Shark ZU632 vs Shark NV752

The Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away ZU632 upright vacuum is fairly new to the market. But we have noticed that it is a very similar machine to the older (but very popular) Shark Rotator Powered Lift-Away TruePet NV752 upright vacuum. In some ways it appears to be an evolution of the NV752 and they’ve even added a self-cleaning brushroll. However not all the changes are for the better and in some instances (but not all) you may still be better off with the older NV752.

SHARK ZU632 – WHAT'S INCLUDED?
What do you get with a Shark ZU632?

- Shark ZU632 Upright Vacuum
- All filters (installed in vacuum)
- Crevice tool
- Pet multi-tool
- Owner’s manual
- Quick start guide

SHARK NV752 – WHAT'S INCLUDED?
What do you get with a Shark NV752?

- Shark NV752 Upright Vacuum
- All filters (installed in vacuum)
- Crevice tool
- Pet multi-tool
- Pet power brush
- Owner’s manual
- Quick start guide

Note that some folks who get the NV752 seem to be getting a Pet Power Brush with its own motor while others are getting a Pet Power Brush that runs on the vacuum suction (sometimes referred to as a turbo brush). We urge you to check with the retailer to determine which tool you can expect. We got our NV752 years ago and it came with many more tools than you get with the NV752 today – see our Shark NV752 Review. We have noticed that the tools provided with Shark vacuums often change over time.

SHARK ZU632 vs SHARK NV752 – WHAT'S THE SAME?

BODY STYLE
As mentioned, these are similar looking uprights and the body style is almost the same (the Shark images that appear in our banner above really don't show the similarities between these two vacuums - but our photo below does). You can also see in our photo that many of the features are identical . Given the vacuum similarities a quick way to determine between the two machines is the color. The ZU632 (right) is blue and the NV752 (left) is burgundy.

FLOOR SETTINGS
Both vacuums have three floor settings.

1) Hard Floor
2) Carpet / Low Pile
3) Thick Carpet / Area Rug

The vacuums are designed to be used on carpet and hard flooring. The floor setting slider is identical on both machines and is located on the vacuum handle (see image to right).  The sliders are positioned such that they can be easily accessed with your thumb.

MOVEMENT
Movement of the units is similar and the vacuums glide well on carpet and bare floors. Both machines have swivel steering and the cleaner heads turn well at the twist of your wrist. These are some of the better moving uprights on carpet that we have tested over the years.

There are two large wheels on the back of the vacuum that make movement very easy and each wheel has a rubber strip down the center to ensure there is no marring or scraping of delicate flooring.  In addition, there are two small rubberized wheels on the front underside of the cleaner head which helps with movement both on hard surfaces and carpet.

POWERED LIFT AWAY
The vacuums sport the powered lift away feature. Lift away allows you to carry the dust canister and motor assembly (referred to as the lift away pod) with one hand while using the hose/wand/tools with the other hand. It adds a level of portability to the uprights.

Shark has several uprights with the lift away feature but it is important to know that there are two kinds of “lift away” – powered and non-powered. Powered lift away provides power at the end of the handle and wand while non-powered lift away does not. So you can only use power tools with the powered lift away.

CLEANING CONFIGURATIONS
Both units have the same three cleaning configurations.

1) As an upright.
2) Lift away pod with main cleaner head.
You hold the lift away pod with one hand while using the hose/wand/cleaner-head with the other hand. This allows you to get under low furniture while still using the main cleaner head (see image below).
3) Lift away pod with tools.
You hold the lift away pod with one hand while using the hose/tools with the other hand. This provides something close to a handheld vacuum. You can get into areas that an upright cannot (see image below).

HOSE LENGTH
Both machines have a 6 ft hose. This is rather short but the vacuums are designed for lift-away cleaning which doesn’t really need a long hose – and in some cases a long hose could be a hindrance.

DUST CANISTER
The dust canisters on the ZU632 and NV752 are the same size and they are easy to detach, empty and reattach to the machine. The system works well and we’ve never had an issue with either vacuum.

HEPA FILTER
Both vacuums have the same level of filtration and they have two pre-motor filters (one felt and one foam) as well as a HEPA level post motor filter. A HEPA filter is a very important feature for households with people suffering from asthma or allergies. It will remove the likes of tobacco smoke, dust mites, pet dander, pollen, mold spores, etc from the air.

SEALED SYSTEM
The vacuums have something called a sealed system. This ensures that all the air entering the vacuum goes through the filters before being exhausted from the machine. No unfiltered air escapes through cracks in the vacuum body or poor seals. This is a very important feature to have if you want true HEPA filtered air. Without this a HEPA filter may not be able to do its job.

HEADLIGHTS
Both machines have headlights built into the cleaner head. The lights are designed to last the life of the vacuum cleaner.

MOTOR
Both machines are rated at 1150 watts and 9.5 amps.

SHARK ZU632 vs SHARK NV752 – WHAT'S DIFFERENT?

