Bagless Reviews

I bought this model to try out at home and to use at the local animal shelter where I clean out the cattery once each week. It's a decent vacuum and for the price is a good buy.

The power is good - strong enough to pick up evenly across the width of the floor tool while cutting a swath through dust, dirt, or cat litter. It does have trouble with larger objects - bits of kibble, in my case - but this seems down to the head design. If I take it off, the bare hose sucks up anything I've tried it on.

The tools that come with the machine are not the best designs I've seen. The smooth surface tool has a nice, wide head, but has wheels on it that seemed more of a nuisance than any real use. Relatively soon (I've had it about a month now) one of the wheels fell off and could not be popped back on. That aside, the tool works OK without wheels (hardly any difference) and does not scratch the floor, so it's still usable.

The machine also came with a very interesting-looking device for cleaning carpet, complete with a mechanism designed to spin a small brush. This worked for about five minutes, during which time it was quite effective on our berber rug. It then stopped working and I've been unable to make it work since.

The internal workings seem more robust; it's done a great job handling a lot of pet hair, cat litter, bits of food, heavy dirt, etc. For its size and weight (pleasantly light) it has great power, and I find the filter no real bother to clean. Like any bagless, you do need to be prepared to handle some mess when emptying the dust cup, but it's usually enough just to stick it in a plastic grocery bag and dump the dirt into the bag. Lots cheaper than cleaner bags and handy as well. I'm happy with it and for the price, it's a nice buy.

While the vacuum has lots of suction it is not too easy to use as the floor tool pulls off center. The spinduster was listed as an accessory so I ordered it. It does not work with this model Eureka.

had a mighty mite for 15 years and its still going. Reason
for purchasing this new model is that going to give the old
mite to a family member to use in there cars. So if the 3690
is anything like the old mite it will be a good vac.

It is confusing searching the net but when went to Eureka sites
some of the models in net are not listed. This led to believe
they were discontinued so again selected the 3690. All that
was listed were 3670, 3690, 3695.

Will follow up once this model arrives

I am amazed that this vacuum made it to market. It must have been pushed by the marketing dept and not the research dept. It works great for the first minute or two, until there is a inch or more of dirt against the 3x3 inch grill on the one side. All the air has to go thru the dirt in this one small area and the air flow goes to next to nothing and all suckion stops. If you want a bagless, get one with the grill vertcally between the two compartments. This gives a large enough space for the air to go thru and the wind action keeps the dirt from piling on the grill.

The little upright Dirt Devil has the same type of grill but it is just used for small clean ups so the dirt cup gets emptied often.

This vacuum works good for picking up animal hair but its lousy for picking up embedded dirt thats not seen.The Hoover Windtunnel is much more effective,even the hoover bagless without the windtunnel technology will out perform the Eureka whirlwind.

Need a Vacuum buy this one.... simple enough!!!

I purchased this vac. at a local WalMart because of its low price and hepa filter. I have very bad allergies and I thought it would help! This vacuum actually made my allergies worse. It blows the dirt up like crazy. I had a major allergy attack the first couple times I used it. Now I have to have my boyfriend vacuum for me, and I have to leave the house so I don't have an attack. I have never had a vacuum make allergies worse, there suppose to pick up dust and dirt to make them better!!!!!! And if that is not bad enough, it overheats and shuts off every single time one of us uses it and smells up the whole house and we have to wait for it to cool down to continue vacuuming! We have now dumped it and are saving up for a new one. It's a total waste of money! DO NOT BUY THIS VACUUM!!!!!!

I have only had this vacuum for about 6 months. So far, so good. It does tip over easily as someone pointed out, so I purchased a longer hose from Eureka.com. Yes, air from the unit blows dust around, but I've had two very expensive vacuums, A Miele and an Electrolux, that I didn't like as much as this one. When this one dies, I may try a Dyson, but for now, this is acceptable. I never had any clogging, smelling, or broken belts.

I've had this vacuum for over 5 years. The model I have is actually 4481, which is the 1998 equivalent to the 4496. The only troubles I've had is clogging. It has clogged twice in the five years of hard use. However if you refer to the manual,you can easily unclog it yourself. I have the same belt on since I bought it in 1998. The last time it clogged was because I tried to vacuum up several whole peanuts. I don't recomend vacuuming up peanut shells, however, I do recomend picking up this vacuum.

I'm not real pleased with this item. The "self propelled" feature is great going forward but it's work pulling it back. I had a dirt devil vacuum before this and wish I had never replaced it. This particular vacuum has that dragging back problem, very messy to empty, the cord is too short, it's a pain in the rear to change from the floor to the hose and the spot to wind up the cord is awful. I don't recommend this particular model at all.

