Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

PROS: Some brilliant innovations. Powerful suction. Easy-empty bin. No dust smell whatsoever. Easy to maneuver. CONS: Annoying stretch hose can make it frustrating on small jobs. SUMMARY: Shark has clearly done their homework on this new Lift-Away model. Despite a few flaws, this is one serious vacuum cleaner that beats Dyson hands down! FULL REVIEW: Never in a million years did I think I'd be writing a review about a vacuum cleaner. Never. Ever! I've never spent one moment of my life worried about whether or not our vacuum cleaner works better than our neighbor's. I plug it in, turn it on, vacuum the carpet, then I get on with my life. If it ain't belching smoke, sounding like it's going to lift off into outer space, or leaving stuff all over my floor, I figure it's working pretty good. But then along came this Shark Rotator Lift-Away and messed up the whole thing. For crying out loud, now they've even got ME interested in vacuum cleaners!!! The fact that I'm writing a review about one must mean that the end of the world is near! (I just hope none of my buddies ever find out I wrote this review!) I think the thing that got me interested was how everyone has been talking about this vacuum cleaner like it's the Second Coming, for crying out loud. You know, going on and on about what an amazing gadget it is; how they've never used anything like it! Well, I'm a huge gadget freak -- gotta check out the latest and greatest technological marvels and all, so I just couldn't resist trying this thing out for myself. I had tried one of Shark's earlier models several years ago, and frankly, it just left me feeling embarrassed for it... like watching a blind horse compete in the Kentucky Derby. It felt clumsy and feeble -- not at all ready for prime time. But clearly the folks at Shark have done their homework since then and have spent considerable time back at the drawing board, because with the release of this new Rotator Lift-Away, they have just delivered a deadly bite to Dyson's claims of being the best vacuum cleaner on the market. Mr. Dyson simply cannot say that anymore! Sorry old chap. There's no doubt that Mr. Dyson broke the mold on vacuum cleaner design and sent the entire industry into a tail spin. But his newer models feel like they're taking steps backwards instead of leaps forward. Recently our fairly new Dyson started having mental lapses -- it just didn't seem to remember that its entire purpose for existing was to suck stuff up off our floors. My wife and I have returned two Dyson vacuums now, and with the second return, I decided to give this new Shark Rotator Lift-Away a shot and see what all the hoopla was about. Man, was I in for a surprise! First, let me start out with the few things I really dislike about this vacuum cleaner. That way I can end this review on a positive note by telling you what I do like about it. WHAT I HATE Call me lazy, but I absolutely despise having to manually wind the entire power cord up out of the way, especially a power cord as long as the one on this Shark Lift-Away. Whatever happened to those awesome automatic power cord "rewinders" on the old canister vacuums? Seriously, that was a fantastic feature... (other than the fact that from time to time the cord would retract at about 180 mph and the tail end would whip around and sever the arteries in your leg. Still, that was a way-cool feature, and I'm willing to live with some scars just to have it.) I just think a machine this advanced should not make me still get down on one knee and manually loop the stinking cord around and around and around two little plastic hooks. Shark has certainly created some great new features, but they missed the ball on this one! Come on guys, bring back the days when I could press a button with my foot and watch the power cord automatically disappear out of site. Bada-bing! Bada-boom! I cannot begin to tell you how much I hate the extendable hose on this vacuum cleaner. Dyson claims that their hose will extend 17 feet for easy stair cleaning. Um, can we get serious for a moment? The ONLY way the Dyson hose is going to extend 17 feet is if you get a second person to sit on the vacuum cleaner and hold it in place, then get a group of friends to play tug-of-war with the hose and stretch it out all the way. And sadly, the same is true with the hose on this Shark. In fact, these so-called "extendable" hoses are only good for one thing... to stay put in their retracted position. They fight you every inch of the way when you try to stretch them out for cleaning away from the vacuum cleaner itself. This is at least tolerable when using the "wand" to clean your kitchen floor, for example, but it will drive you completely batty if you try to use the hose by