Eureka 4870GZ Boss Smart-Vac Upright Vacuum
by Eureka
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Eureka 4870GZ Boss Smart-Vac Upright Vacuum
Customer Review: 4870GZ - A great overall vacuum as suggested by Consumer Reports Magazine!
Summary: 5 Stars
-- My older canister vacuum finally failed, so I was in search of a reliable new replacement. I decided to change to an upright vacuum since I no longer live in a home with stairs or much upholstered furniture to clean.
-- Consumer Reports Magazine suggested the Eureka 4870 Boss Smart-Vac as one of the best on the market. Consumer Reports claimed it as lightweight, easy to push, great for cleaning, and a best buy for its price.
-- I did a lot of shopping around first, to find the absolute lowest price for this model. I was quite surprised when Amazon's price was the lowest (including all shipping charges), even compared with walking in to Walmart. I was able to use a pretty standard discount coupon on Amazon's site, that applied to most housewares. The coupon appears to repeat it self several months in a row. You might check their discount section to find it. In August, it was called AUGQUICKDSCNT; and in September, it was called SEPTQUICKDSCNT (I believe).
-- Consumer Reports reviewed the 4870 model vacuum. I was able to find three different 4870 models. Most 4870 models contain a two-letter digit following the model number, which is a code indicating the color and optional extra parts of the vacuum.
The 4870 DT is green with minimal options.
The 4870 GZ is red with a turbo upholstery nozzle attachment.
The 4870 ?? is blue with a turbo upholstery nozzle attachment that has two switch settings.
Amazon carries both the DT and GZ models. I have only seen the blue model available at KMart, but I did not check online.
-- After receiving the vacuum, I pulled it out of its gigantic box, and spent less than five minutes assembling the handle to the base. (It required a screw driver, flat or phillips head.) I was very happy that there was a storage place on the base for each and every accessory tool. However, there was *not* a place for the bonus turbo nozzle accessory included with the GZ model. -- The first run of the vacuum was surprising. On the low pile carpet I started on, the vacuum had so much suction that it actually started walking itself forward immediately. (I almost fell over trying to hold it back! hee hee) On the thicker, larger pile carpet, the vacuum did not walk near as much. But, it had so much suction, the carpet looked incredibly clean. I don't think the carpet has been that clean since it was new!
-- The first few times I ran the vacuum, the HEPA filter, or some part of the exhaust of the vacuum emitted an unusual plastic-like odor, which I assume is due to the fact that this is a new vacuum. However, after a few times, the vacuum emits air that is fresh, and very clean smelling. Its like cleaning the air with one of those air filters while I vacuum.
-- The turbo nozzle attachment that was included with the GZ model is unusual. I was expecting a nozzle attachment with a small motorized roller brush for cleaning upholstery. However, this nozzle is *not* motorized. Instead, it runs on the suction power of the vacuum to turn its roller brush. At first, I thought that the suction of the vacuum would not be enough to keep the roller turning. However, it appears to work great. The only side-effect to not being motorized is that the nozzle makes a strange higher-pitched whining noise (instead of a vibrating motor noise). But I have used it several times on the sofa and recliner to remove dirt and pet hair, and it works great. The only complaint I have is that there is no place on the upright body to store the nozzle attachment with the vacuum.
-- The other thing that confused me is the brush roll control switch on the base of the vacuum. This yellow switch/tab that appears to be used to change the mode of the vacuum from carpet to bare floors cannot be operated by hand. Instead, the switch automatically moves by raising and lowering the upright half of the vacuum to and from its 'storage' position. When the vacuum body is upright, and clicked into its 'storage' position, the yellow switch/tab indicates bare floor cleaning, and the brush roll is automatically switched off. When the vacuum body is lowered, or angled, in its 'vacuuming' position, the yellow switch/tab indicates carpet cleaning, and the brush roll is automatically switched on. You cannot move the yellow switch by hand. In order to vacuum hard floors, you either have to leave the brush roll running, and use the dial indicator to lower the level of the vacuum head to the floor (which tends to fling dirt and dust everywhere no matter how low you set it), or you could put the vacuum in its upright storage position, and pull it around on the floor (this is awkward). I suppose another option would be to use the flat floor attachment and the suction hose to clean the hard floors, which is what Eureka must have intended. I have just stuck to using my broom and/or swiffer instead.
