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Eureka PowerSpeed Review

If you are shopping on a particularly tight budget for a new vacuum, this is a good option
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Eureka PowerSpeed Review
Price:  $88 List
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Manufacturer:   Eureka
By David Wise and Austin Palmer  ⋅  Jul 26, 2022
54
OVERALL
SCORE


RANKED
#8 of 10
  • Carpet Cleaning - 35% 4.5
  • Ease of Use - 25% 6.0
  • Handling - 20% 5.0
  • Hard Surface - 10% 3.8
  • Pet Hair - 10% 9.6

Our Verdict

Delivering a decent set of results in most of our tests, the bagless Eureka PowerSpeed impressed us more than we thought, particularly given its affordable price tag. It provides good performance on carpets and is excellent at picking up pet hair, all while being fairly convenient and easy to use. It also comes with several accessories, including an upholstery tool, dusting brush, and crevice tool. That said, this isn't the best model for hard floors, so it's not our recommendation for those with lots of laminate/vinyl/tile floors in your house. Check out our review of the best upright vacuums to see how it stacks up versus competing products.
REASONS TO BUY
Inexpensive
Great for pet hair
Solid carpet cleaning
REASONS TO AVOID
Insufficient on hard floors
So-so ease of us

Compare to Similar Products

 
eureka powerspeed
This Product
Eureka PowerSpeed
Awards Best Buy Award
Best on a Tight Budget
Best Buy Award
Best Bang for the Buck
   
Price $88 List
$79.14 at Amazon
$200 List
$173.99 at Amazon
$200 List
$199.99 at Amazon
$120 List
$135.13 at Amazon
$70 List
$69.99 at Amazon
Overall Score Sort Icon
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Star Rating
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Bottom Line If you are trying to spend as little as possible on a new vacuum, this one is definitely worth checking outAn easy model to push and pull, that won't give you an unwanted workoutDelivering a superb performance across the board and retailing for a great price, this is our favorite vacuum for the budget-mindedWhile this vacuum delivered unimpressive results in most of our tests, it did distinguish itself when it came to picking up pet hairA less than useful tool for cleaning messes
Rating Categories Eureka PowerSpeed Shark Navigator Lif... Shark Navigator Lif... Bissell CleanView S... Dirt Devil Endura R...
Carpet Cleaning (35%)
4.5
6.9
8.0
2.9
3.0
Ease of Use (25%)
6.0
6.9
7.6
4.7
4.2
Handling (20%)
5.0
8.4
5.7
5.5
6.2
Hard Surface (10%)
3.8
6.8
7.0
3.8
3.0
Pet Hair (10%)
9.6
10.0
9.6
9.9
9.0
Specs Eureka PowerSpeed Shark Navigator Lif... Shark Navigator Lif... Bissell CleanView S... Dirt Devil Endura R...
Water Suction Gauge 48 inches 72 inches 72 inches 50 inches 49 inches
Model Number NEU182A NV352 NV356E S2 2252 UD20124
HEPA Filter No Yes Yes No No
Vacuum Head Width 13.25" 11.25" 11.25" 13.5" 11"
Measured Brush Width 10.5" 9" 9" 12.25" 8.5"
Measured Weight 10.5 lbs 13.6 lbs 14.8 lbs 13.7 lbs 10.2 lbs
Variable Suction Control No Yes Yes No No
Brush On/Off Switch No Yes Yes No No
Measured Power Cord Length 23.75' 24.75' 26' 27' 19.5'
Measured Noise at Arms Length 76 dBa 73 dBa 73 dBa 76 dBa 77 dBa
Swivel Head No Yes Yes Yes No
Carry Handle Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes
Soft Bumper No No No Yes No
Dirt Collection Bagless Bagless Bagless Bagless Bagless

Our Analysis and Test Results

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


eureka powerspeed - if you are shopping on the slimmest of budgets, this is a solid...
If you are shopping on the slimmest of budgets, this is a solid option.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - the powerspeed did decently well in our carpet cleaning challenges...
The PowerSpeed did decently well in our carpet cleaning challenges, though there were some issues here and there.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

Flour spread out and ready for our tests.
Flour spread out and ready for our tests.
Here you can see the results of vacuuming up flour with the...
Here you can see the results of vacuuming up flour with the PowerSpeed (top) compared to the Shark Vertex (bottom). The PowerSpeed didn't perform nearly as well.

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.

eureka powerspeed - with slower movements and a lower pile carpet, the powerspeed was...
With slower movements and a lower pile carpet, the PowerSpeed was able to handle our Cheerio test quite well. Higher pile carpet was more difficult for it.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - having to reach down and turn the knob to change between different...
Having to reach down and turn the knob to change between different types of floor settings got old very quickly.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - the eureka doesn't reach too far under low pieces of furniture.
The Eureka doesn't reach too far under low pieces of furniture.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - this lightweight vacuum rolls quite easily across most types of...
This lightweight vacuum rolls quite easily across most types of floors.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - the lack of swivel steering makes this vacuum a little harder to use.
The lack of swivel steering makes this vacuum a little harder to use.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - we weren't too impressed with the hard floor cleaning performance of...
We weren't too impressed with the hard floor cleaning performance of the PowerSpeed.
Credit: Jason Peters

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.

eureka powerspeed - the eureka is great for those with pets.
The Eureka is great for those with pets.

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.

What Other Upright Vacuums Should You Consider?


Another great value-minded option worth considering is the Shark Navigator Lift Away. It offers more performance but at a higher price. It is one of the best options for dollar-for-dollar performance available today. If premium performance is what you are after, and your budget allows it, then you can not find a better upright than the amazing Shark Stratos.

David Wise and Austin Palmer