Eureka 4870GZ Boss Smart-Vac Upright Vacuum
by Eureka
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Eureka 4870GZ Boss Smart-Vac Upright Vacuum
Customer Review: Disappointed and disgusted!
Summary: 2 Stars
I purchased my Eureka 4870 in September 2007. Now, a week shy of it being only two years old, the handle release lever flew off the other day while vacuuming. It did not get bumped or anything, it just flew off all by itself with a "boing" sound! Of course the warranty is only good for a year, and now I'm faced with having it repaired or purchasing a new vacuum. At least the only local vacuum repair store will do a free estimate.
I'll sum up the rest of what I think of this vacuum (keep in mind I don't vacuum as often as I should, maybe every two weeks, so it's not like this vacuum has a very hard "life"!)
PROS:
1. It really does pick up dirt and pet hair great.
2. Good hose suction; I haven't had a problem with the hose cracking.
3. Cord is plenty long, however I do have a small house.
4. The brush stops spinning in upright position, so you can "park" it for a minute without melting any carpet).
5. It works well on floors.
CONS:
1. Very heavy, this makes it seem sturdy but it is difficult to maneuver at times. I can't imagine carrying it up and down stairs.
2. Loud, but louder than any other vacuum? I don't know, it didn't bother me a lot (although I can't hear the phone ring while using it) but I'm pretty sure my dog hated the noise!
3. "Headlight" burned out after a few months.
4. "The Paw" attachment bit the dust after a few months (it was good while it worked).
5. Attachments are stupidly mounted on vac. IE: the upholstery attachment fell off all the time right from the first use...really ticked me off so I finally put it up in my closet, with the non-working "Paw"! The dusting brush does not want to go back in it's place, I have to really cram it in, thus mashing some of the bristles.
6. Where you wrap up the cord is just not adequate...the cord falls off half way through my wrapping it up, almost every time. I think it might be because there is more room for the cord at the top, and a pretty narrow space for it at the bottom.
7. The hose is somewhat short. I'm 5'3" and I really had to stretch to get up into the corners of my ceilings.
8. Difficult to adjust height...you have to put the vac into it's upright position to adjust height and to change it from rug to floor, which leads me to...
9. The handle release lever is ridiculously made...I don't know why it's not considered defective since it's very clear that many people have the same issue. You have to put all of your weight on the lever to make it release, and you really have to shove the handle in so it will snap back into it's upright position. This happened right from the first use, and I had hoped it just needed breaking in. Well, "breaking" was the key word because the lever flew off, along with a few metal pieces from underneath, and now I can't use it. One of the metal pieces flew so far away that I can't even find it!
10. Lastly, but certainly not least, the vacuum bags seemed quite small for an upright vac. They are also hard to find (at least in my area). I finally found a package of 10 at Sears. I can't remember what I paid, but it was somewhere between $15 and $20.
There you have it, I hope the info is helpful. After I take it in to the vac repair shop and get their free estimate I'll post an update to my review with the outcome.
Customer Review: Well-engineered vacuum
Summary: 5 Stars
We have plush and berber carpet throughout our apartment, and I vacuum it once a week with the Eureka 4870GZ. Overall I'm very impressed, and I already talked my brother into buying the same vac. The suction is good, definitely, and it does what I need from a vac.
Here's a detailed list of the pros and cons:
Pro:
1) The hose tubing is clear when stretched but black when recoiled. I can see dirt and clogs but I'm not faced with that nastiness unless I look.
2) Mine came with the Power Paw brush attachment. The Power Paw ROCKS for stairs. It is like shrinking the vacuum to a more manageable size when doing stairs. Where has this attachment been my whole life?
3) The vacuum is NOT heavy like people say. It isn't light, but it certainly isn't the heavy monster I expected. Don't worry about weight; this vac is average weight.
4) The 4870 is engineered not to tip. I've never had a vac that stays vertical as easily, which is great when doing corners.
5) The motor will turn off automatically if too hot. I haven't needed this feature, but I like that it is there.
6) The extra-long hose attachment is much appreciated. There's hose, then there is an EXTRA hose attachment.
7) There's a switch to turn suction from the floor to the hose. This gives better hose sucking power, I've found. Much better than the Hoovers and Dirt Devils I've used.
8) Changing bags couldn't be easier. Press a button, take out the bag and you're done. Why aren't other vacuums I've known this easy? I mean, it usually isn't that hard, but this one has a really easy bag to change.
9) The vacuum brush automatically turns off when the vac is upright. Nice.
