The Eureka Easy Clean Handheld Vacuum is designed for quick pickups on multiple surfaces. The visor on the front of the hand vac flips up for cleaning upholstery, carpet and stairs, while you can shut off the brush roll for the vacuum to pick up dirt and dust from hardwood, counters and tables.
This Eureka vacuum is one of the best handheld vacuums we tested. In our sawdust test, it cleaned the entire area in only two passes, half the time of the next-best vacuum. With its ability to shut off the brush roll, it's also the best performer on hard surfaces.
Eureka Easy Clean 71B: Main features
It's comparable to the top performers in picking up pet hair. It was able to grab 95 percent of the hair we spread around an area of carpet, only struggling with a few strands. Where the Eureka lost points was in cleaning tight areas. The crevice tool seemed to lose power when it was attached, and it made it harder to pick up debris in cracks. It struggled in our car seat test for this reason, leaving behind about a lot of the sawdust we scattered.
While it's one of the best at vacuuming, the Eureka doesn't have the same portability convenience as the other vacuums. We looked for a low weight and rechargeable battery, and it lacks both. This hand vac comes in at nearly 5 pounds, which makes it one of the heaviest handheld vacuum cleaners in our lineup. For a lightweight model, check out the Shark WANDVAC handheld vacuum. It also has to be plugged in, which is a hindrance if you plan to use it to clean your vehicle – a job that is easier with battery-operated models. One positive is the included hose. At the very least, you can plug it in and leave it on one seat as you clean the rest of the car with the hose attached.
This small vacuum comes with a wide mouth that picks up bigger pieces that you'd have to break up with other handheld vacuums. The brush tool is on board, and you can turn it on or off with the flip of a switch. When picking up sawdust on carpet in our tests, the brush dug deep into the floor, releasing buried dust.
The crevice tool is a nice attachment, but it seemed to pull power away from the motor and had trouble picking up dust at the same rate of suction. Also, with a more powerful motor comes a much higher noise level. When we tested the volume of the Eureka, it came to a blistering 93 dB, making it one of the loudest vacuum cleaners we tested. This would be a hard vacuum to run for a long time.
The Eureka website is consistently good. The customer service line is open late, an email form is included and live chat is available. It even has a regular address listed in case you'd prefer to mail in a concern. Under the customer service tab, there is a FAQs section, video tutorials and manuals. It isn't the sleekest website, but everything is easy to find. Eureka loses a few points for only offering a one-year warranty, which is below the average for handheld vacuums.
Should you buy the Eureka Easy Clean 71B?
If your biggest concern is sheer vacuuming ability, you should consider the Eureka Easy Clean. It is far and away the best handheld vacuum at picking up big messes. However, in specialized jobs like cleaning cars or areas with corners or cracks, it falters. As a corded model it is less convenient overall, but this is a great hand vacuum with few flaws in general.
