Shark Upright Vacuum, Stratos with DuoClean PowerFins, HairPro, Powered Lift-Away, Self-Cleaning Brushroll, & Odor Neutralizer Technology, Navy, AZ3002

I wasn’t planning to get a new vacuum cleaner, but I changed my mind after I noticed a significant defect in our old one.I do the overall floor vacuuming and mopping in our house each week. For the last 6 or 7 years I’ve been using my Bissell, “lift-off” vacuum. I’ve been pleased with it and would’ve given it a “4 Star” rating.My only complaint was that I had to secure my brush attachment with a bungy cord, otherwise—if I hit a bump—the brush would just fall off. I also had to hold the electric cord in place with a clothespin. But other than that, I was quite satisfied with the performance.I recently bought an Oreck, “Orbiter,” floor polisher from Amazon, so I could better clean our hardwood floors. However, I also learned the unit could be used on carpets as well. For that you spread a cleaning powder over the carpet surface and then work it into the material with the Orbiter. After that you vacuum up the powder—which captures the dirt—and the job is done.That’s how it’s supposed to work.However, once I started vacuuming with my Bissell, I noticed there was a fine mist of powder leaking from a variety of areas on my unit. I could see white powder going into my dust cup, but it was also circulating into the air around me.I had watched videos online showing the Orbiter being used like this and then being vacuumed up with no problem. What was wrong here?I won’t go into my struggles looking for an answer, but eventually I decided to try using another vacuum we have.A few years ago, my wife bought a Shark, “Navigator,” vacuum cleaner, because she thought the Bissell was too heavy and noisy. I do most of the vacuuming, but she likes to touch up areas when necessary.My wife bought this after getting rave reviews from her mom and sister. I actually never used it because I had my routine down with the Bissell.Anyway, I decided to get the Shark and try my luck.I was pleasantly surprised when the Shark sucked up the powder and kept all of it in the dust cup. Problem solved.I was very impressed with the Navigator and started using it to do the whole house. However, I made the mistake ($) of checking out the Shark website and saw what upgrades were available.I actually did a lot of research via YouTube on Shark Vacuums and decided I really wanted a Vertex. I monitored the Shark website for possible sales and finally saw a good value on the Vertex model. I checked Amazon and noted they had the same “limited time deal” on the Vertex, so I ordered one immediately.By the way—when I checked the next day—the sale was already over.I know this is a long story, but I wanted to emphasize the importance of getting a superior filtering system.One of the videos I saw on YouTube was titled, “Don’t Buy a Cheap Vacuum.” One of the major points made was that everybody should spend enough money to get a “sealed” filtration system.Now I realized my Bissell must’ve been releasing invisible dust all these years. Yuck. Now I didn’t like my old vacuum very much at all.Anyway, I received my Vertex and used it yesterday and today (5/7/21).You know…I’m embarrassed to admit how much I like this machine and how excited I was to be getting it.The first day I worked on three bedrooms with carpets, two bathrooms with tile, and a hard floor hallway.For the record, I vacuum at least once a week and I’ve been using the Navigator for the past two weeks.However, after a normal run-through with the Vertex, the dust cup was full of crud—most of which—must have come from the carpets.I’m not exaggerating when I say I’ve never seen that much dirt come out of one vacuuming session and I had only done about one half of the house. It must’ve been pulled out of the carpets, because I know the floors can’t get that dirty.I know this review is too long, so I’ll just say that I really appreciate everything about this vacuum. The suction power is great. It handles easily and although I always wear ear plugs—my wife says it’s not too loud.There are plenty of informative videos about Shark vacuums on YouTube. If you’re considering getting a Vertex, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.Update: Oct. 13, 2024I ordered a Shark, Vertex, upright vacuum cleaner, model # AZ2002 on May 2, 2021. I had read and watched several reviews on this item and they were all positive.However, about 7 or 8 months ago the “Power Head” unit—which is the part that houses the motor and rolls along the floor--would no longer stay secured in the upright position when I lifted the vacuum off the ground. I could still stand the vacuum upright, but as soon as I moved or lifted it, the power head would flop down into operating mode. The vacuum still worked normally, but it was inconvenient to use it this way.I looked on YouTube to see if I could find out what it would take to repair this problem and I learned repair technicians are very critical of Shark vacuums in general. For example, one of the first videos I watched is titled, “Why Can’t You Repair Your Shark Vacuum?”Another critical video is titled, “Everything Wrong with Shark Vacuums.”I won’t go into all the problems listed, but overall, the technicians complained that they couldn’t just order new parts to fix things, because Shark requires large portions of the machines to be ordered as complete units that can’t be pieced together with separate parts.I called “Hokemas”—the Vacuum and Sewing center I use in Redding, CA to