| Eureka 4870HZ Boss SmartVac Upright Vacuum, Blue | 
| Brand: Eureka
Rating:  47 reviews
Color: Blue
Autographed: No
Memorabilia: No
Batteries Included: No
Shipping Weight (lbs): 25.5
Dimensions (in): 36.7 x 19.9 x 11.4
Warranty: 1
MPN: 4870HZ
Model: 4870HZ
UPC: 023169111370
EAN: 0023169118058
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| Features:
| | 12 AMPS | | | Sealed HEPA System | | | 15" Cleaning Path | | | Tools on-Board | | | Carpet Height Adjustment |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
The Eureka 4870 Boss Smart Vac offers the ultimate in cleaning performance with True HEPA filtration. Rated Best Buy by a leading consumer magazine, the Boss SmartVac features an exclusive Sealed HEPA filter system.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 47
 MAJOR REPAIR ISSUES CURRENTLY WITH THIS VACUUM, BUYER BEWARE! October 19, 2007
C. Anand
141 out of 155 found this review helpful
The Eureka 4870 is consistently rated very highly by Consumer Reports. I am still scratching my head trying to understand why. There are certain vacuum cleaners that are brought in for repair that I can guess what the problem is before the customer tells me. This is one of those machines.
This vacuum cleaner is our number 1 repair customer. The Eureka 4870 is brought in for repair MORE THEN ANY OTHER VACUUM CLEANER. The only reason I have given this vacuum 2 stars, is because when this vacuum is working, it actually does clean very well, however the number of times you will have to bring the vacuum in for service, outweighs how well it cleans. Let me first tell you about the Pros to the Eureka 4870, as this can be summed up with a few sentences.
Pros:
The Eureka 4870 motor actually is a very high output motor, and creates a decent amount of suction power. The motor is the only metal component to the vacuum, and is the only part on this vacuum that I have never seen problems with, or had to replace.
The vacuum has a nice selection of on-board attachments. Included is a nice on board hose, an extra wand for above the floor cleaning, a nice long crevice tool for those hard to reach nooks and crannies, a dusting brush, as well as an upholstery tool. The "power paw" (as standard attachment on the 4870HZ) attachment leaves a lot to be desired, as most of the time the rotating brush driven by suction stops as soon as you put it on upholstery, or stairs.
The electrical cord on this vacuum is a nice long 30 foot cord, allowing you to be able to clean more square footage without having to go and unplug the machine from room to room. This feature will actually save you substantial time on vacuuming.
The vacuum bag is a "top fill" bag. This means that the hole where the dirt goes into fills from the very top of the bag, allowing you to really jam pack the dirt in the bag, and filling the entire bag before there's any suction loss. A lot of other vacuums have the hold on the side of the bag, which is really pointless, as you have to throw away the bag before it's completely full.
The price is probably the best feature on this vacuum. For right around $150, the machine is very affordable, and feature packed for this price. You do get what you pay for in terms of quality.
Cons:
Weighing in at 25 pounds, this machine is VERY heavy. If you have multiple floors, and you have to take the vacuum up and down the stairs, you will surely hate this vacuum after the first few times of carrying it up and down stairs. The carrying handle is not very conveniently placed either, causing the customer to have to pick up the machine by the handle which makes it seem even more heavy.
The Eureka R belt "Extended Life Belt". The belt on this machine was a new design by Eureka. The belt is actually not made of rubber like most belts. It is actually a plastic belt. Eureka claims that this belt is "Extended life" however some of my customers are replacing this belt 3-4 times a year. If you vacuum anything that gets stuck in the roller brush while vacuuming, the belt usually stretches to a point where the brush will not spin, or if it does spin, it will spin very slowly, and sometimes even stop as soon as you put it on the carpet.
The roller brush itself. A typical Eureka roller brush, this roller brush (sometimes referred to as a "beater bar") has two PLASTIC bearing caps on each side. If something is vacuumed up into the brush while it's spinning, a lot of the times, the brush bearing caps will actually melt! Eureka does not sell these caps separately either, and you'll have to purchase the entire roller brush assembly if this happens. Do not expect to get any more the 1 year out of the roller brush before some melting happens. The plastic bearing caps are not sealed either. If you have pets in the house, or females (some males are also included) that have very long hair, this hair will get inside the bearing of the roller brush shortening the life even more. One way to prevent this from happening is take the roller brush out, taking the bearing caps off, and remove the hair, thread, etc that has wrapped itself around the bearings. You should do this every 2 weeks for best results.
The dreaded Carpet/Floor switch. Out of all the problems this machine has, this is by far the most common. Not only is the most common, it can also be the most expensive, as the amount of time and labor that it takes to replace the switch is very difficult, and you will have to take it in to a local repair shop to fix it. If you talk to any independent vacuum store, and ask them about this repair, 9 times out of 10 you they will tell you how difficult of a repair it really is. This is my least favorite repair to do out of ANY VACUUM CLEANER. You basically have to take the entire roller brush housing apart, and fight with a spring to fix it. The design on this switch is the problem. If a customer does decide to purchase this vacuum from me (I certainly don't recommend it) I always open the machine, assemble it, and I always test the machine before the customer leaves my store. I have opened probably 10-15 of these machines brand new out of the box, only to test it, and find that the Carpet/Floor switch is broken. Brand new out of the box there should never be any problems.
