Shark Corded Upright NZ801

I had a cordless which I gave away , and to be honest I would never buy a cordless again . Why ? Well , after 3 years it would barely hold a charge and the operating time came down to a measly 10 minutes and the suction , sucked. Eventually I decided on this Shark . It was smaller than the photos would have you believe ,when it arrived I… Read more

pieced it together and took it for a spin.

The suction was fantastic and I found on some surfaces I had to open the relief valve to drop the suction power .

I tried it with the canister detached and then with the wand detached , using to reach up into the ceiling for stray cobwebs and going under low furniture and my bed .

I then without telling my wife , went over some rooms she had vacuumed a few days earlier with the older vacuum cleaner she swears by, and as you can see In the photo I ended up with a canister full of dust and grime .

I have included a photo of the old vacuum cleaner, a well known brand that has factories all over the planet , and a well respected brand at that.

Out of curiosity I compared the noise level to the old vacuum cleaner, because this Shark seemed very quiet in comparison but the decibel reading were 88db for the old model and 80db for the Shark.

I put what I was hearing down to a different pitch level in the noise a bit like comparing bass to a midrange or treble.

The Shark was used on mainly wooden floors with plenty of rugs and hall runners in the mix . I didn't bother to lower the suction when shifting from the rugs to the wooden floor , it was not necessary, it was only the small light weight mats than presented a problem with the suction being too strong for these .

You have heard of washing machines swallowing socks never to be seen again well, this vacuum cleaner did the same thing , at first I could not find it in the hosing but then spotted it in the actual barrel with all the rubbish.

A couple of gripes here .

I found I could not sustain vacuuming the ceiling for long because the sheer weight of the hose and fittings were too much for me, being old, tired and decrepid probably explains why.

The other thing is, the cannister when detached is clumsy, there is no up or down unless you are actually holding it with one hand a bit like those old fashion astronauts walking to the rocket with their aux air tank , it falls all over the place. One more thing , I found the brush sliding attachment would not stay in place on the wand until I physically bent the plastic locking mechanism.

All in All I am more than satisfied , it does the job , is not to heavy to push around and with being able to detach parts to suit my needs it proved more than just a common old vacuum cleaner .

Incidentally, I got this at a steal , as there was no stock so had to wait a few weeks, but when it was in stock the price shot up to the recommended retail price only to fall again a few days later, so just be careful when buying this item as the price is volatile and never pay full price, just shop around.

Very pleased I found this vacuum cleaner and I now have no need to look elsewhere! I first bought a second hand one which the powerhead did stop working after awhile so I brought a brand new one without hesitation (on sale!). Does an amazing job especially on carpet with pet hair. I clean people's homes for work and it really does a perfect job.… Read more

Carpets look really fluffed up and clean afterwards! (I would now never use a vacuum cleaner without some kind of powered brush roll as honestly they do not work very well at all!) While this one does have a self cleaning brush roll it still does get some hair wrap which needs pulling out but far less than vacuums without it! You also need to frequently pop out the orange soft brush on the front and clean out the teeth which get full of fluff and pet hair but that's easy. Very happy with this vacuum cleaner and recommend especially if there's a lot of hair and fluff in carpets! LED lights are nice too!

Amazing what a powerful vacuum can do! – This Shark vacuum has been a game-changer in my household. We’ve been using a ducted vacuum system for ages, and it’s been hard to see how much we’re actually cleaning. But ever since we’ve started using the Shark vacuum, we can see why we constantly are having particular health issues. The carpet / hardfloor modes are a great addition. Using… Read more

the vacuum has made us realise how bad our carpet is, especially in our room having two free-roaming dogs. It was insane the first time we used it in the room - being able to see what we’re picking up is somewhat reassuring.

The ability to ‘breakdown’ the vacuum is so fun as well. Regular wood floor and carpet vacuuming, hard-to-reach places, and non-floor vacuuming with the different attachments. We can vacuum literally anything we need to. Being able to vacuum the couch is a must with our dogs, and the attachment for this has worked wonders.

Emptying out the catchment is super easy too. Everything just falls out and I’ve rarely needed to get my hand into it to remove leftovers.

There are a few things though that aren’t major, but something to consider.

