Upright Vacuums Reviews

We bought a Eureka Whirlwind Litespeed vacuum just over two years ago upon purchase of our new (to us) home. For the first year and a half, we loved the vacuum. It performed wonderfully under very modest use.

Alas, no longer. It breaks belts on a regular (approx. every 2 weeks) basis. Despite changing height settings, cleaning debris from the rollers, inspecting and scrubbing all moving parts and even trying belt dressing, I now spend more time changing belts than vacuuming. This is highly frustrating, as you might imagine.

In my letter to Eureka, I ask the following questions: Should I bring the machine with me on my trip to the landfill this week, or try some yet-unthought-of trick to keep the vacuum cleaner working? Presuming the former is my best option, do you have a suggestion on a similar replacement vacuum from another manufacturer that might last as long as, say, the Hoover upright I owned previously that lasted 20 years while breaking only a half-dozen belts?

After two years the gasket which seals the top of the canister leaks resulting in a considerable loss of suction. Replacing the gasket is of little use since the plastic canister itself has deformed under the strain of opening and closing and will no longer make an adequate seal. It's hard to understand why any manufacturer would put critical functionality at risk over such minor stuff. I seriously doubt that Eureka gave this feature adequate testing before moving to production. Does not speak well to the quality of the engineering at Eureka. Still, I've owned worse vacuum cleaners.

worked well for 1st 6 months and then has been eating up belts at least monthly...have been thru at least 5 belts...easy to replace but annoying. There are better values for the same price...the Bissell line gets much better reviews.

The first week this vacumn cleaner worked better than any I'd used before... but it's been down hill since then. The hose is easily blocked if you pick up anything other than fine dust/powder, and even then the twists and turns of the air line to the canister cause jamming and no suction... I have to remove the filter, which clogs up too easily, after I use the vacumn every time and bang outside on something to get the dust out... it's either that or replace it frequently...
Cheap to buy at first but a pain in the ass over time.

This vacuum is awful. Don't even consider it. It has never worked from the day I got it and Amazon would not let me return it because it had been more than 30 days since the purchase date. It spews dust and dirt out all over the place. I had it repaired once (No Warranty was provided for this specific problem) and it stills spews out dirt. I'm putting it in a dumpster this weekend.....

This is a neat toy, especially since it resembles our vacuum and the girls liked vacuuming along side us. I use the past tense because after being dropped over a few times the handle broke off.

If I could give this vacuum a 0 rating, I would. After only 4-5 uses (Yes, I cleaned out the bin) it clogged up. The attachments only worked once and quit. I've bought several of the "cheaper" vacuums with good luck, but this one was absolutely terrible. As I'm sure you can tell, I would not recommend wasting your money.

I've had this vacuum for about 1 year now. Just a background, my wife does most of the vacuuming around the house and she wanted an upright to replace our old Hoover cannister vacuum that had broken. Anyway, I noticed that after I purchased the vacuum that she was not using it that often and that she complained that it wasn't a very good vacuum - didn't think too much of it since it didn't really affect me too much (I don't vacuum much, lol) and it was kinda inexpensive (was a gold box purchase). Instead, she started to use a cordless Shark vacuum.
Recently, I tried using this vacuum on multiple occasions.

For the Pros:
1) inexpensive
2) It moves along pretty easily and is maneuverable.
3) It has a HEPA filter which supposedly helps DURING the vacuuming.

Now for the Cons:
1) The little filter inside the cannister gets clogged very quickly and makes the suction power worthless. You constantly have to unclog this sponge filter to make it work correctly.
2) The HEPA filter is useless for those with allergies (myself being one of those) since the dust goes ALL OVER THE PLACE when you empty the cannister.
3) Very few attachments and the hose doesn't reach very high places.
4) Very loud vacuum. On the Amazon review: "One of the company's quietest upright models..." - I'd hate to have to listen to one of their noisiest models! It's like listening to an airplane take off (and my wife keeps saying that I'm hard of hearing).

