To tackle the messes of the day, you need a versatile vacuum, one that can also handle pet hair and hard flooring. In our minds, the best vacuum cleaner is the Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner. It doesn’t just provide powerful suction, it can take that power and make it mobile with its Lift Away design.
Why We Like It – Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner
Lightweight, versatile, and with a handheld 2.2-quart canister, the Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner can handle any job, on any floor—and for a mindblowing price.
- Superb anti-allergen system
- Can go handheld by lifting away dust pod
- Lightweight design and strong suction power
- Handheld can be awkward to use
- Hard floor attachments sold separately
Related: Find something new in our Bosch BCS122GB review
Performance
The Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner showed its carpet cleaning performance with flying colors. Its powerful suction and vacuum cleaning were excellent on most floors, even pile carpets. And for more sensitive flooring, there’s a brush roller shutoff on this top Shark vacuum. You don’t miss out on cleaning hard floors either, offering the same level of performance seen on carpets. You do not get any bare floors attachments, however, which are sold separately. Its anti-allergen system is particularly good, capturing 99.99% of dust and allergens, with the help of a HEPA filter.
Shark brand vacuums are notorious for having excellent performance, which you’ll learn more about in our Shark Apex vacuum cleaner review.
If there’s any vacuum that’s better, the only candidate is the Dyson Animal 2 beats it out by a notable margin, but at the cost of $300 more than the Shark NV356E.
Design
What puts the “lift away” in Shark Navigator Lift Away Professional is its handheld conversion feature. With the cleaning head still attached to the dust cup, you can lift away the dust pod and go mobile like the Shark Apex. Upright vacuums don’t tend to have that kind of feature. Need to vacuum the steps? Leave the main upright unit aside and go mobile; use a power brush to pick up missed hair, dirt, and dust. It can be a little awkward to handle, however, but still lightweight at 13.7 lbs—even less in handheld mode.
Related: Our readers also checked Bosch Vacuum review
Value
The Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner is a lot of things: power, versatile, very affordable, and is especially good against pet hair. And we can’t forget its impressive anti-allergen filtration system. In other words, it’s an excellent device. Would we recommend it? Absolutely. This is especially true for someone who wants a powerful vacuum cleaner, without spending the same amount you would a car. At the same time, it’s just an overall better for pound value than you would get out of the Eureka PowerSpeed Lite or Bissell Cleanview.
Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner Wrap Up
While the handheld canister is awkward to use on the Shark Navigator Vacuum Cleaner, you get used to it over time. After all, having a standing vacuum that goes mobile for cleaning steps and hard to reach places is a godsend. We loved its anti-allergen filtration system, and its performance is well-worth grabbing the hard floor attachments
