Our In-Depth Review
Design
The Shark Navigator NV22L upright vacuum cleaner is a beautiful little cleaning tool. It has a sleek, modern design, coupled with a cute light purple and clean silver exterior.
An upright vacuum is designed so the user can simply flip on the power switch and push the vacuum over the floor to clean up debris. Uprights are designed for cleaning larger clear areas of flooring.
Even though this is an upright, it has combined many nice features that only some specialty vacuums have. Normally with uprights, they are only effective in large open areas.
With the smaller power nozzle, you can fit into tighter spaces and under some furniture that has at least 12 inches of clearance. Also, the on board tools are very impressive.
The Shark super stretch hose allows you to set the vacuum upright, take the hose out, and get into tight spaces or clean furniture with ease.
This is a bagless vacuum. One big advantage that a bagless vacuum has over bagged is once you purchase the Shark; there are no more bags to buy. You shouldn’t have to spend any more money on this vacuum.
You do have to empty the debris you suck up from the cyclonic chamber when it fills up.
Also, the manufacturer recommends you clean the foam filters every three months by rinsing them out with water. The felt filter also needs to be rinsed, but only once a year.
The Shark Navigator includes one extra set of filters, so you can install the dry set and continue vacuuming if you have rinsed the other and are waiting for them to dry.
Performance: Using the Shark Navigator NV22L Vacuum
We really enjoyed using the Shark Navigator. Even for it’s smaller size, it has great suction and cleaned very well on both hard surfaces and carpeting.
One excellent option on this vacuum was the ability to activate or shut off the vacuum brush. On hard flooring, you keep it off so the brush doesn’t kick away any large particles.
Another very nice thing is it tested very well for edge cleaning too. The carpet and hard floor was cleaned nicely even to the edge of the floor. Also, with the 12-foot hose, and four attachments, it can clean up pretty much any area that you need to get into.
Performance on Carpets
When you vacuum the carpet, you should activate the second setting on the Shark Tempo. This makes the power nozzle brush spin so your carpet gets a deeper clean.
To test its capabilities we tossed rice, flour and crushed pretzels on the carpet. With one pass it picked up large particles, small particles and any hair that was on the floor.
The suction power was very good. It left a nice vacuumed path in its wake.
Also, it did a great job cleaning effectively even at the edges of the room. One thing we did notice was this vacuum is pretty narrow. With only a 12.6 cleaning path, it did take a little longer to clean a large area of carpet.
The upside of this narrow vacuum is it can fit into tighter spaces. It also has very good clearance because of a relatively flat power nozzle that is only 10.2 inches high. We were able to get under the edge of the bed pretty easily.
Performance on Rugs
Another nice thing about this vacuum is the suction isn’t too extreme so it cleaned up very well on the rugs I have sitting on my hardwood floors. We could go right to the edge and it didn’t disturb the rug, yet cleaned effectively.
The corners of the rug stayed down as I went around the perimeter. Because the Shark Navigator NV22L vacuum has the option of turning on or off the brush, you can easily switch from a rug to hard surfaces without turning the power off or bending down to change the settings. The switch is right by the top of the vacuum.
Performance on Hard Floors
As we tested this vacuum on hard floors it did an excellent job sucking up larger particles. We crushed up a bunch of pretzels and put them right up to the edge of the hardwood floor. It cleaned all the pretzel particles, all the way to the edge.
Then, we used flour to test how it does with fine particles. It didn’t suck up all the flour right away. To make sure I got a good clean, we just activated the power brush and then the small amount of flour that was still clinging to the hardwood was brushed off and sucked right up.
Edge Cleaning
This is probably the thing that impressed us the most about the Shark Navigator Vacuum. It gets right up to the edge for both carpets and hard flooring. When you look at the head of this small vacuum, you wouldn’t think it could do this so well.
We tried many different particles and no matter if it was flour, rice, crushed pretzels or hair, the vacuum did a great job. This is such a bonus because you don’t have to vacuum the floor and then use the onboard tools to go around the perimeter of the floor.
Attachments / Onboard Tools
This is another category where the Shark Navigator impressed us. There is a very long hose wrapped around the back of the Shark.
It is called the Shark super stretch hose, and it does just what it is called. It stretches out easily to clean up high or down low. With a long reach, you don’t have to worry about reaching too far and knocking over the upright vacuum because you run out of hose length.
The hose can connect to four different tools. One thing that isn’t so nice is only two of these tools can be stored onboard the upright Shark Navigator.
The first tool onboard is the upholstery brush. This is a nice little tool for cleaning your furniture or drapes. Watch out though. It has a lot of suction. As I cleaned my couch it really pulled at the fabric.
The crevice tool is the second on board tool that is stored on back of the vacuum. It did a great job getting in all those nooks and crannies.
The additional two on board tools that don’t clip onto the Shark Navigator vacuum are the 24-inch crevice extension and a Pet hair power brush. First up, the crevice extension ads an extra two feet of reach to the already impressive 12 feet of super stretch hose.
