Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I own all three versions of the Navigator, including this one. I am not a professional reviewer, and neither I nor anyone in my family has any connection to anyone in the vacuum cleaner industry. I bought my Lift Away Pro from QVC. I really like the new Lift Away Pro. For about one-third the cost of a Dyson, you get virtually the same performance. Dyson still has an advantage in the quality of the engineering and materials used, but Shark is catching up. Like the two earlier versions of the Navigator, the Lift Away Pro has Pros and Cons. PROs: - Price. You can buy about 3 Lift Away Pros for the cost of one upright Dyson. Cleaning performance is comparable (I have 3 Dysons, so I know). - Excellent suction. If you have never used a vacuum with suction this good, you are going to be appalled at how much dirt comes out of your carpet. It makes me laugh when I read reviews where people complain about how often they have to empty the dust canister. That means this vacuum is actually cleaning the dirt out of your carpet that your old vacuum left behind. Be happy. - Easy to assemble. - Larger dust cup that empties easily and cleanly almost every time. You had to reach into the dust canister on the older Lift Away and yank out dirt-encrusted clumps of hair and carpet fibers every time you tried to empty it. - HEPA filter. Even though the original Lift Away was advertised as having a HEPA filter, until people started complaining, it did not come with one unless you bought it directly from Shark. This one has a HEPA filter. - 30 foot long power cord - 5 feet longer than the original Lift Away. You don't have to keep moving the plug around to vacuum. Shark is finally using better quality electrical cord so it no longer bends and kinks. - Light weight: about 14.5 pounds. In Lift Away mode, it weighs about 8 pounds. - Bagless. A real time and money saver not to have to go buy bags. - Tolerable noise level. It's a lot quieter than most vacuum cleaners. - Swivel head. You can easily maneuver around things with just a twist of your wrist. It functions just as well as the Dyson Ball. - Excellent cleaning of hard floor surfaces and carpeting. - Adjustable suction. You can vacuum smaller rugs without pulling them up off the floor. - Beater bar on/off control. Turn the beater bar off when you are cleaning solid surface flooring so you don't mar the finish. When the vacuum is turned on and in the upright position, the beater bar is automatically disengaged. No more carpet burns or scratched wood floors. - The pet hair turbo-brush. It easily removes pet fur from furniture, stairs, bedding, etc., and is great for cleaning your car. - Picks up chunky dirt. My Dysons snowplow anything larger than dust. I can vacuum up chunks of dry dog food without having to use the wand. - The short hose that leads from the body of the vacuum to the beater bar head and provides the suction no longer comes loose like it does on the first Lift Away. You'd finish vacuuming only to realize the hose had detached and all you really did when you thought you were vacuuming was rearrange the dirt on the carpet. - Better quality clips securing the dust canister to the body of the vacuum. - The Lift Away function is simple (one press of a button) and works great. - Easy release wand. With the press of a button, you can use the shorter hose with your attachments or the longer extension wand. - Washable felt and sponge filters. Rinse them out and let them air dry and you're good to go again. A spare set would be nice since it can take a while for the filters to dry and you can't vacuum without them. - Small cleaner head. It's not a space hog, so it's easy to store. You can also get into tighter spaces more easily when you vacuum. CONS: - The hose that leads to the wand is way too short and has no give to it. You can stretch it all you like, but it won't loosen up. Turn on the vacuum, and the suction pulls it even more tightly back on itself. Cleaning with the wand and attachments is like wrestling with the vacuum. It tips over every single time and makes using the Lift Away mode a real workout. You hold the wand in one hand and have to lift the vacuum body up with the other in order to have any reach at all. If I want to lift weights, I'll go to the gym. - The vacuum tips over really easily. If you use the wand or attachments, the slightest pull will make the vacuum fall over. - No on-board storage for the turbo brush or another extension wand - two essential attachments. If the vacuum had a telescoping wand instead of the heavy clunky one it has now (it is covered by some of the heavy white outer shell of the vacuum), it would be easier to use and lighter, too. - Once again, Shark has given us 2 crevice tools (a small one stored on board and a long one that you can't attach anything to) instead of just giving us another wand we can use with any attachment. - Poor edge cleaning. - Cord placement. To use the longer, built-in cleaning wand, you have to completely unravel the power cord and detach it from the cord hook. How about a telescoping wand that detaches above the hook? - You still can't clean carpeted surfaces under furniture. The Dust Away attachment with the microfiber pads is for solid surface flooring under furniture, not for carpets. The hose and wand are too short, and there still is no attachment you can use to clean carpets under furniture. - No light. A couple of LED lights would help in dark areas without adding a lot of weight. - The turbo brush. It's my favorite attachment and it's so cheaply made that I usually have to order replacements (maybe that's the idea). This tool does an outstanding job getting pet hair off of furniture and stairs and it's terrific for cleaning your car. I spend far too much time unwinding hair from the beater bar and dislodging caked on dander and dust from the guts of the turbo brush. Yuck. Shark should take a good long look at the Dyson mini turbine brush (smaller, lighter, better designed, and better built) and learn something. That brush doesn't break or clog. It costs more, but it's worth every penny. If it fit on my Lift Away, I'd use it instead. - The Lift Away needs a soft-bristled dusting brush like Dyson's. The stiff-bristled brush is fine for upholstery, but not for dusting or electronics. - Customer Service. Shark finally appears to have noticed the years of negative reviews of their abysmal customer service. I called recently and they actually listened to my problem and were quite pleasant about it (huge improvement right there), but nothing was resolved. So no change overall. The call ended with an automated customer satisfaction survey where I could now rate my unsatisfactory experience. - Worthless warranty. The Lift Away Pro is a decent quality vacuum cleaner, so you just have to hope that you won't need to deal with customer service. It has been my experience that they have no intention of solving your problem unless there is a way to charge you exorbitantly for it or seriously inconvenience you, or both. Buy your Lift Away Pro locally and give it a real workout while you can still return it to the store if you have problems. You can exchange it or get your money back without having to pay huge shipping costs or go without a vacuum cleaner for weeks like you would if you dealt directly with Shark. If it breaks, buy a new vacuum cleaner. Life's too short to deal with the hassle of trying to make Shark honor a warranty. Bottom line: this is a really good vacuum cleaner for the price. It performs well, and it's lightweight and easy to maneuver. The dust collection bin empties easily and usually completely. There is still room for improvement, but I haven't found a perfect vacuum cleaner yet, including the much-hyped Dyson. Despite all of the cons, I would give the Lift Away Pro a solid 4 stars. I've been using it daily for close to two months, and it works great so far. There is no way to assess durability or reliability until this model has been out longer. I would recommend this vacuum cleaner as a moderately-priced alternative to other expensive cyclonic vacuums on the market. I see no difference in performance, so why overpay just for the cachet of owning a more expensive brand? If the reliability holds up, this less expensive model will prove to be the smarter choice.