10) There's a nice stairs handle.
11) It came with an extra bag and belt. The bag I expected, but the extra belt I didn't. That was a nice little cherry on top of the purchase, unless of course they know something I don't about the belt on this vacuum. We'll see...
Con:
1) The attachments are tiny. I'm not sure why, but they seem small. Did I buy the Fisher Price vacuum by mistake?
2) I wish it were less a plastic appliance. I'm guessing it will hold up fine, but it seems like something that might melt in the sun. I would have preferred at least a bit of metal.
3) The upholstry brush attachment isn't easy to get when the cord is wrapped around the back of the vac. This isn't that big a deal, but it is unnecessary IMHO.
4) The hose seems awfully loose, and it gets in the way a bit. This can be fixed with some velcro, though.
5) A dirt sensor would be a nice addition. I should have checked if the deluxe model with that feature was much more.
6) This is a very loud vacuum. There's no quiet technology going on here.
7) The foot pedal to recline the vacuum is very stiff. VERY stiff. I think the designers expect you to wear a boot when vacuuming, because pressing the foot pedal is like pushing a shovel into dirt. It is manageable, but it is oddly hard to use considering the nice design elsewhere on the vac. An intern must have developed this part of the vacuum.
Customer Review: Excellent product. Certainly worth CR's Best Buy.
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this product after reading that Consumer Report had selected this vacuum cleaner as its Best Buy. I bought it from Amazon when there was a sale on this product and I got it for $115.
My major criteria for vacuum was that I wanted a bag vacuum with Hepa filter, since my son has slight allergy problems. I had read lots of reviews and comments at various websites and Consumer Report mentioning that bagless vacuum are very bad for allergies. The only way, you can clean a bagless vacuum and be sure that none of the dustmites and other allergens are getting back into your house, is to take the vacuum outside the house, close the door and then clean the vacuum. This is not at all a viable option in Michigan considering the cold weather that we have to face.
There was not a single vacuum that had all the features this particular vacuum provides and still be at a reasonable price-range. The next model that I found with nearly all the features the 4870GZ provides was from Hoover and it was costing $250+.
There are various model number starting with 4870. There's not much of difference between these various models, except for some kind of color variation and the GZ model has an additional cleaning brush.
Before buying this vacuum, I read various reviews at Amazon saying that this vacuum is heavy, its difficult to tilt the handle, etc. Best Buy store had this exact same model. So before ordering from Amazon, I headed over to the nearest Best Buy and had a good look at this model. I lifted it, carried it and walked around, tilted the handle, switched the bareflooor setting, etc.
This vacuum is no more heavier than my previous Panasonic. I can use it pretty comfortably in my colonial home with two flight of stairs. The bare floor cleaning option is great. The manual carpet height setting is great. The knob that you have to press, for the vacuum handle to tilt is sort of tricky. There is a particular way to press it. Once you get the hang of it, its pretty easy. When the handle is upright the vacuum automatically switches to barefloor setting, which is very nice. If I have to vacuum the barefloor, then after tilting the vacuum handle, I have to push the knob from carpet to barefloor. This again is kind of tricky and once you get the hang of it, its very easy to handle.
Couple of things that I would have liked to have in this model are... Have a cleaning/dirt sensor LED. I had this feature in my previous Panasonic and I liked it a lot. Of course Consumer Report says that this feature is not of much use, but I beg to differ.
The other feature I would have liked is to have a vacuum bag full sensor. I had seen this feature in some other models of Hoover/Dirt Devil.
One more feature that I would have liked is to have a automatic retractable cord. I had this feature in my previous Panasonic. After having done with the vacuum, there was this small knob at the bottom of the vacuum cleaner, which I had to just press with my feet and the whole cord would just automatically retract back into the vacuum. During my research, I found that this kind of feature is available only in cannister vacuum and is no longer provided in upright vacuum.
Customer Review: Fantastic machine!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I want to give this machine 6 stars. It is far and away the best vacuum I've ever used.
We've had problems with a fairly new carpet with continuous piling that was difficult to pick up. The Boss Smart-Vac just rolled right over it and took up everything.
It works great on bare floors too! There was one detail that the users manual didn't make clear, namely, that when you turn on the bare floor switch you have to pull it back until it clicks, which can be a little stiff the first few times you use it. But their 800-number customer support desk was very helpful and I got through surprisingly quickly.
