Introduction

Design & Usability

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About the best thing we can say here is that it's no-frills.

The 900A is a small, compact model, which makes it easy to carry. When in use, it can be placed horizontally or vertically, and the large wheels mean that it can be easily dragged around as you clean. Controls are simple: there is a power button, a suction control dial and a power cord rewind button. These large buttons require quite a lot of force to press, but they are also large enough that they can be easily pressed with the foot.

There are only two, cheap cleaning tools on this cleaner, both of which attach to the hose: a nozzle/brush combo and a floor brush. The tool that is not currently in use can be stored on the side of the rigid part of the hose, below the handle. We found that the hose could extend out to clean up to nine feet and two inches away from the cleaner, and up to 4 feet and 4 inches upwards with the extension tube on the hose. Both of these are decent, but not exceptional, numbers.

The power cord of this cleaner is 16 feet, 6 inches long, which is rather short when other cleaners have power cables that are often about 24 feet long. Pressing the rewind button on the top of the cleaner makes the cable spool back into the body of the cleaner at a fair speed, although it does stop if it gets tangled. The rewind action also sometimes needs a hand.

The 900A uses paper bags to store the dirt in. Though it’s nice to throw away dirt contained in a neat package, the bags are also pretty small. They’re replaced by opening the top of the body and sliding them out. A small plastic catch holds them in place. The bag then lifts out easily enough, but you can’t seal the bag, so there is a chance that some dust will escape. Replacement bags cost about $6 for a pack of 3, so that’s about $2 each.

{{photo_gallery "Front Image", "Front 2 Image", "Right Image", "Left Image", "Handle Image", "Top Image", "Underside Image", "Hose Image", "Nozzle Extended Image", "Cleaning Tools 1 Image", "Cleaning Tools 2 Image", "Handling Primary Photo", "Handling Secondary Photo", "Controls 1 Image", "Controls 2 Image", "Controls 3 Image", "Filter 1 Image", "Filter 2 Image", "Power Cord 1 Image", "Power Cord 2 Image", "Dirt Container 1 Image", "Dirt Container 2 Image"}}

Features & Performance

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Weak performance overall, with no bright spots.

The 900A is a low cost cleaner, but it is also a pretty low performing cleaner. We found that it had weak performance in all of our tests. It might be adequate for a small space with wood floors, but it would be a poor choice for anyone with carpets or a large area to clean. At least it's fairly quiet and doesn't use a lot of energy.

Conclusion

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Cheap and inexpensive.

The 900A is a cheap cleaner, and it shows: we found adequate performance for general use, but only very basic cleaning tools and a small capacity for the dirt bags. It might be fine for a very small apartment or dorm room without carpet, but it doesn’t have the chops to handle a typical home.

Science Introduction

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The performance of the 900A is inadequate. It might work for cleaning small spaces or odd spills. It suffices if you need a vacuum to use in the garage or in a vacation house—though a utility vac would do a better job. It won't be adequate for a larger home, or for a home with a lot of carpet, as it doesn't have the power to clean bigger areas.

Dirt and Debris Cleaning

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A disappointment all around.

The performance of the 900A in our test for picking up dirt embedded in a deep pile carpet was very poor as it only managed to pick up about 13 percent of the test dirt. No matter how often you vacuum, that is going to mean dirty carpets. Performance with a short pile carpet was better, but it was still rather poor. We found that this cleaner managed to pick up just over 26 percent of the test dirt.

Even the wood floor was an issue for this cleaner. We usually see figures in the high 90s for this test, but the 900A could only manage to pick up just over 71 percent of the dirt. It’s no surprise that pet hair was a problem for this cleaner; it was unable to shift the more embedded hair in our test, because it just doesn’t have the power to shift it.

The 900A had more acceptable (but definitely not good) results when we looked at how well it can pick up larger bits of debris on a carpet and wood floor. We found that with both types of flooring, it managed to get around 80 percent of the rice grains and noodles, but it struggled to pick up the coins we use in this test.

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Other Tests

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