The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is a satisfactory overall upright vacuum with limited maneuverability and few features. While it has decent performance on both bare floors and low-pile carpets, it struggles a bit more with small and large debris on high-pile carpet. It's bulky as well which makes it especially difficult to clean under furniture, and it doesn't have a rotating head either so it can be hard to maneuver around a room. On the upside, it comes with a few extra tools including a mini turbo brush, which helps clean hair on furniture. It's easy to maintain too as there aren't any recurring costs as long as you're covered by its three-year warranty, and its dirt compartment is fairly big.
Our Verdict
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is okay to use on bare floors. It sucks up hair on bare floors quite easily and cleans up most small debris. Unfortunately, it's not as good with large debris and it quickly loses performance as the dirt compartment fills. Also, since it doesn't have a rotating head, the maneuverability is disappointing. Luckily, the compartment is fairly big and the vacuum itself is easy to maintain.
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Fairly big dirt compartment.
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Picks up pet hair on bare floors and high-pile carpet.
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Disappointing maneuverability.
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Loses performance as dirt compartment fills.
Decent for use on low-pile carpet. The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind picks up a good amount of small and large debris but struggles just a bit with hair. It doesn't have a power adjustment feature and it's hard to move around. On the upside, it's easy to maintain, the dirt compartment is fairly big, and the vacuum has a decent range.
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Fairly big dirt compartment.
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Decent performance on low-pile carpet.
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Disappointing maneuverability.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is alright for high-pile carpet use. It's able to pick up pet hair but it struggles a lot more with small and large debris, which means it can take several passes for it to fully clean a mess. It also has disappointing maneuverability, but luckily it's easy to maintain and it has a decent range.
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Fairly big dirt compartment.
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Picks up pet hair on bare floors and high-pile carpet.
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Disappointing maneuverability.
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Struggles to pick up small and large debris on high-pile carpet.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is a fair option if you want to clean pet hair. It cleans all hair on bare floors and almost all hair on high-pile carpet. However, it struggles a bit more to pick it up from low-pile carpet. It's hard to maneuver too but luckily, the dirt compartment is fairly big and the vacuum is easy to maintain. It also comes with a turbo brush that helps clean hair on furniture.
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Picks up pet hair on bare floors and high-pile carpet.
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Decent performance on low-pile carpet.
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Disappointing maneuverability.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is disappointing to clean stairs with. It's an upright vacuum that's bulky and it doesn't have a rotating head so it's not ideal to clean small, tight stairwells with it. Fortunately, it has decent performance on both bare floors as well as low and high-pile carpet.
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Decent performance on low-pile carpet.
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Disappointing maneuverability.
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Loses performance as dirt compartment fills.
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Struggles to pick up small and large debris on high-pile carpet.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind isn't designed for use in the car.
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Disappointing maneuverability.
- 6.6 Bare Floor
- 7.1 Low-Pile Carpet
- 6.6 High-Pile Carpet
- 6.7 Pets
- 5.3 Stairs
- 5.5 Cars
- 4.0 Workshop
- Updated Aug 18, 2022: This vacuum's suction force has been retested with a more accurate manometer. The test results for the 'Maximum Suction' and 'Normal Suction' fields have been updated. All relevant scores and text have been updated.
- Updated Aug 05, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.1.
- Updated Apr 29, 2022: Converted to Test Bench 1.0.
- Updated Aug 06, 2020: We've retested this vacuum's high-pile carpet performance with a different head level setting.
- Updated Jul 06, 2020: Review published.
Compared To Other Vacuums
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind doesn't offer good performance for an upright vacuum and it's hard to move around. However, it's easier to maintain than some other upright vacuums, such as the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe. Also see our recommendations for the best vacuums, best vacuums for high-pile carpet, and best upright vacuums.
The Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away is better to use on carpets, while the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is better for bare floors. The Shark cleans most hair and large debris on all surface types. It has better maneuverability and isn't as heavy. The Hoover has a better range, and it's easier to maintain.
The BISSELL PowerForce Helix is a better upright vacuum for low- and high-pile carpets than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind. The BISSELL has significantly better performance on carpets, it's lighter, and it has a slightly bigger dirt compartment. However, the Hoover performs a bit better on bare floors, it's easier to maintain, and it has virtually no recurring costs. The Hoover also has an automatic cord rewind feature.
The Shark APEX Upright is a better upright vacuum overall than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind. The Shark has much better performance on bare floors and carpets and it has better maneuverability too. The Shark also has a bigger dirt compartment, but the Hoover is easier to maintain and it has a longer range.
The BISSELL Pet Hair Eraser Turbo Plus is a better upright vacuum for carpets than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind. The BISSELL feels slightly better built, and it comes with an upholstery tool and a soft bristle brush. You can also use it in a semi-handheld configuration, which is nice if you want to reach into crevices. While the Hoover is better on bare floors, the BISSELL can pick up more debris and pet hair, especially on high-pile carpets. However, the Hoover has easier maintenance needs with less recurring costs.
The BISSELL CleanView/CleanView Swivel Pet Rewind is a better vacuum than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind. The BISSELL performs better on all surface types, and it has an alternative configuration for cleaning harder-to-reach places. However, the Hoover has better storing capabilities, a longer range, and virtually no recurring costs. It's also significantly easier to maintain.
For the most part, the Shark Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe is better than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind. The Shark performs much better on low- and high-pile carpets, it's easier to maneuver, and it can be used in a handheld configuration. However, the Hoover is easier to maintain and has a bigger dirt compartment.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind and Hoover WindTunnel Tempo Bagged are fairly evenly matched, but you may prefer one over the other depending on your own needs. The Rewind has a bagless design that incurs virtually no recurring costs and performs similarly on carpeted floors. On the other hand, the Tempo Bagged is lighter, more maneuverable, and better-built, with superior cleaning performance on bare floors.
