Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

4 month update and clarification. THIS MACHINE STILL ROCKS!!! my girlfriend and i have taken the time to learn and understand the small secrets of this machine, taken time to talk and work with the severin people in germany (they are very nice and offer great customer service online) and we/i just want to take a moment to discuss and clarify some of the negative or confusing q&a, reviews - and pass on our experience to date. if you search through the q&a's you will see i have passed along whatever we have learned and my answers are rock solid (confirmed through severin or our own experience before posted) - so please take the time to check them out . also, please be aware i do not do reviews generally, am not a severin employee or lackey or a bot just a guy/couple who believe this machine deserves it's due. first off - what you are buying is a bmw manual transmission "m" series at honda accord pricing which means - you get a mind bending deal for a monster machine but you have to learn how to use the tools you have been given. driving a bmw "m" series like you would your subaru means you strip the clutch, overuse the brakes, create multiple engine problems simply because you never took the time to understand the machine and it's fine points. this is what i see in the negative reviews. so here goes addressing the negative reviews: 1. "cheap" and "complete mistake": the canister and body are engineered in germany to extremely tight tolerances and built with high quality poly carbon fibers in china with severin quality control overseeing everything 24/7. ours took a tumble down the brownstone staircase and there was not a scratch dent or chip to find. if "complete mistake" had taken the time to contact severin he might have likely received a full refund and a gift card. we got free filters and a gift card when the filters went missing from the u.s market for a short time. severin customer service is outstanding if you are willing to contact them online and wait 48 hours for translation and resolution. 2." complete mistake", "difficult on carpets", "not as great..." these users did not spend the time to understand their machine and it's attachments. the suction is strong (overwhelming actually - which lead to a lot of complaints) but you are given a number of options and attachments to compensate - you just need to take the time to understand them. the canister has suction control, the hose and wand have suction control and the attachments have suction controls. every floor, carpet, tile, and fabric has different characteristics. severin gives you the option to learn those characteristics and then apply the attachment and suction tweak that works for you. "difficult on carpets" and "not as great" simply needed to tweak suction or use another attachment. this is where my bmw "m" series vs. a subaru analogy kicks in. if you want to double clutch a bmw "m" series at 30 mph going into fourth - of course it is going to stall... the machine was built to double clutch at much higher revs... and the severin is built to those standards. 3. criticism about an inability to pick up cat or dog hair? again the users have not taken the time to learn their machine. the jet drive has both a suction option (located on it's head), a suction option located on the canister, a suction option located on the handle as well as a clean option which allows you to easily pop the brushes out to clean and reinvigorate this attachment. our suggestion to serverin was to make this option available on all their attachments which they are looking at. our experience is it overwhelming picks up every last piece of hair and you have to spend time cleaning the attachments which is o.k. with us. 4. regarding the "small bag problem." agian - it's a bmw "m" series. simply open the compartment, "fluff" the bag and carry on. if you want a "no brainer" this machine is not for you. for 169.00 u.s you are getting a killer machine - but you actually have to think about it - do some tests with the attachments and find out what is right for you. i get we live in a world where "it should work no matter how dumb i am" but i come from a world where you need to understand the machine and become one. it's easy, takes a few minutes and will be quite rewarding... otherwise - buy the dyson or meile and get sucked into paying more for less. peace and good cheer THIS MACHINE ROCKS!!! my trusty craftsman canister with power head died after 20+ years and my girlfriend insisted on a dyson. wonderful suction but a real nightmare (and expensive) to clean, maintain and repair. in addition the dyson "ball" does not allow one to get under the couch or other furniture and the "wand" is way too short for tackling the same situations and also continued to jam in the storage position. there are numerous you tube videos outlining dyson maintenance and repair procedures - so if you do not mind spending hours simply trying to get your vacuum to work dyson is the product for you. after spending as much to repair the dyson and buy filters as the machine originally cost i had had enough. that was the beauty of my craftsman - plug it in, turn it on, change the bag every couple months, it sucked up everything and zero repair costs... a no brainer. so that's what we were looking for in a replacement. my girlfriend wanted the miele c series but spending $350+ on a vacuum (and filters) seemed crazy and after checking a neighbors out we were both unimpressed with the suction, attachments, costs and noise associated with the machine. we checked out the craftsman line and the build quality was obviously cheap and shoddy (although for the price point it came with a powerhead driven by an electronic motor). so we gave the severin a shot (after reviewing it the best we could) figuring at the cost ($165) - its might become a throw-away and we would learn a hard lesson about buying a product impossible to find for a "real world" hands-on test. it has only been six weeks but my girlfriend, myself and our cleaning lady are all in agreement - GREAT MACHINE AT THIS PRICE POINT!! i want to point out that "jet drive" or powerhead used for cat hair, etc. is not electric as stated in the q&a. it is "turbo powered" meaning the brush wheels are driven by the vacuums suction not an electric motor. we have three cats (both short and long hair) and this option seems to work fine. those with long haired dogs might find otherwise but it also sucks the cats thin thread and ribbon play scraps up without jamming (as of this writing). like the dyson there are few instructions with the machine but the tool pack seems quite useful for different surfaces (bathroom tile, kitchen linoleum, wood parquet floors and short/long hair carpets although we are still figuring out the best tool for the corresponding surface. the severin also has many options for suction control which is also quite nice but another thing you need to spend time figuring out. there is a main suction dial on the body for four general surfaces and an addition valve in the handle of the wand that one can "fine tune" suction with. the wand is easy to collapse or extend for storage or cleaning high places, the build quality appears solid (even though it is made in china- german enigineering defeats poor chinese build/quality control) and the canister footprint is a third smaller than the craftsman which makes it ideal for those with small apartments or storage spaces. FINALLY THIS BABY IS AS QUIET AS A CHURCH MOUSE!! the cats used to scatter after turning on the craftsman or dyson... now they just watch us vacuum. it rolls easily, the wand is adjustable so short and tall people can adjust to their comfort level and again, the german engineering gives it a nice build quality and feel. as i said it has only been six weeks so i will return with a six month review - but so far... its a giant killer!! P.S. I AGREE WITH THE REVIEWER WHO STATED THE CARPET CLEANING HEAD CAN BE DIFFICULT TO CLEAN BUT CONTACTED SEVERIN SUGGESTING SOME IDEAS FOR EASIER ACCESS TO THE HEAD WHICH THEY SEEMED INTERESTED IN SO STAY TUNED...