Eureka! Not Quite Gold, But a Nice Lite Vacuum Cleaner!
Written: Sep 15 '04 (Updated Sep 15 '04)
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Pros: Works rather well, super quiet, lite weight
Cons: A bit flimsy, use gourmet style bags
The Bottom Line: Makes a nice spare vacuum cleaner!
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| shoehorny's Full Review: Eureka Lite 4331 Bagged Upright Vacuum |
Review of Eureka Boss Lite 4331 Upright Vacuum (September 15, 2004)
I was cleaning out my workshop last weekend when I stumbled across this vacuum cleaner. It was a vacuum cleaner that was left behind in a house we rent out. I initially took it to the workshop to strip it down for parts, but upon looking at closer, I found it was in pretty good overall shape and complete. I decided to fix whatever was wrong with it and keep it for another spare (and do we ever have a collection of spare vacuum cleaners!)
I powered it up and it gave suction through the hose attachment, but not from the sweeper. I started off by cleaning the unit off with an air compressor, then wiping it down. It had a new bag in it already and the filter looked fine, although it had hair all over it. I then removed the hose from the sweeper unit and found that the sweeper had a bottle cap stuck in it backed by cigarette butts, dust, pieces of glass, dust, seeds, dust, and other yucky stuff. I shoved a plumber’s snake through the hose port and dislodged all of the remaining debris. Upon plugging the power back in again, the sweeper unit showed some pretty good suction. Fixed!
I was a bit disenchanted by how cheaply this vacuum is made. First, it is almost all plastic. Second, there were no screws holding the bottom plate of the sweeper together, so it could not be easily disassembled. The bag casing is made of a flimsy plastic that is pressure fitted in place – no latches. The power switch and latch are simple plastic toe switches located on the head unit. As with many other vacuum cleaners, the chord must be wound around plastic tabs protruding from the handle for storage. This machine looks to have been made as a temporary, disposable unit.
I have a large collection of vacuum cleaners and I have a good sense for how they operate. Comparing the features of this unit to the others, this one rates very low. It has a gauge that you can turn to adjust the head angle based on the thickness of your carpet. During my testing, this gauge almost drove me crazy, as although it functioned as it was intended to function, it would not pick up any dirt when it was set in the higher positions. On the other hand, it became a super sucker at the lowest setting and left no sample dirt behind. The only other mentionable feature is that it has a detachable hose that can be used for cleaning cobwebs. The unit I tested has a crevice tool on it, and I could not remove it for the life of me. I believe that is all that comes with the unit.
As mentioned, the vacuum cleaner seems to be cheaply made. It has a rather thin hose and plastic parts galore! No headlights, the brushes on the bottom run continuously, even if you are using the plastic hose attachment. The bag compartment employs a very simple design for attaching the bag in place (as do many other vacuum cleaners). I put a piece of duct tape around the perimeter so no dust escapes through the sides.
The plus side of the machine is that it is one of the quieter machines I’ve used. It gets very high marks for being quiet. Also, remarkably, the machine works rather well. It does a great job of effortlessly picking up dust and debris off of carpets. We have wooden floors and low pile carpet in our house, so I really keep the gauge set in the lowest position all the time. I did not test the machine on high pile carpet. It is also rather lightweight and easy to tote around, although it is a bit bulky. After giving it a test drive, I decided this unit is a keeper and will replace the moldy-oldie I currently use in my basement game room.
On the downside, the unit does seem to clog up easily. That makes sense, since the suction hose is rather small. Also, I prefer a retractable chord on my vacuum cleaners, but that would make this machine expensive. Also, this machine uses a non-standard bag size (sigh), which probably means I will not find replacements for it at the dollar store. Why can’t these vacuum cleaner companies all use the same size bags? In any case, I found that you could pretty much retrofit a similar type bag on these nonstandard bag machines, which I will probably do if I can’t find a cheap replacement bag.
I would recommend this vacuum cleaner to someone who needs it for light-duty purposes. It is certainly not a commercial piece of equipment. If something ever breaks on this machine that is too much trouble to fix, it will be easily discarded. Even through limited use, I know this vacuum will not be one of my favorites, but it will make a nice spare. I would not pay more than $50 for this machine in any case. Thank you for reading my review and best wishes for a nice day!
Mike
Recommended:
Yes
Amount Paid (US$): 0 :-)
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shoehorny
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