Dirt Devil SD20505 Power Air Corded Bagless Stick Vacuum for Hard Floors, Red

If it had a swivel head, it would be near perfect for a $50 vac. I've been disappointed by more vacs than politicians. So I'm not an easy sell with vacs. I like this one. It has two large wheels and two small nylon rollers in front to keep the head from scratching a hardwood floor. Suction is strong due to the strong motor. I know it's fashionable to have a stick vac with the motor near your hand--this seems bass ackwards to me. I'd rather have the weight on the floor than carry it around. Besides strong suction, the filter capture very fine particles. Most times you can just tap it against the garbage can to remove most of the accumulation. You can also rinse it with water--be sure to let it dry before putting back in vac. The standard toe-kick at the bottom of kitchen cabinets is about 3: (The toe kick allows you to stand next to your base cabinets without stubbing your toes.) The vac head width beyond the width of the motor chamber is just enough to reach under the toe-kick if you run the vac fully sideways along the cabinet base--a little more room here would be good. One reviewer wrote repeatedly that she or he could not figure out how to put the dirt cup back on. I've tried all the ways I can to figure out how this could be difficult. The only way I've found is if you remove the filter from the cup and then don't replace it properly. The filter must be pressed down in the cup fully for the cup to be able to mount correctly. When in doubt, read the instructions. The unit worked well on short and long nap carpets and hardwood floors and tile. A full size vac with a roller would work better on a carpet but they tend to suck up the edges of rugs. So I still want a full size vac for carpet. But for occasional carpet cleaning and for rugs and hard floors, I prefer a good stick vacuum and this is the best I've come across so far. The 20 foot cord is just barely long enough to be practical. Even longer would be better. I think 20 feet is a minimum, 30 feet or longer is optimal. So, for $50 this unit is a great choice. So I rate this a great value for the price and a good choice for a lightweight vacuum. It would be great it if had a swivel head but the ones that do tend to break too easily ime, so I still rate this unit 5 stars compared to the compettion.

Excellent replacement for a Swiffer dust mop for wood floors, to pick up crumbs, dust bunnies and dog hair mostly. No more having to buy expensive disposable dust cloths. It takes less work and time than Swiffer thanks to the suction power, and no more having to worry I'll drag a rock across the floor and scratch it like the Swiffer did to my front foyer, repeatedly. I also had the smaller Dirt Devil stick vacuum and that worked very well, although it was a pain to have to empty the dust cup every room since it filled up quickly, and its cord was shorter so I had to move it three times to clean the same area I can now do in only two. This is the stick vacuum you graduate to when you outgrow the smaller version. The suction is spectacular--it's strong enough to pull dust bunnies off the legs of chairs, if you only lift the leg an inch off the floor. So no more having to bend down and manually pull dog hair clumps off the chair sliders, where they love to get stuck (may not work if your sliders are glue-on, which can shift and expose glue). It does have a tendency to blow dust bunnies around, if the bunny is large enough to static cling to itself rather than the floor. However, once it's moved just change direction to attack it from the side and it will suck up, so this isn't a problem. I'd rather have a vacuum with better suction, even if the resulting displaced air flow might get in the way sometimes. Interestingly, that powerful air flow does mean the vacuum's head will lift off the floor when you turn it on if you aren't exerting enough pressure on the handle, so just watch for that. I'm sure I'll adapt over time. Like it says on the box, it's for hard wood floors. So it won't do carpet, although it can do some thin throw rugs, and pick dust bunnies up off the carpet side of the carpet/hardwood border. Some reviews mention it can fall over when stored. I can see that being a possibility; it doesn't have the same weight/size/cost of a standard vacuum (which is a good thing overall) so it won't have the same locking mechanism or overall inertia. If concerned about this just make sure you store it somewhere where it can't fall completely over, like in a corner or closet. Others have mentioned due to canister location it doesn't get under cabinets well. I'm not sure if they do much vacuuming in the ordinary course of their lives, or they would have noticed this vacuum's handle bends backwards just like a regular vacuum so you can access those areas. Maybe they had an older version of the model? In any event, I have had no problem getting under kitchen cabinets with a standard toe kick area. Emptying the dust cup without removing it from the vacuum will get dust on the head and wheels. But wipe with a lightly damp cloth and you're ready to go again. Overall, I love this thing. It's the solution to a lot of problems I've had, now that I have a house with a lot of hardwood floors.

