Shop-Vac 960-97-10 Industrial 18-Gallon, 6.5-HP Pump Vacuum

Light & Powerful, but has some drawbacks,
I have 437axz version of this (got it from Costco) which adds hepa filter & motorized brushroll. I needed a light & powerful vacuum because I was tired of lugging around our very heavy hover windtunnel up & down our 3 story house.

This does the job but here are the drawbacks:

1. Cord is a bit short at 20 ft, I wish it was 25 or 30 ft.
2. The exhaust is in the front & center, which on hard floors blows dust out of the way as you vacuum (works fine on carpet), it would have been nice to exhaust to the side.
3. This vacuum is not designed for very plush carpet, it's hard to move on a plush rug I have, but works fine on regular carpet & berber.

The best part about this vacuum is it's very light and I don't get tired of pushing it back & forth like used to with my heavy Hoover, also I like that the handle is height adjustable and it large loop handle is easy to grip and very egronomic. The motorized brushroll of the 437axz is great for stairs & the hepa is a nice added touch as well. Also the price is good, I think it was $68.99 at costco for the 437axz. I think the next step up for a light vacuum would be the $300-$400 oreck xl.

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The company behind the product can matter as much as the product itself
I do all the vacuuming in our household, and having recently moved to a three-story townhouse with carpeted stairs, it became clear that our cheap old, noisy, heavy Hoover upright was no longer up to the task. I had long wanted to get a vacuum cleaner of better quality than the sub-100 cheapie I'd been putting up with for years, so this was my opportunity.

I bought this vacuum on the strength of rave reviews found on various sites across the web. I will also confess to being taken in by its stunning good looks.

The vacuum delivered on a number of promises -- very strong suction, clean exhaust air, extremely quiet operation, and light weight. Having controls for suction strength right on the handle was great, and the big rubberized wheels made for easy movement across hard floors.

The brushroll was not confidence-inspiring -- it had very soft bristles, and I doubted whether it would be enough to lift dirt and hair out of even our low carpet pile. As it turned out, I never got the chance to test it -- the brushroll was defective and would not turn.

As luck would have it, there was an authorized warranty repair shop close to our house, so I took it there rather than return the unit. Electrolux phone support was friendly and knowledgable, which made gave me some reassurance that all would be well. Three weeks and many phone calls later, the unit was still in the shop due to a shortage of replacement parts. Electrolux representatives told me that they had run out of replacement parts for their power nozzle.

I asked if I could order a new power nozzle altogether, and I was told these were backorded as well. Worse yet, no one at Electrolux seemed to know when parts or power nozzles would become available again.

It was a great-looking, well put-together vacuum, supported by helpful, cheerful staff. But ultimately they were let down by an inability to make the parts necessary to service their products. Sadly, it's a 5-star product sold by a 2-star company.

With time running out on my Amazon return privileges, I asked for an RMA, and Amazon delivered above expectations by processing my return with zero hassles and utmost speed.

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Wonderful vacuum for what you pay!
I, too, bought the yellow Walmart model 2981BVZ after my 10 year old Hoover Windtunnel died. I must say I am impressed with this vacuum even though it only cost about $80, compared with almost $300 for my Hoover. It cleans remarkably well, as well as my old Hoover did, it is quieter than my Hoover, the telescoping dust brush DOES work, and it is so convenient to empty the dust cup without having to clean the filter each time. True, it isn't self-propelled, but it is relatively light for its size and fairly easy to push around. And the Turbo Paw works absolutely great, especially on stairs. The only minor flaw I experienced is, as others have noted, the extension wand falls off when bumped, but I am working on a fix for this and in the meantime, it doesn't detract from the cleaning power of the vacuum. I love it.

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I want to buy one for EVERYONE I OWN!!!
This is the BEST dustbuster-type device I have ever owned...or that anyone I've known has ever owned! It is truly a marvel. I have forced it to pinch-hit for a shop vac, sucked up plaster, nails, splinters, bits of adhesive-backed tiles, sawdust, roly-polies, cobwebs, flour, ginormous dust bunnies...and still it won't die. I have used the roller attachment to vacuum my shag rug. It is POWERFUL! I have abused this thing so severely, I don't deserve to own it.

If it died, I would cry, apologize to it, bury it in my backyard...and immediately buy another one.

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Just like the Vision Upright-- bad- bad bad.
* Good suction on the floor brush- so far. I've only had it a week.
* Bad attachment suction.
* Loud Loud motor, and a high pitched whistling noise.
* The top of the canister filter gets clogged up every 10 minutes and you have to open the canister to loosen it up so proper suction is restored.
* The canister push button empty process is messy. The bottom of the canister kicks out hard and dust goes flying. Even then you still have to stick you hand up to clean out the top of the filter.
* There is already this weird burning smell even while the canister is empty and the band is new.
* Clumsy and badly engineered attachments.
* The extension hose keeps coming loose from the fittings. I have to keep pushing it in.
* The attachments don't stay secure either when using the extension or crevice tool.
* The brush attachment does not work on my couch or stairs. The brush stops spinning.
* The cord is obtrusive and clumsy, it is always getting in the way.
* The bare floor setting DOES NOT WORK on bare floors. It doesn't suck anything up. It only spreads it all over the floor.

I wish I would have read the reviews for the Dirt Devil Vision Turbo Upright Model 088400. This seems like it is the same vacuum cleaner and has some of the worst reviews ever for a vacuum cleaner.

I am a stay at home mom and have four boys. Needless to say I have to vacuum every day. This vacuum is a big sweaty dirty disaster.

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