I love this vacuum! It is one of the best purchases I've ever made.
PROS:
* Picks up so much hidden dirt in our thick carpet, it scared us the first time we looked in the canister!
* For how much power it has, it is actually very quiet - quieter than our old 10 amp vacuum.
* Turns on a dime and gets into nooks and crannies really well - we don't have to use the hand tools on every single wall edge.
* The attachment with moving brushes cleans stares amazingly well.
* No filters or bags to buy - this is a huge plus as we could never find a replacement filter for our old vacuum.
* The cord is very long and it retracts into the vacuum. Wow. I find wrapping up long cords so annoying. Having this cord self retract is actually kind of fun (ok, so I'm easily amused!)
* The color is trendy.
* It is fairly lightweight.
* I like that you can adjust the height for different carpet lengths. I know that this isn't a groundbreaking feature, but not all vacuums have it and it makes a big difference.
CONS:
* While it is comparatively lightweight, people that have a hard time lifting may find it a little heavy.
* Other reviews complain that pet hair can get stuck in the canister, and that at times you may have to reach in slightly with two fingers to pull the hairs out. To me, this is only a minor annoyance. With any bagless vacuum, there will usually be some occasional contact with the materials that you you are cleaning off of your carpets.
OVERALL: This is a great vacuum for the price. If this is within your price range, you should go for it.
UPDATE: 2 years later, and this vacuum is still amazing. Juan's list of pros is spot on.
However good this vacuum is for the price, it still isn't perfect. Here are some new Cons to add to my list.
CONS:
*The belt slips now and then. That being said, the belt has not yet snapped. The belt on my mother-in-laws Oreck . . . now that's another story. The belt reattaches fairly easily for me (with no tools needed, as Juan mentioned) but I can imagine a person in a weakened state (elderly, perhaps) would maybe have a little trouble stretching it back on.
*The canister has to be changed quite frequently. This is a Pro and a Con, in a way. It's a Pro, because the vacuum picks up dirt and hair so efficiently, that you can feel pretty confident about the cleanliness of the floor. It's a Con, because changing the canister every few minutes can be a little irritating at times. I'm guessing that there was some design reason for the canister being a little on the small side - my guess is that a bigger one would probably decrease suction power, thereby requiring a more powerful engine, which would, in turn, increase the price. Overall, this is a small Con.
* About a year ago, I noticed that the suction decreased dramatically. After some probing around, I realized the culprit; a clog in the internal chamber. Luckily, this was not very hard to fix. I unscrewed the screws on the backplate, removed the pieces that hold the internal hoses in place, and was eventually able to find the clog. Once unclogged, the vacuum was back to it's old self. Less ambitious people would probably just buy a new vacuum, but I really like it (and I'm really cheap) so to me this is not that big of a deal.
Which leads me to a new Pro.
PRO:
* This vacuum is actually quite easy to self-service. All of the screws that I found were the same size. Taking it apart and putting it back together was quite intuitive and simple. I'm not a super-mechanical guy, yet I was able to figure it out with relative ease. Even the filter is easy - wash it, dry it, reinsert.
Two years later, I still really love this vacuum. I'm sure there are nicer ones, but I doubt there are many at this price range. I still stand by my earlier assertion - this has been one of the best purchases I've ever made.
NOTE: I've had some people comment about a misspelling. That wasn't a spelling mistake. The brush tool will clean the "stare" right off of anyone's face. Try it sometime. ;)