my Powermax and it is a life saver. Also for time, it takes me 5 seconds or less to switch from vacuuming my rugs to having a dust brush on for dusting the back of my TV (an example)
2 comlaints:
1. The wheels on the machine are cheaply designed and made- the rear canister wheels have very little traction on hard surfaces, they tend to skid rather than roll because there is no rubber coating on them. The rear powernozzle wheels have axles that over time may get warped, the wheel(s) may have to pushed back on the axle.
2. The bag check indicator due to Hoover's strong suction is not very reliable- some work some do not. It is better to just open the door every so often and check the bag yourself. If it feels 2/3 full or you have vacuumed up very fine material like powder or fine dust the bag should be replaced to maintain full power.

Vacuum tip:
To maintain cleaning power of any vacuum it should be checked periodically. The agitator should be free of all strings, carpet threads, hair or anything else that may tangle around it. Bag should be checked every few uses, although the bag holds 5 quarts the power of this machine picks up a lot of dirt very quickly, this thing finds dirt that other vacuums I have used do not. The belt and power head should be checked atleast once a year, even if belt is not broken, it may be stretched, also dirt may get trapped in different areas, that should be cleaned out. Both filters should be washed or replaced every few months-dependant on usage. They are about $1.00 for the post motor filter and $.25 for the micro filter and are available from an authorized Hoover service shop.
Good luck with your Hoover Powermax I have no doubt you will love yours as much as I love my 4. Our oldest Powermax was bought on September 26, 1997, not one has had to go to the shop yet. I recommend it to anyone. I have mainly rugs and rarely use it on hard floors because I love to use a canister compared to an upright anyday.

What a dissapointment! This vacuum was good for about two weeks, now the rubber belt has stretched and it will not spin the brush-bar. The hose from the cannister to the wand attachment is too short, so I am constantly hauling the cannister towards me. Also if you want to vacuum blinds, you have to lift the entire cannister off the floor with your other hand - not convenient. The bag is small and requires replacement often. It is easy to move from carpet to bare floor, but all the other problems make this a poor choice. Too bad, my twenty-year-old hoover worked better. This one is headed to the landfill.

I have owned the S3630 for 3 years. Performance is OK. BUT shortly after I got it the plastic handle clip broke, then the headlight bulb went and I couldn't find a replcement in any store. Next the 2 small wheels on the motorized power head kept falling off (they seem to just clip into the plastic and won't stay put). Also if you try to buy replacements for the dust filters, you're out of luck,unless you special order from Hoover and who needs the hassle? It cleans well on the whole. I do find that dog hair tends to cling (thro. static) to the body and power head and is hard to remove. It's a pricey disappointment!

Very impressed with the suction, and the filtration. Love the way you can turn the roller brush on/off with a easy to use handle switch. I have always been a canistor user and found the Hoover to exceed my needs. You can use either filtration or regular replacement bags. It's peace of mind to know that Hoover
remains the only manufacturer of Vacuums Cleaners in the US that have their own Factory Repair Centers and great service after the sale. They are also located in the Internet. Try finding that when you buy a Fantum or Regina. I did and they're a joke.