A rambly ode to Hoover’s 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum

When you have two shedding pets, three messy kids, and two adults with questionable attention spans for domestic activities, you get pretty excited at the idea of a simple tool to help stay on top of everyday tidying. That’s why I was more than a little excited when the fine folks at Hoover offered to send us a 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum for review.

We need to sweep pretty much every day. For years, I’ve been using one of those semi-disposable stick vacuums but over the last few years I’ve been increasingly unhappy with mine. For one, I have to replace them about once a year and while they are cheap they are not inexpensive. For another, the battery never seems to hold a decent charge anymore. And finally, I did not love the chemical-laden disposable pads. So, I was already optimistic that the 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum might solve some of those problems. In fact, it seems to have solved all of them and quite a few more.

Here’s the official schtick on this stick:

This 4-in-1 stick vacuum uses a Cyclonic Filtration system, creating powerful suction that can cut through any mess. The Vac+Dust Tools capture heavy dirt and debris, while the SWIPES™ micro-pads eliminate all traces of dust. Just snap on the Crevice Tool and extend your cleaning reach to swipe dust and debris from book shelves, curtain rods, ceilings, cupboards, and everything below. The Pivoting Extension Tool gives you precision and control when cleaning areas that are out of sight and reach. Likewise, the Powered Stair & Upholstery Tool adjusts to clean every part of the step, while the 27 foot cord allows you to move easily from room to room. With the detachable hand vac, hard jobs like cleaning the car interior are made easy! Powered with value, Dirt Devil’s 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum includes a budget-friendly reusable Quick-Rinse Filter.

Ha, did you see that bit about cleaning the car interior? So maybe this will never happen again?

Beloved was the first to try it out. In fact, he had it out of the box and was vacuuming with it before I even got home from work. Can you tell which one of us is more domestic? He was impressed, but I reserved my opinion until I could try it out myself. Ahem, about a month later. Hey, he was doing such a great job, I didn’t want to take his toy away!

It’s a zippy little thing, WAY more powerful than the battery-powered one I’ve been using for years. In fact, one of my only quibbles when reading the description was that it was corded and not battery powered. However, with a 27 foot cord I can reach the entire main floor from one of two outlets and cord management was never a problem. (Talk to me sometime about how I feel about cord management for my electric lawnmower. THAT is a whole other issue.) And best of all, I never again have to find myself with 2/3 of the house swept and a battery losing its charge.

It does a FANTASTIC job on everyday debris. It has strong enough suction that pet hair gets pulled in from a decent distance, and it was strong enough to pick up peanut shells, coffee grounds, and bits of dry cat food. It actually sucks up the dirt and pet hair instead of just pushing them around, and I love the idea of the washable, reusable mop head. I did find it a teeny bit on the heavy side, but not uncomfortably so.

It has several attachments, including an extension wand so you can use it for small spaces or as a normal stick vac. There’s a mop attachment for hard-floor dusting and vacuuming, a crevice tool, and a stair and upholstery attachment. There’s even an attachment to clean the ceiling fan. Are you supposed to clean the ceiling fans? (Aren’t they by design self-cleaning, flinging the dirt off every time you turn them on?) I had a field day bopping around the house cleaning off the top of picture frames, window blinds and other surfaces that might have possibly been examined last when we moved in.

What this isn’t is a replacement for a heavy duty vacuum for carpeting, but it is an excellent alternative to semi-disposable battery-powered sweeper sticks. I’m keeping mine in the hall closet where the boys can easily find it now that I’ve added vac-sweeping the house to their daily chores.

In sum, I liked Dirt Devil’s 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum for quick everyday cleaning, and sweeping is about the ONLY domestic cleaning, besides dishes and bed making, that I’ll be convinced to do every day.

The Dirt Devil’s 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum is good for:

• people with hard surface floors
• people who don’t rely on centrifugal force to keep their ceiling fans clean
• people with steps
• people with pets
• people whose spouse kids swipe the crumbs from the table onto the floor when they think nobody is looking
• people with several road trips worth of snack food ground into the upholstery of their car

The Dirt Devil’s 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum is NOT good for:

• people with wimpy wrist strength (it’s not toooooo heavy, just heavier than I was expecting)
• people who hate the environment and prefer to keep using chemical laden disposable sweep pads
• people who like crumbs stuck to their bare feet and dust yeti lurking under the bed
• people with wall to wall shag carpeting (but seriously, what are you doing with shag carpeting in the kitchen anyway?)

This little vacuum is the perfect solution for our main floor, but our canister vac just this weekend beat its final bar. Any recommendations for a good canister or upright vacuum that will live in harmony with my new favourite cleaning tool?

Disclosure: I was offered a free Dirt Devil’s 360 Reach™ Bagless Stick Vacuum for review, possibly because the nice folks at Hoover realized I needed a domestic intervention of some sort. I genuinely like it, though!