Sharks. How do they get away with it?

[Cozzer]

Forget the movie.
This is about the vacuum cleaner outfit.
We used to have one of their normal, upright cleaners - can't remember the model - but if you asked someone to draw a "hoover", you'd have it....
I always thought it was rubbish, right from day one. I got the impression it worked better at picking stuff up on the pull stroke rather than going forward. Anyway, my comments fell on deaf ears belonging to the "main user" (ahem!) so there it was.
It eventually died as everything does...

Move forward a few years, imagine my surprise when a further Shark model was purchased - this time a cordless job, good for stairs, pet hair.... Have to say the box read well. The cost was "hidden" for a while, with the old ruse of "it was in a sale..."

For a while it performed well. The first time I had to check the main head brush roller revealed not just the expected tufty bits but plastic-type fins between, presumably a new idea.
A few months in, there was reason to check it again, and I found that the fins had developed splits in them...that would account for the sudden noticeable loss of suction, and perhaps the more frequent blocking behind it...
And guess what?
It's not a spare you can buy.
They don't make a replacement brush roller.
You can (probably) get every other bloody part, but not that.
Yes, you can buy a whole new head - including the roller - but what a con!
The Yanks consider Shark stuff to be disposable.
They may well be right....

 

[Cobbs]

Forget the movie.
This is about the vacuum cleaner outfit.
We used to have one of their normal, upright cleaners - can't remember the model - but if you asked someone to draw a "hoover", you'd have it....
I always thought it was rubbish, right from day one. I got the impression it worked better at picking stuff up on the pull stroke rather than going forward. Anyway, my comments fell on deaf ears belonging to the "main user" (ahem!) so there it was.
It eventually died as everything does...

Move forward a few years, imagine my surprise when a further Shark model was purchased - this time a cordless job, good for stairs, pet hair.... Have to say the box read well. The cost was "hidden" for a while, with the old ruse of "it was in a sale..."

For a while it performed well. The first time I had to check the main head brush roller revealed not just the expected tufty bits but plastic-type fins between, presumably a new idea.
A few months in, there was reason to check it again, and I found that the fins had developed splits in them...that would account for the sudden noticeable loss of suction, and perhaps the more frequent blocking behind it...
And guess what?
It's not a spare you can buy.
They don't make a replacement brush roller.
You can (probably) get every other bloody part, but not that.
Yes, you can buy a whole new head - including the roller - but what a con!
The Yanks consider Shark stuff to be disposable.
They may well be right....

I held out against getting a Henry for years - how wrong could I be? Best yet by a long shot.

 

[treeturner123]

Forget the movie.
This is about the vacuum cleaner outfit.
We used to have one of their normal, upright cleaners - can't remember the model - but if you asked someone to draw a "hoover", you'd have it....
I always thought it was rubbish, right from day one. I got the impression it worked better at picking stuff up on the pull stroke rather than going forward. Anyway, my comments fell on deaf ears belonging to the "main user" (ahem!) so there it was.
It eventually died as everything does...

Move forward a few years, imagine my surprise when a further Shark model was purchased - this time a cordless job, good for stairs, pet hair.... Have to say the box read well. The cost was "hidden" for a while, with the old ruse of "it was in a sale..."

For a while it performed well. The first time I had to check the main head brush roller revealed not just the expected tufty bits but plastic-type fins between, presumably a new idea.
A few months in, there was reason to check it again, and I found that the fins had developed splits in them...that would account for the sudden noticeable loss of suction, and perhaps the more frequent blocking behind it...
And guess what?
It's not a spare you can buy.
They don't make a replacement brush roller.
You can (probably) get every other bloody part, but not that.
Yes, you can buy a whole new head - including the roller - but what a con!
The Yanks consider Shark stuff to be disposable.
They may well be right....

Sorry you've had problems with your Shark. Mine's been fantastic.

My only beef is that the 'bag' is too small for the efficiency!!

 

[JSW]

This one by any chance? purchased a couple of weeks ago for £50.99, so far been very impressed with it


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shark-Hand...ld+cordless+vacuum+cleaner,kitchen,109&sr=1-3

 

[Stigmorgan]

I'll stick with Dyson, expensive but so far it's lasted 10 years and as good today as it was new, only have to clean the filter once a year or so.

 

[Sideways]

What are the credible alternatives folks ?
I inherited a handheld dyson from my mum and dad. I love the convenience of it and it has a tube and a floor head but runtime was pretty lousy. The battery is now useless and I can't decide if it's worth spending £80 on a new one when the vac itself is probably 10 years old.
The battery seems decent - I opened it up hoping to replace the cells - but value wise no where near the lithium batteries we all have on our cordless tools.