I have several pets, so I spent a lot of time trying to find the right vacuum. I eventually found what I feel is the perfect vacuum (Dyson Cyclone!).. this is definitely not it!

While this is a decent vacuum, it just doesn't hold up well compared to others. The suction is average at best, you will get MUCH better suction from the Dyson. The price is very good though, and when you're talking 4-5 times more cost for a Dyson, this might work for those who need decent vacuum and can't afford the Dyson.

Some pros:
-Fairly powerful
-Decent suction
-Very lightweight
-Bagless (saves lots of money!)

Some cons:
-Attachment hose is WAY too short
-Very noisy
-Easily tips over
-Bagless bin is messy and a pain to clean
-Vacuum head is big, making it difficult to vacuum underneath furniture

If you live in a small apartment and/or have no pets, this will probably be more than enough vacuum. I live in a house with 3 dogs and 2 cats, so I needed a more heavy duty and reliable vacuum - which I got with the Dyson. The dirt devil is probably the best vacuum in its price range though, so I do recommend it for those who don't need the super heavy duty vacuum.

THIS VACUUM SUCKS! AND I DO MEAN THAT. YES, IT IS A POWERFUL SUCKER AND WILL GET THE DIRT OFF YOUR FLOOR. YES, THE CONTAINER WILL BE DIRTY, DID YOU WANT IT LEFT ON THE FLOOR? YES YOU MUST DUMP IT INTO A GARBAGE BAG AND YOU CAN SEE ALL THE SCUM THAT WAS ON YOUR FLOOR. THIS SHOULD PLEASE YOU, AND PROVE THAT IT REALLY DOES WORK! IT HAS WONDERFUL CASTERS SO IT CAN ROLL ALL AROUND IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS-SIDE TO SIDE, NOT JUST BACK & FORTH. YOU CAN NOT COMPARE THIS TO A $500.00 DYSON CYCLONE. THAT IS LIKE COMPARING A FORD PINTO WITH A LEXUS! WERE TALKING UNDER $80.00 HERE! NO IT PROBABLY WONT LAST 5 YEARS LIKE OTHER EXPENSIVE BRANDS THAT IS WHY IT IS LESS THAN 80.00. BUT FOR A FEW YEARS AND BEING LIGHT WEIGHT ETC. ETC. I HAVE 2 AND CAN ACTUALLY STAND TO VACUUM WHEN I MUST! A GOOD DEAL FOR THE PRICE, AND PERFORMS BETTER THAN A VAC OF THIS PRICE RANGE SHOULD. HAPPY CLEANING!

This is my first and last Dirt Devil. I bought one of these 2 years ago, believing it was one of the best out there (thanks to Dirt Devil's superior advertising folks!). Well it has fallen apart rather nicely since then. The handle has broken off. The part that holds it in the upright position is now broken. The suction is terrible. The filters cost alot of $$$ and are hard to find. And, last but not least, all the rubber hosing that connects the motor fan to the base unit has cracked, making this a virtually worthless machine in only 2 years. Better Luck Next Time Dirt Devil!

The title says it all -- the Platinum Force has great suction... a necessity with double coated dogs, but the machine weighs a ton and is hard to maneuver unless you have the motor running AND the beater brush on. It's almost impossible to use to vacuum stairs without hurting yourself - I have to ask my 6ft3 husband do the stairs because he has extra leverage due to his height. It has also scratched my wood vinyl (Armstrong) floors, just pushing/pulling it to move it from one area of the house to another (not operating it). Cleaning the filter is a pain - like an earlier reviewer stated, it causes a major dust storm and I can not get all the dog hair from the crevices of the filter, even while banging it sharply (and repeatedly) against the inside of my large garbage can. Now after slightly more than a year of use, it smells... the HEPA filter is not effectively filtering particles and the exhaust puts out a strong doggie odor. And Dirt Devil does not have a replacement filter listed on it's web page. Neither the center filter nor the HEPA filter. An email to the web site, and if the response is in the negative, then this is the last Dirt Devil for me. I had two earlier models (including one of the best small canister vacs...unfortunately with a microscopic bag) and threw them out when I could no longer find replacement bags and parts...anywhere.

After having several vacs through the years, I found this is the first one that actually feels like it is doing a good job. I have read complaints of it being hard to push (because it sucks the dirt up so hard) and dusty when you empty it (all canister vacs are dusty when empty them) but if you want something that actually picks up this is great. The fact also that it turns the brush off for hardwood floors is great. You don't want to try and vacuum throw rugs though cause it sucks them right up but no biggie, the way it picks up is well worth it. There isn't alot of filter parts to mess with and clean like other cannister vacuums either. Another great thing is when you pick up something big it doesn't get caught in the motor and blows the motor, it bypasses it (great feature with kids)!!! I think it is very reasonably priced for the job that it does!!! After having to clean up after kids and pets everyday this well worth it.