itself. Yesterday I attached the small brush directly to the end of the hose so that I could go around my office and vacuum all my bookshelves, computer equipment, etc. This task was a breeze with our old Hoover. It is extremely difficult on these new models because the hose constantly wants to pull out of your hand and fly back towards the vacuum. It's like wrestling a hyperactive python! How in the world this could have been overlooked in product development and testing just boggles the mind. All the new vacuums are going with this type of extendable hose now, but until someone is able to make one that stretches out without such utter resistance, they will remain completely useless in my opinion. For now, we'll just have to attach our old 15-foot extension hose (not "extendable" hose) to the wand on the vacuum like we did on our old Hoover and do it that way. But as I said, this is not an issue only on the Shark... Dyson does the same thing. And speaking of the hose, this Shark does tend to tip over when using the extendable hose with the wand attachment, for example. They really could have set the wheels a little further back to help prevent this from happening, however, there is a way to cut down on this problem considerably. If you've read other reviews about this model, you've probably heard people talking about how it tips over, but I think they may have missed something I didn't see either my first few times using it. The hose can actually "snap out" from the little bracket that holds it against the back of the canister. It is made this way by design, but it's not evident at first. We have found that if we make sure the hose is simply popped out of this bracket, then the "tension point" where the hose pulls against the upright canister is actually lowered; instead of it being halfway up the vacuum, it now pulls from almost the very bottom of the vacuum, and this was the intended design for using the extendable hose. We have experienced much better results after discovering this. Okay, enough already! You're probably beginning to think I don't like anything about this vacuum cleaner. Well now, don't be too hasty. I just had to vent all that negative stuff in the hopes that maybe, just maybe, someone from the Shark company would read it and see the error of their ways. WHAT I LIKE Where do I start? There really is a lot to like about this odd-looking, funky little machine! First of all -- the price. We paid a small fortune for our Dyson, but compared to this new Shark, it's clear now that the Dyson is way, way overpriced! The price point of this Shark Lift-Away simply cannot be beat, especially considering all you're getting. It comes very neatly packaged in a huge box... just when you think you've reached the bottom of the box, there are more and more attachments that just keep coming out! And that was really my first good impression -- these folks didn't skimp on accessories like most manufacturers do. There are tons of attachments that come with this vacuum. You get the Premium Turbo Brush, 12" Crevice Tool, Dusting Brush, a Car Detail Kit, Straight Suction Nozzle, and the Canister Caddy. The instruction manual is clear and easy to follow. Each piece has a very, very solid feel to it; not only a substantial weight letting you know it's not made out of cheap plastic, but also how each piece snaps together with a nice, solid, satisfying thud. It is light, but there's no doubt whatsoever when holding this vacuum cleaner in your hands that it is extremely well made out of good, durable materials! The pieces fit together really snugly, which lets you know that no air or dust is going to "leak" out while vacuuming. The attachments snap right onto the vacuum so you don't have to search the house every time you need something. After unwinding the generously long power cord and plugging it in, I was ready to give this baby a whirl. The four main buttons used to control all the functions of this vacuum cleaner are neatly located together near the top area of the canister, so there's no fumbling around trying to find them on different areas of the vacuum or on the handle or wand. Two of these buttons are power buttons -- one turns on the "vacuum only" for hardwood or tile floors, and a separate one that turns on the "vacuum and the beater bar rollers" for carpets. The noise level on this vacuum is lower than any vacuum we've ever owned. It is actually MUCH quieter. At first, I was concerned by this, fearful that its suction power could not possibly be as great as our old Hoover or Dyson. Wrong! After placing my hand on the end of the wand and nearly having it sucked inside, it became abundantly clear that this Shark has some extremely powerful suction. After seeing this, I decided to try a little experiment. I grabbed our old stair cleaning