Those of you that know me well or read my blog regularly will no doubt know that I suffer with OCD. It’s not something which I talk about regularly but it’s a part of my life which I deal with on a daily basis both in and out of the house. As you can imagine I like to keep things fairly organised and clean even when I happen to have a fractured elbow and be wearing a sling, I’ll still push myself to vacuum, polish and generally spruce up the house otherwise I simply cannot rest or relax.
I’ve never particularly enjoyed cleaning, it’s just something that like everybody else I have to do except in my case I feel a compulsion to carry out each and every day to an extreme level, this can be quite tiresome and time-consuming.
Another One Bites The Dust
Back in the day my husband and I had a ‘hand me down’ upright Dyson vacuum which seriously sucked by which I mean in a good way. However over time despite cleaning the filters and replacing various parts our beloved Dyson bit the dust quite literally.
To be honest I was quite relieved that our Dyson had died as it may have been an exceptionally good vacuum but it was also far too heavy to push around never mind to carry up and down stairs each day. I began looking into replacements for our previous vacuum in the hope that I could find a modern, lighter counterpart. After reading countless reviews and finding a good deal on a Dyson we opted to stick with the brand and bought a cylinder vacuum which we have since had for the past three years.
Ditching Dyson
To be honest I wasn’t entirely impressed, it may have been lighter and easier to manoeuvre around the house but it lacked suction and given that the entire point of a vacuum cleaner is to ‘suck and remove dirt from carpets’ it frustrated me that our new Dyson left simple things which I could physically pick up with my own fingers such as cotton threads and fluff on carpets.
A month or so later the handle/ wand broke, its replacement then broke and a further six months later the third replacement handle/ wand broke leaving me desperate to replace this chocolate fire guard of a vacuum cleaner with anything other than a Dyson.
Shark Attack
I was recently contacted by Shark enquiring as to whether I’d be interested in carrying out a review upon one of their ‘Lift-Away’ vacuum cleaners and I almost bit their hand off pardon the pun as I was desperate to give anything a go.
Two days later and coincidentally just as I’d vacuumed the entire house using my rather useless Dyson the postman rocked up with a perfectly packaged ‘Shark Lift-Away’ Vacuum cleaner. I very quickly set about putting the vacuum cleaner together to put the brand spanking new Shark to the test on my ‘so called clean carpets’.
I would like to forewarn you at this point that it has already taken every ounce of my soul to write the word ‘vacuum’ rather than ‘hoover’ so far throughout this post. Being a ‘northerner’ I’ve always tended to call what many refer to as a vacuum ‘a hoover’. In the same respect, I’ve never really ‘vacuumed’ our carpets as I’ve always known it to be ‘hoovering the carpets’. So please understand if I happen to drop the ‘hoover bomb/ brand name’ into this post accidentally, it’s not intentional, it’s simply my upbringing seeping into my writing.
Making Light Work Of Cleaning With The Shark Lift-Away Vacuum
The Shark Lift-Away (NV601UK Series ) Vacuum is a bagless vacuum cleaner which includes/ features:
- 1 x Upholstery Tool
- 1 X 2 in 1 Crevice Dusting Tool
- 1 x Pet Power Brush
- HEPA filters
- Easy Steer Technology
- 1 Litre Cylinder
- 850 W Power (with no suction loss)
- A Energy Efficiency Rating
- 8 Metre Power Cord
- 5 Year Warranty
- 1 x Instruction Manual
The Shark has several settings which can be adjusted to suit accordingly. Firstly I set the vacuum to ‘carpet’ mode then adjusted the suction to ‘high’ before beginning vacuuming the living room. I hadn’t expected for the vacuum to self propel, never before have I experienced a vacuum which does most of the work for you! Not only that but the Shark ‘Lift-Away’ vacuum features rather bright lights at the front of the machine which highlight your path as you clean. It was then that I realised how dusty and dirty the Dyson had left my carpets.
After whizzing around the living room much like Mary Poppins on fast forward I took a moment to look at the waste cylinder noting the amount of dust, dirt and general filth that the Shark had picked up. To say that I’d vacuumed less than an hour before the postman arrived the Shark cylinder was now full of grime and required emptying before I could continue around the house. All that dust and dirt our Dyson had failed to pickup, for the first time in years my carpets actually looked clean.
The suction which the Shark provided actually lifted the tread of the carpets springing new life into my living room and around the house as I proceeded to continue cleaning. At this point my husband arrived home and I asked him to give it a go, he too was impressed with the Shark vacuum and swore then and there that he’d never go back to using a Dyson.
I then moved into the kitchen where I tested the hard floor setting upon our laminate and wooden floors, the Shark sadly wasn’t as impressive as when used on carpets but still seemed to do an adequate job.
However, when used to vacuum the stairs the Shark Lift-Away came into its own as I was then able to make full use of this vacuums design as I removed the cylinder from the stand and carried just the cylinder/ vacuum pod along with the nozzle up the stairs to clean the carpets with ease. This is a feature which quite frankly makes this vacuum cleaner unbeatable.
No longer do you need to lug about heavy vacuums whilst reaching to clean curtains, under beds, under tables, light shades, stairs or whatever else you would usually use a wand cleaner for, the Shark Lift-Away literally takes the weight from your shoulders as it separates into a simple vacuum pod solution.
Puppy Power
As you may have read throughout past posts we are owners to a rather ancient basset hound whom we refer to as ‘Molly’, she’s a fairly hairy beast and tends to shed quite sharp fur which often nestles itself into carpets and furnishings. The Shark Lift-Away vacuum is classed as a ‘True Pet’ vacuum as it removes hair, dust and dirt with ease, this has certainly been apparent as we no longer struggle with pet hair around the house.
With the anti-allergen complete seal technology, the Shark Lift-Away vacuum cleaner stores all the dust and allergens inside the vacuum, this has already made a massive difference to our daughter and my husband as they suffer with asthma which seems to have improved since using this product.
Cleaning Critique
Whilst this is an amazing vacuum cleaner it wouldn’t be a fair nor true review unless I stated the drawbacks of this product. The only issues I could possibly pick fault with having used this vacuum for some time now is its lack of waste capacity as I’ve found we are having to empty the cylinder almost every other day. That and this vacuum has a shorter power cord than what I have been used to in the past, neither of which are really an issue simply more of an observation to be fair.
Purchasing & Pricing Information
The Shark Lift-Away Vacuum cleaner has a recommended retail price of £269.99 and is available to purchase from a wide range of high street and online stores including Amazon. However I would recommend purchasing direct from Shark themselves at https://sharkclean.eu as there are a wide range of offers currently in place on many of their models.
My Final Thoughts
We have made use of the Shark Lift-Away Vacuum on a daily basis around the house for the past fortnight or so and without a doubt cannot compare this vacuum to any other we’ve seen nor had in the past. My family and friends have already written down the details of this vacuum as they too were that impressed with what they saw that they are now looking into purchasing their very own Shark.
I cannot recommend the Shark Vacuum series enough! It has truly transformed my life as I am now able to make short work of cleaning around the house, that and I have confidence that my floors and carpets are genuinely clean.
For further information upon the Shark Lift-Away NV601UK Series Vacuum or other Shark products visit https://sharkclean.eu
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Product Rating
Disclosure: I was sent the above product for the purpose of this post however all opinions are my own.