-- The one thing that I love about this vacuum compared to my canister and other uprights are the convenient carrying handles on its upright body. In addition to the standard push/pull vacuum handle, there is a nice cupped-handle below the HEPA filter on the front side, and a complimentary cupped-handle on the center of the back side. These two handles allow you to carry the vacuum at waist height very easily, and well-balanced. I don't have any stairs, but if I did, I would be greatful for these handles. I am extremely greatful for them to carry the vacuum around the house (instead of rolling it). The vacuum is indeed light-weight as Consumer Reports claims.
-- I have used this vacuum for more than a month now, and I can say that I LOVE to clean with it. I love using the double-length extension wand with the circular-brush end for cleaning dust and cobwebs. (I have not used the flat accessory tool.) I have been remodeling one of the rooms in the house, and the vacuum is sturdy enough to clean up the nasty mess left behind from drywall chuncks, sanding, trim pieces, nails, wood chips, and all kinds of dirt. I have tipped over a couple of houseplant pots the other day, and the vacuum cleaned up the dirt even when it was slightly moist. And, my long-haired cat is no match for the vacuum and the great suction it has.
Great vacuum! Highly recommended! Definitely worth the money! If you vacuum upholstery, invest a few extra dollars on the GZ to get the bonus turbo nozzle. It cleans vehicle interiors well too!
Customer Review: From a Guys Point of View: The Vacuum of all Vacuums. Impressive
Summary: 5 Stars
We bought our Eureka Boss SmartVac about a year ago. Using it tonight and thinking again what an awesome vacuum this was, I thought I would finally write that review I'd been meaning to ever since I bought the thing. So here is my review after 1 year of using "The Most Impressively Amazing Vacuum Cleaner... EVER!!":
I bought it for my wife as a gift, as our old vacuum was a Wal-Mart $20 special and didn't do the best job now that we had a newborn and a 70lb Golden Retriever in the house along with a cat. She had done the research and wanted this one... I was indifferent as its just a vacuum cleaner and all I wanted was a decent vacuum that would meet my meager expectations of halfway picking up the pet hair, dander, and regular newborn carpet crud. So I ordered the vacuum, and the day it arrived (we ordered ours from [...], great price and deal refurb but just like brand new), I thought I'd play around with it before the wife got home from work. Boy was I in shock. This thing is a BEAST. A man's vacuum. If I set the carpet height about halfway, I have to hold the thing back. It is heavy, but that goes to its sturdiness and durability, imo. If it were as light as some other vacuums, the thing would be uncontrollable. Some people see the weight as a con, but I like it (I'm 6'3", 250 lbs, my wife is 5'4, 115lbs and has NO trouble). I've never been a housecleaner, actually quite the opposite, but I can tell you I always like pulling out the BOSS and letting it do its thing. This thing SUCKS. I'm serious. Be careful around straps, sheets, curtains, etc. I have destroyed one curtain and today destroyed my backpack strap. But with a dog and cat shedding like madness, after I vacuum with this thing the pet hair is GONE. It has all the right attachments for any type of cleaning, and the hose piece extends to about 3' and STILL SUCKS AT THE END OF THE ATTACHMENT! Every other vacuum I've used with extension attachments would hardly suck at all, making them worthless. Not this power packed Eureka! The attachments all work, to the maximum, as well as they could possibly do, and all do exactly what they were designed to do. Even though heavy at about (I'd guess) 20 lbs, it pulls and drives itself. The energy you spend is actually the small effort needed to HOLD IT BACK. Once you push the foot lever to engage the vacuum (you have to be holding it to engage), it slowly starts driving itself forward. Maybe 2 passes and it gets EVERYTHING. Pet hair GONE. Dander GONE. Kid Krud GONE. It does use bags, I think it came with 3 extra bags. I understand other reviews mention needing to replace the belt every so often. After 1 year and eating up the curtains and backpack strap (MELTED/DISINTEGRATED... there's a reason I call it a BEAST!), I have never had to replace the belt or anything else... we are on the 3rd bag and I have never had to buy bags. I can just say from my own experience, the belt is still going strong and this thing still works, if anything, better than the first day I got it. Seems almost like a car where you get max performance after breaking in for 30k miles. Anyway, I don't typically write reviews of this sort, but this vacuum so impresses me, every time I use it, that I just felt I had to share and I seriously brag on our SmartVac and recommend it to anyone who ever asks me how I keep down the pet hair. So thought I would recommend it to everyone else as well. The only cons some people (not me) might find, are the weight (can see where it would be harder to use on stairs, but narrow attachment seems perfect... and show me a vac that IS easily manageable on stairs). You could probably spend $600 on a Dyson or top-line Hoover that does as well as this one, but this vac out-competes a class of vacuums that price at four or five times higher the Eureka SmartVac. I am a Eureka customer for life because of this vac, and I'll eat my hat if you regret purchasing this vacuum. Wives, let your husbands read this review if you want to talk them into getting this vac! Trust me men!
