Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I'll admit that I'm one of the worst when it comes to sweeping the floor with a broom. No matter how hard I try, there always seems to be some elusive dustbunny that resists all efforts to corral it in the dustpan. So, when my wife and I went shopping for a vacuum cleaner, we zeroed in on models that were capable of vacuuming the acres of wall-to-wall carpeting in our home and sweeping the tile and vinyl that make up the rest of our floors. A HEPA filter and disposable dust bags were necessities because of her allergies (your allergist will tell you that bagless cleaners are an exercise in futility unless you take the cleaner completely out of the house and shut the door behind you when emptying the dirt container). After we pared down the list, we consulted the leading consumer reporting magazine and bought the highest rated model we could afford. And that's how we came to own this cleaner. I vaguely remember reading that Eureka's engineers cobbled together the prototype for The Boss SmartVac series by actually mounting a classic "torpedo" canister cleaner and its motorized carpet brush on a wheeled rig with a handle. Once they determined that it COULD be done, they refined the design into a unit that really does combine the suction power of a canister with the carpet cleaning ability and easy mobility of an upright, with the added convenience of having the cleaning tools along for the ride. You can see the "canister cleaner on wheels" inspiration in the larger photo here on Amazon.com. In operation, the cleaner is surprisingly quiet, producing a breathy drone that still permits conversation. Though not self-propelled, the cleaner's brush roller turns so rapidly, it almost propels the cleaner for you. A headlight helps you spot obstacles in the cleaner's path. The 15-inch wide cleaning path shortens your vacuuming time and offers right-up-to-the-baseboard edge cleaning ability. For more stubborn debris, you can put together the extension wand and attach the crevice tool. The upholstery tool does an admirable job on carpeting under, say, a bed that can't be moved. One notable feature: When the handle is returned to the fully upright position, as when cleaning with tools, the brush roller stops, preventing worn spots on your carpet. A brush roller switch lets you turn off the brush roller at other times for sweeping bare floors. A few engineering features are worth mentioning. The cleaner's motor is completely isolated from the suction path and protected by its own final stage filter, meaning small hard objects like coins, nutshells and buttons won't damage the fan blades or jam the motor. The micron filtration dust bag, motor filter and HEPA filter equal 3 stages of filtration before the air is expelled. The brush roller belt follows a twist-free path, extending its life and reducing the risk of belt breakage. Should debris actually clog the suction path, all of the hoses can be detached and cleared. If a particularly nasty item has damaged the hose or pipe, the parts can be easily replaced by the consumer. After vacuuming the carpet in the master bedroom and some of the living room, we already noticed a measurable level of dirt in the first bag, an indication of the dirt left behind by our aging Hoover Decade 80 upright. We expect bags in the future to last a tad longer. If you expect to use the cleaner a lot, you can upgrade the disposable HEPA filter to a washable CleanStream HEPA filter. Details are at [...]