Shark Navigator Lift Away Deluxe NV360 Review

Shark's Lift-Away design detaches the canister from the cleaner head and wand, allowing more maneuverability. We appreciate this feature for stairs and other areas where you need to lift the vacuum head up without having to pull the whole canister up. It still doesn't power the roller at the head, unlike the Shark Stratos, so it might not be as effective at nabbing stubborn debris under furniture.

Carpet Performance

With its relatively low-profile cleaner head design, we were initially disappointed by how it plowed through larger debris, pushing the material rather than running over it. But when we hit the piles on the reverse, it sucked up all the debris sizes very well. For larger, lightweight materials like leaves or grass clippings in your home, you might need to back over the debris to get it under the cleaner head where it can be collected.

Because this machine did so well on the backward passes, we felt like it was more efficient to work with, helping clean, not just pushing away, but when pulling back.

Before Testing After Testing

If you have a cushy, thick rug that gets a lot of foot or snack traffic, this test is for you. The Lift Away Deluxe sucked up an average of 62% of sand, rice, and Cheerios in this test. We were able to reverse over the lightweight Cheerios effectively, but the suction power and cleaner head seemed unwilling to grab some of the more deeply embedded sand and rice.

We were hoping that this “Deluxe” model would outperform the similarly designed Shark Navigator Lift Away, but it did not. The older option ranked slightly higher on carpet (but slightly lower on hardwood). These two Shark vacuums offer similar all-around performance.

Hardwood Performance

The brush roller on the cleaner head on this model uses older, traditional stiff bristles that could be rough on some hard floor surfaces. To prevent scuffing, there's a roller shutoff switch for hard floors. Shutting off the roller also helps prevent spraying material, which can occur when the bristles push debris too quickly.

When we went to clean along the outer edges of the room, the vacuum head occasionally left behind a small clump when pushed directly into the baseboards. We had to make an extra pass to pick everything up. It wasn't impossible to get a clean result, but it wasn't as efficient as other models we've tested. Running the vacuum along the wall, the cleaner head didn't do much at all. We ended up having to grab the crevice tool to get the job done, which felt like a hassle when trying to move quickly through the room.

Pet Hair

The Deluxe performed about average on both carpets, with attempts to suck up the matted fur. We found this to be similar when working around the house. There would be a clump that it missed every few passes, and overall, you could see a few strands throughout.

Before Testing After Testing

Thicker carpets posed more of a challenge, leaving a noticeable layer of debris during our testing. Even after multiple passes, we could still see some lingering strands that hadn't been fully picked up.

The long hair was wrapped in the brush roller, which was also difficult to remove. In our experience, as long hair builds up on a roller, its performance worsens as it grows larger, due to more hair tangling, forcing us to remove it frequently.

Filtration

This vacuum has one of the best filtration systems, only allowing 18 particles to escape during our testing.

Since anything below 75 is considered excellent air quality by Dylos standards, this vacuum should be on your short list if you're concerned about airborne particles leaking back into your home.

Ease of Use

This vacuum rolled smoothly over and off high clearance areas, such as doorways and thicker carpets. Even though this vacuum is small, we found it difficult to push on low-pile carpet when turning. It really took some muscle. However, it has a decent swivel action at the cleaner head, which makes it nice to move around and behind table legs, especially on hardwood.

This “Lift-Away” feature differs from the “Lift-Away” feature on the Shark Stratos, which acts more like a canister vacuum. You can detach the dustbin from the cleaner head and still use the cleaner head portion of the vacuum to reach under furniture.

The brush roller has plastic barriers that make removing wrapped hair harder than it needs to be, which is annoying but not unexpected for budget-priced vacuums, especially older designs.

We could clean up most of the coffee grounds from the throw pillow in our test using the upholstery tool, but it took extra passes compared to those other motorized attachments.

Should You Buy the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe?

Nearly a decade after its initial release, the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe NV360 remains one of the most popular upright vacuums on the market today. Despite using a standard bristle-based brush roller, it performs exceptionally well on low-pile carpets and hardwood floors. It wasn't the best with pet hair, and it struggled with deep crevices, but if you only need it for usual household tasks, it's hard to beat.

What Other Upright Vacuums Should You Consider?