Hoover Cordless Review

Well, I have now had some time to spend with my new Hoover Cordless vacuum and some of my family members at it as well. I am still fairly impressed with the vacuum cleaner and the feedback that I got was quite positive.

After being used at least half a dozen times already, it shows no wear and tear. I have what I like to call "fragile hardwood floors" and was quite worried about it leaving any scratches. To my delight it didn't and it was powerful enough to get the job done. In speaking of power, you wouldn't even know that it's running on a battery, as it seems to be just as powerful as our central vacuum cleaner, which is also a Hoover.

A few things that I liked about this cleaner are
1) It's cordless! No more lugging around a wire or tripping over it.
2) The suction is very good. Just as good as any other vacuum cleaner we've owned.
3) The battery lasts a long time. The system came with 2 batteries, but we only ever needed one to clean the house, mind you, my house is only about 2000 square feet.
4) It's User friendly. I was able to assemble and use the vacuum without any instructions. I didn't even tell my other family members how to use it and they had no issues.
5) The batteries charged very quick. I didn't get a chance to site and watch the batteries charge, but they were already ready when I needed the vacuum.

A few things that I didn't really like about the cleaner were
1) Light gets in the way. The front end has a little bulge where the light is and that can get in the way when trying to reach into a corner or under a chair or couch.
2) Short cord. I wish this vacuum cleaner had a longer cord so that i can stretch it to get to the hard to reach places, such as above a book shelve.

All in all, I'd recommend this, and especially now that Canadian Tire has it on sale this weekend for $299!

As you can see from our collection of dust, we use it quite often.

I wish the suction cord was longer, or could stretch better.

This is the vacuum standing straight up. For height comparison, I am 5'11

Projection Lights - A Christmas Light Replacement?

Yesterday I saw a commercial for projection Christmas lights on TV. I was so curious about this that I made a trip to Canadian Tire today and asked about them. As luck would have it, I managed to pick up the last remaining one from the shelves.

Setting up the lights was simple, basically run an extension card, plug it in, and poke it into the grass.

I waited until night fall to test it in a couple different positions.

The final verdict? 
The advertising and hype around these projection lights can't be any further from the truth. In my opinion, doing it the "old fashioned way" by hanging up Christmas lights from the roof is the only way to go and there is no way that these are going to replace conventional Christmas lights. Not only were these lights dim as heck, but they seemed to project just as much on to my neighbour's house, as it did to my own. I'm sure he's not going to be happy with me being that it's actually shining against his bedroom window.

I'm keeping my eye on the price of those image projectors that show a colourful image on the garage. Currently they are sitting at around $150. Drop that price by $100, and you've got a sale.

Hoover Cordless Vacuum

Hello World!

I felt compelled to start my new blog this day, seeing that I received my first real gadget to test today. I recently joined the "Canadian Tire tested for life in Canada" program and when I came home from my afternoon errands, I was very excited to see a giant package labeled from Canadian Tire. 

The fact that the package they sent me was just left on my front door was a little alarming, but luckily it was not snatched up by any sneaky neighbours. I waited until the kids were asleep before opening my new package. The anticipation was overwhelming. Not knowing what the product could be tore at me. When I had originally signed up for the Canadian Tire testing program, I answered most things on the survey, never expecting something to come my way. I remembered saying that I needed something for my garage, which can be a disaster at times. After convincing myself it must be some kind of storage shelf, I opened it in the garage. To my surprise it was a vacuum cleaner!

A Hoover Air Cordless vacuum was inside the box, pretty much fully assembled. There were no instructions provided, but really, who reads them anyways? Putting the product together was simple. 

Everything came already assembled. 

Couldn't find any instructions.

The batteries ever had some life left in them.

Battery clips in nicely

After doing some initial filming and pictures, I got right to work. Well, not actually cleaning, but just testing it so far. I plugged one of the batteries into the charger and the other into the vacuum cleaner and went to town on my hardwood. I quickly realized that there was a setting for hard floors and one for carpet. Good thing I checked, however, it is not clear which setting the cleaner is on until you start pushing it around. It would be a big improvement if they put a light on saying which settings it is set to.

I am surprised at how light this vacuum cleaner is. I could easily carry it up and down the stairs with one hand. It is just as loud as other cleaners, but not having to drag around a cord, that is priceless. 

All in all, it was a short test tonight. I will charge it overnight, and then let my cousin and wife do the real testing over the course of this week. After which, I will post their feedback and my recommendations for this cleaner.

Warm Regards,

Jason Klatt