Although stick and robot vacuum cleaners are becoming increasingly more popular, they’re nowhere near as effective as traditional upright vacuums. This type of vacuum cleaner delivers more suction power, comes with more cleaning attachments and features, and works on all types of surfaces. We can’t say the same for sticks and robots.
With the ocean of uprights entering the market almost every six months, finding a high-quality upright vacuum has become more and more challenging. In this article, we’re going to compare three Shark-made uprights that have left positive impressions on their customers – the NV501, the NV752, and the NV803. It’s pretty much guaranteed that choosing any of these three will leave you extremely satisfied, but which one reigns supreme? Let’s find out together.
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Suction Power (CFM)
NV501
A vacuum cleaner’s suction power is measured in CFM or cubic feet per minute of air volume. A higher CFM rating generally translates into better suction power and performance on many floor types. The NV501 has a maximum CFM rating of 125, which is great for most floor types.
NV752
The NV752 has a slightly lower maximum CFM rating of 120 which still performs admirably on most floor types. A 5-CFM disparity won’t make much of a difference in terms of overall performance, but other factors come into play which we’ll discuss later on.
NV803
The Shark NV803 has the most powerful suction of the three Shark uprights. It delivers a maximum of 140 CFM, which is great on all floor types. The tiniest, most embedded speck of dirt stands no match to the awesome suction of the almighty NV803.
Conclusion: Although suction power means a lot, it’s not the ultimate factor in determining how well a vacuum cleaner performs on all floor types. There are other considerations that you need to make to find which will work best for your home. With that in mind, it never hurts to get a vac that delivers more power than others, and in the case of these three Shark uprights, the heavyweight title goes to the NV803.
DuoClean Technology
NV501
DuoClean technology is Shark’s proprietary vacuum head design that utilizes not one but two brushes for deeper cleaning. The first brush is a standard stiff-bristle helix design that pulls in loose debris and feeds the vacuum intake and simultaneously polishes floorboards. The second brush is a long, soft-bristle brush that reaches deep into carpet fibers to dislodge embedded dirt and debris. The NV501 does not feature this technology.
NV752 and NV803
The NV752 and NV803, on the other hand, make use of Shark’s DuoClean Technology. On carpeted floors, even the most embedded piles of dried mud, pet food, and dander are not the slightest challenge to the awesome combination of high suction power and double-action bristles.
Conclusion: If you have wall-to-wall carpeted floors, then you’ll need Shark’s DuoClean Technology to help get rid of the grimiest messes seeking refuge in the comfort of carpet fibers. So if your home has wall-to-wall carpeting, you may want to leave the NV501 and instead opt for either the NV752 or NV803.
Hard Floor Cleaning
NV501
Cleaning smooth surfaces like hardwood, tiles, and concrete are where the NV501 excels. Without the secondary brush, the NV501 relies on the quick-rotating helix brush and magnificent suction power to clean even the tiniest specks of dirt from your floors.
NV752 and NV803
The largest problem that most two-brush upright vacuum cleaners have is the “beater brush” has stiff bristles that’ll more likely mar hardwood floors than leave them spotless. The NV752 and NV803 have such a brush, but the bristles are extremely soft to the touch so they don’t need to be retracted when vacuuming floorboards. In addition, since they’re super-soft, they’ll leave an extremely satisfying gleam on whatever surface they touch.
Shark NV752 and NV803 Comparison
 |  | |
| DuoClean | N/A | Yes |
| Self-Cleaning Brushroll | N/A | N/A |
| Powered Lift-Away | Yes | Yes |
| Lift-Away | N/A | N/A |
| Anti-Allergen Complete Seal + a HEPA Filter | Yes | Yes |
| Product weight (lbs.) | 16.7 | 14.5 |
| Wattage | 1150 | 1150 |
| Amps | 9.5 | 9.2 |
| Cord length (ft.) | 30 | 30 |
| LED lights | On floor nozzle & handle | On floor nozzle |
| Price |
Conclusion: If your home has more exposed tiles and floorboards than carpets, then you’ll be glad to know that all three of these Shark upright vacs can vacuum your floors without creating unsightly scratch marks in their wake. However, we can see that the NV752 and NV803 are far more versatile options compared to the NV501’s smooth-surface cleaning.
