Product Description

The Hoover Windtunnel 2 Extra Reach Bagless Upright Vacuum cleans carpet better than any other leading brand. Has patented Windtunnel 2 technology which is located in the floor nozzle. Forces the rotating brushes and airflow to work in harmony. It lifts and traps the dirt, so it won't scatter back into your carpet. Dirt ends up in your cleaner, not on your floor. An adjustable handle height for people of all heights to use comfortably. The Pet Hair Tool has powerful suction and rotating brushes that easily clean stairs and upholstry. The Self-Cleaning HEPA filter cleans itself every 6 seconds to maintain cleaning power. You never have to touch or replace the main filter. Traps 100% of dust mites, ragweed, and common grass pollens.The automatic brush shutoff stops the brush when in the upright position. all the power is focused in the hose. The Real-Time Tool System with Tag along Grip makes tool use easy with handle that instantly converts to telescopic wand and Tag along grip to guide the cleaner. The telescoping quick release wand and additional reach hose combine for 20' of cleaning reach. No bending or stretching. The wand reaches all the way to the floor.Hard floor brush safely cleans hard surfaces. The brilliant headlight illuminates the entire cleaning path. Comes with edge cleaners that remove dirt right up to the baseboards.With the bottom release dirt cup, you never have bags to replace. Simply remove the cup and empty contents into the trash. Has a lifetime belt that never needs replacing and a 1 year warranty that covers the entire product.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #24404 in Kitchen & Housewares
• Brand: Hoover
• Model: U8351-900
• Released on: 2006-07-15
• Dimensions: 18.00 pounds

Features

• Upright vacuum cleaner with patented WindTunnel 2 technology
• Real-time tool system for thorough cleaning; Tag-Along grip; pet-hair tool
• Telescoping quick-release wand and super-stretch hose; edge cleaners
• Automatic brush shutoff; bottom-release dirt cup; HEPA filter; lifetime belt
• Measures 11 by 15 by 44 inches; 1-year limited warranty

Amazon.com Product Description
The patented WindTunnel 2 technology, located in the floor nozzle, forces the rotating brushes and airflow to work in harmony. It lifts and traps the dirt, so it won't scatter back into the carpet. Dirt ends up in the cleaner, not on the floor.

Standard Features

• Patented WindTunnel 2 technology
• Self-cleaning HEPA filter
• Real-Time tool system with Tag-Along grip
• Automatic brush shutoff
• Pet hair cleaning tool
• Bottom-release dirt cup
• Lifetime belt
• Edge cleaners
• Telescoping quick-release wand and super-stretch hose
• Adjustable handle height
• Brilliant headlights
• 1-year warranty

Extra Features

• Additional extra-reach hose
• Hard-floor brush

Self-Cleaning HEPA Filter

The WindTunnel 2 features a HEPA filter that cleans itself every 6 seconds, maintaining cleaning power. The filter traps 100 percent of dust mites, ragweed, and common grass pollens. Plus, you never have to touch or replace the main filter.

Real-Time Tool System

The Real-Time tool system with Tag-Along grip makes tool use easy. The handle instantly converts to a telescopic wand, with Tag-Along grip to guide the cleaner. The telescoping quick-release wand and additional-reach hose combine for 20 feet of cleaning reach, and the wand extends all the way to the floor. Instantly go from floor to tool cleaning with no stopping, bending, or stretching.

The Science Behind the Technology

By design, conventional vacuum cleaners scatter dirt back into the carpeting because the rotating brushes and airflow don't work in harmony. But Hoover engineers discovered a way to make the rotating brushes and airflow work in harmony with the power of the wind. It's called WindTunnel technology. Located in the floor nozzle, Hoover WindTunnel technology actually lifts and traps dirt, so it won't scatter back into your carpet, which means the dirt ends up in the cleaner and not on your floor.

What's in the Box
Hoover WindTunnel 2 vacuum, pet hair cleaning tool, extra 8 feet of hose, hard-floor brush.

