Customer Reviews

Eureka Pet Lover Oh! Upright Bagless Vacuum, 439AZ

5 star:		(67)
4 star:		(55)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(20)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

This is a great little vacuum!

Assembly:
Easy-as long as you read the short, clear directions (with pictures). I was using it within 10 minutes of opening the box.

Size:
small, which is great for me. I have a 2 bedroom villa style townhome, with tile everywhere but the bedrooms and stairs. This is a great size for me; but if you have a big home, or even a moderate-sized home with a lot of carpet, this may not be the best choice for you.

Handling:
Easy again. It's light compaired to the big vacuums, but the high end of average for the little vacuums. I like it though, it self-propels easily and turns well. The only thing I don't like is you have to manually unlock the base (or "foot") from the upright position by holding it with your foot while moving the handle back/downwards.

Cleaning:
You can't get much easier than this unit when it comes to cleaning it out- you push a button, and the container pops out. The top easily twists off, and you just dump it out. The filter has to be cleaned here and there too. It's just as easy to put it back in (unlike my last vacuum... ugh)

Effective?
Absolutely. I have 3 cats- that shed allll the time. Chairs and sofas were a constant battle between us and the kitties... but now, we've WON!
the power paw is especially great.

Value:

TOTALLY worth the money! As long as you don't have a huge house with wall to wall carpet, you should give this one a try!

first time i used it worked great, picked up all the hair & stuff on the carpet. the suction is pretty strong for being a little vaccum. compact size so it hides away behind the couch. i do reccomend cleaning the filter & empty the container outside! if you dont clean out the container after every other few uses obviously the suction/pickup wont be as good but as soon as you empty it out & knock around the filter it works just as good as the first time you use it. i have black carpet & a siamese/himalayin cat that drags herself along the floor so a vaccum that picks up all the hair is great & hard to come by!

I love this little vacumn- it works great both on hardwood and carpeted (deep carpeting!) floors. It's amazing that even though I thought the floor was vacumned thoroughly with my other very expensive vacumn- I picked up enough fur to make a puppy! It's lightweight and easy to maneuver and I am using this as my main vacumn and the expensive one is now our backup!

Some background first:

I have a 67 lb black chow chow mix dog (read: long hair, lots of shedding);
I have long hair almost down to my butt;
I have a 5 x 8 flokati rug (that sheds more than the dog and i put together); and
I live in a 510 sq foot condo w/ 1/2 carpet and 1/2 hardwood floors.

Important to note: this is a very petite vacuum. Tiny really.

Pros:
It has amazing suction. I had no idea my carpet was so white because my other vacuum left behind so much black dog hair.
It's very light, super easy to store, and to maneuver.
The adjustable handle is a great feature.
The switch on / off roller function (to clean hardwood / tile floors) is w/ the unit's on/off switch -- so handy. And, this allows me to easily vacuum the flokati (something i couldn't do w/ a regular vac).
It's pretty quiet and doesn't totally terrify my dog.
The "power paw" seems to work just as well as the actual unit and the hose has awesome suction, too. It's easy to switch from floor to hose.
You really cannot beat the price.

Cons:
I have a very small condo and i have to turn off the unit to clean the roller 3 to 4 (sometimes 5!) times b/c the roller is so small and so quickly becomes clogged w/ dog, my and flokati hair. It's easy to do so (turn off vacuum, pull hair off roller, turn on vacuum) but it's lame i have to do it so many times.
The cord is short as is the hose attachment. I cannot vacuum my entire 510 sq foot condo without unplugging and replugging it.
The filter must be cleaned every time (Note: i vacuum just about every other day, so it's not like there's a week's worth of dirt and hair). Most of the dirt and hair get stuck to the filter and never fall down into the dirt cup.
When using the bare floor (i.e., roller off) function it blows like crazy (it blows the cheap magnets (you know, the ones insurance agents and real estate agents mail you for free) off my fridge!). But, you can sort of move it to and fro and the dirt and hair being blown is then sucked up.

Bottom line: this is a great vacuum for the price. It's PERFECT for a small space (small condo, RV, dorm room etc.) but i cannot imagine it would be effective for a house. It may irritate me but i really love it and would recommend it to anyone who lives in a small space and has a long-haired pet (or two).

I just got this vacuum, pulled it out of the box and assembled it fine with the instructions provided. Tested it out on the living room area, which is not a very large room and most of it is covered in furniture.

I like:
-the adjustable handle height
-the circular shape of the handle is easy to grab and comfortable
-the cord clip on the handle is nice to have
-the fact that I don't need to push a specific button to recline the unit (just hold the bottom down with your foot and pull the handle back)
-the amount of suction power seems to be okay as far as I can tell
-carpet fibers look groomed after vacuuming
-the fact that it's bagless
-the rubber/nylon bristle combo on the small attachment is kinda cool, would probably do a better job of grabbing fur from furniture and such but I didn't try that or the "power paw" thingy.
-it's fairly lightweight and compact, would probably do a great job on my stairs
-being able to turn off the beater bar is a nice feature
-being able to switch the suction from the bottom to the hose with a switch is nice, but it does that because the hose doesn't connect to the bottom like other vacuums do. So technically my old vacuum had that feature too, just not a switch labeled for that specific purpose.