 

[Lons]

Not a Vacuum but we have a Shark steam floor cleaner and it's worked fine for years until the plastic handle crumbled and disintegrated. Replacement was listed at around £15 but no stock so rang Shark to be told "sorry we don't stock that it's discontinued". His reply to my question, what can I do about it was to offer to sell me a new cleaner for £200. My reply was a very firm no thanks and I think the word profiteering was used..
I managed to find a s/h handle which promptly fell apart so made a ply replacement until I bought a £d printer and made a new, stronger version in PLA. I'll print it again in ABS if it breaks..

 

[fleyh]

I inherited a handheld dyson from my mum and dad. I love the convenience of it and it has a tube and a floor head but runtime was pretty lousy. The battery is now useless and I can't decide if it's worth spending £80 on a new one when the vac itself is probably 10 years old.

There are compatible batteries available on eBay and other places for 1/3 to 1/4 of Dyson's price.
Yes, I realise that it is usually frowned upon to use non-original batteries, but we have used them for years without issues. For those who are extra careful, it may make sense to unplug the charger from the mains socket once the battery is fully charged.

No-name batteries appear to last just as long as the original Dyson ones, if not longer. However, their longevity may be more related to the fact that after the original Dyson batteries failed—and their original Dyson replacement failed as well—I learned not to plug a hot battery back into the charger.

Back to the topic of this thread: since acquiring a Shark vacuum (with two batteries), our Dysons have been reassigned from any major vacuuming to frequent but light and quick jobs. Shark does all major jobs. Nothing beats the ability to replace the battery and keep going.

Over the years we have had no issues with Shark, but several with Dyson. The most recent was dust bin clip breakage. Which was fixed 20 minutes later with a 3D printer. I did not even bother checking how much the original Dyson part would cost (if one is even available).

 

[Cozzer]

This one by any chance? purchased a couple of weeks ago for £50.99, so far been very impressed with it


https://www.amazon.co.uk/Shark-HandVac-Cordless-Cleaner-CH950UKT/dp/B08M9JQ1J1?crid=2ZY3G9DS19A3W&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.O5Ob7ZP4itcicUhbY2QCC_f7VGW3fAHoag6qUaHPnyyveGEX0ZykP93evpLG0wjSA40FtZzAIeaDqZ9AXdL6cw6vnZT52Lz8zWqE2pLRH6pWLvzd2ZwQ7h8nB9btDUHXbV9L0YNiIrdZb7bWNECm87FADAqq4YPPD6TgDK3jmY1dBai44g7TPCLNhnoFOvYCvwWw7Kcze6dY34GwLwuI-WpQ72BEzjseWRhcnsWs2Gg.GLwEHztZwHIAb_KtQxs2BLqlxUThEQb1qffFYmKqJag&dib_tag=se&keywords=Shark+Handheld+Cordless+Vacuum+Cleaner&nsdOptOutParam=true&qid=1733483687&s=kitchen&sprefix=shark+handheld+cordless+vacuum+cleaner,kitchen,109&sr=1-3

Nope.
It's an IZ202UKT...apparently the T suffix is something to do with the pet hair side of things.

 

[Richard_C]

We have an oldish Dyson, V7?, and I got a compatible battery after about 5 years. All fine. Run time not an issue because it's so easy to use you change your habits

Old world, get the wired upright out, wrestle the cables, do the whole house or at least one floor if it because the getting it out takes as long as the using

New world, do what you need as and when, seconds to take it off the wall holder, suck up the crumbs or whatever, put it away. Probably never need more than 10 minutes run time at one go.

There are parallels with hedge trimmer, used to get out the extension reel, the pole trimmer and other stuff, had a whole tiring hedge day. Now I have a rechargeable I do what I need to when I need to, no "performance" of messing with long long wires to get to the outside bits if the job.

As regards Shark, never had one never wanted one, all seemed a bit over complicated compared with Dyson. Bet they spend more on advertising than on product design.

Mind you, I despise many things Dyson, those horribly noisy hand dryers with meaningless labels "saves you to 80%...". So could save just 1%, plus he benefitted from Osbornes VAT breaks for businesses installing energy efficient hand dryers then legged it off to Singapore to avoid UK tax on his vast personal wealth

The ball barrow I bought in 1976 is still fine though.

 

[pip1954]

We used to have Dyson when wife got fed up with it we went and bought a shark reget the day we bought it !!!,what pile off sh*t but who do you complain to when things don't work as they should. guess what Dyson is coming back indoors from workshop still working fine bet shark won't last long in there !.

 

[wurglesnash357]

We get a number of vacuum cleaners brought to the repair cafe, and whenever I hear the word "Shark" my heart sinks. They are the most problematic make I have encountered, not least because of the difficulty of actually getting into them.

Incidentally, the commonest problem brought in on all makes is either a blocked hose or a blocked filter which the owner hadn't discovered.

