The Z series vacuum is brand new, just came out a couple weeks ago, therefore there are no reviews or tests yet.

So why did I decide to purchase the Z 700 over say a Dyson or the Hoover Self Propelled that smoked the Dyson in the last testing? Good question... and to answer that I have to go off topic a bit and give you my reasons for choosing it over the others, which will in turn lead into an explanation and my opinion of its actual functionality.

Aesthetically the Dyson looks pretty cool, but kin-esthetically it feels very cheap. Lots of ABS plastic, but that's not even what makes it feel cheap, it's how the pieces fit together. It looks and feels like that at some point in it's life it is no longer going to seal well at all of the little joints where the pieces fit together. It just seems cheap and doesn't feel like what my mind tells me a $500+ vacuum should feel like. I understand that it had to be made that way in order to be light weight, but it doesn't convey a sense of rigidity at all.

So now onto the Hoover self propelled that dusted the Dyson in actual performance testing. Well my decision was made simply by visiting a vacuum dealer. I noticed there were more than a few "Clearance" Hoover Self propelled vacuums lying around. "Clearance" meaning, customers brought them back for some reason or other. So I asked the sales person and she confirmed that they had belt issues and some other issues that made them problematic. (Epinions confirmed this too)

So that was a bummer, that's what I had my mind set on buying. If it could beat the Dyson in performance, and cost less money, I had made up my mind that was the vacuum for me.

Then the sales lady pointed out a brand new Hoover that had just arrived. The Z 400 & 700. Wow! What a cool looking vacuum cleaner. She then told me that their Hoover rep had stopped in and explained that it was designed to have the power and performance of the Wind Tunnel Self Propelled, but that the internal components that usually malfunction (belts, roller, lights,filters, etc) were designed to last the lifetime of the unit. Okay, I'm intrigued.

So I checked it over; it's plastic, which cheapened it in my minds eye, but it felt a lot more sturdy than the Dyson. The convertible function was neat, turning from an upright to a canister with the simple pull of a lever. The switches were brilliant, the power button, the carpet level, and a few other functions were all placed on a panel up near the handle so you don't have to bend over to switch anything. The LED lighting on the front was a cool geeky feature that I liked too. The accessory compartment was attached to the side and held 35' of power cord and 3 accessories. And the really cool feature was the dirt bin and HEPA filter. The dirt bin removes easier than probably any other bag-less vacuum that I have seen, simply reach underneath the clear plastic bin located on the side of the vacuum and there is a "U" shaped handle that folds over the bin, grab that handle and pull it out and up, back over the bin and the bin pulls up and out with it. The HEPA filter has another really neat feature. It spins while the vacuum is functioning so that it utilizes the whole filter and every 6 seconds it vibrates and cleans itself with some reverse suction routed from the motor, and that too dumps into the bin.

So I got this little guy home and my wife thought that I had bought a new robot from the look of it. I instantly unboxed it and started playing around with all of its functions; this is the conspiracy. They finally figured out that if you make an appliance techy, filled with gadgety features, cool futuristic looks, and make it have cool jet like sounds, that guys will want to play with it and ultimately use it.

I actually like vacuuming now. You push the cool green button on the control panel and the button lights up green and it sounds like a turbine engined helicopter spooling up for takeoff. It's surprisingly quite though. Then I figured I'd better set the carpet height adjustment, but instead of having to bend down and move a slider on the front or fiddling with a weird notched pedal all you do is push the "Low,Medium, or High" button and it sets itself. There's also a button for "Gentle" which you can use to vacuum bathroom type rugs and it slows the brushes on the vacuum head and lowers the suction so you don't drag the rug across the floor with you, pretty neat. There's also a button for "Hard" which shuts off the brushes so you don't damage hardwood or any other delicate type hard floors.

Then there's the canister function; You simply pull on a little plastic ring and the whole vacuum transforms / folds down into a compact canister type vac. Now you can flip a small lock on the metal handle and the handle pulls out of the body, you then push another button on the shaft and you can extend it out another 14" inches and you have a canister type vacuum with a 21' hose and wand. It's great! You can clean your blinds, ceiling fan, and the really cool thing is you can attach a smaller scrubber head and you can very easily now clean your flight of stairs if you have them; and you don't have to worry about tipping over the vacuum because it's now just like a canister vac,low to the ground and stable.

So how does it perform? Well when I first tried it out on my carpet my first thought was "this thing is kind of heavy." Then I shut it off and noticed it got a lot lighter. This thing has some serious suction! My wife tried it out and said the exact same thing to me, "It's cool but kind of heavy" I then told her to turn it off and she noticed that it got a lot lighter. It sucks itself to the ground so well that it actually has some resistance when pulling it, I like that.

So needless to say, it vacuums well, and the LED lights on the front actually work for lighting up darker areas, say under your couch. And speaking of under your couch, the vacuum head is very low to the ground and fits under my couch very easily, it won't fit all the way under my couch, but it gets about halfway.

Well when I had finished with my stairs and living room alone, it had picked up more dirt and hair than my old vacuum would have picked up vacuuming my entire house 3 times. This thing rocks. 2 year warranty too, which is cool, most only have a 1.


Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 475.00