Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe [NV360, UV440]  Vacuum Review

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe NV360 delivers decent performance on hard floors. Though it will clean a fair amount of debris, larger debris gets trapped at the back of its floorhead, causing a mess when you lift it. Its floorhead also sits very close to the floor, pushing some debris around, especially along walls.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe NV360 does a bad job of cleaning high-pile carpet. It lacks the suction power to capture a lot of large debris, trapping it in its floorhead as a result. Fine debris like sand is also a pain point.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe NV360 delivers mediocre performance on low-pile carpet. It picks up most large and medium-sized debris, though fine debris gets left behind in the carpet fibers. Its floorhead also sits very close to the ground, so it pushes some larger debris around rather than picking it up.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe NV360 is good at picking up pet hair from low-pile carpets. It lifts away most hair in a single pass, though hair caught deep in the carpet fibers requires additional attention.

This vacuum does an excellent job of handling pet hair on fabric surfaces when used with its upholstery tool. While the straight-suction nozzle wouldn't necessarily appear to offer the same level of surface agitation as a miniature turbo brush tool, its twin lint strips allow it to easily capture long and short strands of hair. The suction release gate also makes this tool a little easier to pull around, though the handle is still somewhat ungainly and uncomfortable to hold.

This vacuum does a poor job of cleaning debris in cracks when used with its floorhead. It lacks the necessary power to draw debris up from crevices, and we recommend you use the crevice tool for this kind of usage.

This vacuum feels reasonably well-built. It has a mainly plastic construction, though its wand is made of metal. It feels slightly less sturdy than the Shark Rotator Lift-Away ADV, as it creaks quite a bit when pushing and pulling the vacuum around. Its clear plastic dirt compartment is a notable weak point, as it feels pretty thin.

User assembly is fairly simple, as all the vacuum's parts clip together in an intuitive, easy fashion. All release latches are also clearly labeled.

• Vacuum body
• Main head
• Wand
• Hose with handle
• Small hose
• Dirt compartment
• Turbo brush
• Crevice tool
• Upholstery tool
• Pre-motor filters
• Post-motor HEPA filter
• User guide

The UV440 and NV361 models come with all of these attachments, along with:

• Pet Power miniature turbo brush

This vacuum is decently compact. While it takes up more room than a cordless stick vacuum like the Shark Cordless Pet Plus, it still has onboard storage for its upholstery tool and crevice tool on its wand-mounted tool clip. Like most other Shark uprights, you'll have to wind up its power cord manually.

This vacuum's dirt compartment is well-sized. It's large, so it won't need emptying too frequently, though it does hold less than that of some other alternatives, like the Eureka Airspeed. Since it's made of clear plastic and has a maximum fill line indicator, you can tell how full it is at a glance.

This is a corded vacuum without a battery.

This vacuum has many parts that need regular cleaning.

• Dirt compartment: You need to release the two clips on the side of the vacuum to pull out the dirt compartment. You can open it from the top or bottom by pressing the separate unlock buttons. You should empty the dustbin after every cleaning session.
• Lint screen: You can access the lint screen by lifting the dustbin's top cover. You should clean it periodically, though no specific maintenance interval is given.
• Brushroll: The brushroll can't be removed from the floorhead, making it difficult to clean. To clean the brushroll, you'll have to remove lift away the canister body from the floorhead, flip the floorhead over, and use scissors or your hands to remove stuck-on debris or tangled hair.
• Pre-motor filters: The foam and felt pre-motor filters are found under the dirt compartment. You should clean them every three months with lukewarm water.
• Post-motor (HEPA) filter: You can access the HEPA filter by removing the front cover on the vacuum. You should clean it regularly with lukewarm water; while Shark's website recommends replacing the filter every six months, the user manual for this vacuum states that it only needs to be washed every two years.

You must air dry any part that's washed with water for at least 24 hours before using it again. If you're looking for an upright vacuum with fewer parts that need regular cleaning, consider the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away DLX incurs moderately high recurring costs.

• Pre-motor filters: There's no specific maintenance interval listed for the XFF350 pre-motor filter set, though you'll likely need to swap out the foam and felt filters after a couple of years. You can find a replacement set here.
• HEPA filter: There's a discrepancy between the HEPA filter's written description on the company's website, which recommends replacing this component every six months, and the vacuum's user manual, which says that this filter needs washing once every two years. Since the manual is the most current and up-to-date version, we have reported the manual's maintenance expectations for the HEPA filter. In any case, you can find a replacement here.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe has a couple of quality-of-life features. It has two floor-type adjustment levels: 'Bare Floor I,' which is for cleaning bare floors like hardwood or tile and turns the brushroll off to avoid scattering around debris, and 'Brushroll ON II,' which is designed to clean carpet. However, these settings only control the brushroll's speed, not its height, so the vacuum can still get bogged down on thicker carpeting. There's also a suction release control on the handle, which you can slide open if you find the vacuum difficult to push around on carpeted floors and rugs.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away DLX is reasonably portable. It's somewhat heavy, but it feels light in the hand, and it has a built-in carrying handle to make it easier to pick up and carry.

Maneuverability is mediocre. The rotating head helps when trying to maneuver around obstacles. However, the vacuum's body is still bulky, making it harder to fit in tight areas or clean under tables and chairs when you aren't using it in its semi-handheld 'Lift-Away' configuration. The vacuum also gets stuck on tassels and can move rugs around when its suction release is open.

The range is passable. The vacuum's power cord is fairly long, allowing you to clean large areas without swapping outlets, but its hose length is quite short, which can be inconvenient when cleaning high-mounted shelves or other hard-to-reach areas.

This vacuum's real-world suction performance at its floorhead is pretty low. The suction inlet in its head is positioned too high above the ground to generate a tight seal.

This vacuum has great airflow performance. It won't have too much trouble lifting away heavy debris into its dustbin.

This vacuum is a little on the loud side. It makes enough noise to mask the sound of nearby conversation at a normal volume, so you'll need to speak up a bit to be heard while the vacuum is running in the same room, but this won't be too much of an issue if you use it in a fully or even partially enclosed room.

This vacuum makes no impact on dried-on stains.