I don't like:
-the dirt cup's design is the dumbest thing ever! It makes me sad because almost everything else about the vacuum is nice. This vacuum is designed to handle pet fur, but most of the fur sticks to the filter in the top of the cup, and then some of the fur sticks to the rest of the inside of the cup (static?), but due to the tunnel shape of the cup, it's hard to stick your hand in to pull the fur out. You have to dump out the cup, fish out the fur with your hand, then because a bunch of fur sticks to the filter, you have to sit there and pick fur out of the filter. This is after vacuuming ONE AREA, and not very thoroughly either because I was just testing out the vacuum to see how well it worked. I can't sit there and pick the filter clean after every room I vacuum. That is just not realistic. And I have one cocker spaniel who only sheds very mildly, it's not like I have a house full of animals. We just moved in and the people before us had one cat, but they own a cleaning company and the area I just vacuumed did not seem very furry to begin with. So it's not that our carpet is too furry. I'm not being unrealistic in my expectations at all.
-I wish the vacuum had a light on the front so I could see the floor better
-the vacuum does blow the dirt around on bare floor, which is fairly annoying, but I just aimed so it would blow toward the carpet where I could vacuum it up more easily. I wouldn't recommend this vacuum for a house with mostly bare floors, but just for a small amount of bare floor it's tolerable.
-the vacuum does not roll very well at all unless it's reclined. Like it only uses the wheels when it's reclined???? I'm not sure what that's about, just have to recline it to move it to another room I guess.
-I don't want to have to go buying new filters all the time... as fast as the filter got clogged full of crud, I wish I could just put a new filter in after every room, but that's not realistic. My old vacuum I could wash the filters and reuse them, which was fantastic. I never had to buy filters for it ever, and they didn't get as clogged so fast either, and that was in the desert of Phoenix, AZ. I'm in the Midwest now (my beloved old vacuum got left behind in the move, which is why I bought this one) and the filter in this Eureka got full very fast. If I wanted to sit there and pick it clean after every room it would probably last a while, but that's just not gonna happen. And I can't take it into the garage and blow it out with an air compressor after every room either. That's just silly.

I'm taking this back to the store tomorrow. It's a shame too because I read all the reviews and I liked almost everything about the vacuum's features, but everything about the dust cup's design is just anti-functional. I hate giving a negative review, and I wish I didn't have to. I like almost everything else about this vacuum, but the stupid dirt cup is a deal breaker. I need to be able to dump out the cup and move on to the next room. I can't do that with this vacuum. If I wanted to mess around with a bunch of carpet dirt and fur, hunched over a trash can, I would've gotten a bag vacuum. If I didn't have any fur in my house to stick to the filter, maybe it wouldn't be so bad, but it's a "PET LOVER" vacuum that's supposed to be used on furry carpets. How did the designer of the product not notice how dumb the dirt cup and filter are designed?

Lame!!! =( I really wanted to love this vacuum, really wanted to give it more stars, but I just can't. The flawed design of the dirt cup and filter make the whole thing useless.

Used almost every day for about a month now on level loop carpet, bare floors, and stiff low-pile area rugs. It's a compact little powerhouse. I have back and muscle issues, so I didn't want a giant heavy vacuum. Recommended for those with arthritis and related conditions.

Noise: Low-pitched moderate noise. Very acceptable. Cats don't freak out anymore.

Handling: Lightweight. Easy to maneuver. Fits in small hard to reach places. Handle is great to hold. The telescoping button and catch of the handle seem a little flimsy so I will be careful with it.

Power: Very strong suction. Incredible for such a little vac. Super on bare floors. Suction is so strong it pulls stuff out of edges without even being over the spot. Downside is it sometimes blows dust bunnies out of corners before you can get to them due to the exhaust pointing toward the front. Lower the vac more and it helps.

Effectiveness: Works well in a small living space with cats. No litter spitting out back. Raises loop pile to look fresh. Doesn't work well on the stiff ultra low-pile area rug though. One height default setting is limiting. Rotating hand tool worked well on pet cushions. Air smells fresher after vacuuming.

Design: A good design layout for a vac that's compact. I like that the vacuum's suction power can be set to the hose or the floor. Cord is a couple feet shorter than what it should be. The canister lid is locking which is nice, but a little awkward to get it on and off. The filter placement causes fibers to collect up top instead of at the bottom of the canister, so you have to clean it almost every time you vacuum.

Manual: No instructions on how to change belt.

Other thoughts: Puts out a large amount of heat, which is good in winter. In a small space raised the room temp 2º by the time I was done with some heavy cleaning. Hard to remove stickers on the outside, even with gummy remover. The power brush holder on top of the canister gets weak after a few uses.

Bottom line: For the cost this vacuum performs very well on level loop carpet with cats. Despite some flaws, it does the job and I would purchase again.

