Dyson DC44 Animal Cordless Vacuum Cleaner - Blue

I've only owned this vacuum for a little while, so this is a first impression review. Also, I hardly ever give anything five stars as that would be a perfect product in my opinion and this is definitely not a perfect product. So even though it has only three stars, that does not mean that I do not like the product. It means that there are things to consider before you plunk down several hundreds of dollars for this machine. Pros: 1) Very easy to use and operate. 2) Light weight with good build quality 3) Works very well on hardwood and tile / linoleum floors 4) No Cord ? Yeah!! - Big Yeah!! Cons: 1) Not very powerful suction 2) Doesn't work well on carpet 3) Very small dust container 4) Short operating time (20 minutes) vs. long charging time (5 hrs.) 5) You must hold trigger all the time for operation 6) It doesn't hold any extra attachments on the machine and some / not all can attach to the charging station 7) Cleaning heads (there are two different ones) are a bit small for me Now for my impressions: We have 2 dogs that shed a lot and constantly, and even though we have a lot of hardwood floors, we do have a number of area rugs throughout the house. We also live in the southwest where there is a LOT of dust and dirt. The Dyson works great at cleaning both the dirt and pet hair off the hardwood, but is very poor at vacuuming the dog hair off the area rugs. It is faster for me to pull out our canister vacuum and hook it up and use it than to use the Dyson. Also, I have to empty the Dyson several times each time I vacuum which can get a bit old. I have also run out of "juice" several times, so I have to recharge the vacuum before I can finish with all I need to do. As I mentioned in the Pro and Cons, it doesn't have as much suction as I thought it might, yet it seems to pick up everything pretty well on the hardwood floors, but it does struggle with dog hair on the rugs which are Turkish and Persian and so have a short nap and should be fairly easy to clean I would think. Our fairly inexpensive canister vacuum does a good job with the rugs. All in all, I do like the vacuum for quick and easy jobs on both our hardwood and tile floors, but I still use our canister for all the big jobs or when I need to clean the rugs. If you are looking for a handheld vacuum to replace your upright or canister, this probably won't do if you have either kids or pets. It might be fine if you live in a small house where you don't have much dirt, dust, and or pet hair to deal with. It does seem to be very well engineered and well built. Just make sure that you realize that it has it's strengths and a few weaknesses that you might find a little disappointing if you aren't aware of what this machine is built for and what it can and can't do. Finally, I do love the fact that there is no cord. That in and of itself makes this a useful product if you keep the limitations in mind. A thumbs up with a caution about it's shortcomings. PS... this review is for a refurbished model. I was very lucky and got one that looks like it was sent back only because some one didn't like it as it was in what looked like brand new condition. Hope you get one that nice as well as the savings over a new one is substantial and I'm not sure that I would buy one at the full price.