POWER CORD
The Shark NV752 sports a 30 foot power cord while the power cord on the ZU632 is only 25 ft in length. It’s not clear why Shark reduced the power cord length – perhaps as a way of reducing overall vacuum weight? Or just cost savings? We’ve always found that a power cord less than 30 ft in length causes owner grumbling. The need to unplug the unit and hunt for a new power outlet can be annoying.

HANDLE
The vacuum handles are pretty much the same with one exception. The NV752 has a light on the end which illuminates the area in the front of the handle, which is handy when using a tool. There is no light on the ZU632 handle.

CLEANER HEAD
The cleaner head on the ZU632 has what Shark refers to as Zero-M Technology. This means it has a special self-cleaning brushroll and a comb-like device built into the cleaner head, both of which help to reduce any hair/string/thread tangling. We’ve tested this technology on a number of machines and it does work.

As you move the vacuum back and forth the technology strips hair off the brushroll and sends it to the dust canister. It isn’t perfect but in our tests it results in much less hair tangled on the brushroll - which means less maintenance for you.

The cleaner head on the NV752 sports a fairly traditional brushroll and it does have a tendency to gather hair/string/thread as you vacuum. As a result it requires more frequent cleaning.

HARD FLOOR MODE
While both machines have a hard floor mode, they operate differently. In hard floor mode the NV752 brushroll ceases spinning and you rely entirely on suction to pull up dust and debris. With the ZU632 the brushroll continues to spin, although much slower than it spins on carpet. The result of this in our tests is much better hard floor pickup for the ZU632. However if you have delicate flooring this may be an issue.

NUMBER OF TOOLS
As the “What’s Included” sections above show, the NV752 includes an additional tool that you do not get with the ZU632, namely the Pet Power Tool. The ZU632 tool set is rather sparse with only a crevice tool and a pet multi-tool.

WEIGHT
The ZU632 is a half pound lighter than the NV752. According to Shark the NV752 weighs 16.7 lbs while the ZU632 weighs 16.2 lbs (this is about right as we’ve weighed them both). It is interesting that in the past Shark used to state that the NV752 weighed 15.6 lbs. Perhaps this was without the power cord? We are not sure why the difference, but the 16.7 lbs quoted today seems accurate.

NOISE LEVEL
We performed noise level tests on both machines. We used a digital noise level meter and placed it 3 ft in front of the cleaner head on our low pile carpet. The vacuums were turned on and the brushroll was engaged. The peak decibel level over a 10 second period was captured. The ZU632 hit 77.4 dB while the NV752 only hit 75.2 dB.

You can actually hear the difference in noise level between the two vacuums. The ZU632 is louder and it seems like it is the result of the Zero-M Technology cleaner head. It generates a louder and higher pitched noise than the NV752 cleaner head.

CLEANING TESTS
We’ve performed cleaning tests with both the ZU632 and the NV752 and you can watch videos of the actual tests in our detailed ZU632 review. Following we provide the basic test results.

CARPET
Pickup tests on our low-pile carpet showed marginally better debris pickup from the NV752. This is perhaps the result of the more traditional brushroll.

HARD FLOOR
The ZU632 performed substantially better than the NV752 in this test. The spinning brushroll on the ZU632 did not cause scatter and it provided better debris pickup on our tile surface.

HAIR
Hair pickup by both machines was very good but only the ZU632 was able to send the bulk of the hair to the dust canister. The NV752 was left with lots of hair tangled in the brushroll. We used a combination of long black human hair and short white pet hair.

EDGE CLEANING
Both vacuums were very good at edge cleaning. We placed chili flakes up against our baseboards. Both vacuums picked up almost all of the chili flakes and were able to pull up chili flakes that were tight against the wall.

PRICES
We’ve priced these units on Amazon and, while numbers go up and down, both vacuums are very similar in price at about $300 USD. You can see current pricing in the links below:

WHAT SHOULD YOU BUY?
If you have lots of hard flooring and you will be vacuuming up hair (perhaps you have pets) then the ZU632 is a good choice. It is very effective on hard surfaces and the self-cleaning brushroll works to ensure you do not have to continually remove tangled hair.

One caveat is that the ZU632 brushroll does not stop spinning when in hard floor mode. It spins more slowly than it does on carpet, but it still spins. This could be an issue if you have very delicate wood flooring. The brushroll in the NV752 completely stops in hard floor mode.

If you have lots of carpet and little hair to worry about then the NV752 is probably your best bet. It is the best on carpet and you don’t really need the self-cleaning brushroll. It’s also nice to get the pet power tool and the longer power cord which you will not get with the ZU632.

If you have lots of carpet and lots of pet hair then it is something of a toss up. However we would opt for the ZU632 as it is still quite capable on carpet and the self-cleaning brushroll is a very handy feature.

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Nigel Russco has been reviewing and testing vacuums for over 14 years. He is a professional engineer and uses his review platforms to help consumers determine which vacuum cleaners are the best for their cleaning needs. Follow Nigel on facebook or view his vacuum review videos on the Vacuum Cleaner Advisor YouTube Channel.