The Eureka Airspeed is a basic upright bagless vacuum. It features a high-capacity dustbin and a quick-release wand for cleaning tight spots, as well as a dusting brush and a crevice tool. The vacuum has a 720-watt motor, which is par for the course for a model in this price range, and provides moderate airflow performance. It also has an 18-foot power cable that's shorter than that of many other peers.
The Eureka Airspeed is mediocre for bare floors. Its lack of a brushroll off switch or a floorhead adjustment system means that it can fling debris outwards instead of clearing messes away. Its flimsy plastic wheels and bristled roller can also scratch delicate surfaces like hardwood flooring. While the vacuum is impressively lightweight for an upright, its short power cord and wand make it a little unwieldy.
The Eureka Airspeed is an okay option for low-pile carpets. While it can do an okay job of clearing finer debris on carpeting, its floorhead tends to push around larger debris instead of passing over it so the vacuum can clear it away. It also gets stuck pretty easily on rug tassels and could even tear them out if it gets badly entangled, though it isn't too hard to maneuver on low-pile carpeting.
The Eureka Airspeed is an inadequate option for use on high-pile carpets. It lacks a floorhead height adjustment function, so it can easily get caught on shag-pile carpet or especially plush carpeting, which can cause it to tear out longer carpet fibers. On slightly lower-pile carpets, its actual debris pickup performance is nothing noteworthy; it does an alright job with especially fine, lightweight debris like sand, but its floorhead tends to push around anything larger than that.
The Eureka Airspeed is a mediocre option for pet owners. It does a good job of clearing away pet hair on surfaces like low-pile carpeting, and its dusting brush is surprisingly decent at clearing away hair on fabric furniture. Unfortunately, the actual ownership experience is likely to be somewhat unpleasant: in order to take out the brushroll and clear off any tangled hair, you'll need to remove a handful of cheap, easily stripped metal screws. Its filter also does almost nothing to trap fine allergens, such as pet dander, and emptying out its dustbin can release a cloud of dust and debris. It's also a little on the loud side, which isn't ideal for pets that are easily startled by unfamiliar noises.
The Eureka Airspeed is a poor choice for cleaning stairs. While it's pretty lightweight, cleaning areas like stair risers in its semi-handheld configuration is pretty uncomfortable due to its short hose and the presence of its spinning brushroll being near your leg. Its power cord is also rather short, so you might have to swap outlets when cleaning longer staircases. The vacuum itself also feels cheap and toy-like, and you're likely to damage it pretty badly if you let it topple over on a staircase.
The Eureka Airspeed isn't designed to clean the inside of your car.
The Eureka Airspeed is bad for light-duty workshop cleaning, though that isn't what it's designed for. Its debris-pickup performance on bare floors is terrible, with the vacuum struggling to clear away bulky, heavy debris while simultaneously launching finer material backward and at your legs. It also can't clear away liquid spills.
The Eureka Airspeed is available in several color variants: 'Blue,' 'Purple,' 'Red,' and 'Green.' It's also sold as a rebranded model from Amazon Basics, as seen here. We tested the 'Green' variant, and you can see its label here.
Let us know in the comments if you come across another variant of this vacuum so that we can update our review.
The Eureka Airspeed is a cheap bagless upright. It's one of the lightest upright vacuums we've tested and incurs minimal costs of ownership. Unfortunately, that's where its list of positives largely ends. Compared to the BISSELL PowerForce Helix, one of its closest competitors within the same general price range, the Eureka delivers inferior overall debris pickup performance and has even fewer features.
If you're looking for an alternative, see our recommendations for the best budget and cheap vacuums, the best upright vacuums, and the best lightweight vacuums.
The BISSELL PowerForce Helix is a better budget-friendly upright than the Eureka Airspeed. The BISSELL has a floorhead with five levels of surface adjustment, permitting superior maneuverability on surfaces like shag-pile carpeting. It also has a longer power cord and a better build quality and delivers better debris pickup performance on most surfaces.
The BISSELL CleanView/CleanView Swivel Pet Rewind is better than the Eureka Airspeed for most uses. The BISSELL is the bulkier, heavier appliance, but it also feels notably more robust, has a considerably longer range, comes with a broader assortment of tools, and offers better debris-pickup performance.
The Dirt Devil Endura Max is better than the Eureka Airspeed. The Dirt Devil is a more robust-feeling vacuum with a considerably longer overall cleaning range. It also has a higher capacity dustbin that won't need to be emptied as often and has a multi-level floorhead height adjustment feature that makes it easier to maneuver on thicker carpeting. On the other hand, the Eureka is a lighter vacuum.
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe is a far more feature-packed, capable vacuum than the Eureka Airspeed, which isn't surprising given the price discrepancy between the two. The Shark feels better built, has a substantially longer overall range, and provides better overall debris pickup performance. Its biggest overall advantage is its 'Lift-Away' design, which allows you to detach the Shark's motor unit from its floorhead and clean tight spots with its wand and hose, making it much easier to clean tight spots compared to the Eureka.