attachment and popped it onto the end of the Shark wand. When I used this with our Hoover and with our Dyson, the motor inside the stair cleaner whirred at a nice, brisk pace, but if I pressed it too hard on the stairs, the brush inside would stop spinning. Well, those days are gone! After hitting the power switch on the Shark, I thought the stair cleaner was going to spin off into orbit. It was rotating at what must have been twice the speed it ever did before, and was whining so high I was afraid it was going to explode! My wife even came into the hallway and said, "What is THAT?" I grinned and said, "THAT is power, baby. Power!" She gave me the look that wives give when their husbands are acting like idiots, and walked back into the kitchen. Yes sir-ee, this thing has some serious suction power! God help you if you accidentally get the end of this wand near your hamster or one of those tiny little froofy dogs! They'll take a trip they will never forget! The Shark Rotator Lift-Away comes with an excellent filter that apparently stops every single dust particle from getting through, because when you vacuum with it, there is NO dust smell whatsoever in the air. None. This is a very noticeable improvement over all our previous vacuum cleaners. Maneuvering this vacuum around the room is very convenient thanks to the swivel feature, but it wasn't until I tried the Lift-Away feature that I was truly sold on this unit. With the press of a button, the entire canister lifts off the base of the vacuum cleaner, allowing you to walk anywhere you like to vacuum while only having to hold the light canister in your hand. When I reached our staircase, this feature really made sense! I was able to easily walk up the stairs, vacuuming each one as I went, without having to lug the entire vacuum cleaner with me. This is truly genius, and this one feature alone makes this Shark Lift-Away worth every penny! Trust me, you'll just have to try it to see what I mean. I cannot ever imagine going back to doing stairs the old way. In fact, I found myself walking all over different rooms vacuuming places I hadn't been able to with our Dyson, simply because it was too much trouble to try and push an entire vacuum cleaner to those tiny areas. And the cord on this Shark is so long that I was able to vacuum our entire upstairs hallway before I realized that it was still plugged in downstairs! This model also comes with something they call a canister caddy. Again, this is a bit confusing at first, but once you use it, you'll totally "get it". In short, it turns your upright vacuum cleaner into... well... a canister vacuum! Some people prefer upright vacuum cleaners, others prefer canister models. Now you can have both for the price of one! Simply pop the canister of this Shark Lift-Away off the base and snap it down onto the caddy. You can then move about the house and the canister caddy will follow you wherever you go. The 360-degree rotating wheels allow it to turn in even the tightest spaces, making it incredibly convenient in any room size. This is also extremely handy when you need to take the vacuum cleaner outside to vacuum out your car. It rolls around the car anywhere you pull it, exactly like a shop vac. This is a fantastic feature that truly adds a lot of extra value to this device! Finally, let me just say that this Shark has headlights. Can I get a Hallelujah?! Can I get an Amen?!! One of my biggest complaints about the Dyson is that, for the outrageous price they charge for it, they were too cheap to even include a stinking little headlight! You may not think a headlight makes any difference, and I didn't either... that is until we switched from our old Hoover, which had great headlights, to the Dyson, which had none. The difference in some rooms was astounding! I actually found myself going around the rooms turning on extra lamps just so I could see the carpets better. I was thrilled to see that this Shark not only has one headlight -- it has four! And they are LED lights that really do put out a lot of light. This may seem like a small thing, but, trust me, it makes a huge difference! Well, I've already talked more about this vacuum cleaner than any man ever should. So I'm going to wrap up by saying that if you're looking for a new vacuum, I would highly, highly recommend checking out the Shark Rotator Lift-Away. It is a brilliantly designed device that you will absolutely love. Despite my complaints, its benefits far outweigh its shortfalls. It truly is a great product! If you're even slightly considering purchasing a new vacuum cleaner, do yourself a huge favor and order this one. You'll be glad you did, and like me, you may even enjoy vacuuming again. (Just don't tell my buddies I wrote a review about a vacuum cleaner. I'll never live it down!)