Shark AZ1002 Apex Powered Lift-Away Upright Vacuum with DuoClean & Self-Cleaning Brushroll, Crevice Tool, Upholstery Tool & Pet Power Brush, for a Deep Clean on & Above Floors, Espresso

We have two long hair Siberian cats who are drop-dead gorgeous, but the down side is that they have thick, silky, fine, MAGNETIC hair that they shed non-stop. We have two Roombas (which we still run daily to pick up the surface hair), but they just cannot pick up all of this kind of cat hair, which embeds itself in even the finest weave carpets. We bought the the Shark AZ1002 Apex in April 2020, and wow, what a difference. It did a truly amazing job on that cat hair. But. This cat hair embeds in the brushes on the brush roller, and it takes hours to pick it all out (and we cant get it all out!). Other than that, we have been super happy with it. Shark recently introduced the Stratos, which doesnt have the little brushes on the roller like the Apex does. Instead, it has fins. So, we bought it direct from Shark because it wasnt available yet on Amazon. It just arrived, and we used it for the first time. Stratos Trial: vacuum ONE 5x8 area rug. The rug was vacuumed approximately 47 hours prior to this trial. There was no visible cat hair on the top of the rug before using the vacuum. Photos show the results of using a brand new Stratos for the first time on just this one rug. I was dumbfounded at the amount of hair and litter dust it picked up. One photo shows the underside of the Stratos so you can see just how much hair got caught on the bottom of the rollers. Its not perfect, but compared to the Apex, its vastly superior. The Stratos certainly costs more than does the Apex. The Apex is a wonderful vacuum cleaner, and I can highly recommend it for most applications. But if you have pets that shed a lot, I recommend spending the extra $$ and getting the Stratos. Note: Im adding this comparative review here because Amazon wont let me put a review on the Stratos because I didnt purchase it through Amazon. Heres the Stratos link: https://www.amazon.com/Shark-AZ3002-Self-Cleaning-Neutralizer-Technology/dp/B0B2VTZ432/ref=sr_1_2?crid=2KXOIL36AU9OW&keywords=shark+stratos&qid=1660406393&s=home-garden&sprefix=shark+stratos%2Cgarden%2C69&sr=1-2

Okay, so, Ive been looking for a vacuum so that I have something when moving into my new place. I was only really hoping to have a few certain yet important features. - No bags. - Strong suction. - At least a 6ft hose (or around there). - Fully sealed (no allergens get ejected back out). This unit met all of that & more! I wont bother going over everything thats shown since you can just read about it in the descriptions or even look up a video on the unit (Id suggest doing simple research like that anyway). So instead, let me point out the features that surprised me or just plain pleased me to confirm. To note, I used this for about 40-60 minutes in 2 bedrooms & a hallway, all carpet (that tall stringy type), as well as a hard wood floor living room. For the carpeted area, I ran over everything the day before with what could only best be called a cheap simple store bought vacuum. Enough to do the job on hardwood & still sucks up plenty on carpet, but it isnt gonna win any prizes. 1: The suction power. Let me put it this way. Just having the vacuum on, you could feel it trying to pull forward. Dragging backwards was the same. If you use this on carpet, I highly suggest you leave the main body of the unit (the engine & dust bin) attached instead of separating it from the rest of the unit. Their weight will help counter this. 2: The noise. Its a vacuum, so its gonna make noise, but it was much quieter than I thought itd be, especially for the level of suction it has. I could have a conversation with someone sitting 10ft from me & barely have to raise my voice at all. 3: The versatility. Its an upright, but you can pull the main engine & dustbin unit off, turning it into a handheld that has long reach & can get under furniture with just a bit of bending over. Both the head & handle have a light to see into dark spaces. You can remove the tube running from the handle to the suction head & use it that way if you so wished. Never mind the attachments that come with it. 4: The instruction manual. I know, I know. You look at the instructions? My uncle already laughed at me for it, but I prefer to go through the manual so I can know how to put things together the first time & even find nice little tidbits. Which is EXACTLY what I found going through this one. Let me just say that not only does this show you how to put it all together, but it shows exactly how to clean everything & even perform your own maintenance. No calling the support office, no scratching your head to figure out whats wrong. Just look through the manual & itll give you guides on cleaning, troubleshooting, why it may be doing this, etc. I LOVE when a brand actually gives you the ability to properly & fully maintain & troubleshoot the product you paid for yourself. 5: The filters. Four of them total. A mesh hair filter in the collection bin, a barrel sponge-like filter & a finer cloth pad filter before the suction engine & then finally a HEPA filter before any air gets shunted back out. All of these sealed up with rubber rings. I checked the filters (all removable & washable by the way, so you can keep them for much longer if you take the extra few minutes to rinse them after each session or so) & was very impressed with how much they grabbed. Honestly, not gonna lie, I sat there for a moment looking at these filters & thought ... is that what Ive been living in?. Now, I couldnt finish this review off without mentioning the one downside I had to this vacuum. The extra attachments. Ya know, the little tool heads that come with it & sit in slots on the back of the vacuum. I got a narrow hose head for tight spaces, a furniture head & a pet brush (ya know, like a little mini suction head with its own brush roller). The first is simple & works fine. The second does its job as much as Id expect it to as well. The third however... Never mind the fact that the unit only has space for 2 of the 3 attachments, but the pet brush didnt even work. The reason why is just as simple. It felt cheaply made. Out of everything that came with the vacuum, these were the cheap parts. The first two, as I said, work fine since they dont have to do much. The pet brush however didnt even have a proper seal between the top & bottom half. In fact, it had vent slits in the back so that the moment I set it down (lightly I might add) onto fur covered furniture, the brush stopped moving because it was too much & could just pull in suction from those vent slits. I should also mention that this was done on fabric upholstered furniture, not any kind of leather or similar material. Thankfully, I did not buy this vacuum for pets. My parents have them, sure, but I wont. I dont need this vacuum to tackle pets. So, long & short is this. Besides the pet brush attachment not having anywhere to sit & being cheaply made, I dont need it so Im fine with that being the cheap part. Everything else on this vacuum has already made me decide that the $300 spent on it was very much worth it.

