Shark - DuoClean Slim Upright Vacuum - Gray
Model: NV201
SKU: 5948512
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Customers are satisfied with the DuoClean Slim Upright Vacuum's powerful suction, lightweight design, and ease of use. Many appreciate the included attachments and its excellent performance on both carpets and hard floors. The vacuum's quiet operation is also frequently praised. Overall, the positive feedback highlights its effectiveness and user-friendliness.
As much as I dislike housework, I can appreciate a good vacuum cleaner since a good tool makes any job easier. Over the years we have had a variety of machines and all of them have had their good points and their deficiencies no matter how much money we spent. This Shark is no different. It sucks. (That is a vacuum cleaner joke, so don’t stop reading here.) I think the easiest way for me to do this is to make a simple list of likes and dislikes. LIKES: The narrow motorized floor nozzle allows you to sneak into tight spaces between furniture. Great placement of the carrying handle on the power unit makes it easy to carry around the vacuum. Nicely designed tools (tools often seem to be an afterthought for other manufacturers). Easy to empty dust cup (this is the first bagless vacuum we have owned and it is not the disaster I had anticipated). Reading the manual states that all three filters can be washed with water which is nice, so you don’t have to pay for frequent replacement of the HEPA filter which some manufacturers use as an ongoing money grab. The motor in the floor nozzle shuts off when you set the vacuum upright while leaving the suction motor running to use the tools or if you stop to move something out of your way thus preventing damage to flooring from the spinning brush. LED headlights provides good illumination and help you see things you don’t want to suck up - I found an earring back during my first use. Hard plastic wheels have rubber strips (like skinny tires) on them for quieter operation on hard floor surfaces. Light weight makes it easy to transport between floors (up and down stairways). I had to make a direct comparison with our traditional upright to appreciate just how light the Shark is. Good cord length for the size of the machine which should allow you to use it on a stairway if you have an outlet within a few feet of either end of the stairs. Easy initial assembly with a nice feel to the parts and how they fit together. Suction power seems to equal any other vacuum I have owned. Easy to use adjustment to vary suction when using tools on furniture or draperies. Very easy to access the brushroll and remove the soft roller for removing the inevitable long hair or threads that get wrapped around them. Other manufacturers could take a lesson from Shark on this design (no tools needed other than a coin). Cord hook at top of wand to help with cord management while you are using the vacuum. This is easy to miss if you don’t sit down and read the whole manual. Provides good value and quality for its price point. A FIVE year warranty (of course there are some exclusions)…when was the last time you got a five year warranty on a home appliance? DISLIKES: I could smell warm oil (I assume from the motor) during my first use. I am hoping for the oil smell to dissipate with continued use. It is possible that this affliction is unique to this one sample. Motorized floor nozzle has a soft bumper only on the front and not on the sides which is needed to protect furniture or woodwork when vacuuming along side of it. Narrow floor nozzle makes it seem like forever to clean large, open areas of flooring. Some cleaning jobs require three hands to keep the vacuum from tipping over and to run the wand and hose with a tool attached to it. Onboard tool storage for only two of the four included attachments. I think this Shark is a nice sized unit for someone with an apartment or a house with small rooms. It has earned a spot on our second floor which has small bedrooms, a short hallway and small closets to maneuver around in. The item was provided to me in exchange for an unbiased review. It is one thing to look at an item in a store and another to bring it home and actually use it and become familiar with it. I can truthfully say that this vacuum impressed me on a few different levels and makes me doubt the purchase of our premium-brand upright.
