Customer Reviews

Euro-pro SV736 "Shark" Cordless Hand Vacuum - 15.6v

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(15)
1 star:		(20)

 

 

This vacuum is AWESOME! Usually problems with a rechargeable battery dying early can be avoided...here is how to get maximum power and performance out of your Shark:

- Charge the vac for 24 HOURS without disturbing it when you first get it. Don't be tempted to 'try it out' when you first get it in the mail, or after a few hours of charging.

- Deplete the motor COMPLETELY -- if you can't find enough stuff to vacuum, then turn it on and set it on your counter until it dies. This only takes a few minutes. Put it back on its charger and charge it again FULLY (at least 12 hours) after depleting it. Do this THREE TIMES IN A ROW when you first get your vac! Very important...charge, deplete, charge, deplete, charge, deplete, charge.

- Contrary to Shark's manual, do NOT just replace the vac on its charger whenever you use it for a quick job. ONLY PUT IT BACK ON ITS CHARGER WHEN IT IS DEPLETED. My vac has AWESOME power after a solid year of heavy use!

- Rinse both the Hepa filter AND the "nose" part, because sometimes dirt and hair will clog the flapper device inside the nose. [Hint: You can still charge your vac while the "nose" of it (the clear grey part the filter fits into) is off!]

Happy vacuuming...hope this helps! :-)

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UPDATE: 9/6/2010 -- I have now had this vac for 4 1/2 years -- and I kid you not, it is STILL as strong as it was the day I got it. I have put this thing through torture, and it's always ready for more! I used to buy Black & Deckers, and they would always die after a year or two. This little thing is AMAZING!

(And no, I don't work for the company...I'm a teacher...I just appreciate really good quality products -- they're harder and harder to come by these days!) :-)

We used to have a hand-held vac that picked up NOTHING. In disgust, we threw it away and went without one for years. Any time there was a mess downstairs, we lugged the heavy-duty vaccuum cleaner downstairs--even for minor debris.

My 7 year old son is having a love affair with popcorn, so it tends to get *everywhere* these days. "That's it!", I said. "We're buying a hand-held vac."

So we went to Target and the Shark Cordless Vac seemed the most promising. It was heavy and boasted a higher voltage than the rest: 15.6. We decided to buy it, and it works WONDERFULLY!

The Shark Cordless Hand Vac includes a charging stand, one crevice tool, and one cleaning brush. It also features an easily detachable HEPA filter that you can dump into the trash. The brush attachment works great for picking up animal hairs (we have two cats) but the regular vac has such powerful suction, you'll likely pick up hairs just from that! The narrow crevice tool comes in handy when vaccuuming around furniture edges or in hard-to-reach areas.

This Vac is VERY powerful and does the job quite admirably! I'm thrilled with the purchase.

My son loves to help clean, but this Vac is so heavy, that he often has trouble after awhile. So if you have back trouble, you may want to consider the weight before making the purchase.

This was a powerful little pick up machine for the first month or so. Despite following all the rules about charging and recharging cordless batteries, my purring machine soon migrated to a low growl and then nothing. Unfortunately, I didn't located the warranty and receipt until the day after my warranty expired. I ordered a new battery from the manufacturer. After a couple of weeks, I received a post card from Euro-Pro saying "Due to the large response, the item you've requested is temporarily out of stock." Translation... this hand vac isn't very reliable and we can't keep enough replacement battery packs in stock to support it. After waiting 2 months for this battery pack, I finally called the manufacturer and was told a shipment wasn't expected for another month. They offered to send a remanufactured hand vac instead, so I agreed. I'll keep you posted if it works any better, but after all the hassle, I still wouldn't recommend anyone else go through this much hassle for a hand vac! My first post about this product was unexplicably removed, but I hope this one actually gets posted so that customers will be able to make an informed decision before buying this product.

The Shark 15.6V Cordless Hand Vac (Model: SV736N) comes with the following accessories:

- Charging Stand / Mounting Bracket

(Note: Model SV736 does not come with a charging stand.)

It also comes with 3 attachments:
- Brush Attachment
- Crevice Attachment
- Motorized Brush Attachment

Cleaning Power
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The suction is about as strong as a mid-range corded vacuum cleaner - plenty strong for a handheld vacuum cleaner. It's able to maintain maximum suction for about 13 minutes, after which its power starts to falter and the suction gradually drops. The usable suction it puts out lasts about 20 minutes tops. Still, it's plenty of time to vacuum out the interior of your car, clean up a small mess, or do some spot cleaning.

Even though the vacuum is being touted as having "Twister Cyclonic Technology", which supposedly helps to maintain suction longer, it is important that the dirt receptacle be emptied when it gets about half full, otherwise the suction will be significantly reduced.

The motorized brush attachment is excellent for extracting dirt and pet hair embedded in the carpet. The downside is when the attachment is on, the battery gets drained more quickly.

Maintenance
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- Dirt Collection Receptacle
The frosted see-through dirt collection receptacle lets you know how much dirt has been collected. Once full, the receptacle can be easily removed and emptied.

- Filter
The filter is washable and is made of a durable material that will stand up to repeated washings.

- NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) Rechargeable Battery
There are a lot of complaints the battery capacity of the Shark diminishes over time. I suspect the diminished battery capacity that many people encounter is due to the so-called "memory effect" on the Shark's NiCd (Nickel Cadmium) battery.

"Memory effect" is a phenomenon that results when a battery is repeatedly charged BEFORE it is FULLY discharged. The result is the battery capacity diminishes because it "forgets" that it can be discharged all the way, hence the term "memory effect."