The Eureka Airspeed's build quality is poor. Its body is made almost entirely from cheap, fragile plastic, with easily scratched glossy accents along the handle and wand, giving it a toy-like look and feel. The floorhead wheels aren't especially robust and don't spin smoothly, while the floorhead release pedal feels as though it could snap off if you were to press on it too hard. The vacuum also flexes, squeaks, and rattles while in use, which isn't particularly reassuring. The sole bright point here is the rubberized plastic hose that feels similar to the one used on higher-end uprights like the Shark APEX Upright.
The Eureka Airspeed is somewhat demanding in terms of regular maintenance.
You must air-dry any part that's washed with water for 24 hours before putting it back into the vacuum. You can also just check other parts, like the hose or attachments, periodically for signs of damage.
Recurring costs are minimal, with the vacuum's user manual stating that no part needs to be replaced unless you observe a defect or serious wear and tear. In any case, you can find the replacement parts below.
The Eureka Airspeed is decently easy to store. While it takes up a bit of space, you can store its crevice tool and dusting brush directly on the vacuum's body. You'll have to wind up its cord manually, which can be a bit of a nuisance, considering its length.
The dirt compartment is great. It's made of clear plastic, and there's also a clearly visible max fill line, so you can easily tell how full it is at a glance. Its actual measured capacity is also very close to the advertised claim of 1.7L, which is similar to a lot of other budget-friendly bagless models like the BISSELL PowerForce Helix.
This vacuum's range is poor. Its power cord is shorter than that of the BISSELL PowerForce Helix, making it even harder to reach faraway areas. Its hose is also rather short, so it can be a challenge to clean on top of high shelves or dressers.
This is an impressively portable vacuum for an upright. It weighs roughly the same as some cordless stick vacuums, such as the Shark Vertex Pro Lightweight, and it isn't too hard to carry around. It has a somewhat bottom-heavy weight distribution, and it puts very little stress on your arm while in use.
This is a corded vacuum that doesn't have a battery.
This vacuum has almost no extra convenience features. There's a release pedal at the back of its head to toggle between three floorhead angles: fully upright to keep the vacuum standing, normal operation, and a low position for cleaning under tables and chairs. Unlike the BISSELL PowerForce Helix, there's no floorhead height adjustment to make it easier to clean surfaces like thicker carpeting. You also can't turn off the Eureka's brushroll, which can be a nuisance when you're using it in its semi-handheld configuration.
The Eureka Airspeed comes with two extra tools that can be attached to its wand. There's a crevice tool for cleaning tight spots and a soft-bristle brush for cleaning more delicate surfaces.
This vacuum's performance on bare floors is terrible, largely due to its lack of a brushroll off switch. Small debris is launched backward by the rotation of the roller, mostly in the direction of your shins. The vacuum itself does little to actually suck up larger material, with most being stuck at the front of its head.
This vacuum exerts minimal suction force at its floorhead, which is too high above the ground to generate a tight seal. This low suction force, combined with its inefficient floorhead design, contributes to its poor overall debris-pickup performance, especially in cracks and crevices.
The Eureka Airspeed's airflow performance is decent. It falls well short of even moderately more expensive uprights like the Kenmore Intuition Bagged, but it's still okay overall. While it might struggle to lift up heavier debris from its floorhead, you won't have nearly as much trouble if you use its wand.
This is a pretty noisy vacuum, as it can easily mask nearby conversation if it's running within the same room. The bulk of the noise comes from the vacuum's brushroll, which is always spinning.
This vacuum's maneuverability is middling. Its head doesn't pivot from side to side, but it does have plastic wheels that can be slid around; unfortunately, doing this can scratch delicate floors. It's thankfully pretty lightweight, and it's easy to carry around even in its semi-handheld configuration. However, since its brushroll can't be stopped, it can be somewhat uncomfortable having it spin so close to your leg.
Even though the vacuum's body can be tilted to lie almost completely flat against the ground, the dirt compartment is a little bulky, so it can be difficult to clean under some tables and chairs.
You should be careful when using this vacuum to clean rugs: it can easily get caught on rug tassels or stuck completely on shag-pile carpeting to the point where it could rip out rug tassels or carpet fibers.
This vacuum is decently effective when clearing pet hair on furniture. Its soft-bristle brush is somewhat effective when collecting pet hair on fabric. While hair does tend to collect in its bristles very easily, it's quite easy to remove. Unfortunately, the vacuum's short hose can make it a little unwieldy to use on furniture since you'll have to carry around the rest of its body separately.
Its air filtration performance is poor. The vacuum isn't rated as being allergen-sealed and lacks a HEPA filter. Particulate matter can escape from panel gaps at the top of its floorhead as well as its exhaust.
This vacuum does a poor job of cleaning cracks. Due to its low suction power and lack of a floorhead height adjustment system, it can really only remove a small amount of debris in very shallow crevices. If you want to clean deeper cracks, it's highly recommended you use it in its semi-handheld configuration with its crevice tool.