The machine is pretty heavy. Compared to other vacuums, it definitely packs a punch and gives your arms a workout. The cord has definitely given me some issues too. Before getting the hang of it, I was tripping over and stepping on the cord constantly. I’ve worked out that it’s best to hold the cord and work away from the power point you’re using. A bit of a nuisance but I would say it’s worth the clean that I can get with the vacuum. It’s also loud. I mean, what else do you expect from something so powerful? I don’t mind the noise at all though, just something worth noting.

Overall, I would recommend the vacuum for those with pets and bad allergies. Otherwise, I don’t think it’s worth the little ‘nuisances’ that the weight and cord can give.

Great Suction, Heavy to push around – We have been using this vacuum for the past 5 months, overall we find the cleaning fantastic, the suction is awesome and having the ability to switch between hard floor (Tiles) and carpet (Med pile) at a flick of a switch is very convenient. The "Lift Away" function is great for using the wand and attachments. I would have given this unit 5 stars… Read more

if it wasn't for a couple of negatives - 1. Pushing the vacuum around if quite heavy and it's even worse on carpet, I'm a big boy and I struggle with it some days. 2. The dust bin is way too small, we had new carpet laid in a 2 bedroom unit, I had to empty the unit 3 or 4 times, although once the carpet was clean it wasn't too bad. Great Suction, Hard to Push.

Great sucker – This thing really sucks! (In a good way ;) ). I've been using a stick vacuum and feeling the suction go and the battery too. While a stick vacuum is handy and much lighter and easier to use on stairs it just doesn't have the suction power to get all the dirt up. This vacuum is less bulky to some upright vacuum cleaners and I love that the wand can… Read more

come off and the whole pack can lift up so it's easier to get higher up etc. It's easy to empty. Three girls in our house and I'm impressed that our hair doesn't get all stuck in the brushes. It works well on both hard floor and carpet. I find it makes my carpet look refreshed after using it. It's not overly loud so you can still have a conversation using it too. My only con would be that it is a bulkier vacuum so it's naturally going to be harder to use on stairs and to get under beds. I'm so over not having a clean house from rubbish vacuums so a little bit more hassle to get to those places doesn't bother me (I just remove the pack and wand). I can't speak for it's long term performance but right now I'm very happy with my purchase. I've attached a before and after of my bedside rug to show how well it does.

Great vac floors, a few flaws when using the wand – Great for vacuuming floors, has an adjustable bar to reduce suction if needed. My only complaints are that is it is top heavy (as I have found with other types of this vac) and the wand to clean ceilings could be longer. However, it is very powerful and as a vac it works very well. The head is a bit narrower than my Bissell which means it takes longer to clean, but manevuerability is very good. I would recommend this. Show details

I actually don’t mind vacuuming now – I actually don’t mind vacuuming now! It is amazing. Great functionality, lightweight, great suction. And best of all, no hair wrap around the power head! Photo is from first use in 3 rooms after already going through with my stick vacuum! I couldn’t believe how much it picked up Show details

wish i had never bought it – previously owned a shark for 10 years and loved it so when I needed to replace of course it was going to be a shark had less than a year and all the plastic parts on the head of the vacuum started to disintegrate. Suction is terrible on both carpet and hard floor. still, under warranty, I rang shark and sent pictures to be told it would cost me… Read more

$80 dollars postage to new zealand really shark if your products start to disintegrate before a year you should look at how badly designed it is. Now of course I have a unuseable 600 dollars machine unless I spend 80 dollars for it maybe to happen again no thank you

It bites the dust... in a good way – I'm going to come right out and say it.... why would you spend big money on a "big brand" vacuum when you could just go and get this Shark. I liked everything about it. Except maybe the name. They really might want to rethink the name . I mean, when I think "shark", I kinda think of a dodgy salesman. Just saying. Aaaaanyway.... I have had some… Read more

