When I saw my first Dyson commercial, which referred to other vacuum cleaners becoming "hopelessly clogged," I almost bought a Dyson at once! A Hoover WindTunnel was my first bagless vacuum cleaner, and, boy, does it get clogged!

One of the chief causes of this Hoover's problem with clogging and subsequent loss of suction can be remedied by the user. The user manual doesn't stress the importance or frequency of this necessary procedure, so I will.

You might want to do this outside on a day with no wind. WHEN YOU EMPTY THE DIRT CUP, REMOVE THE BLACK PLASTIC HEPA FILTER CASING FROM THE DIRT CUP. THEN REMOVE THE HEPA FILTER FROM THE BLACK PLASTIC FILTER MOUNT. CLEAN THE PREFILTER (LOOKS LIKE A SCREEN) ON THE BLACK FILTER MOUNT WITH A BRUSH, IF NECESSARY. THEN, AGGRESSIVELY "TAP" THE BLACK PLASTIC CAP OF THE UNMOUNTED FILTER CYLINDER AGAINST THE INSIDE EGDE OF YOUR TRASH CAN UNTIL THE CASCADE OF DUST CEASES AND THE FILTER CYLINDER IS WHITE. DO NOT TAP THE PLEATED FILTER ITSELF, AS THIS MIGHT DAMAGE THE FILTER. If you do not do this, your vacuum cleaner will not clean adequately. Hoover would have you believe that twirling the filter inside the dirt cup knocks off enough dust. This is not so.

There are a few negative features of this vacuum cleaner which I cannot figure out how to remedy.

1. The attachments do not stay on. They just don't. No matter how hard you jam or twist an attachment onto the wand, it falls off, usually at the least opportune time (when I can't reach the attachment, and have to move furniture to retrieve it).

2. The two channels above and to the sides of the beater bars become clogged. Luckily (?), Hoover made these channels transparent so you can see why your vacuum cleaner isn't working anymore. Prepare for a two hour date with a screwdriver, some filthy work and a bit of swearing.

After a bit of research, I found out that, while they don't clog, the Dysons don't offer much suction in the first place. There may not be a perfect vacuum for me, at this point. This unit cleans adequately, but requires a lot of messy and time-consuming maintenance.