Customer Review: Well-engineered vacuum
Summary: 5 Stars
We have plush and berber carpet throughout our apartment, and I vacuum it once a week with the Eureka 4870GZ. Overall I'm very impressed, and I already talked my brother into buying the same vac. The suction is good, definitely, and it does what I need from a vac.
Here's a detailed list of the pros and cons:
Pro:
1) The hose tubing is clear when stretched but black when recoiled. I can see dirt and clogs but I'm not faced with that nastiness unless I look.
2) Mine came with the Power Paw brush attachment. The Power Paw ROCKS for stairs. It is like shrinking the vacuum to a more manageable size when doing stairs. Where has this attachment been my whole life?
3) The vacuum is NOT heavy like people say. It isn't light, but it certainly isn't the heavy monster I expected. Don't worry about weight; this vac is average weight.
4) The 4870 is engineered not to tip. I've never had a vac that stays vertical as easily, which is great when doing corners.
5) The motor will turn off automatically if too hot. I haven't needed this feature, but I like that it is there.
6) The extra-long hose attachment is much appreciated. There's hose, then there is an EXTRA hose attachment.
7) There's a switch to turn suction from the floor to the hose. This gives better hose sucking power, I've found. Much better than the Hoovers and Dirt Devils I've used.
8) Changing bags couldn't be easier. Press a button, take out the bag and you're done. Why aren't other vacuums I've known this easy? I mean, it usually isn't that hard, but this one has a really easy bag to change.
9) The vacuum brush automatically turns off when the vac is upright. Nice.
10) There's a nice stairs handle.
11) It came with an extra bag and belt. The bag I expected, but the extra belt I didn't. That was a nice little cherry on top of the purchase, unless of course they know something I don't about the belt on this vacuum. We'll see...
Con:
1) The attachments are tiny. I'm not sure why, but they seem small. Did I buy the Fisher Price vacuum by mistake?
2) I wish it were less a plastic appliance. I'm guessing it will hold up fine, but it seems like something that might melt in the sun. I would have preferred at least a bit of metal.
3) The upholstry brush attachment isn't easy to get when the cord is wrapped around the back of the vac. This isn't that big a deal, but it is unnecessary IMHO.
4) The hose seems awfully loose, and it gets in the way a bit. This can be fixed with some velcro, though.
5) A dirt sensor would be a nice addition. I should have checked if the deluxe model with that feature was much more.
6) This is a very loud vacuum. There's no quiet technology going on here.
7) The foot pedal to recline the vacuum is very stiff. VERY stiff. I think the designers expect you to wear a boot when vacuuming, because pressing the foot pedal is like pushing a shovel into dirt. It is manageable, but it is oddly hard to use considering the nice design elsewhere on the vac. An intern must have developed this part of the vacuum.
Customer Review: Excellent product. Certainly worth CR's Best Buy.
Summary: 5 Stars
I got this product after reading that Consumer Report had selected this vacuum cleaner as its Best Buy. I bought it from Amazon when there was a sale on this product and I got it for $115.
My major criteria for vacuum was that I wanted a bag vacuum with Hepa filter, since my son has slight allergy problems. I had read lots of reviews and comments at various websites and Consumer Report mentioning that bagless vacuum are very bad for allergies. The only way, you can clean a bagless vacuum and be sure that none of the dustmites and other allergens are getting back into your house, is to take the vacuum outside the house, close the door and then clean the vacuum. This is not at all a viable option in Michigan considering the cold weather that we have to face.
There was not a single vacuum that had all the features this particular vacuum provides and still be at a reasonable price-range. The next model that I found with nearly all the features the 4870GZ provides was from Hoover and it was costing $250+.
There are various model number starting with 4870. There's not much of difference between these various models, except for some kind of color variation and the GZ model has an additional cleaning brush.
