Customer Reviews

Eureka Optima Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner, 431F

5 star:		(18)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(13)

 

 

You can just feel the amount of air getting sucked through this thing. Although small, it's got a very effective 12amp motor, and still fits under a shelf in the closet with our board games. It's simple, sturdy and functional.

My wife and I were going to register for a Dyson, but when we played with one at Macy's it felt rickety. We were really surprised as we'd heard nothing but great things about them. But we decided we couldn't blow $400 on a big, plastic monstrosity. I'm sure they're really great, but our modest 900sq' just don't need the BMW of vacuums.

In particular I like the handle. Looks weird, but it's perfect. The hose only comes with two attachments; that's all you need, and the hose itself is just long enough. The brush height is automatically adjusting. The power switch is a simple three-position switch that goes: off / motor / motor and brush. And the dust catch and filter are easy enough to remove and empty.

A Dyson may very well last forever, but I could buy six of these, which would still be half the weight of the smallest Dyson and easier to hide away.

Happy housekeeping.

I was very concerned after reading all the reviews for this vac, but took some people's advice from the reviews and I am extremely happy with my new vac.

1- Be respectful of the directions:It takes a whole 5 minutes to read the small booklet/leaflet and if you don't read it expect problems. There are two knobs and some people on the reviews didn't even know that, because they didn't read the directions.

2-The vac is lightweight and small: Be respectful that it is a small POWERFUL vac. It cannot vacuum a 2000 sq. foot home, not even a 1000 sq foot home without cleaning the filter. I use it for my large area rugs. It picksup and suctions very well! People complain they have to clean the filter often and how difficult it is to clean the filter. Someone in these reviews recommended a small 99 cent brush (bottle/dish/etc) and this worked perfectly for me. It takes me litterally 30 seconds to clean (don't try chop sticks like someone recommended that would take forever.) It has a powerful suction of course the filter will pickup a lot; that's what its supposed to do!

3- Its a small vac, use it for small spaces maybe 500 sq.feet. If you use it for more or have a pet that sheds a lot or pet w/long hair expect to clean the filter more (maybe 1x in between.)

4- As far as problems with hardwood floors or the air blowing the dust around I just leave my vac on carpet mood- thats it. Works fine. Someone else stated once you lean the vac that problem disappears, but I haven't evn tried moving the know yet, because carpet mode works for me.

5- The vac is lightweight, the canister is EASY to remove and the vac POWERFUL. I have used it for about 2 months now maybe 3x a week and really appreciate its power and lightweight. I hope this helps others.

I bought this vacuum a few months ago because it seemed like the perfect compromise between a full-size, full-priced vacuum cleaner, and a smaller hand-held. Just what I needed for my small apartment with both carpet and tile flooring. I was initially impressed by its light weight, sleek design, adjustable handle, and seemingly good/advertised suction. But, as is usually the case, looks can be deceiving and often supersede function.

As another reviewer mentioned, this vacuum is completely useless on hardwood or tile floors. The exhaust just ends up blowing the debris around rather than sucking it up. Not to mention the suction is seemingly lost on flat surfaces anyway, because even the pieces that manage to not get blown around don't ever seem to make it inside the vacuum. Maybe this would be an acceptable flaw, but once you get the vacuum onto carpet, performance isn't much better. It often refuses to pick up seemingly easy debris, which could be due to a combination of factors. If the suction line isn't clogged with dust bunnies (poor design), or the brush roll is tangled up with hair and string (poor design), then surely you're still cursed by the fact that there is no height-level adjustment to make up for the poor suction. If it's not one thing, it's the other, and it seems to be a battle to just keep this vacuum functioning properly--or at least up to its best interpretation of proper.

Overall, I'd say avoid this product, by all means. It does warrant two stars, only because the light weight of it is still favorable, and it is so easy to store in a closet or other small space, and easy to set up and put away. If it was more functional, it would be the perfection companion for an apartment or bedroom. But that's the problem, it's not acceptably functional. It's seemingly poorly designed and just does not get the job done. Look elsewhere if you want quality over initial appeal.

UPDATE 5/20/10: Made a discovery today. Prior to writing this review, I unknowingly had the suction set to "hose" instead of "floor", which clearly explains the lack of suction and the blowing around of dust. Once I flipped it back to the "floor" setting, the vacuum performed flawlessly on both tile and carpet. I wonder how many other reviewers who've complained of these issues have committed the same mistake? Or maybe I'm the only blond here.

I've upgraded this review to four stars now, instead of two. The vacuum still isn't perfect, and still has the issues of having to clean it after just about every use and being a bit difficult to push on carpet. But it works, and pretty dang well for its size and price, as long as you keep it clean. Now that I have the settings correct on it, I have no issue with any debris blowing around as I vacuum it right up.

