Sharp Twin Energy EC-12TWT4 Bagged Upright Vacuum

Pros: Works well and is very durable.
Cons: Bags can be difficult to find.

I have a long and tortured history with vacuum cleaners. I tend to run through them quickly, with most models only lasting me a year or so. I don't see myself as a rough person, or a poor housekeeper, but I have an uncanny ability to destroy vacuum...

Pros: powerful, big bagging capabilities, reliable
Cons: color is awful! <g>

When I moved from Boston to Portland, OR 3 years ago, it was the first time I lived by myself. My roommates always seemed to have vacuums, so this was my first time in need of one. I went to a local shop and asked for the best value in a quality vacuum...

Pros: Quiet, excellent suction, durable
Cons: hose is not flexible, hard to find bags and belts

I received this vacuum as a gift from my mother-in-law and she liked mine so much that she went out and bought her own a few weeks later! It is about 2 years old now and is holding up nicely. It has very good suction which is what I like the best about...

Pros: light-weight, durable, easy to use good suction.
Cons: hose and attachments don't reach very far.

For the first 4 years or my marriage, I owned a Hoover vacuum. It was horrid. It was very noisy and didn't pick up dirt as well as I would have liked it to. It also had a bad habit of burning through belts quickly. When it finally died, I decided to...

Pros: High Amp, High Quality, Quietness
Cons: Power Cord

My wife and I bought this Model (EC-12TWT4) brand about 10 months ago and now she swears by its power, quietness and ability to pick up after cat litter and bird feathers and other small odds and ends that accumulate in the carpets.

We went...

Pros: Efficiency, lightweight, very quiet
Cons: changing the bag

I purchased the Sharp Upright Vacuum about 4 years ago and to this day I still love it. (As much as one can love a vacuum cleaner, that is!) It is so light and it has an extremely strong suction that picks up just about everything...get the cat out of...

Pros: This vacuum sucks. (In a good way!)
Cons: Uncommon bag type is difficult to find.

I was given the Sharp vacuum cleaner as a wedding gift two years ago. I have been very pleased with its performance. The problem is, I have used the replacement bags which I received with the vacuum and I'm unable to find the unusual type PU-2s. I...

Pros: Very quiet,powerful, never clogs.
Cons: bright teal green

My Sharp brand vacuum cleaner, twin energy , 12 amps, was a great vacuum. I say great, because I just killed it. I bought it 6 years ago...the first vacuum I have ever purchased myself. I paid $180 for it. I couldn't find the bags at Wal-Mart, so I...

Pros: Pretty tough and cleans good
Cons: Some cheap plastic parts-hard to put expensive replacement bag on!

Why did I buy a "Sharp" Vacuum Cleaner? You could say that I needed one after my wife destroyed three different ones over less than four years! And these were good ones-Eureka, Hoover, and Regina. Hmm actually it was four vacuum cleaners-make...

Pros: Price, power.
Cons: Difficult to find replacement belts. Short life expectancy

We bought our Sharp Twin Energy EC-12TWT4 Upright Vacuum about four years ago. It's definitely priced in the "affordable" category and has sufficient power for the monstrous dust bunnies in our house. Soon after we brought it home, however, our 6 year old daughter stood on the vacuum and pushed against the upright part, snapping the plastic tabs that held the vacuum upright. I'm all for saving weight and reducing costs but I think it is a design flaw to make stress-bearing parts out of plastic.
Over the years, we've found bags without any problem, but the belts were another story. Both of the appliance dealers in our little town carried no replacement belts for Sharp models. The light bulb was also unavailable locally. We ran over the power cord, causing a short and requiring replacement (our bad). The vacuum's 12 amp motor burnt out last week, so all that power does us no good. I don't think that expecting more than four years of service out of a vacuum is an unreasonable expectation. My grandmother's 30 + year old Hoover is still running.

Pros: Quieter than previous model, at the expense of power.
Cons: Useless as a vacuum.

My lack of enthusiasm for the new version of the Sharp Twin Energy 12 Amp Cleaning System (EC-12TWT4) actually inspired me to create an Epinion account and rate the darned thing. "Library quiet", as the sticker on the front of the vacuum reads, must be savvy marketing for way less cleaning power out of the new sappy motor.

Our 7 year old version of this vacuum was great. We vacuum once or twice a week -nothing heavy, mostly dust and crumbs on carpet and floors in our small apartment. It was very dependable and did a wonderful job of cleaning.

This new model is another story.

Sharp labels it a "cleaning system", which makes some sense since it doesn't come close to being a vacuum. To pick up -for example- pretzel and popcorn crumbs, I often have to vacuum the same spot several times. More often than not it will pick up a piece, grind it into a bunch of bits and spit it back out onto the floor.

Unless you look forward to experiencing hours of frustration from an otherwise simple household task, I would not recommend purchasing this cleaning system.

Pros: priced to sell, bags were easy to find and install
Cons: None so far

I got this gem at a yard sale...it only cost me $15.00 after 10minutes of haggling. They paid $150.00 a year ago and desperately wanted to sell EVERYTHING.

After I bought this gem...I went straight to WalMart and got some Microfiber bags...came home an sucked the entire place to where it is now DUST FREE! (Quite the feat, I have two cats) Nice strong motor...could easily suck a cat but they were well hidden.

Its a great vacuum and I would HIGHLY recommend it. Its quiet, easy to push around and the bags were easy to obtain and change. I needed no instructions whatsoever!

We like our Sharp vacuum. However, the accessories i.e. brushes are very expensive and sometimes hard to find.

Pros: It takes a beating and keeps on working like new
Cons: Bags are tough to find and the hose is too short

I took over managing a small motel and found this vacuum left in the rubble with all the vacuums that had long since seen better days. I rescued it, cleaned it up, and after going through 2 other vacuums in 2 years, decided to see if it was up to the task of keeping my home and 28 unit motel nice and tidy. I have long since left the motel, took the vacuum with me and have been using this machine two times a day minimum for well over 4 years. let me add that I have a VERY long haired Yellow Lab type dog, thats sheds NON STOP on my Lavender carpet! I never intend to use another vacuum again! If you want a vacuum thats going to always leave you smiling I highly reccomend this one. Its also been majorly abused, knocked over, slammed against walls and door ways, even went down the basement stairs. I have never done more than change the bags and belts!