I bought this item because I finally got tired of dragging my canister style Dyson around. The Dyson works well, but it's heavy and awful to try to maneuver around corners. I read many reviews before choosing the Dirt Devil, and have to say that they were pretty much spot on. This little machine is powerful. I'm surprised at how well it works for it's size. It's light and easy to take corners, and picked up everything from the leaves shed by my fern to litter tracked out of the litter box. I have all hard wood floors, and tile, no carpets, so I anticipate that it will easily pick up anything it comes across, and I imagine it would work well on carpets too, because of it's power, but I can't say for sure, because I have no carpets to test it on. Now for the cons. As far as power goes, I would easily give it five stars, but there are a couple of design flaws, that could easily have been remedied, if anyone had paid attention. First, the cord isn't long enough. At only 20 feet, I had to unplug and replug several times in my tiny house. With the Dyson, I only have to do that once. But for the convenience of the Dirt Devil I could overlook that. The other problem isn't so easy to overlook. In it's description Dirt Devil says, "The Low Profile Nozzle makes cleaning underneath furniture a breeze." Not true! While the nozzle itself may be low profile, the placement of the canister makes it impossible to get under many pieces of furniture. So while I would love to use this vacuum exclusively, it will sadly be relegated to using for quick pick ups, and I'll still have to use the Dyson for thorough cleanings where I need to be able to clean under all the furniture. Too bad, Dirt Devil...you almost achieved perfection...so close!

This is the perfect compliment to any hardwood or flat surfaced flooring. I use this for loos dirt, cat fur, and cat litter. What inspired this purchase was when I realized my original brush vacuum just kicked around litter, and had no suction on my linoleum flooring. This was the perfect solution! I use my brush vacuum on my carpet, and this in the kitchen/bathroom which have linoleum flooring. It catches all loose debris from outside, all my cat's fur, and even her litter. If you're having trouble with suction, make sure the head of the vacuum (that sucks in air) is flat against the surface. If it is slanted even the tiniest bit, suction will be lost dramatically. This means being careful if you have a divider between carpet and flat flooring, for example. I have a metal divider in my kitchen. What I do is vacuum towards the divider, instead of besides it, that way I don't accidentally slant the head up onto the divider creating a loss of suction. That being said, with proper use, this is amazing for the price. The filters also do a very good job at keeping dust inside the device (rather than throw dust into the air like some vacuums tend to do). Make sure to clean it when needed (including the filters), follow instructions, and you will love this machine. The pro to it being corded is you can use it whenever you need without worrying about your battery charge, and it provides a consistent suction whenever you need it. Another recommendation would be to empty this outside if possible, as with any bagless design, due to the dust.

Update- The review I wrote still stands. I’m updating with this information; Don’t stand the vacuum upright on a hard surface like tile. I made the mistake of doing so after inadvertently pulling the plug. When I plugged it back in, the switch was still “On” and the motor torque spun the unit around and broke the handle when it hit the floor. At this time. The handle is no longer available from the manufacturer and I can find only one supplier that has it for $20 FYI *********************** Good not perfect. This could be a great vacuum but some design features spoil the benefits. It is powerful, it stands upright on its own, it is corded so batteries getting old won't be a concern, it is easy to empty, and has a HEPA filter. The cons are that it blows so much air outward (exhaust) that you have to plan carefully when using it or you will send lighter dust and dirt airborne. The body sits very low on the stick so I cannot easily reach the area under kitchen cabinets (toe kick) because the cabinet hits the dust container. I have to lower the handle a few inches off the floor to get it to reach. The unit is also heavy at the bottom so if you have to lift the unit to swing it sideways as in to continue sweeping an adjacent area, it is awkward and some will have to use two hands to do so. I kept this vacuum because it picks up dirt very well and the price was right but I wish I didn't have the aforementioned problems to work around.

