Eureka PowerSpeed Review

The PowerSpeed is a budget-friendly vacuum that includes several different accessories and provides decent cleaning performance all-around, with the exception of hard surfaces.

Performance Comparison

Carpet Cleaning

First and foremost, we began by ranking and scoring how the PowerSpeed did at cleaning carpets, using four different types of messes on both low and medium-pile carpets. We spread out a known amount of mess for each test, then compared the amount of mess left behind and the number of passes it took for each vacuum to clean to determine scores.

The PowerSpeed performed much better on fluffier carpet than low-pile with rice. It took five passes for this vacuum to clean up all of the grains from the low-pile carpet, with only a small amount of dust and a few fragments of rice left behind. However, we had to vacuum a little slower to keep it from flinging rice everywhere. The performance improved a bit on the thicker carpet, with most rice picked up in three passes.

This vacuum did worse with the flour test, delivering lackluster results overall. We gave the PowerSpeed over a dozen passes on the low-pile carpet, and there was still plenty of the ½ cup of flour that we spread out remaining. It was similar on the thicker carpet, again providing more than a dozen passes to achieve the same lackluster result.

The PowerSpeed improved with our cereal test, delivering a better but still fairly average performance. It picked up the Cheerios, but only after eight passes. However, you again have to vacuum relatively slowly to get the best cleaning performance. The PowerSpeed struggled to extract Cheerios from deep within the piles with fluffier carpet, requiring 12 passes to extract all the cereal and debris.

The PowerSpeed wrapped up this metric with another so-so set of results in our oat cleaning challenge. It eventually cleaned up about 99% of the oats that we spread out on both types of carpet, but it took more than four passes on each carpet type to achieve satisfactory results.

Ease of Use

For our ease of use metric, we evaluated and scored the amount of effort it took to switch between different floor cleaning modes, sound levels, and reach of each vacuum. We also scored based on how well each model cleaned along walls, in corners, and under furniture.

The PowerSpeed has a knob on top of the base of the vacuum that you turn to swap between hard and soft floors. We found this to be a bit of a pain whenever we were cleaning a house that had a mix of floors, as it is much more of a hassle to be constantly bending over to turn the knob than the models that have a slide switch right on the handle.

That said, this vacuum does a decent job of cleaning right up along the edges of a room, both when vacuuming along the edge and straight at the wall. It struggled a little bit in corners, leaving some mess behind. This vacuum also has above average under-furniture-reach and reached about 9" under our test sofa. However, this vacuum doesn't have the longest reach, only able to clean a maximum of 25' from the outlet, compared to the 35'+ of some of the premium vacuums.

We also found the PowerSpeed to be a bit on the louder side, measuring in at 76 dBa. There were louder vacuums in our lineup, but most were quieter.

Handling

For our handling metric, we scored the PowerSpeed on its maneuverability, how well it cleaned stairs, and how easy it was to push or pull across different types of floor.

While this vacuum cleaner doesn't have a particularly long reach with the hose, we like how light it is. The PowerSpeed weighs just a tiny bit more than 10 pounds, making it much lighter than most of the vacuums we tested — and much easier to haul up or down stairs.

Unfortunately, this vacuum also has a bit of a box-shaped brush roll housing and doesn't have any swivel steering, making it less agile than some of its competitors.

Hard Surface Cleaning

We resumed rating and ranking the cleaning performance of each vacuum for this metric, now focusing on hard floors. For this series of tests, we used a section of wood laminate floor with the same four types of messes as our carpet cleaning metric. Regrettably, the PowerSpeed didn't do particularly well here.

This vacuum does a decent job cleaning up rice from hard floors when the mess is small, but it tends to fling rice everywhere if we vacuum too quickly or encounter a larger pile of rice. It fared even worse when it came to oats, forcing us to make a lot of cleaning passes to effectively remove all the mess as it got so spread out.

This vacuum continued its poor performance with our cereal test. It tended to crush apart the cereal and leave plenty of dust behind or throw the Cheerios every which way. We felt that this vacuum made more of a mess than we originally started with on a few occasions.

The PowerSpeed also didn't do very well with flour. It left behind streaks of flour even after multiple cleaning passes and never failed to eliminate the thin film across the surface of the boards. It also left behind plenty of flour in the cracks between the planks, especially when vacuuming perpendicular to them.

Pet Hair

Our last set of tests scored the performance in regards to picking up pet hair. To do this, we spread out a measured amount of pet hair on a fluffy carpet and worked it into the fibers, then vacuumed and measured the amount successfully collected. The PowerSpeed performed well and was able to lift over 95% of the hair, which is standard for the entire test group.

Overall, we felt the PowerSpeed had a top-notch performance when it came to sucking up pet hair.

Should You Buy the Eureka PowerSpeed?

Overall, the PowerSpeed is a good value relative to other top upright vacuums, offering a decent level of performance at a very attractive price, making it a great option if shopping on a very tight budget.

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