Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I have owned way too many cordless stick vacuums. Shark. Eureka. Dirt Devil. Two types of Hoovers. Up to this point was the best was the Hoover Linx, which was in a class by itself. Nothing, not even the next step down Hoover came even close. It seemed expensive for $150, but it did a great job and the battery life was pretty good. The hand-held Linx however was terrible. But even with the stick Linx I had to own a "real vacuum" (A Dyson DC28 Animal) and pull it out pretty regularly. The Hoover was just for quick cleanup. And then I got this. The Hoover doesn't come close, either in terms of overall ease-of-use or cleaning power. You can switch from floor vac to hand vac in seconds (with the Hoover it's a separate unit). The suction is amazing. It comes with a good array of tools. Oddly the wall mount doesn't hold one of the tools, but that's minor gripe. It has a nice simple one-touch empting mechanism. The battery life is outstanding: on low I'm going about 20 minutes. On high I can go about 10 minutes. It has a low speed (perfect for wood floors) and a high speed (perfect for carpet and most furniture). This is great on stairs where it combines the power (nearly) of a corded vacuum with the flexibility of a stick/hand vac. It's light weight and easy to carry. One feature that may not please everyone is the trigger control for power: you have to constantly pull the trigger to keep it running. While that's fine for me, anyone with arthritis, or arm/hand strength issues will want to skip this vacuum - it just won't be useable for you. And there's one other thing: it looks cool. My kids want to play "Star Wars" with it. If you are going to spend $550 on a cordless vacuum, it might as well look good. The price is steep, and if you are on a budget, I would get a cheap (or no) cordless and spend your money on a good corded vac. But if the price fits in your budget I can say it's worth it. For me this really sold me on the "Dyson" hype. I am an engineer. I'm picky. This vacuum is proof that good design and engineering can still make great products. The end result: there's just no better cordless vacuum out there.