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Swivel Sweeper
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Vendor Commercial
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ASOTVI Review
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May 8, 2008 (updated from February 9)
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| | | ASOTVI RATING: CONDITIONALLY WORKS |
What is it? - A cordless floor sweeper.
Summary: Downgraded to Conditionally Works as Advertised.
Major Claims:
- Lightweight – Yes
- Cordless/Rechargeable – Works well for first 60 – 90 days, then noticeably loses power and the time of its effective charge drops to only a few minutes
- Swivels 360 degrees – True
- Quiet – Not true initially, when it worked well, but much more true when the battery and motor work very little at all
- “Picks Up Everything from Dust to the Big Stuff” – Highly subjective claim. The static produced by the rotating bristles definitely picks up dust, specifically to the entire plastic housing of the sweeper’s head and must be wiped down after use.
Updated Review: (5/9/2008)
Well, all good things don’t last forever, but we thought it should be reasonable to expect that a product would give its user more than just three months of good service before it started to die. Such was not the case for this product. Please see original review below for our initial observations. Three months ago, this product worked fine. But after a couple of months of use, we observed that the product was not holding its charge for as long, nor was its motor operating at the level it did when new. See the video and listen to the contrast.
After 90 days of use we observed perhaps five to seven minutes of diminished performance before the unit practically came to a complete halt.
According to the instructions, we had cleaned the unit and ensured that the rotating bristles were not clogged with hair or other debris. We suspect that either the rechargeable battery is suffering from a common issue with many rechargeable batteries, known as “battery memory” which doesn’t allow it to fully recharge properly, and over time the amount of power it holds is dramatically reduced. Or the electric motor itself could simply be wearing out. Or both. Either condition is a performance killer.
We attempted to contact the vendor, OnTel, via their Customer Service to find out if these were known issues, and if there were any remedies for them, or even if, perhaps, we just had a bad unit. Unfortunately, they didn’t see fit to respond to our inquiries in any way whatsoever.
A survey of other users’ experiences with this product quickly revealed that our experience with this product wasn’t an isolated incident, but rather a common experience of many people who have purchased this product.
This product CONDITIONALLY works, with that condition being for a relatively short period of time of useful service. The fact that it comes with only a 60 day warranty is actually very telling.
Original Review: (2/9/2008)
The Swivel Sweeper assembled easily and after a few hours of allowing its battery to charge with the included charger, it was ready for use. Our evaluation involved using the unit on an area of tile floor in a kitchen which we had deposited an array of pet hair, cookie crumbs, crushed dog food, and dust.
The unit picked up all the material quickly and easily, as our video review demonstrates.
As to the product’s major claims, all were verified as accurate with the exception of “quiet,” which is claimed in the vendor’s commercial video. As you can hear in our video, the operation of the product is, in fact, somewhat noisy, on par with a typical vacuum cleaner.
We observed the cleaning ability of the unit to be on par with that of the many “cloth-based” sweeping products, but without the need for purchasing and constantly changing cleaning cloths with each use.
It’s portability and flexibility to get into tight spaces is probably its most appealing feature. No evaluation was made with respect to the rechargeable battery life. We did observe that the tray on the bottom which catches all the debris swept up wasn’t terribly large (two chambers of 3.25 inches by 2 inches) and would need to be emptied often, presumably after each use – which is an easy process.
So, for quick spills or light sweeping, where you don’t want to get out your big vacuum cleaner and plug it in, this product would be ideal.
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Product: Swivel Sweeper
Available From: OnTel Products Corporation
Summary:
- Assembles easily and quickly
- Picks up a variety of debris
- Battery & motor life appear to last only 60-90 days, after which, there is a noticeable decline in performance
Two payments of $19.99 + S&H
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