Shark Navigator UV725 Upright Vacuum


Shark Navigator UV725 Upright Vacuum

So having had the vacuum in its box for a few weeks I sat down tonight to piece everything together. All was well until I tried to insert the wand into the motor/chassis unit. Its supposed to just snap in to the vertical hole on the back of the unit… but no joy.

After monkeying around for a good 15 minutes, I realized that the chassis was missing a part. There’s supposed to be a 4-5" cylinder attached to the chassis that has a pushbutton release that locks in the wand OR that allows you to remove it. Not there. And it wasnt one of the user-installable parts either… it was apparently completely overlooked by the refurb outfit. And no, it wasnt in the box either.

Interestingly, I have a UV650 fron a previous Woot and the motor/chassis is identical… only difference is the 650 indeed has the part missing from the 725. I swapped parts around and confirmed that things worked fine. The 725 wand locks into the 650 and I can vacuum stuff up withiut a hiccup.

Went online to try to find a service manual or a parts list for either model so I could locate the specific part # I need - no joy. Ended up going to eBay and found a few sellers with refurbished motor/chassis-only units on sale for $30. It stinks that I had to buy one of those just to get the supposed $5 interface part so I can use the 725, but with no other recourse other than ask Woot for help - which would only mean shipping it back for a refund - I just handled the problem on my own.

So I spent $70 + $30 for the Shark. Not as slick as just spending $70 but still cheaper than a $229 new unit. And, hey, I get a few spare filters from the unusable 725 chassis and if I ever have to cannibalize it for parts I can do that, too. Except for that interface part, of course.

Bottom line - slightly disappointed to have waited nearly a month to find out I had taken delivery of an unusable vacuum, and slightly disappointed that someone’s Quality Control failed to the point of shipping a unit that was missing a crucial inexpensive-but-unavaialable-to-purchase part. But at least I was able to remedy it out of pocket and now have a one hundred dollar $229 Shark UV725… although I would have been much happier with the seventy dollar $229 Shark UV725 I thought I had purchased.

Here’s what its supposed to look like. This is my Woot UV650, showing where the wand clicks into the chassis/motor on the back side…

Here’s what the UV725 looks like… same spot.

Its missing the insert that the wand snaps into. And its not a user-replacable part, the UV650 has it permanently attached. Without that part, the wand cant connect to the motor and air leaks like crazy all around the hole.