Les

 

[RonnieI]

I'll stick with Dyson, expensive but so far it's lasted 10 years and as good today as it was new, only have to clean the filter once a year or so.

Our Dyson is bloody hopeless, continually blocks up and gives messages saying 'air passages blocked' even after blowing through with compressed air. Got a shark corded instead, way better.

 

[Agent_zed]

I bought one of these https://www.aeg.co.uk/vacuums-home-...8xxDOS3ntc8mlNfiLIC10nTJXrs-Q_AOuwozPLuriHebf corded vacuums.

It's been brilliant. It's only 550watts but even on the min setting is still really powerful. It's also really quiet which was one of my criteria as well as being 74% recycled plastic.

One of the easiest I've used to empty the receptacle as there are no bits in there like the old dyson we had before (and so much quieter than the dyson).

Is corded but has a super long lead so we do the entire floor without unplugging.

The only thing that might one day let it down is the clip that holds the receptacle to the body but so far not a problem. Must have had it for over 18months now.

 

[Inspector]

I bought a Miele, made in 2007 and have no plans or need to get anything else. I suspect it will outlive me.
When the shop vac dies I'll get a Mirka. Quality is not cheap but it does pay for itself over and over.

Pete

 

[ajs]

No-name batteries appear to last just as long as the original Dyson ones, if not longer. However, their longevity may be more related to the fact that after the original Dyson batteries failed—and their original Dyson replacement failed as well—I learned not to plug a hot battery back into the charger.

Don't trust Dyson - inexplicably heavy given how much plastic is in them - or cordless vacs in general - but it's the keeping them on standby charge that kills them. Li-ion batteries really don't like it, at the very least discharge them down to 10% every month or so.

Mrs S has killed two Dysons, a supermarket own brand and now almost a Vax doing exactly that. Plus a Dustbuster twice, since it was NiMH sub-Cs I re-celled it for her once but refused the second time.

The argument is that it must always be immediately ready for a quick scoot around. I was under the impression that was what the Ewbank was for.

 

[mark w]

Dyson has been in the courts fairly frequently in recent times and lost everytime. From disputes about labeling to forced labour. Of course James himself denied all knowledge of the poor working conditions and forced labour accusations.

 

[Stevekane]

We bought a Dyson DC01 when they first came out, our son is still occasionaly using it, since then there have been two more second hand Dyson uprights in the house, neither gave any trouble at all, my wife gave one to a woman who needed a vac and we were given the replacement, so in about 30yrs weve only ever bought one! A few years ago we decided a cordless would be handy and we bought a Vax Blade 2 from the Vax Factory shop on ebay, its working fine, it looked like the battery was going but my wife realised that she can just ignore the Red flashing recharge light and just keep going, its quite a powerful vac and has a washable filter which is a must I think. My younger son has a smashed up Dyson upright, but its still a runner, used on the hose to hoover up lots of ground concrete dust, foam filter turned to mush after that(?) so cut a disc of memory foam and its running great. Im disapointed that Dyson packed off to china, but Ive no complaints about his old style upright cleaners.
Steve.

 

[trvlr]

Some years back there was a local repair shop which really loved Dyson vacs. The people said they got more of thse to repair than any other brand...

My bro (& Wife) had one and couldn't stand it... fragile and who knows what else besides. They dumped it and bought something more robust (and not the the Dyson style techy). I bought a Shark cordless about two yeara ago and am very happy with it. They do over claim the battery life - the figure they quote is likely achieved in eco mode only; otherwise you'll be luck to get 20 mins at best. I bought mine with two batteries and then bought a third battery. I numbered them and use #1 then # 2 then #3 in that order, putting the discharged one to recharge. Meaning that one being recharged will take it place at the back of the queue as it were and gradually work its way upto the next to used (if you follow...) Also I disconnect the charger from the mains when not required.

I have three of the genuine Hoover corded bag machines of varying vintage (via deceased relatives). Remember the old "Beats as it sweeps as it cleans" jingle... They do just that, although one has to have a supply of paper bags to hand. They do fill fill up surprisingly fast - and the "pores" do gradually clog up; so no way to reuse on perhaps more than once after emptying it (a real PIA operation too). They are solidly built; motors, drive belts, and spare bags still about. With a clean bag it can feel like it will lift the carpet... Which having said the Shark cordless on max setting will do/produce the same effect... I like the Shark for its portable aspect and it does good job overall. I looked at Dyson models and felt they were to weak construction and seriously over priced. Though fair to say their earlier models did seem to be better built than current; if I go by comments of friends "way norf of wotferd" who've had one since whenever.

 

[Spectric]

When you next visit your local tip to throw something away take a look in the small appliances skip, the last time I looked it was full of Dyson hoovers.

We have a cordless shark that is ok except for the hose in the head that keeps blocking but for real cleaning power we have an 1800 watt Sebo that is really good but very heavy.