I was not sure about bagless vacs, so last year purchased a Hoover mini bagless vac. It worked well , then starting acting up. Since that vac was only $39, I decided to try a nicer bagless, with good reviews, and bought the Airspeed Gold bagless because it was on sale. Am I glad I did!
The Airspeed really lives up to the advertising claims! WOW, the pick-up power! It had been a week since I vacuumed my room and the carpet looked clean, but gave the vac its first whirl. The Airspeed picked up the deep hidden dust, dirt and the Arm & Hammer and Love-My-Carpet "salts" that the old vacuums left behind! It also raised up the nap/fibers of the carpet. I kept vacuuming the carpet and picked up more deep down grime. The canister was 2/3 full and showed the girt, dirt and dust. There were "dark grey" dust bunnies pulled out of the "clean carpet" from the deep hidden dirt, the carpet felt softer. So much so, that my 9-year-old daughter laid down on the just vacuumed carpet and said "Daddy, the carpet is soooo soft!"
The high traffic area in our living room carpet is less matted and cleaner. The Airspeed picked up the dark colored deep dirt and brought the color closer to the original color. The carpet is 10 years old, the vac cannot completely "restore" the carpet, but if we had had the Airspeed vacuum, the carpet would have stayed newer looking longer.
Because of allergeries, we have an allergen reducing clothes washer, use pleated filters in the AC/Furnace and change them every 2 weeks when the unit is running a lot. The Airspeed with the hepa filter is now one more tool for taking allergens out of the home; not to mention the hose reaches the return registers without having to pick up the vacuum. In the past, after changing the filters, I used a broom to knock off the dust on the registers then vacuumed under the registers.
The inter-sliding 180-degree-flip-over extension wand is a bit clunky to use, but works fine and the attachments fit on the fixed half of the wand, over the wand, and on the flip-over extension half of the wand, attachments fit on the inside of the wand's bell mouth. When vacuuming along the baseboards with the attachments, the suction pulls the dust off the top of the baseboards with just the crevice tool (usually we have had to use the dusting brush attachment). After using the crevice tool for a while, the suction pulled the extension wand and attachment tightly together and it took some effort to pull them apart--just a bit more of a stronger yank then I was expecting.
There is a ball valve "or switch", that must be turned to change from floor to hose and back again. The knob/lever is plenty big and easy to turn. So, if the vac is not picking up on the floor, check the valve position. I have done this twice myself. ;-)
Vacuum is easy to assemble. No tools are needed. The power cord kept popping out of the top holding clip. I took a black zip tie and zipped it over the top of the clip and that took care of the cord popping out. You can use twine, but the black zip tie "disappears" against the black plastic. There are built-in holders for all the attachments including the turbo nozzle (not the filter cleaning brush) and a carry handle. Since I have a single story home have not used the carry handle much.
The vacuum is 14 inches (35.6 cm) when laid flat from the floor, so will not fit under a bed, but does go under the children's bed about 10 inches (25.4 cm). However, the turbo nozzle on the extension wand should get completely under the bed.
The turbo nozzle was missing in the box and customer service is sending out a replacement. I cannot wait to try that out for cleaning under the bed and the mattresses.
There is a pet version of this vac, AS1002A, with a pet hair version of the turbo nozzle and the vac is less prone to clogging an easier to clean out according to Eureka website.
A tip, when vac is not in use, put floor height setting on high carpet. This keeps the bristles in the beater brush from getting mashed, working like new longer, and will not have to replace as often.
Dumping the canister and dusting off the main filter is best done outside or low inside a tall kitchen trashcan with a liner bag; also found that putting the canister into a plastic shopping bag and opening the canister inside the bag works well too on rainy days. Check to see there are no holes in the grocery bag first! Been there done that too! ;-D
The supplied filter brush just does not get down into the pleats of the main filter. I purchased a hair coloring brush (stiffer bristles work better) for $1 from a beauty supply store and it gets between the pleats of the filter. When you wash the filter, a slow steady flow works better to flush out the grim. If some of the "clay type dirt" clumps in the pleats, the rounded handle end of hair coloring brush "digs" out the clay clumps without putting holes in the filter. Guys, do not use your wife's or girl friend's coloring brush or you will be in the doghouse! The bristles will get a mangled and dirty.
If you are going to buy a "second" main filter for a "quick filter switch over", I would suggest purchasing a second plastic "dust cup" since it is part of the "filtering system" which you can purchase for a couple of bucks from eureka.com; which also offers a maintenance package that sends you two sets of filters a year automatically.
To get "great suction" parts have to fit together well. Putting the canister back together takes some figuring out a first few times. In addition, getting the canister assembly back into the vacuum takes a little finesse. Just take your time...the great results are worth the little extra effort. Also, found that moving the Airspeed slowly, forward and back, then criss-cross, over the carpet brings up the deep down dirt and pulls up the carpet nap/fibers the best.
From work experience, I know that when things are dirty, (like the deep down hidden dirt in the carpet,) that at the beginning the filter is going to need a lot more cleaning. However, as the carpet is vacuumed regularly, the carpet will get cleaner and the filter will need cleaning less often. Right now, I am cleaning the filter every time I use the vacuum, so do not toss out this great vacuum because you are cleaning the filter a lot at the start. Do not blame the vacuum because of an extremely dirty carpet. In fact, the first time we vacuumed the living room, which gets the most traffic in our home, the vacuum stopped sucking because the carpet was that dirty deep down. We dumped the canister and dusted off the filter and the Airspeed started working again; then finished vacuuming.
BTW, I do not work for Eureka or Hoover and do not own stock in either company. This is just my honest opinion.
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I bought a Dirt Devil hand vac in the early 1980's because the carpet salesman where I bought my new carpet told me it would be far superior for use on stairs than the attachment that came with my upright (Rainbow) vacuum cleaner. He was right and I also loved that hand vac for cleaning my upholstered furniture. I bought a Dyson Animal vacuum cleaner last year and I wish I could say that the upholstery attachment sucks, but it doesn't, and it is hard to put on and take off of the hose. I like the Dyson for my carpets but am not at all impressed with their attachments. So, today I bought this Dirt Devil Classic and it is great! I read the reviews here and others were complaining about some of the other models. This hand vac has a belt and the belt can be replaced. The owner of the vac shop told me the difference between the models that are receiving the complaints here and the Classic 0100 that I bought today is that the others are air driven and mine is belt driven and that's why the other models' brushes stop moving when you touch the vac to either your upholstered furniture or your carpet. I paid $49.95 for mine, $10 more than listed on Amazon but I got it today instead of next week. I can't say enough good things about Amazon and their quick service, though, and I do buy a lot from Amazon. So, if anyone else, like me, is reading these reviews prior to purchasing a new Dirt Devil hand vac, please buy a belt driven model and not an air driven one. You won't be sorry. You may pay more but it will be worth it. I gave only 4 stars instead of 5 because it is really noisy!