First, let me say that I didn't receive this free to review. I paid for it myself. I'm the type of guy who will buy something that has mostly 5 star reviews with a couple of 1 star negative reviews, and I'll end up having the one star experience. I saw all of the great reviews with a few negative ones, but I thought I'd go ahead and be a sucker, and give it a shot anyway. I'm glad I did! This thing is amazing. It was extremely easy to put together. Very easy to empty the cup and clean the filter off. No problems there. I was pleased with the cord length and quality. But I was amazed with the suction power of this thing. When people say you need to hold onto the handle when you turn it on, they're right. This thing did a great job sucking up everything that wasn't stuck to the floor. It had no problem sucking up dust, dirt, kitty litter, cat hair, pebbles tracked in, and even small fall time leaves. In some cases, it even sucked things up that were a few inches from the side of the vacuum. Now to address a couple of things. Keep in mind that this thing isn't made to be a carpet vacuum. It's made for hard floors, not carpet. I bought it for my vinyl and laminate floors, and it's amazing for those. It did a good job cleaning between the cracks of my laminate, which a broom doesn't do well with. And it does very well at vacuuming small rugs, like door mats, too, except that it's so powerful, you have to hold the rug down with your foot. But one of the big concerns I had from reading the reviews was that people were saying the vents are on the sides, and it just blows dust around on the floor. I was really worried about that, but it ended up not being a problem. I imagined that they meant the vents were on the sides of the base of the vacuum, which doesn't make sense. But the vents are actually really high up on the top of the dust cup, so it wasn't nearly the problem I expected. The only time it was an issue was when I was in a weird corner where there was really no space and the air blew off of some surfaces onto the floor. Even in that extreme case, I had no problem getting it swept up because the suction power is just so strong. So I'll have to say, this thing is well worth my purchase.

I needed a hardwood floor vacuum now that we have only hard floors in the house. Does this thing work? Yes. It has some serious power and sucks up things pretty well compared to the wimpy $20 hardwood Dirt Devil we started with...which also broke precisely because it kept falling over and over and over. It weighed nearly nothing and even bumping it would send it crashing. So enter this Dirt Devil. Holy stinking off-balanced cow. How did this ever pass inspection? As soon as you turn it on, the base takes flight and if you aren't holding it to stabilize it, CRASH. If you are using it and have to let go to pull out some furniture and the slightest breeze touches it, CRASH. When you're done vacuuming and go to put it away, if you aren't careful to center it perfectly on its feet, CRASH. I have yelled at my kids so many times when they use this because all I hear is CRASH CRASH CRASH. It has taken away my peace, this red devil from hell. Secondly, try vacuuming up a single peanut. Try it. The tornado inside the bagless chamber will swirl that sucker around with such violent force that it nearly deafens you with its SWIRL-BANG! SWIRL-BANG! SWIRL-BANG! SWIRL-BANG! SWIRL-BANG! over and over. It's the loudest vacuum I've EVER owned, and once you vacuum that nut it becomes almost unbearable. Another reviewer mentioned wearing earplugs while vacuuming. Yes. Wear them. Lastly....the lint trap and filter combo. Some reviewers said the filter fell out and they can't figure out how to replace it. Why can't they replace it? Because the groove the tiny notch fits into is a MILLIMETER wide. A millimeter. Maybe two. You can't even see it. Every time this vacuum falls over, the bagless container falls out and I have to start all over with trying to line up the millimeter notch with the two millimeter groove so the beast works again. This is probably the single most frustrating thing I've ever owned. I hate it. I absolutely hate it.

I'll try and talk about what I like most about the SD20505. I've included a picture of the filter assembly which is completely detachable from the "body" of the vacuum cleaner and can be taken apart individually to clean. Why this was so important to me is because my previous vacuum(s) all had difficult to clean dust bin / filter(s) that would eventually hamper the effectiveness of the vacuum over time. The design of this particular vacuum allows easy access to the dust bin to not only empty dust through the trap door at the bottom, but to completely remove the individual components that make up the assembly for deep cleaning. That means after a few sessions of running the vacuum I can simply take apart everything and give it a through clean with hot water without having any nastiness stuck in between the little grooves and crevices. Anyone who's had a foul smelling vacuum in the past knows that a hard to clean dust bin / filter can develop mold or bacteria growth if left unchecked. Pre-filter(s) are also cheap and plentiful here on Amazon and the recommended life change of one is 6 months. Other than that I will echo the other statements made by reviewers here that the vacuum is indeed very strong and quite loud. Definitely not something you can use very early in the morning if you don't want to wake everyone up. I also see no reason why this vacuum could not power though stiff "cut pile" carpets; just keep in mind it has no roller brush on the bottom for hair but should work well enough for general dirt and dust. I'm really happy with my purchase so far; I'll update my review down the road if any mechanical issues arise.