We had a 20-yearold Eureka bagless that broke, and this was the nearest we found. Glad we did! It's a little larger than the broken one, but a bit less large, heavy and cumbersome than our old Hoover upright. And a lot lighter in weight! This one (somehow) came with the extra pet-hair mini roller brush, but I had to go look up the Bissell version on line to find out how to take it apart for cleaning the mini roller. Works the same, and the device is REALLY useful for getting into small places. We have a long-hair cat. With 8 amps, this thing really pulls up dirt! Seriously pulls up dirt! I set it to the low "Carpet" level, for an old shag carpet in the trailer house. I'm living here, but the owner's been here for a long time. I've been cleaning with that old Eureka, and it's (I thought) been pretty clean. I was getting a lot of fuzz, cat hair, and some fine dirt, but all in all, okay. Then I used this guy! Holy Cow!! The first pass after setting it up, there was almost an entire "bucket" container of something greyish-brown. Plus a lot of fuzz and a lot of cat hair. I asked the owner, who told me that many years ago, she'd had a flea problem and sprinkled diatomaceous earth all over. Fixed the fleas, but she never cleaned the carpets. Suddenly, I'm using this new Eureka and it's pulling EVERYthing out of the carpet! After only two times using it (back in April; it's now September), almost all that "dust" was gone. Now, I'm getting general dirt, cat hair, dust and carpet fuzz. Normal. 1. After the first-time use, with the massive amount of "newly discovered" dirt, the roller bar was almost entirely clear! No wrapped hair or anything gunked up in the brush bristles. Amazing! 2. Disassembling for cleaning, I found that the main vacuum body was almost entirely clean! No outer dust anywhere on the plastic. The only dust was at the connection hole between the body and the container bucket -- easy to clean with a swipe of a sponge or rag. 3. Cleaning the container and filter was pretty simple, but a little bit of time involved. Cleaning: A push-button on the top handle releases the catch bin as a complete unit unto itself. There's another button near the bottom of that basin, which then releases a gravity-operated "lid." BE SURE TO KEEP THE BOTTOM OF THE BUCKET WELL BELOW THE UPPER EDGE OF YOUR TRASH CONTAINER! By pushing the release button to open the bottom of the bucket, you're simply dropping out ALL the crud you've picked up in the catch basin! It comes flying out, dust-cloud and all! Still, there's some remaining junk clinging to the clear plastic bucket walls. I like "BANG!" cleaner spray, which is cheap (Dollar Tree), and works very well. I also have a spray attachment on the kitchen sink, which makes it very easy to get water inside the bucket "tube." There's a plastic "clasp" or catch you pull on, to open the top of the overall basin. I'd imagine that catch will eventually break, but who knows.....none of the plastic on the 20-yearold ever broke. With the bottom open and the top hinged back, you can clean the entire catch basin. It's large enough (easily) that you can get your hand in there with a sponge. The BANG! makes it easier, and water rinses it all out. The entire filter section comes apart, which is why I bought this. You lift out the filter assembly (the instruction manual shows how), and there are several parts. The filter itself is foam with some sort of paper on top. It's there to prevent dust from blowing into the motor, and both the bottom (foam) and top (paper) got totally covered with dust. Being gentle with it, I was easily able to clean it under running water. I couldn't find these round filters anywhere in stores, so ordered a 6-pack of replacements on Amazon. Not all that expensive. I've used and cleaned this vacuum now probably 8 times (since April, it's now September), and the filter is still pretty together. I can see it's going to degrade, but if it lasts four months (or more), then I only need to replace it three times a year. Very cost effective. And this place has all the old micro dust along with the cat hair, so the filter has to get cleaned after each use. For "normal people" and their homes, I think you could use the cleaner several times without cleaning every single time. The attachments are all there, easily stored on the body of the machine. The hose attaches to the roller base during upright use, and comes loose to attach to the handle for portable use. DO follow the instruction manual! The places for the attachments, and how to connect the different hose operations aren't immediately obvious. Some people complain that the roller bar always turns. The old Eureka had a 2-way switch for upright (with roller bar), and portable (for smooth floors and portable use). This power switch only is On/Off. I don't care. You can raise the level of the roller for "wood floors," if it really makes you anxious. All in all, having sold vacuum cleaners in the past, I'd have to say this is one of the most powerful machines I've ever seen for its size, weight, and price! Yes, it's all plastic, to keep the weight around 8-10lbs or so, but today's plastics are pretty rugged. I'm thinking it'll last long enough to be a good investment. Read more