I have to relay one story that really impressed me, however. My wife pointed out to me that there was no external indicator telling when to replace the dust bag. Which is true -- but all one needs to do is open the front door and tap the bag to check: that's easy to do and more accurate than any indicator I've ever seen. Anyway, having been used to lesser quality vacuums, I hadn't realized how effective the Boss Smart-Vac was. So I hadn't checked the bag level, when I was giving a bedroom a thorough spring cleaning the Boss Smart-Vac simply stopped. "Oh, no!" I thought. "Had I burned the motor out already?" That wouldn't make sense. So I waited a while. Then I started it back up and resumed working. It stopped 5 minutes later. When I tried to get "smart" myself, I remembered noticing the dust flying through the clear plastic feed tube. So I looked back at the tube again and noticed that the dust wasn't "flying" -- it was sitting! I had not only filled the dust bag, I had filled the feed tube!!!
So, if anyone says that there isn't an external bag indicator, they're wrong. Although it's not intended to be an external indicator, the feed tube will serve as one (albeit unintentionally). Just remember, if it is full, you are waaaaaaayyyy past the point of needing to change the bag.
All turned out well, however, as the Boss Smart-Vac showed no permanent damage when I cleared it all up. Luckily for me, I also have a Shop-Vac with a narrow nozzle that I was able to stick up into the opening of the feed tube inside the bag chamber. It was almost fun watching the dust get sucked out of the feed tube.
In addition, I've found that the attachments fit nice and tightly on the body of the machine. The hose pipe is convenient to grab and attach as well. And when I'm alternating from floor to hose and back, it's easy to hang the hose temporarily over the hose tube. You have to be careful to remember to turn the hose/floor switch when switching. I found several times that I was vacuuming the floor but the switch was on hose. That is simply a habit that I need to instill in myself.
I now know why Consumer Reports gave the Boss Smart-Vac a Best Buy.
BTW, Amazon rocked on this order. Not only were they cheaper (by more than $20) than the only big box store that I could have gotten it from (but wouldn't sell because they don't do special orders to my small town store yet), but I got free shipping and received the order the next day!!! That was one Amazing Amazon!
Customer Review: Consumer Reports Recommended
Summary: 4 Stars
"RECOMMENDATIONS & NOTES
A Consumer Report Best Buy. Highest performance for the dollar. Excelled at most cleaning, but hard to pull. Bag: $6/3. HEPA filter: $20"
This is what is said about this particular vacuum at Consumer Reports. It is Rated Excellent in Cleaning Carpet, Excellent in Cleaning bare floors, Good at cleaning with tools, Good at ease of use, Good at Noise, and Excellent at emissions. Overall score was 73 out of a 100, which puts it at very good. The thing that I am particularly impressed by is the fact that it has a dial that allows you to set it to either the floor suction with the rollers, or just to the hose, there is no sharing of suction between the two. The suction is awesome, I mean this baby really sucks, almost as good as a shop vac, and those really suck. It is also relatively quieter than most. It was simple to put together, just had to slip the handle into a set of grooves and put in three screws. It comes with one extension hose, 1 dusting brush, 1 upholstery nozzle, and 1 crevice tool. It is not self-propelled, but yet when I turn it on it pulls me forward, which is pretty cool. I've noticed that you need to keep the carpet height setting right in the middle, if you put it any lower there is a little resistance when you pull back across the carpet. The foot release to lean the vac back so you can vacuum with it is awefully tight and that is one of the reasons I didn't give it 5 stars, it worries me that you have to really put pressure on it with your foot to get it pressed in enough to release the body of the vac in an angled position. It seems like you have to put more force then necessary and over time this might have some negative results. Also the wheels are screwed in tight, but they are semi loose and they make a noice when you push it across the carpet, when you are running the vacuum the bristles must hit up against its clear housing because it has a slight scrubbing noise, which sort of bothers me. The belt, which is suppose to be an extended life belt is a thin, awefully stiff, rubber material. I was looking through some trouble shooting about why the belts have a tendency to break and it said to make sure to always keep the carpet height correctly set, to be careful not to run over small objects, and it highly recommended that you not run the vacuum over the tassles of rugs... I can't imagine tassles on rugs breaking belts, but apparently it does. I highly recommend that you always try the vacuum out before you buy it, I looked at two other vacuums that were rated pretty good on Consumer Reports and would have bought either one had I purchased it online, but when I tried them out the plastic craftmanship looked very cheap and delicate, the suction didn't seem very strong, and they were just plain design ugly. I know that sounds petty, but you know some people care as much about the vacuum cleaner appearance as quality. This vacuum cleaner came with one extra belt, and an extra bag which was nice.