pretty great vacuums over the years, but this one really surprised me. I considered getting one last time I had to replace a vacuum cleaner, and now I wish I had. But I didn't. Don't judge me. They really thought hard about things when they designed this little beauty (but just not how to fix that slightly worrying brand name). 1. It's compact. Everything has its place in this sleek, upright design. It takes up half the space in my son's bedroom wardrobe of my old vacuum. Yeah, I hear you asking, why is it in my son's wardrobe? Well, I don't have a storage cupboard for a vacuum in this house, and darned if I'll waste my own wardrobe on storing a vacuum cleaner. 2. It's light. Yup. If I had stairs, I'd have no worries carrying this up and down. Fortunately, I don't have stairs, because walking up and down them would be the problem, not the vacuum cleaner. 3. It's easy to assemble/disassemble. One simple click and you've gone from floor vacuum to hand vacuum to get into crevices and along skirting boards etc. Because I like to do that nitty gritty cleaning a lot. Actually, I'm lying... I hate having to clean corners and behind things and stuff, but if I actually liked doing it, this makes it really easy! 4. IT'S QUIET!!!!! I didn't type that quietly, to make a point. But, seriously, it's a whole lot quieter than my loud, all-caps typing. I mean, it's REALLY quiet. I vacuumed dust out of my computer the other day and nobody woke up! I mean, it would have been great if they had woken up and helped me on my quest to clean things, but nooooo, this darned thing was so quiet it didn't disturb them. Yeah, thanks Shark. 5. It corners like a Ferrari. It pivots and turns and drops down low to get under stuff. My eldest son thinks it's hard to manoeuvre, but he hasn't grown into a domestic goddess like me yet, and hasn't even used an upright vacuum before. Actually, I think that maybe he was just complaining so that I would take over the vacuuming instead of taking photos. Maybe? Surely not. 6. It sucks up EVERYTHING, including: general mess on my wood flooring (my house has more general mess than we should, including random balls of cat hair, like tumbleweeds floating across the floor - anybody want to adopt a cat?); my children's bedroom carpet (which is really scary - what IS that stuff that makes the really satisfying noise when you vacuum it up?); cat hair on the lounges (errrrgh...anybody want to adopt a cat?); sawdust (ummmm, yes, I did decide to use a multitool - inside the house - to cut up my son's old desk so that I could reuse the drawers - repurpose, people!); and thousands of little granules of cat litter (because that absurdly overweight, lazy cat can't fit into her litter tray, so she only steps halfway through the little flap door and kicks half the litter out of it. But that's a story for another day. Anybody want to adopt a cat?). I thought my floors weren't in too bad a condition when I gave the Shark a test run. Yeah, well.... I was wrong. The second photo shows what came up on the hard floors alone. I'm sorry kids, I've failed you. I haven't presented this little Shark (doo-doooo doo-dit-doo) with something it can't suck up yet. I will, for sure, but I haven't found it yet. So, bottom line, I think the "man-eating marine predator corded upright" (*not its real name) is a true winner and would give the Big D fans a run for their money. I would definitely recommend one. And I'm not a shark, so you can trust me.

Shark Duo - The Astounding Vacuum Cleaner – Background The Shark Duo NZ801 proved to be quite a surprise for my wife, who considers herself somewhat of an expert and connoisseur of vacuum cleaners. She owns six heavy duty vacuum cleaners - two Bosch ones, two Electrolux ones and two Dysons - since we live in a large multi-storey, multi-living area, five-bedroom house with a Ragdoll cat… Read more

that sheds an unbelievable amount of white fur everywhere, and it is easier for her to have vacuum cleaners around the house zones. She also has two stick vacuum cleaners for quick jobs, a Dyson and a Kogan one.

Till now, my wife had always considered her Bosch Free'E as her best one for cleaning. The Dyson upright DC14 and barrel DC24 had about as much suction power, but she found the upright heavy and a tad awkward to use. My wife has long blonde hair, which provided another nuisance when using the Dyson upright, as her hair would frequently get caught up in the roller, and she would have to spend some time getting it off the roller. After a back operation which put her out of action for a while, she had a number of house cleaners come around to help her, and all three agreed that the Bosch Free'E was one of the best they'd ever used too.

The Surprise. Thus, as an old hand in the vacuuming game, my wife was not expecting anything too amazing from the Shark Duo when she unpacked it. She decided to test it at high suction power on a very often used rug in our family room, which she first vacuumed well with the Bosch. Then she applied the Shark Duo on an area of two meters by 1.5 meter, whereupon she yelled out at me "Come and have a look at this - this is amazing". The Shark's dust collector was nearly full, from what she thought had been a vacuumed and clean carpet! She had a look of disbelief on her face.

Needless to say, all her older vacuum cleaners had just been rendered second-rate.

Features/ Pros 1. The Shark Duo, as the name suggests, can be used as an upright style vacuum cleaner or, after detaching the dust collection section, as a typical barrel vacuum cleaner in what they call "Fly-away" mode.

2. The unit has variable suction control, so that one does not have to use it at full power for less hard jobs such as hard floor. And it also has a carpet and hard floor switch, which causes the roller to spin more slowly on hard floor, than it does on carpet.

