Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I dearly love my dog - a chocolate lab - but as of late the house was starting to smell...not fresh... Perhaps I needed a different vacuum cleaner to replace the canister vac that had finally run it's course. Being of a certain age (that means well into my 50s) I've had many, many years of housecleaning experience. I grew up with a Kenmore canister vac, and I used a Kenmore cansiter vac all my adult life . (No not the same one, I've a had a couple...) I hated the discharge smell from my old vacuum cleaner eventhough I change the bag every single time and I questioned how well it was picking up the pet hair. I did a little internet research, checked with various women folk and concluded I needed a Dyson bagless. Until I priced one. So back to the internet and Consumers Report. And - this model came up as pretty good and not too much money. So eventhough I figure that putting some decent money down for a good appliance is not usually a bad strategy, I decided to go cheap - Dyson $600, Hoover WindTunnel $100. In my mind I could not convince myself that the Dyson was 6 times better. And so I went cheap. The RESULTS: This Hoover Windtunnel cleaned my rugs like they haven't been cleaned in ages. The sheer amount of gunk that the machine picked up was embarassing. And overnight my house smelled better. And my rugs were brighter. And they were cushier. Really - it lifted the pile. I am pleased, to say the least, and I am willing to put up with its bad points as long as it keeps on cleaning my rugs. The bad points of this machine? Oh...there are a few... 1. It's made kinda cheap, no getting around it, but it's only $100 so it's actually pretty good for the money. I only paid $80 for it because of the $20 rebate and no shipping charge because I have Amazon Prime. For $80 I figured if I get a couple of years out of it, I'm still ahead, I don't mind if I have to replace it. 2. The hose - for heavens sake...you pull it out, put the attachment on, turn on the machine and the suction actually pulls on the hose so you kind of have to fight it to use it. Not so good - but I knew that was going to be an issue from reading the reviews. I was prepared to be underwhelmed... 3. Got a fair amount of wood floors? Get the model that has a switch for turning off the rotating head. It's not helpful to have the vac whirring around when you are doing bare floors - but again I knew that. I have a broom. And a dust mop. And not alot of bare floors. 4. The cord is short...at least shorter than what I've had before and shorter than what it should be. So - I get out my orange, three prong, heavy duty, manly extension cord that I took from my husband's shop and use that - and the vac reaches everywhere I need it to without unplugging it 5 times. Yes, I know you are not supposed to use an extension cord with vacuum cleaners, but it's okay if you use the heavy duty kind. No wimpy extension cords that you use for your lamps or Christmas candles on the window sill... 5. Emptying out the cansiter - no way around it - it's messy. I take it outside and dump it in a bag so the dust is not being reintroduced into the house. And I have to do that a couple of times - because it's still picking up a ton of gunk from my rugs. And that part is rather satisfying - "Look at all the dirt this thing pulled out of the rugs...dear, come and look... really - you gotta see it!!" The novelty will probably wear off in awhile. 6. The dog doesn't like this vacuum cleaner any better than the last one. Oh well. Too bad for her. Run doggie run. ONE YEAR LATER FOLLOW-UP: Soooo - just about one year later and the machine is still doing just about as well as when I first used it. Still sucking gunk and doggie hair out of the carpets. And still NO SMELL! And yes, I still marvel at the gunk in the canister as I dump it (messily, true) into the garbage. Would I buy another when the time comes? Yes. Do I recommend it? Yes. My daughter-in-law bought one (she has a dog) and loves it; I bought one for my daughter in college (she has a cat) and she loves it. Do the bad points I mentioned above still apply? Well yes, BUT - it hasn't broken yet so we're still good to go. And the dog still hates it.