We've had this vacuum for about five months now. It replaced an old top of the line Sears Kenmore "Whispertone" canister vac. The box says it picks up more dirt than any other canister, and after using it for a few months I believe it. We have carpet on the main and upper floors of our house, for a total of about 1800 sq. ft. of carpet along with some bare floor in the kitchen, entry way, and bathrooms. We also have two cats. As others have said, you do have to empty the dust bin often, but after seeing how much dirt it picks up I realized that either our old vacuum was leaving a lot of dirt in the carpet, or else we weren't changing the bag nearly often enough (which was probably every three or four vacuumings). Yes, it can be a dusty operation when you empty the dust bin, but I take the whole bin into the garage and empty it into the garbage can there, so the dust does not get back into the house. I'm not allergic to dust, but if I were I would wear one of those disposable dust masks to do this. However, I also had a problem with dust flying out of the opening of the bag for our old vacuum when changing them, so that wasn't a dust-free exercise either. I've found that my wet/dry shop vac in the garage does a great job of cleaning the dust and cat hair out of the first stage filter. I've even used it to help dry the filter after rinsing it, which I do after every couple weeks or so. This takes maybe five or ten minutes, which doesn't bother me, but if you have a lot of other chores on your list then it would seem less convenient.

I haven't had any reliability problems yet. My initial impression was that the included tools were very cheap, but after using them they actually seem to be of higher quality than I thought. The bristles on the dusting brush are stiffer than those of the brush for our old vacuum, but that old brush works fine on the Hoover, so I use it on more delicate surfaces, such as computer keyboards. The air-powered hand tool is amazing. I was skeptical at first but have found that a good powered brush seems to be at least as important for picking up animal hair than powerful suction, if not more so. I use the powered hand tool on the risers of our carpeted stairs, as well as on our duvet cover for the down comforter on our bed (which the cats love to sleep on). The crevice tool is very short, but I haven't had to use it yet that I can remember so I can't say it's a bad thing - just different than our old crevice tool (which we could still use if we wanted).

The Hoover, while not what I would call quiet, is noticeably quieter than the old Kenmore, especially on the slower speeds. Most of the noise seems to come from the powered brush anyway, and that seems about as loud as the Sears. It's also lighter and easier to carry than the Kenmore - I sometimes carry the vacuum while I clean rather than pulling it behind me, holding it with my left hand while I "drive" with my right. It's also smaller, so you sacrifice the ability to store all the attachments on the vacuum - the bare floor tool and powered hand tool do not store on the vacuum. The main hose is a bit shorter than that of the Sears, which I though would be an inconvenience, but I find that it gets in the way much less often and seems to make maneuvering the vacuum a bit easier. I do miss the swivel hose feature of the Kenmore, however, and think it would be a nice addition to the Hoover. The Hoover's telescoping wand is extremely useful - I would never own another canister vac that didn't have a telescoping wand (our Sears didn't have one). The auto height adjustment of the carpet tool seems to work fine (it really just uses the weight of the head to "adjust", so there's no magic or "brains" to it), and the powered brush is very aggressive. I think this is most of the reason for its ability to get animal hair out of carpet. The power cord is a few feet shorter than on the Sears, so I have to move the plug to a different outlet a bit more often, but it serves as a good reminder to check the dust bin and empty it. Frequent emptying seems to help prevent the filter from getting more clogged. The cord winder doesn't seem to be as robust as on the Sears, and I sometimes have to give it a few tries before it rewinds completely into the vacuum. We'll see how well it holds up over time. The power controls are on the handle, and are easy to use.

Overall I am very pleased with the way the Hoover cleans and would recommend this vacuum. You do have to empty the dirt more often, which is the biggest inconvenience with it, but I consider this worth the time and effort in exchange for not having to buy bags.

Recommended: Yes

Amount Paid (US$): 380.00