True HEPA Filters
NV501, NV752, and NV803
When activated, vacuum cleaners don’t just suction up dirt and debris off of floors, but they also do quite a job at filtering the air that they take in. The best vacs come with fine mesh filters for trapping microscopic particles and securing them in place so they don’t exit and pollute indoor air.
From the sea of vacuum filters available, True HEPA filters are arguably the best type to get. They can retain particles as small as 0.3 microns in size with an effectiveness rating of more than 99%. So if you have pets, are allergic to pollen, or would simply like to keep your floors as clean as humanly possible, True HEPA Filters are your best bet. And as luck would have it, all three of these Shark uprights are equipped with such filters for maximum cleaning performance.
Dustbin Capacity
NV501
The size of the dustbin determines how much the vacuum can store and how long it can operate before needing to dump the contents of the bin. Generally speaking, a larger dustbin is ideal for hassle-free vacuuming. The NV501 comes with a 1.23-liter dustbin which is about the industry standard for uprights.
NV752
The NV752 boasts a sizable 1.4-liter dustbin. This may not seem like much of a difference, but seeing as how vacuums deal more with small particles than large cereal bits, you can get a lot more work done before emptying the bin.
NV803
The NV803 has the smallest bin of these three Shark uprights. The dustbin has a 0.75-liter bin, much smaller than what you’d normally find in most upright vacuums. Although you can probably finish cleaning an entire floor of your home before emptying the bin, it can be quite troublesome having to do it more often than the other Sharks.
Conclusion: Although dustbin capacity shouldn’t be your first consideration when shopping for an upright vac, it does have a direct correlation with convenience and user experience. With that in mind, the Shark with the largest bin – the NV501 – would take the crown in being a more enjoyable vacuum to use than the rest, and the NV752 is a very close second.
Included Cleaning Accessories
NV501
The thing that makes upright vacuum cleaners so popular is not just their awesome vacuuming power but also the wide number of attachments used for various cleaning tasks. The Shark NV501 comes with five cleaning attachments: a motorized pet brush, a wide upholstery brush, a straight suction nozzle, a classic dusting brush, and a 12-inch crevice tool.
NV752
The NV752 also has a smaller but less no-less-impressive list of attachments. The attachments that come with the NV752 include a vacuum head for hard floors, a motorized pet brush, a multi-tool for pets, and a crevice tool.
NV803
The attachments that come with the NV803 are astounding, to say the least. Like the others, this upright vac includes a motorized pet brush, a multi-tool for pets, and a crevice tool. But what separates this from the rest is its handy under-appliance tool which cleans under refrigerators, couches, and places where heavy appliances reside.
Conclusion: So far, we’ve established that the NV752 and the NV803 are the two most versatile vacuum cleaners, but the under-appliance tool that comes with the NV803 makes this upright stand one step above the rest. Of course, you could always purchase additional cleaning attachments from Shark, but the NV803’s included set of attachments make for easy cleaning straight out of the box.
Swivel Steering
NV501, NV752, and NV803
And finally, something that we feel everybody should know about is the swivel steering vacuum head that is available on all three of these Shark upright vacuum cleaners. The swiveling increases their maneuverability around sharp and round furniture legs. A swivel head is by no means unique to Shark products, but it’s worth knowing if you don’t like lifting and readjusting the position of vacuum cleaners for thorough cleaning.
Verdict
So of the three Shark vacuum cleaners, we’ve reviewed today, we feel that the “best” one depends on what sort of flooring you have at home. If your floors are more bare and smooth than carpeted, then any of the three will suit your needs just fine. However, if you have wall-to-wall carpeted floors on multiple stories, then the NV752 or the NV803 would do the trick thanks to the DuoClean Technology with double-action brushes.
But if you’re an attachment-lover like us, then the NV803 with its under-appliance tool is by far the greatest, most amazing thing you could have to clean hard-to-reach spaces under refrigerators, stoves, and couches.
From a practical standpoint, there’s hardly any difference between the NV752 and NV803 except for the former’s larger dustbin and the latter’s amazing under-appliance vacuum attachment. So if we were you, we’d opt for the Shark NV752 and purchase the attachment separately. Happy shopping, vacuum-people!
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Last update on 2023-03-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API