Eureka 71B Hand-Held Vacuum

Two cats and two fabric-covered couches, can you feel my pain? After a while, I was going nuts. I’d go broke buying the adhesive type lint rollers, the rubber ones (search for “sweepa”) and the reusable brush type didn’t do the job. All I’d heard about was dysons, dysons, dysons, so I started saving. But then I thought, hey, what I want is the little motorized roller brush attachment — so I got online, started searching, and found this. I figured $40 as opposed to $500 was worth a try, especially with the good reviews.

and it *was*. It gets all the cat hair off my couch, and the nice thing is that the hose just tugs right out and you can also get the little cracks and crevices without missing a beat. The “riser visor” thing, I thought was kinda silly til I started using it — and it’s great. You can vacuum horizontally and vertically, and for furniture, stairs, etc–a great feature.

My only complaint is that it’s just a *bit* heavy, especially for longer use. Wears that arm out, but that can be a good thing, too.

I’m still hoping to get a dyson eventually, but for the job I wanted to do, getting pet hair off my furniture — this is *perfect*.
Rating: 5 / 5

I’d planned to get the small Dyson, but the reviews of this vacuum persuaded me to give it a try. It’s absolutely excellent. It’s the best handheld vacuum I’ve ever tried, and I’ve thrown more of these things away than I can remember. Fortunately, I’ve always saved the attachments. Sometimes they fit another model, sometimes they don’t. Since there’s no fancy coupling required to attach tools to the hose end of this one, its just friction, most fit it.

This is a solid, powerful vacuum. The filter is heavy-duty and seems very durable. It’s easily removed and reattached. I use those over-priced compressed air duster cans to blow all the dust and dog hair off of the filter. Between this and my full-size Dyson, there’s probably more of the family dog outside the house than in by now. As for the weight of this machine, it is a little heavy, but then I only have to support its weight when doing vertical surfaces or carrying it around. When it’s vacuuming stairs and furniture, I let the horizontal surfaces support most of the weight.

Everything about this machine suggests its maker really put a lot of thought and effort into making an absolutely excellent product. And, I commend them for packaging it in protective plastic that can be easily removed without knives, pliers, bolt cutters, or a chain saw. The engineering on this one was obviously thoughtful and thorough.

Rating: 5 / 5

I’m shocked at how well this little vacuum works. After vacuuming with my expensive German-made vacuum, I used this machine over the same area. I could not believe how much dog hair and dust this handheld unit picked up! I did one bedroom floor and had to empty the handheld canister four times.

Besides the suction power, the things I like best in this vacuum are the attached hose and clever storage for the crevice tool (inserted into the base of the vacuum). I also really like the flip up guard over the roller that lets you get the vertical rise on the stairs without having to do contortions.

The only thing I think could have been done better is the handle. A more ergonomic design would be more comfortable—-especially since I am going a little nuts with it now on the entire house.
Rating: 5 / 5