Posted by pillboy
The NV201 Slim Duo vacuum cleaner offers many features at the convenience of a smaller body and manageable weight for maximum compatibility to facilitate cleaning duties. Typically, one would assume that smaller vacuum cleaners would sacrifice suction power, however, that is not the case with the Slim Duo. In fact, it felt that it had enough power to equal the suction of our larger vacuum cleaner. Once opened, the NV201 is quite impressive. Construction wise, it is quite sturdy and though lighter than our larger vacuum cleaner, it is a bit heavier than it looks. Nonetheless, it is still quite light and maneuvering the cleaner was quite easy. In the box, there are several accessories that should be familiar: a crevice tool, two dusting brushes with one larger allowing a different angle to facilitate cleaning, and lastly a wide cleaning tool. In addition to the accessories, there are a couple features that I would like to mention. Perhaps its best feature is its ability to detach the base unit and allow you to carry while you clean. This is extremely useful when you are using the suction hose. Most vacuum cleaners force you to carry the whole unit and can be a pain when cleaning blinds for example. In addition, it cuts down on the weight that you have to carry. The next feature that is worth mentioning is the hose has a suction switch that allows you to restrict or increase the airflow. The difference on the lowest and highest setting was quite drastic. The suction is extremely powerful for such a small vacuum. Lastly, there are two different modes when you are vacuuming normally. Carpet mode, as indicated by a green LED, is the fastest mode as both rollers are used. The second setting, Hard floor mode, is used for bare floors or rugs that do not require as much power. The rollers are slower and this mode is indicated with no LED light. In addition, regardless of which mode is selected, once the vacuum cleaner is returned to its upright position, all the rollers are shut off to prevent the burning of carpet. There is also a carpet roller LED indicator on the base unit. In our household of four cats, one would imagine we have to clean and vacuum on a regular basis. As such, it is a perfect test for the NV201 Slim Duo. Using our stairs as my first major test, I ran through each stair with the crevice tool with maximum suction. All the stairs had been cleaned previously with our larger Bissell cleaner so I was not expecting much in the dirt compartment. Ironically, I was wrong and was quite pleased that the Slim Duo picked up so much. It nearly filled about half of it with just the crevice tool along each individual stair and the baseboards. Once I finished using the hose, I went ahead and cleaned the rest normally with the carpet base rollers on. The swivel action of the vacuum cleaner is also quite handy in some places. The Slim Duo moved very well and it had a decent amount of resistance on the carpet while vacuuming. In addition, the width of the base was perfect for each stair and it covered most of it in one motion. Overall, I think most will be quite excited with the results. With its ability to clean using the hose without needing the base rollers, cleaning the staircase will not be as stressful as it had previously. In addition, I cleaned our entry way rug with the hard floor setting. As such, there was less traction as oppose with the carpet setting as I expected but it cleaned very well and lifted quite a bit of debris. Lastly, I would like to list a couple of observations that I noted throughout my testing of the NV201 Slim Duo vacuum cleaner. The first thing I would like to mention is that while most vacuum cleaners allow you to store all the tools on the unit itself, the Slim Duo only allows two of them. Naturally, this is a tradeoff for its compact size so this is not too much of a hassle. Furthermore, this naturally reduces the size of the dirt compartment as the cut off line seemed a bit short but again this is not an issue as you will be have to dump its contents anyway. The last thing I would like to emphasize is that the Slim duo does not have any carpet height adjustments on the base of the unit as you would normally see on larger cleaners. It only has two cleaning modes as mentioned previously: Carpet Mode and Hard Floor. Overall, these are not complaints with the Slim Duo as it is definitely the best compact vacuum cleaner I have personally used. However, these are merely necessary observations to keep in mind when choosing a vacuum cleaner for your needs. In conclusion, the NV201 represents the upper tier of compatibility and light weight vacuum cleaners. For what it was designed to do, it works exceptionally well. By allowing you to detach the base while using the hose, it facilitates cleaning so much so that now staircases and window blinds are no longer stressful. In addition, it provides great suction power for such a small unit and acts as a perfect companion to any other normal vacuum cleaner. As for its price, while cheaper alternatives are available, it does an exceptional job at what it was designed to do and I think most will be pleased at the results. With that said, the Slim Duo is ready for your cleaning chores. Recommended. Features: *Carpet rollers detach for portability while using the hose to clean; less weight and you do not have to carry the whole vacuum cleaner (Lift-Away Mode) . *Strong suction power for such a small size; perhaps even stronger than our larger cleaner. * Operates quieter than our other cleaner; lighter and easier to maneuver with exceptional cleaning performance. Observations: *Can only store two accessories due to its compact size. *Two modes of cleaning: one for carpet and the other for bare floors or low carpet. *Smaller dirt compartment area than what it appears it could hold/tradeoff for its compact size.
Posted by Dragonhunter281
I am very impressed with this slim shark DuoClean nv201 vacuum. It has exceeded my expectations in nearly every way. It's lightweight, powerful, has LED headlights!!!! and is easy to steer and practically pulls itself along the carpet. You might find yourself getting a little bit of a workout when you pull the vacuum back since it seems to want to 'run' away from you and get all the dirt out of your carpet as soon as it can. That part will take a little bit getting used to though, but not a big deal. You can detach the top part of the vacuum away from the vacuum 'head' and just hold the canister and motor part if you wanted to tackle a flight of stairs (called lift-away mode), which you most likely will have to do since the wand and hose portion are not very long. It is a nice feature to be able to adjust the suction that the wand has by opening a valve that allows air to escape if you didn't need the full suction for some reason....maybe if you are using the dusting brush attachment on some delicate items, but I am more of an all or nothing kind of guy so I don't think I will be using that feature. Speaking of dusting attachment, you also get a 12" crevice tool, wide upholstery tool, and a multi-angle dusting brush. My only grip so far is that the power cord is not very long. I believe its about 20 feet and I have to be strategic on where I plug it in or I won't be able to reach all areas of some of my rooms. If the cord was 25 feet then it would be perfect for my situation. It seems like this vacuum is going to be easy to clean, at least according to the included documentation. I haven't pulled apart the motorized floor nozzle to clean the soft rollers yet, but emptying out the dust canister is a breeze and also removing the filters for cleaning is simple as well. This vacuum is perfect for a small to medium size home or apartment in my opinion, but if you do have a larger house, just be ready to empty out the dust canister at least once during a full house cleaning session.
Posted by jago