I’ve been wanting a cordless vacuum that could covert into a handheld vacuum for awhile now. I’m tired of using the attachment hose on our upright and having it fall and hit me. Usually it hits me in the head, but a couple of weeks ago it fell on my foot and bruised it, so that was it; I decided it was time to find something new. Our old Dustbuster’s battery hadn’t worked in years, and while we have two stickvacs that convert to handhelds, they are both corded and a pain to deal with.
I really didn’t want to spend $400 on a Dyson, however. We also don’t have a spot in the house to mount it to the wall. I did a little research and people seem really happy with the Shark cordless vacuums, so I started looking at those. Some models can be just as expensive as a Dyson, but I found one in the $250 range I liked. Plus it can stand freely by detaching the handheld part and hanging it on a hook on the larger section.
We’ve racked up a pretty large cashback balance with our Discover card. We usually cash it in for restaurant cards or Bath & Body Works, but haven’t used it much lately so it had gotten into the $300 range. Even better, they give you a discount on the card. I started looking at which retailers carried the vacuum I wanted that also had gift cards available through Discover. I settled on Kohls and wouldn’t you know it, not only was the vacuum on sale for $229, but there was a one-day only 35% off coupon on Sunday, bringing the total, with tax, to $183.27. I snagged a $180 Kohl’s gift card for $162 in cashback and paid the balance of $3.27 for the vacuum, which I received two days later.
After it was fully charged (which takes 2-3 hours), I used it to vacuum the area rug in the workout room, the laminate floor in all the rooms upstairs (it gets into tight corners in handheld mode), and to suck up dead ants in the dining room (they are the bane of my existence every spring).
This morning I used it to clean up the laundry room, foyer, and guest bathroom downstairs. It is so much easier to use than the regular vacuum with hose attachment. Quicker too. Best yet, it cleans the throw rugs without trying to eat them. I love it! I’ll probably only use the big vacuum for the wall-to-wall carpeting and the Shark for everything else.
The suction is really good, and for particularly stubborn spots there’s a boost option which gives it even more powerful suction. It’s really upped my cleaning game. I keep a pretty clean house as it is, but my laziness keeps me from keeping up with the crumbs and whatnot. With the Shark I don’t mind cleaning that stuff up on the daily.
There’s 3 bars that light up on it to keep track of the battery power left and it’s still on the second one after two days of cleaning which is good. I didn’t track the actual total time I’ve used it, but it’s supposed to last up to 40 minutes on a single charge. I told my friend that my only worry is that the battery will go bad quickly and stop holding a charge (like it did in my Dustbuster) but I hope that’s not the case for a $200 vacuum because a replacement battery is $75. Only time will tell, I guess.
Right now I’m keeping it in the office closet with the attachments in a small plastic trashcan. It doesn’t weigh much so it’s easy to move it between floors, unlike the Bissell vacuum. If it wasn’t for the wall-to-wall carpeting, it would be the only vacuum we need.
