Shark Navigator Lift Away Professional

[vacman117]

I wanted to make a little review of the Shark. I was a little skeptical about paying $188 for a Shark, considering they are pretty cheap. After having it for a day and vacuuming anything and everything with it excessively, I can say that it is most definitely worth the money.

The most obvious features of this vacuum are the swivel neck and the Lift Away technology. I thought it was pretty pointless at first, but I have to come to like it and appreciate it. It is nice to be able to set the canister on each step of the stairs as you vacuum them. Although the hose is probably one of the shortest ones on the market. It should also come with a shoulder strap, because it is tiring having to hold the canister when you use it. I took a strap off of an old laptop case and fastened it around the carry handle, which worked out fine. The swivel neck really makes no difference to me, it is nice for when you have to get around furniture, but other than that, I'd be fine without it.

The Navigator comes with a terrific set of attachments! The crevice tool and dusting brush/upholstery tool are conveniently stored on board, and they are securely fasted on so they do not fall off of the handle. It also comes with a mini turbo tool, which is similar to a standard Dirt Devil turbo tool, with a few minor changes. And finally, the Dust Away tool. This is a nozzle that attaches to the wand and it has a microfiber pad on the bottom and a suction opening at the front. I was most excited for this. It is fantastic on bare floors! The pad is also machine washable.

I didn't think this would be a very good carpet cleaner, although it does have a huge amount of suction. I vacuumed my living room, kitchen, dining room, and my parent's room and I picked up almost a canister full of dirt! The whole house was vacuumed with the DC14 yesterday. I think one of the reasons it does so well is because the cleaning head is so small, so there is more concentrated suction on a single area.

My biggest complaint is the dust cup. It is only a single cyclone, so the filtration is not the best. The dust cup gets very dirty VERY fast, and the filter under the dust cup gets dirty very fast. Thankfully there are two filters, and the second one is spotless.

All in out, I'm really happy that I made this purchase. I will hopefully be using this as one of my daily drivers for a long time.

 

[suckolux]

Thanks Chase, about what my friend had said also, he is thrilled.

 

[eurekaprince]

That Dust-Away floor tool is a really neat idea. Filter Queen sells a floor tool that also combines a Swiffer pad with a suction channel. And I love the rechargeable Swiffer Vac that features the same highly-effective floor cleaning design. The pad removes any fine dust that is electrostatically stuck to the floor and left behind by suction alone!

Swiffer should sell a floor attachment that can be attached to any canister vac - they would make a killing!

 

[eurekaprince]

Consumer Reports found very little wrong with this vac.

The only area where this vac was weak was in "pet hair removal" - which only rated "fair." Here are the other scores:

Shark Navigator Professional Lift Away NV356

medium pile carpet cleaning = very good
bare floor cleaning = excellent
air flow thru the hose for tool use = good
emissions control = excellent
noise level = good
handling (pushing, pulling, carrying) = very good

And here is their commentary -

CR's Take

Overall this is a very good upright vacuum cleaner. It does a very good job removing embedded dirt from carpets. When cleaning surfaces such as kitchen and hardwood floors this model is an excellent performer. This model receives a very good for handling, and weighs 16 pounds.

Highs
• Excels at removing embedded dirt from carpets
• Performs well when cleaning bare floors; ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and hardwood floors
• Excels in capturing all the dust it picks up, which is good if you have allergies or respiratory illnesses
• Has suction control, which helps protect drapes when using tools
• Has a brush on/off switch, which safeguards bare floors and prevents scattered dust and debris


Lows
• The on/off switch is inconveniently placed
• Requires manually emptying the bin, which is messier and sometimes presents problems for those with allergies or respiratory issues
• Lacks a manual carpet-height adjustment, which is better than automatic systems at matching the brush to the surface


Detailed test results

CARPET CLEANING: The Shark Navigator Professional Lift Away NV356E does a very good job of removing the embedded mixture of sand and powder from our soiled test carpets. This is a measure of how well a vacuum removes the dirt hidden deep in the carpet and not visible to the user's eye.

BARE FLOOR: The Shark does an excellent job of removing sand from our vinyl floor, leaving very little behind and not scattering sand across the floor.

PET HAIR: This model does a fair job at picking up pet hair from carpets using its power head. The visual inspection of the test carpet following the pet hair test reveals traces of pet hair left behind and pet hair is caught in the brush roll.

USABILITY: The Shark is light weight which is a plus when carrying from room to room. It also has a swivel head design for maneuvering around furniture. Another helpful aspect is it's ability to detach the canister from the power head which allows for more mobility when using tools to clean. Its power switch is a bit lower than most on the vacuum's body.


About - Shark Navigator Professional Lift Away NV356
The Shark Navigator Professional Lift Away NV356E upright vacuum cleaner includes a power brush, floor brush, dusting brush, and crevice tool. It weighs 16 pounds and provides usability features such as a brush on and off switch and suction control.

 

[petek]

Well that's interesting. I'm probably like a lot of you being very skeptical of anything with the Shark / EuroPro label on it but hey if it works good and lasts maybe they've got a winner after all. Don't they also come with a pretty good warranty as well for the price?


edit: I was just out at the mall and went into Canadian Tire (my favorite store if I have to call one a favorite) and looked around the vac section. They have the Shark Professional Lift-away on for $179 reg. $279 if any of you guys here in Canada are interested.. I don't think it was advertised and the price under the shelf model says $279 but when I looked at the cartons below the shelf there was a sale price shown. I was torn about buying one but held tough and didn't. But I did get a great pair Panasonic mp3 earbuds for $9.95 reg $25 with 2 replacement pairs when these break or get damaged. [this post was last edited: 12/27/2011-16:51]