I'm picky, and I love this one (so far)!

Today I finally reached the breaking point with my other vacuum cleaner and searched through the reviews here for a new candidate. After reading quite a few, I decided to buy this one; I called up Best Buy, they had it in stock, I ran out and bought it, and I've already cleaned my house from top to bottom. It's not perfect, but I am extremely happy with it so far.

First, as others have noted, it is extremely easy to put together. "Putting it together" consists of attaching the handle to the body of the vacuum by screwing in three screws. It took no more than five minutes and I was able to do it while talking on the phone.

After assembling the vacuum, I noticed that it is a bit bulky and awkward. Others have estimated its weight to be between 20-30 pounds. I tried to find an actual weight in the manual, to no avail, however, I would guess it's closer to 20 pounds than 30. Still, that's quite heavy. The problem is compounded by the fact that there is no handle for carrying it up and down stairs -- the top of the handle has a hook, but it is too high off the ground to carry the vacuum comfortably unless you are very tall. Also, it is very wide (15 inches). This is touted as a feature, but I found it to be inconvenient for getting into small areas and for storage.

"Why did she say she was very pleased?" you may be asking yourself. The reason I love this vacuum is that the suction is fantastic and it cleans better than any vacuum I've had in ten years -- the job it did ridding my house of pet hair was nothing short of amazing. I was about to throw out my living room rug because I thought it looked ratty, but vacuuming out all the dirt and pet hair, the rug looks practically brand new! All the pet hair that had fallen in crevices and cracks in the wood floor are gone, the dirt and dust and grime from winter-time dirty shoes -- gone. My house is the clean! Hallelujah!

It's fairly bare-bones as far as attachments are concerned. It has two brushes, one for dusting and one for upholstery, two extension wands, and one crevice tool. I found these to be plenty, but I generally don't use attachments very often, so if you rely on them, you might want to take a careful look at the vacuum before buying it. The hose is easy to plug in and is the highest quality that I've seen in some time. The packing material says it is a 5:1 wire-reinforced hose. Not sure what the 5:1 refers to, but the wire and the quality of the plastic do make it feel substantial and unlikely to split (as happened to one of my earlier vacuums).

Other comments:

* The materials used for most of the body of the vacuum seem slightly cheap, but no more so than any other one I've had recently.

* Others have noted that it is very quiet -- I honestly didn't notice that it was quieter than my last one, but it wasn't notably loud, either.

* I don't think it is self-propelled (at least there's nothing about that in the manual), but it does seem to move forward on its own, I guess because the brush pulls it along. This is a nice feature, even if accidental, because as noted above, the vacuum is fairly heavy.

* There is a switch that allows you to turn the brush on or off (for bare floors). I found the switch tricky to use at first, but once I figured out how to operate the switch, it definitely worked.

* There are at least 10 height adjustments which I think is overkill, but which doesn't detract from the quality of the vacuum or its ease of use.

* The light, which is advertised as a feature, doesn't seem to serve much function, since it's not close to the floor.

* The HEPA filter does prevent dust from escaping from the vacuum.

* The cord is very long (30 feet).

* I miss the ability to turn the vacuum on and off with my foot, as I could do with one of my previous vacuums, but the switch on the handle is easy to reach.

* A major drawback, as far as I'm concerned, is that you have to use a screwdriver to change the belt. That was true on my last cleaner, so maybe all new vacuums have this inconvenient feature.

Overall, I am very happy with this purchase so far. I will report on how well it's held up after I've had it for several months. So far, all I can say is, "Eureka! A vacuum cleaner that works!"