My mother bought this vacuum for me as a gift when my husband and I moved into a carpeted house with our daughter. The past year has been a difficult cleaning one. The carpet in our house is, granted, a bit cheap but the vacuum never seemed to quite get everything....from dirt particles, fuzz to you name it I've pretty much been picking it all up by hand and /or fishing it out of my daughter's mouth. So, all that's to say it wasn't working too well anyway but, adding the stress of shopping for a "perma-filter" pretty much everywhere all week (Menards, Home Depot, Ace, dirt devil's website....) I am exhausted and frustrated. So bizarre that all these places that are more than happy to sell you the vacuum can't see fit to stock the parts. Is this a one time use machine? I didn't know they were making disposable vacuums!! This really shouldn't be this hard-I just want to keep my carpets clean easily for my daughter so I can do something else for a change...
La fin d'histoire....We finally found the filter online at Totalvac.com so I'll get a few more months out of it but I certainly wouldn't recommend it to anyone, especially not a mom/ dad watching little ones. The long and short of it is that it seems seventy dollars doesn't buy much of a vacuum. I appreciate the gesture but kind of wish my mom had held onto that money to contribute to a machine I might actually get some use out of...

I was surprised at it's weight and how powerful it was for it's size. There are a few drawbacks that keep ne from giving a five star rating to this one. The tools while onboard require some manuevering to use them. You don't just lift out the wand, you have to change and connect hoses to the base. As mentioned before in another review the belt is not easy to change. The sweeper does not have a very wide path but has a nice low profile to get under furniture. It is rather loud also. Still a nice buy for the price.

I have had this vacum for about 6 months now. It has great suction but very poor design. The cord is attached to the bottom half of the sweeper and I've run it over several times even when holding the cord in one hand while sweeping. The cord was severed once. It is much too powerful to sweep heavy duty scatter rugs. I've torn several expensive rugs. The body of it is high off the ground and doesn't fit under my kitchen cabinets (between floor and cabient is about 6 inches). It is so heavy to push even with the self-propelled on that the plastic handle broke off and I have it duct-taped on now.

Bottom Line - I do not recommend this sweeper!

While this vacuum may have adequate suction it, like most Dirt Devil uprights, is very poorly designed. The biggest issue is the design of the handheld hose; it comes out the top of the unit so the vacuum constantly falls over when you try to use it mine finally broke. Checkout the owners manual, they have some kludgey way to loop the hose down and hook it to the base, as if that is practical. The lock that holds the vacuum upright wore out twice in four years, the beater brush wore out, the attachments are cheaply made. It does not work on bare floors and cannot even pick up a small piece of gravel due to the design of the brush/pickup. I contacted Dirt Devil about my problems and they said "we don't deal with problems, your only recourse is where you bought it". You may want to check out Bissel (they are inexpensive and they can't be worse).

I am from a family of 8 kids and an average of 20 animals all living in one house at a time. Needless to say, we have gone through many vacuums; inexpensive and expensive. When I got my own apt. I needed something affordable and powerful (I have 5 pets and a husband to clean after)!
I love this vacuum. I had no problem with the canister issue that I have read about by others. I have two bedrooms, a living room, and a dining room to vacuum and I can do it usually without having to empty the canister until the end. As far as I am concerned, I am glad to fill the canister, because it means that the dirt, hair, dust, and etc. is no longer laying on my floor! Even if I have to empty every once in a while in the middle of cleaning, at least I don't have to worry about running out of bags in the middle of cleaning!
I haven't had a problem with the belt yet. I do believe that if you are having a problem with the belt burning so quickly, it could be the result of the height setting being set too low. This would cause constant added resistance to the belt causing the belt to overheat and melt.
The auto-drive did take some getting used to, but I like it now. It makes the vacuum feel a little lighter than it is while your vacuuming. The good thing is the feature can be turned off if you can not get used to it.
This is the best vacuum I have ever used on pet hair. The hand tool works wonderfully, but it is operated with a very small belt that I have not had to change yet. I have never had a hand tool that gets pet hair out of upholstery; I usually use a wet cloth of some type, but I no longer have to do that.
I am very impressed with everything about the vacuum. I have since referred it to my mother and my grandmother and they both bought one today so we will see if they encounter any problems with theirs.
I hope that helps. Good luck with whichever you choose!