Cordless Swivel Sweeper - Original As Seen on TV by Swivel Sweeper
by SWIVEL SWEEPER
|
List Price: Our Price: $24.00 You Save: $17.95 (43%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $23.75 (click here) Category: Home See more product details |
|---|
Tools and Hardware Reviews of Cordless Swivel Sweeper - Original As Seen on TV by Swivel Sweeper
Customer Review: I waited almost 2 years to write this review....
Summary: 5 Stars
UPDATE...
Well it got slower and slower and it wasn't the battery. Poor Baby ran out of LIFE. So I pulled the second one out of the box and now I have 2 Batteries.
So it lasted about 3 or more years and I use it several times a week. It got A LOT OF USE! It could be it didn't last longer because I always tried putting off the un-cloging the turn brushes for as long as I could - and then longer then I should have I am sure.
I really believe I probably contributed to the slowly burning out the motor myself. MY BAD!
I refused to "give away" the second one even just because of all the bad reviews this product gets. Now I won't give it away in case this one is ready to "GO." LOL
Well folks... been almost 2 years and I swear by this little Sweeper. It won't pick up much sand - especially if you have TILE FLOORS or WOOD FLOORS. It must get SOME SAND, because I ALWAYS find a layer of sand in my Pick Up Tray when I empty it.
As for Battery Life and holding a FULL CHARGE. Mine is still at it's Peak. However - I do set a very loud TIMER for 8 hours for the charge. I have NEVER and I mean NEVER over charged it to burn out some of the cells.
The pole has never broken. Pole Breaking Complainers are either over zealous pushers or it was a faulty pole.
This Sweeper is great for QUICK Touch-ups in between vacuuming. Do not expect it to get everything. Sometimes little white things get caught in the carpet fiber and it will not loosen and come up with the roller brushes. You do have to bend over and pick it free - then the sweeper gets it.
Emptying the dust pan is easy. Cleaning the sweeper is not. The Swivel Sweeper comes with a "cleaning tool" which is nothing more than a thread cutter/seam ripper (if you know what that is). Hair (human hair) gets wound around all four brushes and needs to be periodically (VERY OFTEN)cut and picked out. What a mess. But I have to do the same occasionally with my vacuum cleaner.
The manual says "on occasion" - HA! This cleaning needs to be done VERY OFTEN.
Pull up a chair, put an old towel in your lap and get ready to spend some time cutting the hair - thread - strings (where threads & strings come from I don't know,) But it will all be there. It will be wound nice an tight and the ROLLERS WILL NOT ROLL when it is clogged. Which is after almost every few uses.
It is WELL WORTH IT THOUGH. I love the quick fix that makes my place look TIDY... but I hate cleaning the rollers of the hair & threads.
The manual indicates the battery will last 45 minutes on one charge. I believe it. I use my sweeper more than 10 times before it ever needs a charge.
I give this Product 5 Stars because it is everything it is supposed to be. I have to clear the rollers on my vacuum, so I do not FAULT THIS PRODUCT at all.
Just set that timer and do not overcharge the battery!
Customer Review: Works great ... could be even better
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had the Swivel Sweeper for about 3 months. I have had no problems with it or the batteries. I find it to be very convenient to use. I have read extensively about the problems that others have had so I was wary about getting one.
I bought my sister one for Christmas and she loves it.
It's great on wood floors and ceramic tile. I don't think it would be as effective on rugs - since it is just a sweeper - not a vacuum, and the load on the motor due to the drag on the carpet would likely discharge the battery pack very quickly.
In regard to the battery issues, the Company appears to have a quality control problem since they probably use the cheapest NiMH batteries available to maximize their margins. So, it could be hit or miss - you get a good set of batteries in the pack or you don't. There are six C batteries in the battery pack (which can't be opened) - if they are not matched properly, the pack won't last because the higher voltage batteries will discharge into the lower voltage batteries.
Also, the battery charger is not microprocessor controlled which gives the capability to monitor the battery temperature and voltage and thus control the rate of charge to minimize battery temperature. The charger only charges at a constant rate instead of switching to a trickle charge when the charge nears completion to reduce the battery temperature which preserves battery life. Heat is worst enemy for batteries. This is why you shouldn't keep the battery pack in the charger for more than 5 or 6 hours (less time if the battery wasn't completely discharged).
Also, remove the battery pack physically from the charger when not charging - otherwise the charger will discharge the battery.
It would have been nice if the Company gave the provision to replace the C batteries in the battery pack. In that way, a higher quality battery could be purchased from other sources.
It would have also been nice if the Company provided an option to purchase one of those microprocessor controlled fast chargers that charge the battery in two hours and then go into trickle charge to keep the battery topped off - then one wouldn't have to worry about overcharging. You can purchase these chargers for about $10.
When my battery pack fails, I will likely cut open the pack (which is not easy to do) and replace the batteries with high quality C NiMH which you can find readily in Radio Shack or on the Web (e.g., greenbatteries.com).
And, maybe even adapt the battery charger to a microprocessor based fast charger.
All in all, the product is a good idea and works fairly well for the price. But, I feel that there should be other options that allow the customer to buy up so to speak.
Note, you are better off buying the Swivel Sweeper from the many dealers on ebay - it's cheaper ($25) - that's what I did.
Customer Review: wow, surprised by the bad reviews!
Summary: 5 Stars
It never occurred to me to write a review here b/c I purchased this product at a brick and mortar BBB (with a 20% coupon).
I friggin LOOOOOOOOVE this thing! I originally saw the infomercial so I immediately thought it couldn't be that great. But when I saw it at my local BBB about a year ago, I bought it knowing that I could return it if it was crap.