This "Pet Lover" vacuum is excellent on pet hair! I ordered it as a replacement for the standard "Optima" vac that I had in my previous aobde. With two cats in a smaller apartment, the hair accumulated quickly. There's a nifty attachment for upholstery that works really well! The first swipe across my dirty couch left a clean swath. With a traditional attachment, it would take several strokes to get the arm of my couch that clean. Suffice to say, this thing rocks pet hair! The price can't be beat and the size of this thing fits great in my little apartment. I was also amazed that there was no dust in the air after cleaning a dirty floor and couch! An amazing little vac!

Eureka really hit the mark with this one. I live in apartment with hardwoods and area rugs, with 4 cats and a Lab who's a shedding machine. I vacuum the whole place every single day, otherwise I'll drown in pet hair. I can't afford to go even one afternoon without a good vacuum that works well on carpet, tile, upholstery and wood floors, and I dreaded lugging the bigger, pricier one, which has failed me on more than one occasion, out on a daily basis. So I got this one for a back-up because the other one keeps breaking down, but it's turned out to be the only one I use. Consumer Reports had rated my pricier one #1, plus the best one for pet hair, two years in a row.

This $69 Eureka is luxuriously lightweight. It's better than the other one on bare floors (you can turn it to suction-only), it's better on pet hair on any surface, the paw is bigger, the charcoal filter seems to really make a difference, the smaller base doesn't suck up area rugs, and its compact design makes it easy to find a place to put it. I compared this price with big box stores, and the Amazon price was $10 less. Plus no tax or trip to the store.

Hair clings to the filter that gets clogged in a hurry, and the canister must be emptied and filter cleaned often. Claims that this is a clunky job are true, but not so bad to be a deal breaker for myself. A stiff toothbrush brushes the hair out between the filter folds and is an easy way to help keep the it clean. A washable, reusable and inexpensive filter for the 430s is available on Amazon.

Eureka's got it together on the pet hair issue. I had a Eureka Broom Vac that I got for $10 that I used to suck up pet hair on the kitchen floor every day. It never did die after ten years of use. I gave that one to a neighbor and upgraded to the Eureka Quick-Up which has a bigger base and more suction. It does an exceptional job sucking the pet hair off the white tile floor, and it tucks away neatly in the refrigerator crack. And FYI, Eureka has excellent customer service. It's one of those rare companies that doesn't keep you on hold forever. They don't simply read off a computer screen, and they know their products. They also sell every part and every filter for the machine that you can buy direct. I didn't know how good customer service is before I bought the Pet Lover, but now it's going to heavily influence my decisions to buy Eureka products in the future.

These are the lessons I've learned from this purchase: (1) Eureka is a brand to take seriously, especially when you're waging war on pet hair, (2) bigger isn't necessarily better when it comes to vacs, and (3) give greater consideration to consumer reviews, and take professional ratings with a grain of salt. They are not the ones using the products day after day.

I bought this for my mom as a Christmas present, but then she really needed to vacuum in order to put up the tree so I made her open it early (since her other vacuum has been on the fritz for a while). We played around with it cleaning the hall, furniture, and her expensive curtains, and had to empty the canister somewhere around 15 times. We have six cats (four of which are prone to very excessive shedding) and four dogs, so there's a lot of accumulated pet hair in the short amount of time between vacuumings.

About an hour ago I was cleaning the roller bar and the vacuum slid off my lap. After that the suction wouldn't turn on, but the roller bar worked. The vacuum felt warm, so I let it sit for about half an hour and then tried again. 'Lo and behold, it works again with full suction.

The power paw attachment works amazingly well on curtains and furniture and the vacuum itself is very powerful for its small size. My only complaint (besides the loss of suction for a while, of course :) is that there's no light on the front. It doesn't interfere with functionality at all, but it would be the only thing that would make this vacuum absolutely perfect.

And you know those pushy salespeople who come to your house to do their little demonstrations with those big expensive vacuums? This vacuum works better than any of those for sucking up pet hair and dried mud from dirty little pet feet, and it does it on the first try. My mom agrees this is the best vacuum she's ever used.

I got this vacuum as it is advertised as great for pet owners (even has a little kitty & doggy logo painted on it). Ironically, I think this vacuum might work OK in a non-pet-owning household. It works fine on most normal dirt - not as a household's "main" vacuum but certainly quite acceptable for a mid-week quick vacuuming. That's what I wanted it for.

I need to vacuum several times a week. I have two black cats, and one of them is long-haired. To say that he "sheds" is like saying that Mt. Everest is "tall." And any pet owner can tell you that when pet fur sheds it creates TUMBLEWEEDS. These blow around the house with the slightest whiff of air. And if you place the vent of a vacuum cleaner on the FRONT - guess what, the tumbleweeds blow away before you can suck them into the vacuum cleaner!

I am going to throw this out on our next household bulk-discard day and get something else. I am sick and tired of watching little tumbleweeds coyly floating away as I try to catch them. For my needs, this vacuum is utterly useless.