Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I received my Hoover WindTunnel T-Series Pet Rewind yesterday and have used it exactly twice, including a whole-house cleaning on hardwood and low-pile carpet today. So obviously this brief review is a first impression. My impression is that this is very good, powerful, feature-rich machine --- especially considering the low-cost. And it seems quite sturdy, though of course only time will tell on that score. Contrary to some other reviews, I find the dirt container very easy to empty and big enough. My 2000-square foot house was very dirty, and there was lots of pet hair. I emptied the container twice during the whole-house cleaning today, but that was out of an abundance of caution due to all the pet hair. (I noticed no loss of suction, and could easily have gotten by without emptying it until I was done, and maybe not even then.) The fold-down handle, automatic cord rewind, brushroll shutoff pedal, floor light, and pet hair turbo brush are all fine features. I agree with others who have criticized the short wand length. Another reviewer suggested using wands from an old vacuum. I tried using wands and attachments from my old Kenmore and they work perfectly with the Hoover! So now I can reach almost 10 feet, with tolerable loss of suction. This size and weight of machine is not ideal for stairs, but I knew that before I bought it. And with some effort, I can make it work on the stairs. (The User Manual points out that the vacuum has a stair cleaning handle just below the HEPA filter. Silly me, I would never have known this otherwise. Also, the turbo brush works fine on my low-pile carpeted stairs.) Overall, I am quite pleased so far. I will try to update this review as time goes on. ------------------------------------------ UPDATE AFTER ONE MONTH: I've now used this vacuum numerous times. Unfortunately, I must change my opinion to decidely negative (one star) because of a recurring problem. When the floor brushroll is shut off, the rubber drive belt often falls off the drive shaft. When this happens, in order to use the floor brushroll, I must turn the machine over, open the brushroll housing, and slip the belt over the drive shaft. Obviously, this is unacceptable. I called Hoover customer service and was told that they did not have any reports of this problem from others. If that is accurate, then my machine was a lemon; probably the brushroll shutoff pedal needed adjustment. However, when I called Hoover's local service outlet, I was told it might take more than a month to get a new part to fix the problem. Furthermore, the serviceman said this machine was built cheaply and would likely fail again within a year or two. I returned the machine to Amazon today. UPDATE AFTER SEVERAL MORE MONTHS: I replaced the Hoover with a Shark Navigator Professional Lift-Away Vacuum Cleaner - Model NV356E. Though slightly more expensive than the Hoover, the Shark works flawlessly. The Shark lacks cord auto-rewind and a few other non-essential features, but it is *very* elegantly designed for the main tasks. It's really day-versus-night compared to the Hoover.