As Seen On TV Swivel Sweeper for Floors Vacuum Review

Yes the pro's that the TV commercials repeat at nauseaum about the swivel sweeper are all true, I will definitely give them that. It is what they don't mention (and why would they? They are trying to off load their product and make money) is what may turn one off.  Mentioning this con would definitely slow sales. Well I wouldn't have purchased mine, had I known. Indeed the sweeper is light, works on the surfaces mentioned, weaves under, around, through & over most objects in your home and indeed at a push of a button the flaps open up and (assuming you are a good shot and hold the sweeper directly over your RECTANGULAR trash can), releases all the dirt. OR DOES IT?

Our home is clean as far as carpetting and furniture goes. We do have 3 kids and so an occasional skateboard or sneakers may not always make their way to their respective locations. We also have 1 long haired dog and 1 fluffy cat living with us. The animals are brushed outdoors daily. However, especially in the summer we do find some residual strands of long hair on the carpet. So we vacuum religiously once a day (probably over-kill but it which keeps the carpets hair- free and clean). However (we live in a two story house and) lugging the vaccuum up and down the stairs daily does get cumbersome. I pride myself in not being an impulsive buyer but when I heard the sales people announce that the light weight swivel sweeper  picks up almost anything, including animal hair  I ordered it immediately.

It took the vaccuuming of only one small room, downstairs (I never even made it into the other rooms let alone take it upstairs) when everything came to a halt. The few strands of long hair in the carpet wrapped around the brushes so tightly and stopped the brushes from rotating. This is obvioulsy expected to happen as a "solution to untangle hair caught in the brushes " is right at hand, so to speak. It comes in the form of a  2 pronged micro fork, which via a plastic attachment snaps onto the handle of the sweeper. The fork is so sharp that instrutions warn to have it pointing away from you on the handle, while manipulating the sweeper.

After pushing the magical one-touch speed emptying buttons & emptying out the dirt, I sat for 2 hours attempting to remove the tightly wound hair (which by then had mixed in with it the usual accumulation of carpet boogers (crumbs, dust, dirt etc)) off the brushes with the tiny sharp fork. Now I am a surgeon & I consider myself adequately dextrous. Yet I punctured my skin at least 4 times, drawing blood & more likely than not introducing bacteria into my blood stream. Apparently the fork alone is insufficient to complete this task as the  directions call for the use of a small pair of sewing scissors (not supplied) along with the aforementioned supplied fork, which I pulled out of my sewing basket and used as instructed. In spite of my hard lengthy attempt at cutting prodding at the now dirty, now bloody strands of hair tangling the sweepers brushes I removed at most 50% of the hair.  

This was just one of the cons but definitely the worst. The other I'll mention that the advertisements do not announce is that the one button dirt remover is not as magical after all.  The plastic barriers  need to be washed after vacuuming is "complete" and is done by  disassembling the sweeper to get them off.

So if you need something to suck up a few paper clips, cornflakes, a bit of popcorn  that has fallen behind the armoire....then this is your tool. However should your surface hold a hair, thread, loose carpeting or if you need it to vaccuum a large area or several rooms in your home - give this one a miss. After giving the swivel sweeper a few more chances...we are tenacious.... and ending up with the same situation each time....we gave up.  We are back to lugging the vaccuum up and down the stairs....and believe me, after hours wasted on swivel sweeper brush/hair snipping and multiple stabbing injuries  this method now seems way less cumbersome.