Before buying this vacuum, I read various reviews at Amazon saying that this vacuum is heavy, its difficult to tilt the handle, etc. Best Buy store had this exact same model. So before ordering from Amazon, I headed over to the nearest Best Buy and had a good look at this model. I lifted it, carried it and walked around, tilted the handle, switched the bareflooor setting, etc.
This vacuum is no more heavier than my previous Panasonic. I can use it pretty comfortably in my colonial home with two flight of stairs. The bare floor cleaning option is great. The manual carpet height setting is great. The knob that you have to press, for the vacuum handle to tilt is sort of tricky. There is a particular way to press it. Once you get the hang of it, its pretty easy. When the handle is upright the vacuum automatically switches to barefloor setting, which is very nice. If I have to vacuum the barefloor, then after tilting the vacuum handle, I have to push the knob from carpet to barefloor. This again is kind of tricky and once you get the hang of it, its very easy to handle.
Couple of things that I would have liked to have in this model are... Have a cleaning/dirt sensor LED. I had this feature in my previous Panasonic and I liked it a lot. Of course Consumer Report says that this feature is not of much use, but I beg to differ.
The other feature I would have liked is to have a vacuum bag full sensor. I had seen this feature in some other models of Hoover/Dirt Devil.
One more feature that I would have liked is to have a automatic retractable cord. I had this feature in my previous Panasonic. After having done with the vacuum, there was this small knob at the bottom of the vacuum cleaner, which I had to just press with my feet and the whole cord would just automatically retract back into the vacuum. During my research, I found that this kind of feature is available only in cannister vacuum and is no longer provided in upright vacuum.
Customer Review: Fantastic machine!!!
Summary: 5 Stars
I want to give this machine 6 stars. It is far and away the best vacuum I've ever used.
We've had problems with a fairly new carpet with continuous piling that was difficult to pick up. The Boss Smart-Vac just rolled right over it and took up everything.
It works great on bare floors too! There was one detail that the users manual didn't make clear, namely, that when you turn on the bare floor switch you have to pull it back until it clicks, which can be a little stiff the first few times you use it. But their 800-number customer support desk was very helpful and I got through surprisingly quickly.
I have to relay one story that really impressed me, however. My wife pointed out to me that there was no external indicator telling when to replace the dust bag. Which is true -- but all one needs to do is open the front door and tap the bag to check: that's easy to do and more accurate than any indicator I've ever seen. Anyway, having been used to lesser quality vacuums, I hadn't realized how effective the Boss Smart-Vac was. So I hadn't checked the bag level, when I was giving a bedroom a thorough spring cleaning the Boss Smart-Vac simply stopped. "Oh, no!" I thought. "Had I burned the motor out already?" That wouldn't make sense. So I waited a while. Then I started it back up and resumed working. It stopped 5 minutes later. When I tried to get "smart" myself, I remembered noticing the dust flying through the clear plastic feed tube. So I looked back at the tube again and noticed that the dust wasn't "flying" -- it was sitting! I had not only filled the dust bag, I had filled the feed tube!!!
So, if anyone says that there isn't an external bag indicator, they're wrong. Although it's not intended to be an external indicator, the feed tube will serve as one (albeit unintentionally). Just remember, if it is full, you are waaaaaaayyyy past the point of needing to change the bag.
All turned out well, however, as the Boss Smart-Vac showed no permanent damage when I cleared it all up. Luckily for me, I also have a Shop-Vac with a narrow nozzle that I was able to stick up into the opening of the feed tube inside the bag chamber. It was almost fun watching the dust get sucked out of the feed tube.
In addition, I've found that the attachments fit nice and tightly on the body of the machine. The hose pipe is convenient to grab and attach as well. And when I'm alternating from floor to hose and back, it's easy to hang the hose temporarily over the hose tube. You have to be careful to remember to turn the hose/floor switch when switching. I found several times that I was vacuuming the floor but the switch was on hose. That is simply a habit that I need to instill in myself.
I now know why Consumer Reports gave the Boss Smart-Vac a Best Buy.
BTW, Amazon rocked on this order. Not only were they cheaper (by more than $20) than the only big box store that I could have gotten it from (but wouldn't sell because they don't do special orders to my small town store yet), but I got free shipping and received the order the next day!!! That was one Amazing Amazon!