Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The Shark Powered Lift-Away DuoClean isn't perfect but it's a solid quality vacuum with some really good features. My son has dust mite allergy and asthma, so HEPA allergy filtration and how much dust and debris get suctioned up from the carpet are the most important factors to me. The Shark meets my HEPA criteria with 99.99% filtration. As to suction, the Shark does a dynamite job cleaning my hard floors as it sucks up everything in sight and makes sweeping obsolete. The performance is okay, but not quite as impressive vacuuming my carpet. I do see lots of dust and debris in the Shark dust bin, but my carpet just doesn't look or feel as freshly vacuumed as I prefer. I've vacuumed thoroughly with the Shark until nothing significant enters the dust bin and have followed with my Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Upright, and Dyson still sucks up a fair amount of additional dust and leaves the carpet feeling nicer under my feet and looking better than using the Shark. Dyson seems to have better suction and gets to the debris buried deeper in the carpet. Also, Shark has a smaller 10" head (Dyson is 13") and, while it allows for getting into smaller areas, I still prefer a full size head for vacuuming carpet as it ends up looking nicer with wider passes. The Shark came with good directions and was easy to assemble in under 10 minutes. It's good for someone who can't lift heavy objects as it's really lightweight (except the power button is low and aggravates my back to bend at an awkward level). I can lift and push it around even after failed back surgery. It also comes with four useful attachments, with the long telescopic appliance attachment being my favorite. It fits perfectly in a deep, skinny space between my kitchen cabinet and refrigerator- an area I've never been able to clean. I can't stand dusting and find that the small brush attachment works great for vacuuming dust off the entertainment console and other furniture. The Shark has clearly labeled buttons that make it so easy to figure out how to "lift-away" the pod (to vacuum with the attachments or get under furniture), remove and empty the dust bin, switch between carpet and hard floors, etc. The Shark swivels and maneuvers similar to my Dyson (which pivots), though it's not weighted evenly and feels a bit awkward to push around (but I've grown used to it). There's a "canister" mode but a caddy has to be purchased separately, so that's not something I use or can evaluate. The construction of the Shark feels really solid, especially considering its light weight. It doesn't squeak or make weird noises. You can feel and hear the pieces snap into place nicely, except for the attachments (which has made me wonder if I'm using them wrong, but they do stay in place). It's easy to remove the dust bin and empty it from both the top and bottom. The bin seems better quality than the Dyson dust bin, which is a struggle for me to open at the top and sometimes I think it's going to break when I'm opening it. The Shark dust bin is roomy enough for me to vacuum the whole house and just empty it once when I'm done. The Shark has a nice long power cord and wraps up neatly when not in use. It comes with a storage bag for accessories and doesn't take much space in the hall closet as it's fairly compact. The Shark has a solid build, works great on my hard floors and has nice features and accessories, though it's somewhat awkward to use and does only a moderately good job on my carpeting. Because getting the carpet as clean as possible is so important to me, I'm rating the Shark 3.5 stars (rounded up to 4 stars). PS: I'm adding a few photos of the Shark and one photo of the Shark next to the Dyson. I emptied the Shark dust bin (shown separately with the debris inside) after I finished vacuuming, but the carpet didn't look as good as I'm used to so I ran the Dyson after. The amount of dust in the Dyson bin is what it picked up after I just vacuumed with the Shark. 7/3/2018: Just a quick update that I haven’t run into any mechanical problems or issues after using this vacuum well over a year. It’s a solid quality vacuum.