Shark Navigator Lift-Away Speed Vacuum Review

This vacuum has okay build quality, with mainly plastic construction, though its wand is metal. It doesn't feel especially sturdy overall, particularly its fragile dirt compartment. Thankfully, the vacuum is easy to assemble and disassemble, with plenty of easy-clip mechanisms that allow you to click various components together. However, decoupling its canister from its main body can be hard.

This vacuum has many parts that need regular cleaning; not all are easy to access.

• Dirt compartment: The dirt compartment comes away from the main body pretty easily after you've pressed the release latch. You should empty it after every cleaning session. You can also open it from the top to access the lint screen, which you should clean regularly.
• Brushroll: The brushroll isn't designed to be removed, which makes it pretty hard to clear away any tangled hair, especially because the floorhead is quite heavy. You can still get better access to it by using a coin, flathead screwdriver, or anything similar to lift the brushroll cover. While the manufacturer advertises the brushroll as self-cleaning, some hair can still get caught in it. The newer Shark Navigator Lift-Away Pet has an upgraded brushroll that does a better job of resisting hair wraps and should be an option you consider if you have pets that shed heavily.
• Pre-motor filters: The foam and felt pre-motor filters are located underneath the dirt compartment and can be lifted out easily. You need to clean them under water every three months.
• Post-motor (HEPA) filter: You can easily access the HEPA filter by removing the front cover on the vacuum. You should clean it once a year with water.

You must air dry any part that's washed with water for at least 24 hours before putting it back into the vacuum.

This vacuum incurs moderately high recurring costs.

• Pre-motor filters: The foam and felt pre-motor filters should only need replacing after a couple of years, though the manufacturer gives no specific replacement interval. Regardless, you can buy a replacement set here.
• Post-motor (HEPA) filter: There's an inconsistency on Shark's website regarding how often you should replace the HEPA filter. The user manual suggests cleaning it once a year, but the HEPA filter's product description on their website suggests replacing it every six months. The score for this section is based on the recommendations listed within the user manual. You can buy a replacement filter here.

This vacuum is pretty easy to store. It's taller than a comparable canister vacuum like the Miele Classic C1 when not in use but has a smaller horizontal footprint. There's also onboard storage for its included crevice tool and soft bristle brush attachments. Unfortunately, you'll need to wind its power cord back up manually.

This vacuum's dirt compartment is good. It's larger than alternatives like the Shark Rotator Lift-Away ADV, and since it's made of clear plastic and has a max fill line, you can tell how close it is to being filled at a glance.

• Shark Navigator Lift-Away vacuum
• Vacuum body
• Dirt compartment
• Wand
• Main head with brushroll
• Hose with handle
• 1x post-motor HEPA filter
• 1x foam pre-motor filter
• 1x felt pre-motor filter
• User Guide
• Various tools and brushes
• Crevice tool
• Soft bristle brush (attached to crevice tool)
• Upholstery tool
• Hard bristle brush (attached to upholstery tool)

This vacuum has a disappointing range. Its power cord is decently long, but its hose is considerably shorter than alternatives like the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind, making it hard to clean out-of-reach areas when using it in its semi-handheld configuration.

This is a fairly portable vacuum. It's heavier than most cordless vacuums, even upright models like the Shark Vertex Pro Powered Lift-Away. On the upside, there's a carrying handle that makes it easier to move between rooms.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Speed is a corded vacuum and doesn't have a battery.

The vacuum has a couple of quality-of-life features. There are two levels of surface type adjustment: "I Hard Floor" and "II Carpet", though these settings only change the speed of the brushroll and not its height. You can also slightly adjust the suction power with a slider on the vacuum handle. Opening the slider decreases suction power, making maneuvering on carpeted surfaces easier.

