Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I am a vac expert. Over the years, I have purchased MANY bagless vacs (including various 'Fantoms' when the bagless craze began years ago), both large and small, from MANY manufacturers, and have given out some well-deserved 5 star ratings here. I have had both good luck and bad luck with Eurekas, however this 'Optima' vac falls short in some important key areas, which may not affect your needs. It feels a bit chincy and cheap when in use, tracks with much resistance (compared to many other easier gliding vacs, including other better Eurekas such as the excellent 'Maxima 5550A'), has a much too short cord and cheap, small plastic wheels that bog down on carpet, comes with just two infrequently used accessory tools (should have come with a more practical 'flat floor tool' for stairs/floors/hard to get areas under furniture, etc.), and does not have ANY carpet height settings (which of course, does affect rolling resistance). Even on hard floors like wood or tile, it tracks like a cheap child's toy. Maybe larger or rubber wheels would improve this vac a bit. In addition, the motor's strong exhaust wind is blown IN FRONT of the machine close to the floor, thus often blowing and dispersing 'dust bunnies' and other stuff to be vacuumed all over the place or even up into the air! You have to thus inconveniently angle the vac upwards a certain way to minimize this problem. On the positive side, the 'Optima' is compact, lightweight, and very portable, and a good way to vacuum in 'tight spaces' where larger vacs don't fit. Suction is EXCELLENT as well. If and when Eureka improves upon this current design, this vac will easily merit 5 stars. So overall, if some of the above shortcomings won't affect you, I would recommend this vac if you need a small and highly portable unit. In that regard, and after using this vac extensively for a few weeks now, I am upgrading my rating to THREE AND A HALF stars. This is a VERY GOOD small, portable vac that will more than suffice for most users.