The Dyson Ball Animal 2 Total Clean/Origin is better than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind for any type of use. It performs much better on bare floors and has outstanding performance on carpets. Despite also being an upright vacuum, the Dyson is easier to maneuver because of its rotating head. However, the Hoover is easier to maintain, and it has a slightly bigger dirt compartment.
The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Speed is much better than the Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind. The Shark has better performance on all surface types, it comes with a soft bristle brush, and it can also be used in a handheld configuration. However, the Hoover has a longer range and a bigger dustbin.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is a better upright vacuum than the Sanitaire PROFESSIONAL Upright. The Hoover is a better-built vacuum with a bagless design. It has virtually no recurring costs and comes with more tools and brushes. It also offers better performance on bare floors and high-pile carpets. However, the Sanitaire performs better on low-pile carpets.
Test Results
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 has a mediocre build quality. It's entirely made of plastic, except for the metal wand. The plastic is sturdy overall, but could possibly break if dropped. The hose and the turbo brush also feel like they could break rather easily. There's a button near the handle to turn the power on/off and there's a button to turn the brushroll off by foot.
Despite having multiple parts to put together, the vacuum is easy to assemble. Since the vacuum can stay upright on its own, it's easier to switch pieces than other stick vacuums.
The WindTunnel 2 is easy to maintain. There aren't many parts that need maintenance but they aren't the easiest to access.
- Dirt compartment: To remove the dirt compartment, you need to unscrew the lid on top and remove the cyclone filter. You can empty it once it's removed.
- Filter: There are two filters that need cleaning, and the first, the cyclone filter, is removed easily from the lid on the dirt compartment. You need to wash it and let it sit for 24 hours before using it again.
- HEPA filter: The post-motor filter, the HEPA filter, is located underneath the dirt compartment. You're able to clean debris from the HEPA filter but can't wash it with water.
- Brushroll: You have to unscrew six screws in order to remove the brushroll, but you shouldn't have to clean it often.
- Turbo tool brushroll: You can also remove the mini brushroll from the turbo tool but you also need to unscrew the lid with a screwdriver.
If any parts break and need to be replaced, you can buy them on Hoover's website.
As long as the vacuum is covered by the three-year warranty, there are no recurring costs. The filters should last the lifetime of the warranty.
This vacuum has good storage capability. It takes up a good amount of space, and unlike the Shark APEX Upright, it has a latch for automatic cord management.
The WindTunnel 2 has a good dirt compartment. It's fairly big and there's a transparent indicator line so you know when it's full, but the line can be hard to see.
- Vacuum body
- Dirt compartment
- Wand
- Crevice tool (inside the wand)
- Turbo brush
- Handle
- Ceiling tool/Hard bristle brush
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind has a decent range. The cord is long enough to keep vacuuming in the same room without changing plugs, and the hose helps extend its range.
This vacuum isn't very portable. It's heavy to carry around, but it has a carrying handle to make transporting it a bit better.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 uh71250 doesn't have a battery.
There aren't many extra features on the WindTunnel 2. There are five settings that adjust the height of the vacuum head for different types of surfaces. You can turn the brushroll on/off with a button on the head which you can press with your foot. The power button for the vacuum is below the handle.
The WindTunnel 2 comes with a few tools and brushes. The hard bristle brush can rotate front to back to help clean ceilings and fans. The crevice tool is inside the wand in the photo above and can be pulled out. Unlike the Sanitaire PROFESSIONAL Upright, it also comes with a turbo brush which can help you clean fabric-covered furniture.
There are no alternative configurations for the WindTunnel 2. If you're looking for an upright vacuum with a handheld configuration, check out the BISSELL CleanView Swivel.
The Hoover WindTunnel 2 has okay performance on bare floors. It doesn't have any trouble cleaning pet hair or even small debris like rice, although it doesn't perform as well as the dirt compartment becomes more full. It's only decent with large debris like Cheerios as you need to pass the vacuum a few times before it sucks it up. You may want to consider the Hoover WindTunnel Tempo Bagged if you're looking for an upright vacuum with better and more consistent cleaning performance on bare floors.
It's recommended to leave the brushroll off when cleaning on bare floors as it performs worse with the brushroll on.
Decent performance on low-pile carpet. It struggles a lot more with pet hair than on bare floors, and it does a decent job with both small and large debris. Small debris like sand gets stuck in the hose because the design of the hose has grooves in it. If you want an upright vacuum that cleans much more debris on this surface, look into the Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away.
Update 08/06/2020: We originally tested this vacuum using its 'Setting 5 (High Carpet)' head level. However, the manual states to adjust the head level from Setting 2 -5 depending on your carpet level. As our test carpet is too low for the original setting we tested it on, we've retested it using 'Setting 3,' which raised its score.
The WindTunnel has decent performance on high-pile carpet. While it's able to pick up most pet hair, it still struggles to pick up small and large debris. That being said, you can also adjust the head level to better suit your carpet level which may improve its high-pile performance but your mileage may vary.
The WindTunnel 2 has disappointing maneuverability. It's heavy and the head can't rotate from side to side. It's able to go under couches and tables but has trouble reaching far underneath them. In order to clean furniture, you can detach the house and use either the crevice tool or turbo brush. The vacuum gets stuck on rugs, but it goes over the electric cord rather easily. It feels like the vacuum is designed for big open spaces and not a house with a lot of furniture.
