LOVE IT! Ready for the whole fam to ENJOY cleaning

I received the NOMA SurfaceElite+ High Power Bagless Carry-off Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner for free in exchange for an honest review. I received the vacuum cleaner right before the weekend, and it was a BLESSING because it was cleaning week. Spoiler alert – it will make you want to clean your house right away, and turn it into a family event!

First of all, we have a central vac system at our place, and it’s fine but there are always moments where there’s a little mess and you don’t want to pull the whole system out and put it back. This new NOMA vacuum is about 15lb, it’s super light, and I was able to carry it and clean with one hand while carrying a clingy toddler. The best use case for us was using it in the family bathroom. Anyone with long hair or with offsprings with long hair can tell you how much mess that is every single day. I left the NOMA vacuum in the bathroom and everyone who has long hair used it to clean up their mess after a shower. MAGIC! Just be careful not to run it over a wet floor (says so in the manual, which is very informative by the way). My favorite feature is the LED headlight – who knew there would be dirt and dust where I normally can’t see! This is definitely something the central vac would never be able to do. My second favorite feature is the swivel steering – I never knew stand up vacuums can do that! One little push with your leg and you can TURN the vacuum head! This is one of the reasons why I can clean with only one available arm! Absolutely love how easy it is to vacuum. My eldest has also volunteered to do some cleaning since the vacuum is so light and in her words “pretty cool to look at”.

Other great features include the lift-up body (it’s so easy to use with just one little button, and the whole thing lifts off). The wand is amazing for hard to reach places like the ceiling or floor corners. It also works by pushing a button and it will release, but the portable hose could get twisted and tangled slightly. What really impressed me was the 3-in-1 combination tool and the turbo brush tool – they hang on the side of the vacuum and make sure all your house surface is covered. We tried it on the curtain and fabric couch – not a single complaint at all! The fact that NOMA can combine 3 tools into 1 is so epic. The filter in the vacuum lists that it can filter out 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns – I can’t test that without being a lab but judging by the amount of dust and particles it picked up when I used it for the first time, I’m a firm believer.

Some cons to be aware of – the power cord is long and super useful for when you want to clean a large area – but it does get in the way if you’re just cleaning up a small area. It hasn’t gotten tangled on me yet but I feel like it could be a small trip hazard if you are not careful. The lower chord hook on the vacuum cleaner is a bit hard to find (read the manual to find out all the tips and tricks and the full functionality, I highly recommend it!) also one last thing is the portable tool hooks – the 3-in-1 combination tool and the turbo brush tool got knocked off a little too easily when I was bringing the vacuum cleaner up some stairs. Just make sure you push it in tight and you should be fine.

Powerful suction but a couple downsides

There is a lot to like about this vacuum, but for me there are also some downsides.

Packaging: I found the packaging to be super. The vacuum parts were fit into the box like tetris, with barely any space wasted.

Assembly: There were only a handful of parts, so it made assembly super easy. I followed along with the instruction booklet but found I barely needed it. Within minutes, I was set up and ready to use the vacuum.

Suction: I tried the vacuum on both hardwood and carpet. There is a red button that you choose “I” for hardwood and “II” for carpet. It was easy to switch back and forth the modes, when going from one type of flooring to another. The suction was absolutely fantastic. I was super impressed by how clean the hardwood and carpets were afterwards. And although my floors didn’t look super dirty before vacuuming, I could tell there was a lot of dirt not visible to the eye, from the amount that ended up in the large canister of the vacuum.

Ease of use: Here is where I found there were some downsides. Firstly, the vacuum is corded, and the cord is super long. You wrap it around the side of the vacuum. I found when I vacuumed it got in the way, and got tangled, making it frustrating to vacuum. Also the cord wrap is located on the right side, and I would have preferred it to be on the left side since I am right-handed. I hold the vacuum handle with my right hand, and ideally hold the cord with my left (to keep it up off the floor). Another thing about the vacuum that I found inhibitive was the weight. It’s heavy enough that my arm got tired after a few minutes of vacuuming. The swivel head was great though, and it was really easy to manoeuvre around furniture legs.

Other functions: The vacuum had some other functions that I thought were fantastic. One is the carry off function. You can take out the canister part, and carry it around without the rolling base. That made it easier to bring it to tighter spaces like behind the couch to vacuum the drapes. Another neat function was the anti-tangle roll brush, which is a must have if you yourself sheds a lot of hair, or have a pet that does. I like that it has a hepa filter too which is the gold standard.

Maintenance: Maintenance of the vacuums seems decent and not too onerous. To empty the canister, you just eject it. And for cleaning other parts, they can be rinsed off with water and fully dried before putting it back in. When any of the filter or parts start to get less effective, the instruction manual provides a link for where to purchase replacement parts.

Overall thoughts: I love the suction and power of this Noma vacuum, but I also see myself using it mostly for big vacuum jobs because of cord (needing to plug it in, and the cord gets in the way). It’s enough of an inconvenience that I would avoid setting it up for small jobs or spot vacuuming. I think a retractable cord could help with the tangling issue. Also if you have kids, this is something to consider - I had babyproofed my wall outlets, so every time I needed to move the vacuum to another room and plug it in, I first had to remove the babyproofing, before I could plug it in.