Have 2 yes 2 Australia shepherd’s. Lots of hair. This vacuum sucked it all up. Loved the dust bin. Easy to clean n wash. Loved the different ways you can detach it. BUT. It stopped working. I suspect the cord. It seemed cheap. I guess I play electrician or buy a new one, which I would buy again.

Incredible suction on both tile floors and carpet. Coming from central vacuum system it’s a little heavy but worth it. Bedroom carpet looked like it had been shampooed. Highly recommend this vacuum.

I have a dog, cat, 2 daughters and lots of hair!! This vacuum is amazing and really works! After years of having to cut away hair from a roll brush, this is a godsend!!

This vacuum is a little heavy but not bad. I love that you can remove the canister to get under things. Very powerful suction. Highly recommend

I am the former owner of the Shark Rotator Pro Lift-A-Way. <--- this was my favorite vacuum ever. I have owned it for a few years and would have never considered giving it up until it quit, but my daughter is moving into a new home that is carpeted, so it turned into a hand me down. I thought about purchasing the same again for myself, but the one and only thing that drove me nuts was that hair (mostly my own, which is long) had to be cut from the roller often - so I opted for the Shark APEX AZ1002 DuoClean with Self-Cleaning Brushroll Lift-Away Upright Vacuum. This thing has great suction. I had just vacuumed the day before I got it, then vacuumed again when I got this new one. It picked up so much dust (and dog hair) out of the carpet I was shocked. It is definitely heavier and a little more bulky than my previous vacuum, but it is just a matter of getting used to it. The headlight works great, and I didnt notice until today (Im a couple of weeks in on this thing) that the part that you detach to use the hose (with attachments) has a light as well - thats pretty awesome. The roller has not had any hair wrapped around it. It did have a string that it sucked up from somewhere, but that was easily removed by using the handy hatch that sits above the roller (no need to turn this thing over to clean it). The control buttons are on the handle, up high where they are easily accessed with your thumb- the power button, and the adjustment button. All the things that detach/reattach (the hose, the wand, and the canister) are much better on this model than the last one, except the canister is heavier and take a second to get it on the tracks to remount it. The cord is a little longer than my other Shark, but both were absolutely sufficient and longer than cords on other vacuums I have owned. Would be nice if it was retractable - not sure Shark has a model that does that. Works well on hard floors, but would go with a lighter, more agile model if thats what I needed it for; Im a broom and dustpan kind of person, so no big deal there. If you are vacuuming area rugs, you will need to have someone stand on one end, because it will suck the whole thing up (or get acrobatically creative and do it alone). The area in which the vacuum is a bit lacking would be the hose, when using attachments, is so short, but I dont know how this might be fixed. Two attachments ride on the vacuum, but one of them gets knocked off easy because it sticks out away from the vacuum some. The attachments work find, but seem cheap compared to my previous Shark. The lift a canister is heavy when holding it (detached from the vacuum). I had gone around the house sucking cobwebs out of corners and near the ceiling so there was a lot of moving around - this thing will give you a work out. My other Shark came with a base with wheels that you could set the canister on and it would roll behind you - wish this one had that option. Someone in another review mention that the cord holder thing that keeps the cord up off the ground while you vacuum didnt work well - thats true. It gets knocked out of there pretty easy. It may have been the same review that someone also mention that the deal that holds the hose (like a ball into a joint) doesnt work well. Ive only knocked it loose once. The first time I used this vacuum, I noticed it doesnt really fluff the carpet up as well as my other Shark - I think it must have something to do with the hair free roller - I miss the stripes in the carpet. I would recommend buying extra filters so that when you wash them out, you can alternate while the ones that were just cleaned dry out. None of the less attractive things mentioned above is a deal breaker. This vacuum does the job.