The proper way to care for a NiCd battery is to fully discharge it ("deep discharging") before fully charging it to avoid "memory effect". Diminished battery capacity due to memory effect may be reversed by putting the battery through repeated deep discharge and full recharge cycles.

After the vacuum cleaner is past putting out any useful suction power, let its battery deplete completely before charging it back up. I've had the Shark for about three years and never had a problem with diminished battery capacity.

CAUTION: The above only applies to NiCd batteries. Do not confuse NiCd batteries with rechargeable NiMH (Nickel Metal Hydride) or lithium batteries. NiMH batteries are reportedly less prone to memory effect and lithium batteries absolutely do NOT suffer from memory effect. Deep discharging NimH and ESPECIALLY lithium batteries may actually damage them.

Conclusion
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The Shark is a top-notch handheld vacuum cleaner that provides plenty of suction. If you're careful to observe proper battery maintenance, it should provide years of trouble-free service.

I've had several cordless vacuums over the years and this is by far the best I've used. The attachments are great and the unit rarely needs charging. If you read the directions it says not to store the vac in the charging unit and to re-charge only when the charge gets very low. They want you to drain the battery before re-charging, which will save the battery life. I only charge mine about every 2 weeks, depending on the usage. It's great for a quick cleanup in the bathroom (instead of lugging out the big vac or plugging in a stick vac) or small cleanups here and there. The roller brush attachment is great on carpeting. I would highly recommend this vac, you will not be disappointed.

Battery lasts a long time and the motorized brush is great for crumbs. By far the best for the money i bought the dyson handheld for 150 and returned it the next day because it was so bad. this vac is also great for the car because of all the attachements

I have three cats and as you might imagine, they leave a lot of hair behind. This little hand held vacuum does the trick for quick vacuuming of my stairs and furniture. If you don't know anything about ni-cad (Nickel Cadmium) batteries then you will probably not know how to take care of them properly.

Lithium-Ion batteries are the latest technology on the market for batteries. They are designed to run with full output until the end of their charge then quickly die. Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH) batteries slowly lose power as you discharge them but you can recharge them at any point. Nickel Cadmium (NiCad) are different. You have to "COMPLETELY" discharge them each time before recharging, otherwise they get what is commonly called as "memory". This basically means they wont hold as much charge. What I do after vacuuming each time and running my batteries down, is just let the power switch on and fully discharge the batteries completely. Then I put it back on the charger. In order to clean it up after each use, I go out in to my shop and take my compressed air line and blow out the filter, the canister where the vacuumed up stuff ends up, and the little beater bar.

i bought this vacuum several months ago, and am extremely satisfied - sometimes amazed - by its performance. unfortunately it came with a charging plug, but no stand or wall mount. i immediately ordered two stands(anticipating i would buy another unit for a second home.) months later, nothing but apologies and a vacuum lying on the floor attached to a wire. i see the present product description includes a mount. be sure!

I really like this vacuum. It keeps its charge and is pretty powerful. I was completely happy with this purchase until I needed a replacement filter. After looking on several websites for a replacement filter (it is really difficult to find a filter for this model), I finally purchased one from the Shark/Eurp-pro website. This website looks and functions like it was created by a preschooler. After ordering and receiving our filters that were recommended on their site for our vacuum, I discovered that the filters (again, recommended on their site) did not fit our vacuum. I proceed to call the "customer service" department about how to process our return. After 15 minutes of listening to a recorded message tell me "my wait time is approximately 8 minutes", I finally got to talk to a live person. I explained my situation about how I ordered these filters and got the wrong ones. I wanted to know how to return them, get my money back, not have to pay shipping since it wasn't my fault, and order the correct ones. The guy on the other end proceed to tell me that I ordered the wrong ones and was responsible for paying the shipping to return the product. Um, I DON'T THINK SO! After asking to speak to a supervisor, this guy tells me that the supervisor would not give me a different answer. I pushed harder and said I will wait to speak to a supervisor. The guy comes back on the line after a few minutes and tells me that his supervisor has given him permission to refund my total, and I could just throw those other filters away. This, of course, is to keep up with good customer service practices, I was told. Then he asks if there is anything else he could help me with. I said that he could walk me through the website on how to order the correct filters. I believe he pretended not to hear me and told me to have a nice day. 35 minutes later and still no filters. Then I try the online chat the website. After telling me that I'm supposed to look up the model number without the last letter, so instead of SV736K, use SV736 (instructions that would be useful on their website), I was able to see all the parts associated with this vacuum. They did have a filter listed in the parts, but it was the filter I had already purchased and I knew didn't fit this model. Here is a copy of part of the chat conversation I had with the customer service rep, who actually helped me.

you: This filter number is XSB726N, which is one I just ordered and received. This filter does not fit SV736K.
Terry: XSB726N is for another model.
you: That is the filter listed for SV736
Terry: XSF736 is what you need for your unit. Apparently there is a mistake on the website because the one listed is doe SV738.
you: Thank you. I was just told that ordering this item was my error and given a difficult time getting my money back. Please tell me how to order the correct filter online. Is that possible?

All along it was Sharks fault and they tried to say it was my error. A total of an hour later I am hoping new and correct filters will be mailed to me. I will never buy another product from this company, and I recommend you think long and hard about a Shark purchase.

If anyone from this company is reading this, please get a professional to revamp your website (in fact call me) and teach your people what CUSTOMER SERVICE means.

just received my shark cordless and love it so far. do any experienced shark users have advice on how to clean the filters, how often to replace and where to purchase the replacement filters?
thanks in advance!