I really love this Eureka Optima Bagless Upright! I've been needing to replace my just over 3 yr old Hoover (which by the way was easily triple the cost of the Optima) for some time but delayed due to prior Vacuum choice disappointment. I asked friends & family and then because I was made redundant at work a couple weeks ago, I had to reevaluate the decision based on price. With that said I landed on this at Target for just under $60 dollars and truly I am so happy with the size/weight, suction and price that I am calling people to rave about vacuuming!!! This is also my first bagless vac and admittedly emptying the canister and cleaning the filter after each use is an extra step, oddly I don't really mind as I am in love and thus totally non judgmental. (I actually have this super cool little brush from the dollar store that cleans the filter marvelously). I'm sure if like me, you read simple directions before operating you are not going to be disappointed.

I purchased the Eureka Optima vac to replace a cordless Shark vac which had no suction power. The first time I used the Optima, I was amazed at it's power. You can see and hear the suction. It does a great job of picking up dog hair and other debris. Some people have complained that the exhaust blows dust around, but it doesn't - unless you use the vac completely upright. Once you tilt the vac back to use it, the exhaust blows upward. The hose works great for blinds, curtains, and upholstered furniture. I like this vac so much that I'm considering purchasing another Optima for upstairs. I highly recommend it.

I've bought mine Eureka because our vacuum disappeared during moving from one town to another. Our flat is very small, so we didn't need anything big or fancy, just efficient. We've got this one from Target and it has a Good Housekeeping seal, which guarantees the product for 2 years and refunds your money in case of any problem. I've been using it for only 2 weeks (I vacuum everyday) and, so far, it's been working great: Lots of power, remove all hair from carpet - as someone else stated, it kind of changed the colour of the carpet; great for cleaning the vinyl tiles in the kitchen floor with a simple change of switches; great for vacuum small areas and details between furniture. Easy to clean and empty. Only time will tell if this was a longlasting good purchase. For a small flat, it also has the added benefit of being easy to store.

I agonized over hundreds of reviews before purchasing the Optima, and then I waited several months to evaluate it before writing my own review. The main selling point for this machine was that it was claimed to have major suck-power, disproportionate to its weight, and I am satisfied that this is the case. It is also very attractive and takes up less storage space (on the floor) than the canister vacuums I had used in the past. One reviewer pointed to a design flaw, that the exhaust from the machine blows out the front. I agree that this is a flaw, although in practice I have found that although the exhaust causes the dust bunnies to scatter nervously, the awesome sucking of the machine hunts them down relentlessly none the less. Another flaw, IMHO, is the three-way power switch, off-on-rotating brush. I sometimes turn the brush on by mistake, and I think it would be better to have a separate switch for that one. I should add that the brush really works -- when I first used in on my faux-Persian rug, the rug changed color because of the amount of dirt that was removed. I have a small apartment with wood floors, tile floors, and area rugs, and this machine is effective on all of them. The filter needs cleaning after each use; I would recommend the purchase of a package of wooden Shish Kebab skewers, because they work well to clean the dust out of the filter.

I originally purchased one of the Optima back when it was the 430 model for the boat. Later the vaccumm was press into service at the house. 5 years later it is still working just fine. In fact I am purchasing a second one so there is one upstairs and one downstairs after the expensive Hoover died. Things to know, if you have dogs and cats (we have both) you will need to clean the filter after every use to remove the hair from the filter element. I just use my shop-vac to clean the filter element, quick and easy. The Optima is a powerful little vaccumm and does a very good job on carpet. On hardwood/vinyl foors, it does have a tendency to blow the very light stuff away from the intake. But our home is 98% carpeted so that is not an issue for us. For a light little vaccumm it is a very good vaccumm for the price.

This vacuum gets three stars because I like it fine. It's not the greatest vacuum in the world, but not the worst either & the price is right. I don't use it on hard floors, because, as I know others have mentioned, it just kind of blows stuff around. I only have three large throw rugs and I vacuum them every day or every other day. For that it's just dandy. If I had to vacuum a whole house with carpet, I'd probably take it out in the yard and shoot it, largely because of having to empty it so much. I don't have allergies, but I can't imagine how miserable that process would be for someone who does, so, keep that in mind when purchasing.

I bought this at Bed, Bath & Beyond for $60 two days ago. This small and light vacuum is perfect for my 2 bed, 900 sf condo. I have hardwood floors in my unit and carpeting in my bedrooms. This 12 amp suction power is awesome, so much better than my previous Dirt Devil Bagged Featherlite. Please take 5 minutes to read the instruction manual thoroughly first. It picks up everything, including dirt and dust from my outside balcony rug. The crevice attachment is awesome on furniture and for corners. Be sure to open and throw out the dust cup outside. Other than that, I just clean the HEPA filter briefly with a toothbrush and it's good to go again. It's not that noisy either...This has now made vacuum cleaning fun and I can't believe this vacuum only has a 3 star avg!