Overall, I'm rather disappointed in this model. I will probably look into the Dyson vacuums (a lot more money), but will probably go to Sears or somewhere to actually try it before I buy.

I have had this vacuum for almost 3 years now, and it has been a great vacuum. I don't really notice a difference in my allergies, but it does pick up nicely and very easy to empty the filter. Just a few notes:
-I washed the filter and left out to dry (as the directions state) and it smelled kindy of like mildew afterwards.
-My brush roller just melted. I've read some other reviews that said you must remove dog hair/hair from it frequently to prevent this.
For the price, this works great!

I have owned this vacuum for over a year now and it still works great. I am always amazed at how much dirt and dust it picks up when I vacuum. I have had to replace the brush-roll and the belt, but that was my fault because I didn't keep the brush roll as clean as I should have and a piece of yarn from a rug was wound around the roll and caused it to melt a bearing. Overall I love the vacuum. I do have to say that when I first purchased the vacuum it was quieter than it is now, but it still works very well. I have not had any problems with the suction at all.

And we have owned a bunch. We just replaced our Fantom with this Eureka...so we are familiar with bagless/Hepa units. We liked the Fantom but were swayed by the great reviews we saw for Eureka's. This is an order of magnitude better. Our carpets feel softer and look revitalized. Unbeleavable the cat dander and fine silt that this pulled from the carpets. Call me crazy, but even the air in the room smells cleaner. Compared to our Fantom, the filters are easier to change and are more reasonably priced with this unit. We picked this model because we did not need all the bells and whistles on the higher priced rigs. We are extremely happy with our decision. We made sure that we could return it if not completely satisfied...we're gonna keep it. EXCELLENT basic vacuum...super performance.

I just received my vacuum and I just love it. My Mom has the 5740 and it's great too, but I like this one better because of the added features...15" width, the stretch hose and furniture guard are great! The bonus Copperhead I think will work out well for cleaning my car and hard to reach places.
This purchase was to have a second vacuum on hand and I think this one will be getting more activity. If you don't own one - you gotta get one. It's amazing how powerful this vacuum is and how deep it cleans. All I can say is WOW!

Dont buy this vacuum. I used it for 6 mos and then it broke (the belt would not stay on - kept sliding off the shaft). I tried everything and finally called. Eureka gave me authorized shop to take it to which I did. The guy at the shop did not even want me to show him what is wrong. He took one look at my vacuum and said "belt wont stay on huh?". I was stunned and asked him how he knew. He said he's gotten four of these in past year and all the same. He cant fix em, and told me Eureka would send me new vacuum which they did. Today I picked up a new vacuum (same model grrrr) from the shop. And sitting next to mine where two more broken units of the exact same model.

Words of advice - if you buy this vacuum save your receipt. Without receipt you wont be able to use warranty. Just my two cents folks.

P.S. When it works it works GREAT. My wife loves it. I was tempted to give it 2 star just because it does work well. I just worry that in 6 mos this new one will break again and now it will be off of warranty.

This vacuum cleaner was given to my daughter as a wedding gift. Over the next 2 years she repeatedly told me she "hated that thing". Not being a spiffy housekeeper, I chalked it up to her inconsistent upkeep. Recently she bought a Dyson & agreed to give me the Eureka.
Gawd, I hate that thing. It has a voracious appetite for belts, cleaning the canister out is nasty and not recommended for anyone w/ dust allergies. It exhausts hot air on the left side of the machine...therefore my right leg suffers repeated blasts of Space Shuttle Booster burn everytime I pull back on the thing.
And it is very heavy...the Space Shuttle may actually be lighter.
The @#$!^% thing just ate 2 belts in 2 weeks. Normally I would give an unwanted appliance to Goodwill, but to do so seems cruel. Why would I want to visit this misery onto anyone else?
So, with apologies to my daughter, I throw in the towel on the Eureka and will stick with my Hoover (with bags).