This ZU560C variant of the Shark Navigator vacuum comes with several attachments. There's a combination hard bristle brush/upholstery tool and a combination crevice tool/slide-on soft-bristle dusting brush, though be aware that it can be hard to fully remove the dusting brush from the crevice tool. There's also an extension wand to give you more reach. The ZU560 model only comes with an upholstery tool and crevice tool. Meanwhile, the ZU561 and UV725 models come with the same attachments as the ZU560C but with the addition of a wider upholstery nozzle (in the case of the ZU561) or a miniature motorized turbo brush (in the case of the UV725).

You can use the Shark Navigator Lift-Away as a semi-handheld vacuum by detaching its motor unit from its floorhead, which allows you to clean hard-to-reach areas with its wand. However, it's still fairly bulky when used as a semi-handheld vacuum.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away vacuum performs well on hard floors. It handles most common debris with ease in a single pass, though you may need a second pass for some remaining fine debris, like sand. However, larger debris tends to get stuck behind the brushroll, causing a mess when you lift it. 

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away vacuum's performance on high-pile carpets is mediocre. It can clear away most of the larger solid debris after a couple of passes, but it isn't very effective for finer debris like sand. The floorhead sits a bit too close to the surface, though, so it tends to push some larger debris around instead of sucking it up. 

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away vacuum offers satisfactory performance on low-pile carpet. It can clear the majority of medium and large debris, such as rice or cereal, within a single pass. However, it has difficulty with fine material like sand deep in the carpet fibers. 

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away delivers impressive pet hair-clearing performance on carpet. It can clear away most of the hair in a single pass, but you'll need to go over the same area again to pick up strands deep within the carpet fibers. 

This vacuum has terrible suction power in its floorhead. Its suction inlet is positioned too high above the contact surface to generate a tight seal. If you want to exert the maximum amount of suction force, you should use the vacuum in its semi-handheld configuration with its crevice tool, which generates a maximum of 73.58 inH₂O (18.31 kPa) of suction, which is more than sufficient for deep cleaning. However, when used in this configuration, the vacuum is ill-suited to cleaning bigger areas.

This vacuum has good overall airflow performance. It's less powerful than the newer, pricier Shark Stratos Upright, but it'll still generate enough air movement to lift away medium and heavyweight debris without much effort.

This vacuum isn't too loud. It's quieter than most other uprights with more powerful motors, like the Dyson Ball Animal 3. Still, it's best to vacuum in an enclosed room with the door partially or completely closed to avoid disturbing anybody nearby.

This vacuum has alright maneuverability. Its rotating head makes it easier to navigate between obstacles, but the bulky shape of the floorhead and dirt compartment makes it hard to clean tight spaces or underneath furniture. Its floorhead can also get caught on rug tassels and very dense carpets, forcing you to turn it off to pull it free. Its somewhat heavy weight can be a nuisance when lifting it over obstructions like electrical cords. Thankfully, its crevice tool/soft bristle brush attachment is within easy reach, thanks to the onboard tool storage slot.

When used with its upholstery tool, the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Speed does an excellent job handling pet hair across a wide range of surface types. While there's no mini turbo brush for better surface agitation, the straight suction attachment is effective in collecting long and short strands of hair on fabric surfaces.

This vacuum does a good job of filtering out fine allergens. Its foam and felt pre-motor filters, combined with its HEPA exhaust filter, allow it to capture a good amount of airborne particles. If you're especially sensitive to allergens, it's worth seeking out a bagged vacuum with a HEPA filter, like the Kenmore Intuition Bagged, which has an added layer of filtration in the form of its dirtbag. Removing a self-sealing dirtbag is far more hygienic than shaking out a plastic dustbin, which can release a large plume of dust and other fine particles.

This vacuum does a mediocre job of handling debris on crevices. It lacks the necessary suction force to draw debris out from cracks as it moves, so you'll have to park it in place to clear away debris. If you want better crevice-cleaning performance, you can use its crevice tool.

The Shark Navigator Lift-Away has virtually no impact on dried-on stains, even in the 'II Carpet' setting, which speeds up its brushroll.

This vacuum can't clear away liquid spills.