Perfectly Marvelous For Our 1700 Square Foot Home

Way back in the '80's when I was still riding submarines, I made a trip wherein the XO (Executive Officer) of the bat declare war on dirt; “dirt is the enemy he would say” as he turned out the crew to clean the boat once again. In response our motto for that mission was “f_uck the mission, clean the position!” Position referring to the stacks of equipment we used to do our jobs.

Time has pasted of course, but one thing remains a constant: dirt, dust, and crime; the stuff of life. Oh yes and add to that spider webs, which our little patch of Illinois seems to have an over abundance of due the invasion of spiders both inside and out side the house! Add to this the thick layers of dust from the construction that is still going on in our sub-division and cat hair from our little lady and the need to clean and clean well becomes readily apparent. It doesn’t help that both our carpet and out couch & loveseat are all light colored.

When we bought the house some five years ago, we purchased a Hoover Wind Tunnel vacuum cleaner that has served us well, but is starting to get a little long in the tooth, and has been retired upstairs where the work load is not that taxing. So we started looking for an in-expensive replacement for the Wind Tunnel, a machine that shipped with a tool to remove cat hairs. I like Hoover and so I confined my research to that brand and came up with Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum for just under $100.00.

Though similar is design to the venerable Wind Tunnel’s my wife was quick to point out the our new vacuum cleaner—direct from the cavernous warehouses of Amazon.com—was not a Wind Tunnel. This is true but the Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum is still bag-less so I like it. Hoover designed the EmPower series to be used in smaller spaces where the power of a Wind Tunnel may be overkill; the first floor of our modest house certainly qualifies.

In The Box

o Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum
o Attachment Tools
o Instruction Booklet
o Quick-start guide

The Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum comes fully assembled complete with various cleaning attachments and tools. I had the vacuum out of the box and sucking carpet in under five minutes. The only assembly required is to make sure the hose is inserted securely into the base of the vacuum. The vacuum cleaner ships with three attachments/tools: duster, self-powered upholstery cleaner, and a corner wand all of which can be attached to the hose by a 14 inch extender tube. All of the attachments are stored in various places on the vacuum. Together with the fold down handle, storing the Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum in tight spaces is breeze.

Use

The Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum features three power modes from its 12 Amp motor: Standard, Hush and Power boost. Utilizing the modes can be quite confusing and I found myself consulting the manual on more than one occasion trying to clarify how to use the different power settings. I do appreciate the Hush mode; it’s quiet and seems to provide enough sucking power for normal use. I have notice that the mode is considerably quieter then the Wind Tunnel it replaced and that is saying a lot. The Power Boost mode is meant to be a burst mode for cleaning those hard spots on the carpet.

The Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum is self-propelled and features a 15” Widepath nozzle for cleaning large patches of carpeting. The dust and dirt is sucked into a canister similar in form and function to the Wind Tunnel series; said canister includes a HEPA filter. Cleaning the canister should be down with the utmost care however; the lack of a bag has its drawbacks. The dust in the canister is very fine and has a habit of getting everywhere if one is not careful. My advice empty the easy to remove canister out in the garage or back porch; anywhere but in the house where the fine dust can leave a grey coating everywhere. The HEPA filter is also hard to clean so be forewarned.

I love the self-powered upholstery brush; it removes cat hairs with ease. Just attach the tool and the built-in brushes do their job well. I do not like the carpet setting knob however; the plastic rotary piece is hard to turn and requires a heavy hand.

Checking in at just $89.00 I feel as though we purchased a quality product in the Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum. Not a big and cumbersome as the Wind Tunnel is replaced, the Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Vacuum has proved itself to be the perfect little vacuum for our modest floor space.

Hoover EmPower Bagless Upright Canister Vacuum (Model No. U5260-900) Features:

o 12 Amp motor
o HEPA filtration
o Removable canister – no bags
o Hoover Cleaning Performance rating of 22
o 15" "Widepath" nozzle
o Three power modes – standard, hush and power boost
o 14" extender, 16" corner tool, upholstery brush and duster
o Flexible plastic hose detaches to extend to about eight foot reach
o Adjustable nozzle height, five settings
o Handle folds down for storage