As stated in the headline, this vac has very strong suction, clearly more than my old Shark vac that was replaced due to failure of the brush motor. However, the new vac is also 25-30% heavier than the old vac. Also, I know that the new-design brush roller is supposed to be clog free (and has been so far), but I prefer the old vac chassis that allowed the brush roller to be popped out from the top when necessary.

Im sure that given a bit of minor cyber skills you can find my review of the Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Plus Allergy Vacuum. It was my second, and last, Dyson. Its main fault centered around the latch that held to flap to empty the canister, and the canister itself being a bit hard to empty completely. It finally dumped its contents on the floor enough times that I tried the Shark. While in the end I did not like the Dyson much, I will try to give it its due. It is a good at the basic function of getting stuff off the floor. It also had some good attachments that were at least partly well thought out (more on that in a bit). I have been a long time skeptic of Sharks offerings, mainly due to their television advertisements. the way the market their stuff does not engender trust from me, so I was ready to send it back at the first sign of trouble. But I did expect that my skepticism was not really warranted. I really think they should fire their marketing team and start over with new marketing. The first thing they should ask the new team is to rename what they now call their Zero M technology. But enough of my soapbox, Im just trying to say that all this amateur attempt at marketing hides the true value of this beast behind senseless and confusing and unfocused attempts at marketing. So Ive pointed out my two top criticisms for these two top of the line machines. Seriously. I was unprepared to see the Shark eat Dysons lunch so thoroughly (sorry, had to go there). From the unwrap to usage, there was never a point where I thought I should go back and try the Dyson again. It picked up as good or better than the Dyson, was far more useful, and easier to use and clean. The only point where I felt the Dyson did better was in the attachments, but that a thin win since Dyson chose to make their attachments harder to use by forcing you to align them a certain way to attach them. Places where the Dyson should shine, it is left in wanting by lazy engineering. It stores its hose around what you think of as its stem. You only have to lift it out and extent the stem to use it. The problem starts when you try to put it back. At nearly every point, the Dyson is a bit fussy and multiple attempts to replace the hose and stem will eventually seat it. Similarly, replacing the canister is fussy, never mind the brush when you need to clean the hair wrap. While the Shark Apex is not perfect, I would have had to clean the Dyson at least a couple times in the weeks since it arrived. I havent had to clean the Sharks brush roll at all. Bottom line for me though is how dead simple it is to empty the canister. a flip of an easily accessible button with the canister pointed in the trash can and its empty. There is a top latch to empty any large items that dont make it into the canister, and it is as easy to empty as it is to avoid contact with dust. I would have gladly compromised on the vacuums ability to get stuff our of the carpet as payment for the ability to get under cabinets and beds and such. The Dyson is flat out pathetic in this realm. The lift-away by itself made the Shark a winner. But one area I expected to find problems was with the way these things fit together. Where the Dyson was fussy, the Shark is effortless. The hose detaches from the stem, and re-attaches easily as does the stem from the body, and the lift away, and the canister. I found nothing fussy about the Shark. In the end, I didnt have to compromise. I usually vacuum the carpet twice with a new vacuum, once with the new one, and then once with the old one. While not all that scientific, I know that if the old one picks up lots of stuff, they new ones not up to snuff. Here I expected to see the Shark not do as well as the Dyson, and Here again, I was wrong. All that said, the standard disclaimers apply. This is my initial impressions after using the Shark for a few weeks. If you did go back and read my review of the Dyson, youd see I was initially somewhat happy with it, but after time I started running into disappointments and issues, resulting in updates to the review. The same policy applies here. I dont tend to wear disappointment well.

I ordered this vacuum five years ago and it still runs perfectly!! We are very hard on vacuums in our home. I have three dogs, one of which is a German shepherd-Great Pyrenees mix who sheds nonstop. [Pic included to showcase his cuteness and mass amount of fur that I’m vacuuming daily! I’m talking big huge chunks of fur.] Additionally, we live in a 3700 square-foot house that is made up of hardwood floors and carpeting. This vacuum is fantastic. Never once had any issue with it. I love the suction power of it, how easy it is to clean and the light on the cover of the beater bar. The light is especially fantastic when it’s a little bit dark out and you can really see how filthy your floor is and how well the vacuum works. I highly recommend this product. You will not be disappointed!