Having grown frustrated with myself for only finding time and motivation to write a review when I'm disappointed with something, I wanted to seize this opportunity to sing the praises of this remarkable machine! We bought this vacuum to replace an Oreck Touch which had failed . . . again. Odd thing: I've always regarded Oreck as a 'top shelf' product, and heard good things about their customer service -- while I've always perceived Shark to be a cheaply made, lower-end product... I have been proven profoundly wrong on both counts! While I have had no need to interact with Shark's customer service so far, I couldn't be more pleased with the thoughtful overall design, imaginatively useful features, and surprising feel of quality I'm experiencing with this vacuum. One of our foremost gripes with our prior vacuum had been its absurd vulnerability to clogging if you ever tried to have it pick up anything larger than an eyelash... (Yeah, okay... That's a bit of hyperbole -- but even being more careful about what we expected it to pick up than we felt we needed to be, it would clog on virtually EVERY use.) THIS vacuum is proving a wonderful contrast to that experience! Last night I was using the wand to reach some dust-bunnies behind the toilet in my girls' bathroom and inadvertently sucked up one of those protective plastic caps you need to remove from a stick of antiperspirant before use. As I heard it get sucked up, I immediately thought, "Oh, crap! How much of this machine am I going to have to dismantle in order to find the spot where this thing will become trapped?!!" Following the suction path through the hoses and 'elbows', etc, I came up empty -- until I finally noticed the cap reposing in the dust container, 'comfortably' nestled into the dust and dog hair! THAT truly impressed me! Additionally, the headlights on the base are both well placed and bright enough to be of real use! Particularly on bare floors, where they illuminate any debris or hair, etc. amazingly well. This makes it easier to discern the areas of floor still in need of attention. And, even on bare floors, it does a terrific job of picking up whatever -- from pet hair to fine dust. The easily detachable wand makes grabbing debris behind dresser legs, etc a breeze. The ability to detach the handle portion of the hose FROM the wand makes use of the brush attachment (or furniture attachment) quick and easy to wield. Lamp shades and bases etc are receiving far more frequent (and quicker!) attention because this is so much easier than I'm used to! Oh, and it's SO much quieter than I've grown to expect! The dust container is easy to remove and empty. Opening at both ends, there are no cavities where hair can get trapped. (On our previous vacuum, this would ALWAYS require getting your hands filthy, necessitating digging well up into the container with your fingers to remove large wads of hair and dust trapped by the design of the inner cone). Every time I empty this, I am so pleased with how simple, quick and relatively clean the task is! Our last vacuum's filters became clogged after nearly every use. This vacuum's filter chamber has a sticker affixed to it recommending the filters be cleaned once every three months. And based on what I'm observing so far (nearly three weeks in), it looks like that will be about right. (I ended up literally throwing away our previous vacuum with three years left on its warranty. Though we had given those dang filters FAR more attention than they should have deserved--while there was VERY little discussion in their literature given to emphasizing that priority--the repair agent informed us that this second warranty repair for the same problem (loss of suction--even when the filters had just been cleaned--and a strong ozone odor) in a very short period of time, was being denied 'because we had failed to adequately service the filters'!! Already, the Shark is proving a vastly superior design, and I'm experiencing none of the frustration with the filters that had become 'par for the course' previously.) The "Lift Away" feature is a real bonus. By pressing one button, the canister (lighter in weight than I'd have expected) lifts away from the floor base to become a 'carry-along' unit, making reaching for cobwebs high on a wall or ceiling, etc a quick and simple task. And if a 'roll-along' canister vac is your preference, there is a thoughtfully designed wheeled-base provided for such use. Some reviews have noted this unit's propensity to tip over -- and if you're using the wand for reaching things while the vacuum is still in 'upright mode', that is true. But I haven't found that to be an issue if you're using the roll-around base. So far, the only "con" I can think of is that the canister portion of the vacuum is bulky enough to prevent it from reaching very far under furniture -- like say, a bed or coffee table. Given all the other upsides there are though, that seems a pretty small downside. And there is a full-width floor attachment that can be connected to the wand making reaching far under such items quite easy. So congratulations Shark! You're really changed my mind! I never thought I'd find myself gushing with enthusiasm over one of your products. But I'm really enjoying using this. I'm very impressed! You might have gotten a boost from our bitter experience with your competitor's product -- but I sincerely think you deserve nearly all the credit. This is a terrific machine! Well done! ___________________ Follow-up: About nine months later, and I still couldn't be happier with this machine! It still feels solid, performs incredibly well, and has been so easy to live with! Sometimes we buy things that look good at first blush, but it doesn't take long for them to start falling apart. NOT true with this vacuum! Even the pieces that usually bind or break, such as the small rollers on the leading edge of the pick-up head, are still fully intact and have never gotten bound with dog hair, like I believe every prior vacuum we've ever owned did. I'm still very impressed, Shark! Well done!!!
