the vacuum itself when new be excellent . it do a great job of cleaning , have plenty of suction and agitate and groom carpet really well . the allergen reduction system -lrb- filter bag , motor filter and `` hepa '' filtration on the exhaust -rrb- be pretty good at reduce airborne particle . that be say , the quality of most of the material be pretty poor and some of the engineering choice be really questionable . the vacuum have a spring-loaded dingus that remove the roller load from the motor when it be lock in the upright position or when you manually toggle the bare floor setting . initially , this work alright -lrb- if not a bit kludgey ... -rrb- however , after 12 month or so of use , mine stop disengage the roller and would burn through the thin plastic belt if you do not immediately toggle the bare floor switch . I be sort of reluctant to live with this , but since it be really the only issue with the machine at this point , it be not too terrible . just lock it upright , flip the switch . tilt the handle back , untoggle the switch . this allow I to keep the machine from eat belt and save I from have to hear the roller spin and rattle in the upright position . we continue to use the vacuum in this condition for a while , but since it be out of warranty , the price to fix the broken belt mechanism be go to be about the same as a new machine . it end up lasting another 6 month or so until this week when it decide to start burn through belt even when the mechanism be set to bare floor , the exhaust filter retention bracket -lrb- cheap plastic -rrb- become brittle and break when we change the filter and the bag retention mechanism -lrb- again , cheap plastic -rrb- become brittle and break when we replace the bag , and the left bearing cap melt -lrb- I would wager due to the heat cause by the weird belt condition -rrb- now , this be not the result of mistreat or beat on it or anything . these part merely wear out over the course of 18 month , which I suppose be not terrible when some of the reviewer have indicate a machine life of less than 12 month . I would not really recommend this unit to anyone unless you enjoy replace vacuum cleaner every 12 month . Ours have since be replace by a Hoover platinum upright that feel much more solid , have a better warranty and comparable suction and allergen reduction , which we be extremely happy with .