REVIEW – A vacuum cleaner that does the limbo! Meet the Eureka Omniverse! This multifunction vacuum claims to be your one solution for hardwood floors, carpets, pets, and getting into all the corners of your house. One of it’s tricks is specifically designed to get deep under your furniture! Join us as we learn more of it’s tricks. To the review!
What is it?
The Eureka Omniverse is a lightweight upright vacuum, but the canister can be removed to utilize with additional tools for whole-home cleaning.
What’s included?
- Eureka Omniverse vacuum
- 1 5.8″ hose
- 1 detachable crevice tool
- 1 detachable 2-in-1 dusting brush attachment
- 1 motorized pet hair & stairs tool
Tech specs
Click to expand
850 watt
Hard floor & carpet modes
30 foot power cord
5.8′ hose length
HEPA sealed allergen system
LED headlights
12 pounds
83 dB noise level
Design and features
Our story begins with the assembly of the Eureka Omniverse. You’ve got 9 pieces in total (plus a couple of screws) that will be required to get you up and running.
One out-of-the-box surprise I found with the Eureka Omniverse is the documentation. Not only is the instruction manual well done, but there are a few helpful infographics throughout the package. It’s a refreshing change from a lot of the electronics & appliances I’ve reviewed lately. You have quick-start guides printed right on the box, for example, as well as a hang tag that shows you how to operate the key features.
Are they overkill? Maybe. But it shows some attention to detail that I appreciate.
The floor nozzle assembly is the base on your beastie. This setup includes and LED headlight for better visibility as you do work. The clear front face of the unit and bright pink/purple color make it easy to see hair if something gets stuck in the chamber or wrapped around the cylinder.
Here’s a shot of the underside, boasting a “tangle free” brush roller design. There’s a release tab here (shown below, left) that you push to unlock that bit of molded plastic on the left hand side. This allows you to pull the roller completely free of the unit for cleaning.
The pole assembly gets inserted into the base, and the handle gets inserted into the pole system. This is the only bit of assembly that requires any tools, as there are two screws on the handle that secure it to those rails.
The heart of the machine comes next with the canister assembly. This component includes your controls, your filters, the motor, the dust collector, etc.
The canister assembly gets inserted into the floor nozzle assembly, then slides back with an audible “click” to lock into the frame. The purple button you see at the top of this pick then unlocks it for tool use as we’ll see shortly.
One of the unique features of the Eureka Omniverse is that the canister assembly slides up and down the rails. You can run it with the canister down low as shown here…
… but if you push that yellow button and give the handle a firm tug…
… the canister is now in the raised position, allowing you to get deep under furniture as shown in the feature pic for this article.
Here’s your control panel. You’ve got a power button and a button to switch between the carpet and floor mode. When you’re in carpet mode, the brush spins up at a higher RPM, while it slows down in floor mode in lieu of more suction power.
Your accessories come next. You’ll get a crevice tool for vacuuming corners and crevices.
You also get a combination dusting brush/upholstery tool. This has a nozzle head with a felt foot shown at the top left of the pic below, or you can press that button at the midpoint to slide the brush head forward.
You’ll also get a motorized pet and stair tool with a rotating brush. It looks like a miniature version of the unit’s floor nozzle assembly.
To use any of the accessories, you’ll remove the canister from the frame. You can plug either the crevice tool or the dusting brush/upholstery tool right into the base of the canister, or attach the hose to the canister first then attach the tools to the hose as shown below.
The motorized pet & stair tool must be attached to the canister directly, as it requires the connection to power the brush.
You can then maneuver the unit from the canister handle as shown below.
To get to the dust chamber & filters, you pinch the dust cup release buttons on the front of the unit as shown below. The whole filter system and dust cup come loose for cleaning.
Emptying is simple. Push the big button at the base of the dust cup to release, and the collected gunk falls right out when the seal drops.
The HEPA filter, dust cup filters, and dust separator are all easy to get to with a couple of twists for cleaning as needed.