First and foremost, this is NOT my primary vacuum. Instead, I use it to pick up debris brought in by shoes or our 2 dogs. We have all tile flooring on the first floor of our home so I figured it'd be handy to pick up things that I didn't want to bring out the Dyson for.
Here are the features that I like:
*It's super light. I can easily pick it up and move it around. It glides easily on tile and on my rugs.
*The dirt holding chamber is great b/c you get to see exactly what you picked up!
*((this is the part I was really surprised by)) It picks up smaller threads, pet hair, debris from my rugs that my Dyson left behind. Because I can't use the "carpet" feature on my Dyson while vacuuming my rugs (it makes that horrid noise) -- it just glides over some debris and does not pick it up. But when I use the swivel sweeper on the rug, it completely picks up tons of stuff, including woven in pet hair. LOVE IT!
Now onto the criticisms:
*It's very loud. You don't ever hear the noise on the infomercial. This doesn't really bother me and it's not loud enough to bother my dogs but my husband commented that they don't tell you how loud it is.
*If you accidentally roll it over carpet and it tips over, your sweeped up contents can fall out. Not a huge deal until you get the hang of it.
*minor complaint -- I wish the battery had a low level indicator. Instead, I just leave it in the swivel sweeper and since I don't use it as my primary vacuum, it's not really a problem. I don't run out of charge for several weeks or at least a month. I leave the battery in until it absolutely runs out. Then I charge for at least 24 hours before using again. This sounds like I put alot of effort into it, but it just sounds like more work than it really is.
Overall, I like to use it for a little bits that fall onto the kitchen floor or debris brought in by the dogs.
It also worked great during last Christmas to pick up falling tree needles!
I liked it enough to buy it for friends and family mostly because it's so light and convenient to use for those little jobs when you don't want to drag out the big vacuum!
Customer Review: An Indispensible Product
Summary: 5 Stars
I have found the swivel sweeper to be an absolutely indispensible tool. I don't use a standard vacuum or broom and dust pan any longer. The Swivel Sweeper does everything that I need: cleaning hardwood and tile floors (it doesn't work on carpets unless there is no nap). There is nothing like it for cleaning up cat litter that gets out of the cat box. I used to use a mini vac for this purpose, but Swivel Sweeper cleans effortlessly.
The 360-degree rotating head gets virtually anywhere. The handle can be 90 degrees vertical to 0 degrees horizontal (e.g., for getting under beds effortlessly). The sweeper gets right up to walls and even in corners. It gets behind toilets and all the other places that a regular vacuum would be too big for. The Swivel Sweeper is light and effortless.
Putting the Swivel Sweeper together out of the box is simplicity itself. Snap a few parts into place and voila! It takes about 60 seconds. The rechargeable battery lasts almost an hour and recharges fully in about 8 hours with the supplied charger (not rechargeable batteries to buy). You don't have to worry about finding outlets to plug into and dragging that inconvenient vacuum AC cord everywhere you go.
The Swivel Sweeper comes with a little tool that you can use to pick threads and such like out of the brushes if you need to. In normal use, if you avoid carpets, you shouldn't even have to do this. I would recommend avoiding using the Swivel Sweeper on wet debris (like wet cat litter). This can get on the brushes and cake things up. As long as you keep to dry clean-up, you shouldn't have any problem at all.
I can't recommend this product highly enough. There is just nothing like it for easily and quickly cleaning up on any surface except carpets. It easily cleans in places that no vacuum would ever get to.
UPDATE. I have found that the manufacturing of these swivel sweepers is unreliable. I had one Swivel Sweeper, which worked fine for a couple of years. Then the motor started cutting in and out. I ordered another, and it suffered the same problem after two months. Unfortunately, AsSeenOnTVGuys does not replace defective products after 15 days, so if you get a defective one, you will not be able to get a free replacement.
UPDATE. I have purchased three of these swivel sweepers now. The rechargeable battery seems to be a weak point. I have had them lose power anywhere from a month to a year, after which the recharge works only for a couple of minutes.
Customer Review: Great little sweeper!
Summary: 5 Stars
I've had my sweeper for about a year now, and I LOVE it! In reading the negative (1 star) reviews, it seems like most of the complaints revolve around battery issues. If you get one that doesn't run long or sweep well, you have a bad battery.
Just to give you an idea of the surfaces I use it on: I have a 2700 sq ft house, and the downstairs is almost entirely hard surfaces. I have cut-and-loop berber upstairs and wool braid rugs here and there downstairs. All of these are low, even surfaces which are easy for the sweeper to work on - plush bath rugs totally jam this thing up so don't use it on anything that isn't flat or low pile. I use my sweeper every other day or so to sweep the downstairs and to touch up the two flights of carpeted stairs. Sometimes I run around on the carpeting upstairs to touch it up too. I can do this 3-4 times before I need to recharge the battery. Running it on carpet obviously gives it more resistance and runs the battery down faster.
I followed the package instructions on how to initially charge the battery before the first use, and I've never had any probs with it. When I empty the cup (when I charge the battery) I'm always amazed at how much junk this thing sweeps up. I'm talking about tracked in dirt, crumbs, lint, etc. Not nuts and bolts or an entire box of cheerios. This thing is in no way going to replace a regular vacuum, even for hard floors. But, I will say I vacuum about half as much now with the "big boy" since I can literally run through my downstairs and traffic areas upstairs in less than ten minutes with the swivel sweeper. The house looks like I "really" vacuumed and it only took me minutes, not an hour and a half! That's what I call a helpful gadget!!!
It sounds like there are a lot of quality variances in the products people got (I guess that is to be expected in something mega-mass produced to sell cheap). I would HIGHLY recommend this product and would give it as a gift to someone, but I would also suggest buying it someplace you can easily return it in case you get a bum unit. Hope this info helped. Take care...