3. My wife found the unit to have very good manoeuvrability when used in upright mode relative to other upright ones she has used.

4. She was impressed with the relatively quite operation noise from the unit, given the suction it was delivering.

5. The unit has an electric good cord length of 8 meters.

6. The Upholstery Tool and Duster Crevice tool that came with the unit are stored on-board attached to the unit.

7. My wife has some arthritis in her hands, and she found the ergonomic handle especially good to use relative to her other machines.

8. Given its performance, she found the Shark Duo light and handy to use.

9. When using the cleaner in barrel mode to clean in dark areas under tables, she was especially pleased with the headlights in front of the suction head - which made it easy to spot small items such as earrings, which would otherwise have been sucked up and disappeared forever.

10. After she figured out how to open and empty the dust container - which required reference to the manual - she found it remarkably easy to then get rid of the collected dust from the dust container.

11. Significantly, no hair seemed to get stuck in the roller of the vacuum head.

12. The Bosch vacuum cleaner which had previously been my wife's best one, required single-use dust collection bags for its operation. These were very expensive in Australia for what they were, and I was buying them from the UK to reduce the expense. No such problem with the Shark Duo's dust collection system, where the equivalent on-going expense on dust filters is at a far more reasonable cost.

13. Additional accessories are available like the Pet Power Brush and Multi-Angle Dusting Brush, as well as a more simple Crevice Tool than that which came with the machine.

Cons. 1. My wife was so enthused that after reading the manual she immediately went onto the internet, went to the Shark site, ordered a whole bunch of extra accessories and replacement filters, and told me to pay for them.

2. On the first pass through the house, one will be emptying the dust container very frequently, since so much more dust is sucked up that was left behind by other vacuum cleaners - which I suppose could also be viewed as PRO, rather than a CON.

Conclusion. My wife is of the opinion that the Shark Duo is the best vacuum cleaner she has ever had, or will have. See attached video demonstrating the unit's dust collection in action on a tiny area, together with a photo of the dust collected into the dust container.

Regards.

A good quality, strong, powerful vacuum! – All I can say is that I am so pleasantly surprised by this vacuum. I was a little critical as I am with most "as seen on TV" brands however this seems to be an absolute gem of a product. It's extremely feature-packed and has many different uses and options which I thought would complicate the whole system but this is not the case. The ease of… Read more

use is amazing as you can "lift away" the vacuum so you can do things like cars and stairs however I don't think this would be ideal for cars as the hose is kinda not long enough. The dust bin is huge and extremely easy to empty with the push of one button.

The roller brush system seems to work a treat with no hair getting caught on the rollers which is an issue with most powerheads.

Most of all, this system is so quiet. I have mainly polished timber floorboards so I have the power brush on "hard floor" mode. In this setting, the unit is whisper quiet and runs smoothly

To me, when the system is being used as an upright vacuum, it does feel a little heavy to push around however the system is not actually heavy so this may be a feature to make it feel more solid which if that's the case it's worked! I was worried about how the unit would go over time with all the seals and clips which hold everything together however everything just feels so well made that I honestly feel that the system would last a long time.

I had a Dyson big ball upright and I find this system to be of better quality with more power, smoother, quieter, and easier to maneuver. Everything clicks into place with such a solid feeling and there is no cheap feeling or sounding, flimsy clips. Everything clips together with ease and I actually mean it when I say I honestly feel that this unit will last.

All in all, this is a really good unit and I am so impressed with it that I have actually given my other vacuums other than one stick vac. (I had 3 stick vacs and 1 other full-size unit)

I feel confident in saying that this is a bit of a game-changer for the vacuuming world to be honest. It does so many things well and I actually can't fault it. There is one thing I do dislike which is the power cord setup not being a retractable one but the upside is that the power cable is really long so it kinda cancels that out. There is the annoyance of the hose situation which makes it hard to vacuum a car however I hated using either of my Dysons for the car due to the nozzle and having to add an attachment to actually vacuum the car. Actually, I find cheap vacuums best for doing cars as they have a generic nozzle that you don't need an attachment for so I can’t fault it for that really as I feel its more designed to be used as an upright with the addition of being able to detach the unit to do skirting boards and cornices. I would recommend this product though to anyone who has pets and wants a unit that is strong and sturdy because this is exactly what it is. A good quality, strong, powerful vacuum!