quequay's Full Review: Eureka 431A Optima Bagged Upright Vacuum
My vacuum of 8 years had finally died. I originally wanted a Dyson, but at the price of a Dyson Vacuum was outragous so I browsed through Epinions and found the Eureka Optima. The Optima had great reviews and the price was right.
I headed to Target and got the last one in stock. When I got home I took it out of the box. Some assembly was needed but that was just to pop the handle in and pop the floor unit to the body of the vacuum. The first thing that caught my eye was the shape of the handle and the color. The vac looks like a piece of art! I then was amazed at the telescoping handle. I am 6 foot tall and the handle extends to a height that is very comfortable for me. Since then handle can be pushed all the way down I can store my vacuum in my closet. There is a generous amount of electrical cord and I plugged the vac in. I set the dial to FLOOR and turned on the brushes. WOW, this vacuum picked up stuff I didn't even know was in my carpet. After finishing the living room the carpet look almost new! My previous vacuum was a very expensive bagless canister vac and I thought that was great, well it doesn't even come close to the Optima.
I next set the dial to HOSE and turned the brushes off (can be a pain to be turning dials and switches but will live with it because of the power and cost) I felt the suction and it was amazing and strong. I used the upholstery tool and vacuumed my computer chair, it took the dust, cat hair and dog hair off. The chair is black fabric and there was a definite difference from the vacuumed section and the untouched area. Now keep in mind that morning I had vacuumed with my old canister vac and had died after using and I went over everything with my new Optima. The dust cup was full of cat hair, dog hair, my hair and dust and dirt. I couldn't believe that all of the dust was in my carpets.
One of the coolest features is the weight of the vacuum. It is 13 pounds, less then my cats weight. I have a chronic illness that takes alot of energy from my body and in the past I would vac the downstairs one day and the upstairs another. Now I can do the whole house and not feel worn out. I am in love with this vacuum and will not even think of purchasing a different one.
I also use my vacuums with a hair cutting system like Flowbee. It would usually take me about 1 hr to do my husband's hair but with the Optima it has cut the time down to 10 minutes. The suction is so powerful that it makes the hair cutting system work even better.
There are a few small things that can be improved but won't drive me away from purchasing the Optima again. There are quite a few times I forget to turn the dial back to FLOOR after using the HOSE setting and I end up vacuuming the room again. It would be nice if the brushes turned off when you switched the dial instead of a seperate switch. The filter can be hard to get the dust and hair out. Just small things compared to the Optima's power, weight and versatility. I am pleased with this vacuum and thank the previous reviews for helping me find this wonderful product.
Fantastic prices with ease & c...(Stock status: N/A)
The new Eureka Optima offers the power of an upright at 1/2 the weight! It also features the ONLY soft-grip looped handle that adjusts to more than 8 ...More at Amazon Marketplace
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