Build quality throughout the unit is fine. Most of the components feel solid and reasonably durable, but some corners were clearly cut in the finishing details. Take the canister port where you plug in your accessories as an example. There’s no guide slot for your tools. You just kind of shove them in there looking for the slot to catch the tab on the attachment.
A closer look reveals that there is a tab cut into the port, but you can’t see it unless you look closely.
The main components all look pretty solid. The seals look good on the canister, suction power is good, and the canister assembly feels well built. The wheels work fine without getting caught, and the brush heads are plenty powerful. It just seems like some details were lost on the secondary cleaning modes.
One important note about accessories: the vacuum hose and motorized pet/stair tool do not have a storage slot on the vacuum. You’ll need to store them separately.
Performance
The Eureka Omniverse Vacuum Cleaner has some really strong design elements, but there are some areas that could use for improvement depending on how you intend to use it.
The “lay flat” furniture mode is pretty great. Check out how it gets deep under my son’s bedframe. You’ll need to do some leaning to get down there, but it does a nice job getting low & dirty to get under furniture.
The attachments crevice tool and dusting brish/upholstery tool also work well with the hose on the canister. Both have good power and are very maneuverable.
I even used the brush tool on my plants!
We did find that both of those attachments are short. There’s no extension pole for the attachments, and the canister doesn’t stand on its own. This means you will be doing a bending over or reaching to get into corners while hauling the canister around with your other hand.
That can be a little frustrating, and it points to some of the design details that are just a bit off. Here I was using the brush tool to clean out my kitchen drawers. The brush is great for this, but I’m still hauling the canister around my kitchen because it has to be disconnected from the base to attach the hose. I’d love to see some feet on the canister and a longer hose for use in situations like this.
You could attach the tools right to the canister, but it’s not super light. My wife commented on this when using the motorized pet hair and stair tool. While the attachment is awesome for pet hair, it’s a bit heavy for one-handed action depending on your strength level.
The dual handle design does make it easy for two-handed maneuvering, but the short pole on the attachment head makes this a bit onerous to move around. “It feels like a workout” was the exact quote from my wife.
It just kind of feels like the attachment setup needs more of that finishing we discussed earlier. An extension pole and a slightly longer hose would go a long way towards fixing these things.
Having said all that, the basics are still very strong. In addition to the horizontal trick, the vacuum head has a bit of pitch and swivel to it that allows for easy access to that space under your counters as shown below.
One of the unit’s strongest features is its remarkable job of catching and retaining pet hair. The filters work great, and the suction is excellent. Look at all that junk from my pooch we collected.
It’s also easy to get the canister out of the frame to haul around, and easy to empty and clean.
Just make sure you unhook the power cord before you try to remove the canister!
I have zero issues so far with typical daily driving duties, nor have we seen any wear and tear issues after several weeks of regular use. It also has one of the longest power cords I have seen on a vacuum at 30 feet, which is excellent for moving around without having to unplug and replug the vacuum. It’s also great for maneuvering on stairs and using the attachments to get around to corners of the rooms.
What I like about Eureka Omniverse Vacuum Cleaner
- Excellent power
- Works well on floors and carpet
- Very maneuverable & flexible for basic vacuuming duties
- Some clever design features
- Easy to empty and clean
- Nice long extension cord
What needs to be improved?
- The attachment setup could use some refinement
- Could really use for a longer hose and an extension tube for attachments
- Hose & motorized pet & stair tool require separate storage
- Could use for some quality improvements in the fit & finish
Final thoughts
The Eureka Omniverse Vacuum Cleaner is a mixed bag for me. The basic functions are excellent, with some clever details that add functionality when doing regular floor/carpet cleaning. The design & use of attachments have some issues that limit their usability, particularly if you have physical challenges like bending and carrying. There are also some finishing details that I think could improve the overall quality of the unit. That said, it is an impressive array of features at this price point if you’re OK with some of the compromises.
Price: $.299.99
Where to buy: Eureka
Source: The sample of this product was provided for free by Eureka. Eureka did not have a final say on the review and did not preview the review before it was published.
