I gave my mom my old hoover windtunnel because her vacuum broke and I thought it would be a great excuse to get a new vacuum. We honestly went through seven vacuums in two months, quite a few hoovers, two dirt devils and a dyson. All of them blew out. We did not have a padding under our carpet because it was handicap accessible and often had to clean up bird seed and shells from our conure. The last day we tried the hoover pet vac and the dirt devil, both of which blew out in the same day. After returning the dirt devil, I decided to try the only one left that we hadn't done which was the Shark. I had already vacuumed with two vacs and brought this home... I filled the canister twice just going over my living/dining and part of the hall near the kitchen. My allergies also haven't been as bad since I've been using this. I thought the dyson was suppose to be the best on the market and this clearly out-performed it. The downside is that the hose isn't as long as a traditional vacuum which I also found to be the same with the hoover pet vac. You get use to it though. It's easy to take apart, lift up and still reach with. The bulkiness of the body can be annoying to get under tight spaces and the vent is right on the front. Make sure you remove papers and small objects out of it's path because they will blow all over the place--this thing has power! I basically just had to get use to vacuuming a slightly different way, and it's honestly been for the better!