Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

like everyone else, i'm amazed, stunned, speechless at the amount of dirt this machine picks up. i got the animal because i have long-haired cats--any my current vacuum is nearly 30 years old. yes, the suction is amazing. but there are a few less than wonderful things about this machine. first, the instructions are a bit terse. and fail to mention the parts that need to be closed before there can be any suction, especially to the hose. i found those by accident, trying to get the thing to work. second, it's really cumbersome. i knew it wasn't a tiny machine, but i didn't expect it to be so extremely hard to manuver, especially with one hand (so i won't be vacuuming behind some of my curtains, since i can't lift them out of the way with one hand and move the vacuum with the other). i used the wand to vacuum the stairs and that was surprisingly heavy and awkward--which meant tiring. speaking of stairs, while the wand did a really good job of vacuuming, it didn't reach all the way up my perfectly normal staircase. the mini-turbine did pick up a lot of cat hair, but was the wrong shape and size to reach the full tread or the vertical portions. i had to go over the stairs a second time with the crevesse tool, and, if i'd wanted to be really thorough, i should have used a third tool to properly clean the vertical bits. which is, at least, inefficient. it's annoying that the tool for getting under furniture does not fit onto the machine. again, an inefficient and time wasting matter, especially for people with more than one storey to clean. all the buttons that need pressing are somewhat stiff. since i'm trying not to let my current manual problems develop into carpal tunnel syndrome, i wasn't too happy at the amount of effort it took to attach/detach tools and parts. there are enough people suffering from carpal tunnel that this should have been addressed. instead of advertisements on the machine parts, it would have been nice to put written or pictorial instructions. i know i won't always be carrying the instructions around while i vacuum, but i have to now. it would be nice if the control for the beater was either foot friendly or higher up the machine. as it is, i have to bend down and move it by hand every time i move from hardwood to carpet--which occurs in almost every room. lastly, the cord. i cannot believe someone couldn't fit a better cord storage/management device onto this machine. the cord is conveniently long, but that only makes dealing with it more important. my canister's cord can be automatically re-wound or partially played out, depending on where i'm working. one really wonderful thing about dyson: the customer help line is not only polite, but friendly, and also extremely helpful. dyson should start teaching other companies how to treat customers. i will probably finally decide the machine was worth the price (especially when i consider how much i've spent in vain trying to keep the stairs vacuumed). not having to track down bags will be nice. controlling the pet hair will be nice. but i hope in a few years dyson offers a machine with the capablilities of this one in a more manuverable and user-friendly frame.