inquire about getting this problem fixed. The employee answering told me that if the repair just required adjustments to the vacuum, they might be able to resolve the issue.However, if it required new parts, they wouldn’t be able to help. I asked why that was and he told me that their shop couldn’t get parts from Shark. This didn’t make sense to me, but I didn’t ask for an explanation at that time.Instead, I asked if they could check my vacuum for free—which is their policy—and let me know what I would need to do next.So, I dropped the vacuum off. There was a man and a young woman behind the counter. I explained the situation to the man and he took the vacuum and walked away. I heard him talking to the woman—who was walking with him—and I heard him say, “These Shark vacuums are good for about 2 or 3 years and then they implode.”That didn’t sound very encouraging. However, I noticed the shop had a full line of Shark vacuums in their display area.The employee phoned me later and said they couldn’t fix the problem and I would need to order a new power head from Shark myself, because they couldn’t get parts themselves.I wish I would’ve asked for more details about why this was true.When I got home and inspected the vacuum, I noticed a new problem. There’s a spongy front roller on the Vertex model which can be removed for washing by pressing a blue, thumb-size, round button on the left, bottom side of the vacuum. The button has a thin “lip” on the side which is what you push to disengage the roller.But when I tried to push the button to the side, it wouldn’t move. When I checked, I saw that the repair person had installed the button with the lip facing the wrong way and it wouldn’t move at all.I phoned Hokemas and explained the problem. I was told to bring the vacuum back and they would fix it. I drove back to the shop and spoke with the man who had disparaged Shark vacuums previously. I showed him the button and explained how it was reversed in position and that it wouldn’t release the front roller anymore. He noted this issue and took the vacuum.I later received a call letting me know the vacuum was repaired. However, when I went back to Hokemas, I saw the button was still misplaced and the roller was still stuck. The man said he could take it back for repairs again.I didn’t know if these people were incompetent or if they were just screwing with me.But I was so tired of dealing with Hokemas that I decided to just take the vacuum home and order a new power head myself from Shark—which I did. It cost approximately $90.The vacuum works fine again—for now.But there are now many things I don’t like about this model. Even before I found out why repairmen don’t like Shark, I didn’t like the idea that I couldn’t take this power head apart and replace the secondary roller myself.I also couldn’t dissemble it and clean the upper portion of the power head. Early on I noticed that dirt continues to collect inside the power head. You need to have a special tool to remove any screws and it’s not advised anyway, because there are a lot of electric wires spread around inside there.That issue was enough for me to decide not to buy this model again. But now I wouldn’t buy another Shark product at all.I still appreciate the power and performance of the Vertex and I'll keep using this one until it finally "implodes" for good.

This is without a doubt the best vacuum I've purchased in my 50 plus years of owning and using vacuums, and I've owned quite a few different vacuums from the inexpensive to the ultra expensive. One of my favorite vacuums has been the K***y primarily for it's suction power and deep cleaning abilities, but at age 72 that vacuum was becoming way to heavy for me to handle and, with two long hair dogs, a real chore to keep the roller brush clean. So I did the logical thing (LOL) and bought and tested several Robot vacuums that claimed to be tangled free and capable of picking up long hair. Huumm... Sure they do...NOT. In all fairness the Robot vacuums do a great job on hardwood floors, but if you've got rugs or carpets and pets, forget it. I did keep two different brands of Robot Vacs, one for upstairs and one for down stairs, but I still needed to vacuum the area rugs with a conventional vacuum 3 times a week.Which brings me to the Shark PowerDetect. It works, it just plain works as advertised. Powerful when needed, swivel head works like a charm, glides over hard floors, basically self propelled across rugs and most importantly for me, picks up long dog hair without getting tangled in the brushes.Is the Shark PowerDetect perfect? Hardly...it's still on the heavy side but easier to maneuver especially on hard floors than my K***y. On carpets the darn thing can actually run away from you if you're not careful (the trick is to walk with it rather than using your arm to pull it back and forth or use a lower speed/suction, which kinda defeats the PowerDetect function). My dogs long hair does get trapped (not tangled) at the top of the dust bin rather than settling on the bottom, so I have to open both the bottom and the top dust bin trap doors, which means you will have to touch whatever you vacuumed up along with your dogs hair in order to remove it from the top of the bin.Would I recommend the Shark PowerDetect? ABSOLUTELY!My dream vacuum would be for Shark to develop a Robot Vacuum with the same dual roller system as the PowerDetect and powerful enough to vacuum carpet and rugs, picking up dog hair, self emptying (no Bags), and of course mops. Fingers crossed.