Home Appliance Reviews

Right Hand Battlemate in Last Year’s Flea Fight Eureka Boss Smartvac 4870 Bagged Upright Vacuum Around March last year, our home was disgustingly infested by fleas. Not wi...

Had Many Vacuums before and I’m so glad I bought this one Eureka Boss Smartvac 4870 Bagged Upright Vacuum Having bought many vacuums over the last 28 years of marriage, I am so glad...

After my last vacuum bit the dust…I bought this on a whim and from a recommendation from my mom, and also Consumer Reports…(when my usually thorough-research-happy husband was out of town). Did I make the right choice?

Floor option Very easily to get started using this model. With the model in an upright position, select the height of the carpet, depress foot pedal and go. (After plugging in of course.) Also, you can easily vacuum bare floors. There is a switch for this, however, it does require a little force to get it into place.

Suction on this model is wonderful! If you find that it’s not working very well, change the bag. The less there is in the bag, the better suction you’ll get.

There is an option to use the vacuum under a bed. I only learned about this after reading another review online. If you depress the foot pedal twice, the vacuum will almost lay on the floor. This gives me a chance to get under tables, beds, chairs and such.

Hose option One of my favorite upgrades from my old vacuum was the dial that switches the suction from floor to hose. Before I had to attach the hose to my old vacuum to utilize the hose function. However, with this model, it’s easy. The hose is already attached. Just turn the dial and go.

There are four attachments. These include the upholstery, the tight-fit, the wider hose and the Power Paw attachments. I use the upholstery attachment the most often. I find that placing this back on the vacuum was difficult to figure out at first. The other attachments are great as well. I think that the added Power Paw that I got is great. It helps vacuum in tight corners because it’s basically a smaller version, with it’s rotating head. However, since this attachment does not have a home on the vacuum, it’s inconvenient.

I like the stiff tubing that attaches to the vacuum’s hose. This is helpful for high places or if you don’t want to bend over to clean near the baseboards. I did find that I actually had to read the directions on the tubes to figure out how to put them together. Thankfully they put little pictures on the tubes to know how each fit with another piece.

Weight This is HEAVY. If you want a light machine, this isn’t for you. Also, it will topple over easily. So watch out before it scratches your newly painted walls or attacks you while vacuuming your stairs (this may happen because the wheels roll very easily!)Thankfully there is a stair handle that you can use as you vacuum from stair to stair.

Concerns Is it damaging my shag carpet? When I compare the carpet in the center of the room to the carpet on the outside rim, I notice two things, 1) the carpet is fraying and 2) the carpet is darker. The carpet in a 1/2 inch border all the way around the room near the baseboard looks great. It is not frayed and the original color. My concern is that the suction of the vacuum is so strong and the bristles move so rapidly, that the carpet is being damaged in the process of vacuuming.

I tested this out on a 4×7 shaggy rug on my wood floors. I vacuumed one corner. After turning off the vacuum I looked at the fibers, and I noticed that each tightly wrapped piece of carpet, had been pulled apart. Now that section of carpet looks a bit different. Not noticeable to anybody but me though.

Future costs There are several costs associated with keeping up with this vacuum. One of those is the bags. These must be changed often, say every 3 months. Otherwise I’ve noticed an odor when vacuuming. These are also not inexpensive items. Then there is the HEPA filter. While this seems to work great. It is difficult to find. Actually I haven’t been able to find it in stores and must be ordered(?). What a pain. And these are not cheap.

May I suggest an improvement? A retractable cord. What would be better than having that looooong cord retract?? The cord is long, and the little finger, that holds the cord on the vacuum, swivels. So in the middle of vacuuming sometimes the cord just falls off onto the floor. Very annoying. Then you have to stop and twist it back up. I bet if one did a figure 8 when wrapping the cord onto the vacuum, this wouldn’t happen. I personally find this idea exhausting and think a retractable cord would make life a lot easier.

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