17 out of 17 people found this review helpful.
Mighty is Right
Date of Review: Nov 3, 2003
The Bottom Line: Can't beat a $60 vacuum that sucks and sucks... dirt, not money.
We had a Dirt Devil LiteRider, or something like that, and it just wasn't cutting it on our hardwood floors. The upright was powerful enough to pick up almost anything on the carpeted areas, but on the hardwood areas, it was throwing dirt back. After a year of having dirt thrown from the floor to our feet, we decided to get a canister vacuum instead, since I had good experience with canister vacs before I got married.
Let's just say that at your typical retailer, upright models out number canisters by about 20 to 1. The only canister models to choose from at Target were The Shark and a Dirt Devil. The Shark was too expensive and seemed like it had too many gadgety items, rather than real useful items. The Dirt Devil I wasn't going to give a chance, since we hated the LiteRider. We then tried HomeDepot and they had the Dirt Devil (again) and this Eureka Mighty Mite. I had had an Eureka canister vacuum several years ago that had lasted over ten years. The price was right at $59, so we bought it.
This model is very light, not that you will be carrying it around much. The hose is long enough for most rooms where you don't even have to move the unit once you center it in the room. The unit is all black and comes with probably a 20' or so cord. The cord stores wrapped under the unit. It does not retract into the vacuum like some canister vacs. It comes with a standard floor tool, crevice tool (the light saber tool), and a combo upholstery/dusting brush attachment. It's two tools in one. You plug the end that you need into the vacuum hose so you don't have two tools sitting around and possibly getting lost.
The suction power of the vacuum is great. It picks up dirt from hardwood floors and carpet with ease. The standard nozzle has two small wheels on the nozzle that help you glide the head across the floor. With a slight twist of the wrist and handle, you're guiding the head in the direction you need it to go. There is a sliding ring around the handle to control suction, so that if you're vacuuming drapes you can reduce the suction. The crevice tool will suck anything from edges and corners. The vacuum comes with two 19" wands, so you have 38" of reach to get into hard to reach spots and ceiling corners, for dirt and bugs.
The hose is connected to the unit by clips that rotate freely 360 degrees along the rim, so there is no hose tangle to free up. I know that on my older model, the hose cliped into the unit at a fixed position and hose tangle was a problem causing the vacuum to 'choke' by losing suction. This vacuum has a 'Auto Shut Off' safety feature that prevents the motor from burning out. When the unit is used too long or gets clogged and heats up, the unit will shut off and cool down for about 30 min. This is according to the manual. I have not actually used it until the unit heated over. I'm sure the feature works and is good, but 30 min. seems like a long time to wait.
I think as long as you change your bag often and change the motor filter often, you shouldn't have a problem with over heating. On the filters, a three pack should run around $2.49 to $3.99. I've found the cheapest ones to be at Target (they're variable from store to store) and $3.99 at most places, like HomeDepot and Lowes. Supermarkets run about $4.25. The motor filter is reuseable. It's a high grade, probably spun glass, filter element, much like your window/wall unit air conditioner filters.
The manual that came with the unit has several accessories that you can purchase separately for the unit. They run from extra 19" wands ($4.09), extra hose ($11.79), motor filter ($1.49), deluxe floor brush nozzle ($11.99), to a deluxe wall-mounted unit that can hold the unit's accessories (like the hose) for $26.89.
I haven't purchased anything... YET... but I can see where I might purchase the wall-unit because there are slots for the crevice tool and combo brush, but the hose is just so long and there's no where to really put it securely. You end up putting the unit in the closet standing and the hose just thrown in. I can see having the unit by where I would put the unit and then clipping the hose on the wall-unit.
Overall, I am very satisfied with the unit for it's performance and price. I think it is an excellent product and I'm sure it will last several years. Hopefully when this unit goes in about ten years, there will still be Eureka canister models to choose from.
