Panasonic OptiFlow Lightweight Canister Vacuum Cleaner, Bagged,…

Will thrill the clean freak in you!, December 23, 2008

By 

A. Boston (Boston, MA United States) –

  

Update March ’10: I just wanted to say I’ve had this vac for over a year now, and still use it at least twice a week(and look forward to using it) to maintain my hardwood floors. I absolutely love it!

Original review: I am a self professed clean freak. We have 2 cats that I am allergic to, so the floors being clean is especially important to me. This Panasonic vac has made me very happy! I live in a 2nd floor apartment with a carpeted hallway & stairs, the rest of my apartment is hardwood floors with linoleum in the kitchen and tile in the bath. I’ve used it everywhere and it’s AMAZING! As someone described it to me, it will ‘suck chrome off a tow hitch’, which sounds a little funny — but that is the power it has.

Putting it together is easy and will take a matter of minutes, but be careful that you put the metal poles together correctly, otherwise you won’t have power to the vac head that you push on the floor. It took me a bit to figure out that I had made this error in my hast to get it together and use it.

The power button is on the handle, which I thought was an absolutely must have feature. There would be nothing worse then trying to find a button on the unit behind you. You can also switch it from carpet to bare floor with this button, so it’s an seamless transition. That button makes it effortless for me to vacuum my little area rugs that are on my hardwood floors and in the kitchen. When using the carpet setting the light comes on the vacuum head and it self propels on its own making it very easy and lightweight to use. The canister was gliding along behind me no problem. I took care of my entire apartment in about 15-20 minutes.

Another of my favorite features is that the cord goes inside the body of the canister and can be sucked back in with the push of a button. No fiddling around with getting it raveled back up, which is something I particularly hate about my upright. This one also adjusts heights with a little foot pedal from x-low to high so if you have short carpet or tall shaggy rugs, it should work amazingly.

I right away took care of my front carpeted stairs, since they haven’t been done in some time. We only had an upright vac previously and I found it impossible to do the stairs with that. My boyfriend tried it once or twice, but it honestly just does not get the nooks and crannies. With this new Panasonic vacuum, I maneuvered it around and then went back and got the nooks after easily removing the vac head. I was even able to hold the canister while I did it, which makes it extremely lightweight and not at all cumbersome to vacuum in odd locations.

The only cons for me — I would love if this was a bagless vac. I hate having to find bags. That feature would make this the absolute star of vacuums to me. Also, if I could strap this baby on my back and not have to roll it around(especially for doing stairs!), that would be thrilling, but it’s not a make or break, just something I’d personally like.

I’ve never had a canister vacuum and after using this one, don’t know how I existed without one! Thank you Panasonic for helping me keep my house clean with ease!

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