Customer Reviews

I'm glad I kept my old windtunnel...
The HEPA filter quits cleaning itself and you have to have a second vacuum to clean it....It is really a messy proposition to empty the bagless container....This is a truly poorly designed machine that Hoover has not given me any satisfaction on. I spend more time cleaning the wintunnel 2, after I vacuum, than I do in the actual vacuuming.

Well-designed - I chose this over a Dyson
I'm going to give this one 5 stars, but with the caveat that it is a new product and there are still unknowns about it. That said, so far I've been impressed.

It is clear that Hoover is setting their sights on Dyson with this line of vacuums. Their previous Windtunnel models reviewed quite well against Dyson, and I expect the Windtunnel 2s will do even better. At around $300 street price and up, these are not inexpensive vacuums, but they are still less than a Dyson.

Build quality is good - reasonably solid plastics seem to have been used. So far, I also find that suction is excellent, no complaints in that department. Edge cleaning is good, and operation is smooth. The power cord is connected near the top, which I'm glad they did. The pet hair tool attachment is nice - it seems to be built well and works pretty much like similar tools found on other models/brands. The hose is of good quality materials and construction, definitely matching what one would expect for a vacuum in this price range. The headlight is plenty bright and seems to be well-placed. The power switch is actually a button. At first, I wasn't sure about the placement of it (below the handle on the front), but after using the vacuum a bit, I'm kind of liking it. The dirt container seems reasonably well-sized - looks to be competitive with the Dyson in that respect. It is also very easy to use and has a bottom release for disposing the contents.

One place this vacuum really shines is in how they designed the handle assembly. Ergonomically, I like it better than the Dyson design. On the Dyson, the wand stores inside the hose. This seems like a nice idea - until you have to fiddle with storing the thing. On the Hoover, the wand assembly comes out easier, and goes back into place easier. It is also very easy to disconnect the hose from the handle. Though others might disagree with me, I personally find this setup to be much better engineered.

The hose is longer than you'll find on many vacuums - but Hoover also gives you a nice extension constructed just like the main hose. Put the two together and it is indeed quite long. Very, very nice. My old vacuum had a really nice extension hose as well, but the main hose was so short, you pretty much had to use the extension to do anything. Not so with the Hoover - you'll find that the main hose is more than adequate for most tasks and will only need to break out the extension occasionally.

The self-cleaning HEPA filter seems interesting - you can see it turning which the vacuum is on. How well it works, I don't know - we'll just need to see. But certainly a novel idea and potentially will save $ on replacement filters.

About the "lifetime belt". Hoover claims that, "under normal household conditions" it will never need replacing. I assume it'll last a long time, but we'll need to see if it really does hold up for the life of the vacuum.

Balking at the cost of a Dyson, I was about to give up and just replace my vacuum with a $150 Eureka 4870GZ, which, though inexpensive, comes highly recommended. I figured that I'd rather not spend $400+ like I've done in the past and wonder whether it was really worth it. However, after running into the new Windtunnel 2, I found myself really liking it. And at around $300, it is a great value for what you get compared to its competition.

Do I have some things I don't like about this vacuum? Yes, but very few, and I'm not going to focus on them, because they are really tiny nits that don't change my overall opinion.

I think that ergonomically, the Windtunnel 2 is well thought out. There are also a number of nice features which (if they pan out) should make this a low-maintenance vacuum. Performance is good, and it seems to be generally well-built. A well-deserved 5 stars.

If I could I will give it 0 starts
I was really happy when I got my new vacuum cleaner (the tools, how it clean...) After 45 days... calculate no more than 18 times I used it. The vacuum doesn't work anymore the Hepafilter broke it didn't clean by itself and also the handle. It is a poor design. I called Hoover. I took it to a service center. It took two weeks to fix. I got it back and after vacuum twice, broke again. I call again Hoover ask to be exchange for another vacuum cleaner and they said they couldn't do it. If you ask me bad customer service that you don't expect from Hoover (they never were rude) since this vacuum doesn't fulfill its purpose. They should accept the vacuum cleaner has problems. Well, I took it back to service and after all this, I still have problems the dust and dirt get constantly stuck on the filter. BAD BAD!!! Don't throw your money away.