We could get way up high and clean the corners of our vaulted ceiling. A nice addition to this vacuum is the Pet hair power brush. This allows you to effectively clean your couch if the pets leave too much fur behind.
In this tool, the power brush rotates to dislodge annoying pet hair from upholstery. You can also use it on the stairs to get any pet hair off.
Filtration
The Shark NV22L vacuum produces some impressive suction, but the filters don’t do an excellent job keeping all the fine dust in the vacuum chamber. The Shark Navigator doesn’t claim to have a HEPA filter, so don’t expect it to do an amazing job filtering the dust.
When we used the laser particle scanner and held it to the exhaust of the vacuum, there was a big leap in the amount of particles in the air. This is pretty normal for any standard vacuum.
Ease of Use
From setting it up right out of the box, to using all the tools, the Shark NV22L vacuum cleaner is a breeze. It is relatively small, but it still feels very solid with a weight of 15 pounds.
We have used some cheaper vacuums in our tests, and this model feels much stronger and more powerful than many of its counterparts.
There are two small wheels on the back of the vacuum that make it very easy to maneuver. The only problem I had was remembering how to wrap up the super stretch hose on back of the vacuum after I had been using the on board tools.
Cord Management and Length
The grey cord is quite long at 30 feet. We were able to clean the entire living room and get half of the kitchen before we realized how far away we were from the outlet. It winds up perfectly tight in the back of the Shark Navigator Upright and doesn’t dangle when not in use.
Hose Management and Length
If you couldn’t tell already, the hose is very nice. It was 12 feet long and was very easy to access and attach the on board tools too. Even though it is quite long, it wraps up nicely behind the vacuum.
Floor Selection
A very cool option on the Shark Navigator bagless vacuum was the ability to activate the brush or keep it off. This is controlled right by the power switch near the top of the vacuum. You can turn it to the first setting to just activate the suction.
Push it down to the second setting to start the brush for cleaning up the carpet. You don’t have to turn the vacuum off to adjust any settings for different floor surfaces or carpet lengths.
Getting Started
The only thing you need is a screwdriver to put this vacuum together. When you take the Shark NV22L out of the box, there is one bolt and one nut that have to be used.
Insert the handle into the top of the vacuum, slide the bolt through and screw on the nut. Then take the screwdriver to make sure the bolt secures the handle tight to the vacuum. Now all you have to do is plug it in and get ready to vacuum.
Stair Cleaning
For cleaning stairs, we liked using the on board tools. The longer hose made it easy along with the 24-inch crevice tool and the Pet hair power brush.
We didn’t use the power brush much on the stairs because it doesn’t get into the corners as nice as the crevice tool did.
Maneuverability
This is a rather narrow vacuum head, so you can fit into tight spaces. Even though it is small in stature, the Shark Navigator does weigh 15 pounds. You do have to push a little bit to move it here and there.
A nice thing about the smaller vacuum head is it was not very high. We could get under the edge of my son’s crib and some of the furniture as well.
This vacuum is quite small, so when it’s not in use, it fit very easily in the closet.
Noise
This vacuum is pretty quiet when you aren’t using the power brush mode. Without the brush on, it was just over 70 decibels.
If the power brush is on, the decibel level goes up to just over 80. This was loud, but not unbearably. It was harder to communicate with someone else when vacuuming carpet.
Maintenance
The Shark Navigator NV22L is a bagless vacuum. You will never have to pay for any regular maintenance.
Just make sure to empty the canister in the upright vacuum when it looks full of debris, and clean the washable filters. When you go to empty the debris and dust from the vacuum, you will see the washable filters.
There are three filters that all stack one on top of the other. The felt filter that rests on the bottom needs to be washed once every twelve months. The two larger foam filters should be washed out once every three months.
The Shark Navigator includes an extra set of these three filters, so you can rinse one set out, and you can install the other to continue vacuuming.
The filters are built to last for the lifetime of the vacuum, so don’t worry about any added expenses with the Shark bagless upright.
Emptying the Debris Canister
First you push a round silver button on the top of the vacuum to detach the vacuum dust canister from the upright portion of the Shark Navigator. Then you take this canister and hold it directly above the garbage can.
A small purple button opens up the bottom of the canister so the debris can fall out. You might have to shake it a little or even reach in if you sucked up a lot of hair as it can wrap around the center of the canister.
Value For Money
The Shark Navigator NV22L vacuum is definitely worth the price at just under 150 USD. It is an ideal vacuum cleaner for a smaller home that has both carpeting and hard floors.
Final Vacuum Verdict
The Shark Navigator is a small vacuum that does it all. With a sleek, modern design, powerful cleaning capabilities, and excellent on board tools, you’ll be hard pressed to find a better vacuum for the price.
This vacuum is ideal for a smaller home or apartment. It can clean hard flooring, carpets, rugs, small spaces, corners, and edges effectively. With its super stretch hose, you could bring it out to the garage and clean up the interior of your car as well.
