Eureka Superlite

[fan-of-fans]

What does everyone think of the Eureka Superlite? I think they're neat little uprights, but I liked the older Boss Superlite yellow version better than the current white and green. I've never used one though or examined up close. I remember several years ago my mother wanted a simple upright with no attachments/hose to clean carpets as the Powermate on her Kenmore Whispertone went kaput. She saw the Eureka Superlite on sale, but when she went to buy one she realized it was too small to clean several rooms of carpet. The brushroll and motors in them must be tiny.

http://www.eureka.com/en-US/Vacuums/Lightweights/Superlite/Lightweights-SuperLite-443B.aspx

 

[kirbykid]

I had one. it was my first vacuum. when we moved the motor got wet and then the repair shop never gave it back. it was a great vacuum. and mine was yellow but same design. I guess I could get another one.

 

[sebo_fan]

I had one in the UK under the name of Electrolux Boss Z402A in yellow in 2003. It was mains powered, had a 200-220 watt motor, slide to lock handle that could be hidden away when not required, soft bristle brush bar, two speed suction control and a brush roll on/off function. Really great design but what I felt hampered it was its slide out nylon filter that constantly clogged well before the fill line got filled up. Handy scraper on the outer bin though to scrape the filter clean even though its washable. Another downside I didn't like was that the machine could clog easily due to its small dust channel before the dust bin. However, I did like the machine a lot - a real shame Electrolux don't sell them again but with a longer cord - it would be helpful to caravaners and those looking for a mains powered small and light upright for quick clean ups.

There was also an Electrolux Boss black upright that was cordless on sale in the UK at the same time.

 

[kirbykid]

THAT YELLOW ONE WAS WHAT I HAD!!!!!!

 

[blackheart]

Not bad

I used to have one of the non wide path yellow ones it was not a deep cleaner but for quick clean ups or surface litter it did just fine, another problem it had was the noise the motor made a kind of annoying high pitch to it. The screen filter some models had has poor filtration the other filter was probably not much better but better than the screen

 

[sebo_fan]

Well to be fair I dont think Electrolux had produced the vacuum cleaner to be seen or used as a main household appliance, hence the basic filter and no additional hose. In the UK the Z402A was eventually taken over by another fab stick vac that Electrolux made which had a hose on it. I think the U.S market got it too and I have only seen a few over the years, the Z410A.

 

[mieles7]

I have a super lite, but I always wanted that mini-upright in that picture when I was a kid.

 

[eurekaprince]

I loved the original Eureka Boss Cordless Upright - the commercials were really neat and emphasized the fact that this was a cordless lightweight upright with a full width nozzle that was easy to manouever. It came in a corded and cordless version and was black with purple accents.

These were never meant to replace full-sized uprights - they were meant for quick clean-ups and were more in the category of stick-vacs or electric brooms or dustbusters.

The second version shown in this thread has a somewhat different cleaning head - probably a smaller brush roll similar to the one in the popular Eureka "Quick Up" or "Boss Lite" rechargeable stick-vac. Electrolux has a Sanitaire bagged commercial version of the compact upright shown above:



http://www.sanitairevac.com/commercial/products/cri_approved/sc785.jsp

 

[blackheart]

The bagged version

Those Sanitaire bagged lightweights were actually very good cleaners it literally left nothing for the DC-17 to pick up it's really more due to the brush as the airflow isn't too great

 

[eurekaprince]

Devin - do you have a photo of the red Sanitaire's brushroll? Curious to see what it uses....

 

[blackheart]

No...

Sorry Brian i don't have any shots of the brushroll if i recall it was more of a spiral than a chevron i had the blue version but i'm sure there was no difference between the two

 

[szymonrules]

Is this the Electrolux...

"The Boss" Cordless upright you're talking about? (Sorry it's in link form but I'm having trouble saving pictures from the web for some reason. Probably need to update Windows since I just reinstalled it!)

http://www.tasvac.com.au/pics/13/13302b.jpg

 

[eurekaprince]

Yes Szymon - that's the exact model - except it was labelled Eureka in North America of course....

 

[szymonrules]

I wouldn't

mind using one! They seem pretty interesting!

 

[durango159]

My mother in law had the yellow Widetrack Superlite. It gained a terrible squeal and was obnoxious to use which we think came from abuse from a cleaning lady. I took it apart and tried to fix it but the power head motor isn't serviceable and thats where the noise was coming from. Took it to a vac shop and they said it wasn't fixable, it really wasn't worth getting a new motor for.

It's a decent vac for quick pick-ups-- area rugs, cat litter, etc. Even as in between quick vacuuming from the primary thorough vacuuming I would pick something else capable of pulling up the carpet pile more.

In seeking a replacement for this, we looked at various lightweight vacs on the market from Eureka, Hoover, Bissell, Dirt Devil, Shark. All of the stick style vacuums were about $10-20 more expensive than Bissell's full size Powerforce bagged vacuum at Wal-Mart. With a price tag of $40, lots of suction, decent agitation and still feeling quite light weight, I bought it for my Mother in Law to try. SHE IS IN LOVE WITH THE BISSELL. She will not let anyone else use it but her. It's light, and she thinks it does a great job cleaning. It definitely has more suction and agitation than any "lightweight stick" style vac on the market.

 

[szymonrules]

Rob,

I'm actually not a person that likes Bissell machines, not the new ones anyway, but I've heard nothing but good things about the Powerforce, especially for the price!

 

[sebo_fan]

I saw a brand new boxed up Z411A on sale today. Not sure if it is worth it - what do you guys think?[this post was last edited: 12/5/2012-11:23]

 

[sebo_fan]

So I decided to go and buy the Electrolux Power Cyclone Z411A. What a super machine! OMG. Why can't they make stick vacuums like this anymore? This thing gets under my bed with a similar low profile to my Sebo vacuums. Flat to the floor cleaning with this one and there's around 6 metres of cord which is very useful.

I did a bit of research and discovered that the previous Electrolux Z410 or Eureka 410 as it is also known seemed to have a difficult to wash filter - this silver version has the dreaded paper pleated cone that everyone seems to hate, but it is far more effective than the one fitted to the Z410. I'm more taken with how light this little Electrolux is to push. The handle is stubby though and the dust brush has a tendency to fall off. Still a great little bargain and it only cost me £40 from a private electric shop near me!

Pics below.

I had forgotten that the handle on this model can be flipped backwards for storage and what I didn't expect is a brush roll warning LED light that stops the brush roll if there's a clog and lets you know. The only other aspect I don't like is that despite the brush roll on/off slider, the brush roll will continue to spin when the handle is put in the upright position and the hose is too short to be of any real use - the long crevice tool and extension pipe mirror the size of Panasonic tubes & tools.

 

[vacuumman206]

superlites

I have a couple variations of those. Suction isn't too bad but over time the little brush motors loose power / die out. Two of mine had apparently been ran with a lot of junk in the brush and bearings for a while and consequently the brush motor is a little slow and not as good as the proper-working one on carpet. But I suppose that would happen with continued use on anything over medium pile carpet. Overall, they should have made the bristles thicker, or protrude more from the bottom plate for more carpet contact. My favorite mini vac of that type is my GE combination vac.