The last issue on this vacuum is the filtration. Eureka claims that this machine is "True HEPA filtration" vacuum. I have found this to be more like a "False HEPA filtration" vacuum. One of the many cool gadgets we have to diagnose and test vacuum cleaners is what's called a Particle Scanner. This very expensive machine will actually measure with lasers how many fine dust particles are leaking from a vacuum per minute of use. I measured the Eureka 4870 like I do all vacuums I sell. This machine registered 25,000+ fine dust particles per minute of use being leaked out of this machine. Now this number is definitely lower then any bagless machine on the market, however for Eureka to claim that this machine will help allergy and asthma sufferers is just false. If you own this vacuum try vacuuming in the sunlight, and you can actually see some of the larger micron dust exhausting from the machine. This is only the larger particles you can see. The most damaging particles to humans are the ones that are not visible to the naked eye. If you or your family has any breathing issues such as Asthma, Emphysema, or allergies, please beware of this vacuum.
You can kind of tell the quality of a vacuum cleaner by the warranty the manufacturer will give you. The Eureka 4870 has a 1 year parts and labor (required by the government, I'm sure they would give less if they could). Consumer Reports loves this vacuum, but as a vacuum repairman, I would tell anyone that asked me to STAY AWAY FROM THIS VACUUM CLEANER.
 This vacuum is flawless. February 3, 2007
Paul3637 (Johnson County, Kansas)
45 out of 46 found this review helpful
Consumer Reports rated an earlier version (4870) as a "best buy." By the time their articles went to print, two models 4870HG and 4870HZ, were released and neither has had a price increase. I bought the recent HZ from Amazon.com and it was delivered UPS in two days in a tall box which told me it was already assembled. Assembly for attachements and a reading the instructions was a 3 minute process. It is much quieter than my prior 1999 Hoover Bag Model and Bissell 2003 Bagless, both of which still ran but did not pick up much. It picks up so much and so fast, you won't have to waste $150 to have your carpets cleaned (assuming no embedded stains like grape juice). You will love it. There is not enough space on here to say all the great things about it. The price ended up including a second replacement bag and a replacement drive belt. Too many great features to mention here.
This Vacuum Really Sucks! December 22, 2006
Iambic Snore (Colorado)
35 out of 37 found this review helpful
After reviewing many vacuums and talking to various store personnel, I went with the Consumer Reports recommendation, and I am very pleased. We spent about $5 more because my wife wanted the blue model. It was easy to assemble and easy to use. It was amazing hearing all the grit coming out of the carpet that our old vacuum missed! Don't bother with a Dysan costing 3 times more - get this great vacuum at a great price!
Be skeptical of repair warning review November 29, 2008
J. Lane (Florida)
17 out of 17 found this review helpful
I don't actually own one of these vacuums, but in reading reviews of vacuums I noticed that the same reviewer was panning several Eureka and Hoover vacuums. He typically warned of repair problems with a title of "MAJOR REPAIR ISSUES CURRENTLY WITH THIS VACUUM, BUYER BEWARE!" After doing a little checking, I found that he runs a vacuum sales outlet - primarily selling another brand of vacuums that cost over $500. So I'm somewhat sketical of his bad-mouthing other brands.
 A Good Solid Vacuum July 6, 2007
KLH (Simi Valley, CA USA)
10 out of 10 found this review helpful
This is a good, solid vacuum for a decent price. It works much better than our 3-year old, 12 amp Hoover, which still functions but hardly picks up anything anymore. We have long haired cats & we used to have to pick up all the larger clumps of cat hair before vacuuming because our old vacuum wouldn't pick them up. No more! Now we just roll over them with the Eureka & it actually picks them up. The first time we vacuumed with it we realized how bad our old one really was; it looked like we had our carpets cleaned!
The vacuum is a little heavy; heavier than our old Hoover, but it also works 10x better so, maybe there's something to be said there. This vacuum isn't advertised as having a self-propel feature but it definitely does, so that helps some with the weight. I'll agree with some other reviews that the foot pedal is pretty hard to operate, but if I'm wearing shoes or just use my heel to step on the pedal, it's do-able. You get the hang of it eventually. The hose attachment does fall off pretty regularly, which is kind of annoying. A simple rubber band fixed that for us though. All of the other attachments stay on fine. Also, the power paw is a really nice feature; it works great on stairs & it's easy, which is key. There's also a little clip on the handle to keep the cord out of the way while vacuuming, which is a handy feature too. We've had the vacuum for 6 months now & I'm still very happy with it. I haven't had to unclog hairs from the brush roller yet, which is unbelievable since I used to have to do it every other time I vacuumed with our old one.
I'm sure you could get a nicer vacuum for more money, but this one is a great solid model with a few nicer features. Definitely worth the money.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 47
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