Dirt Devil Purpose for Pets HEPA MEDIA

I recently purchased Dirt Devil's "Purpose for Pets," and while it really could have been a terrific vacuum cleaner, I was dismayed to discover it has a couple of really serious design flaws.

The first is that the cord that powers the power head is permanently attached to the power head, and plugs into the main unit. The cord must be attached at intervals all the way up the wand and, with clips, back down the hose. Whenever you want to use the floor brush or one of the attachments, all this must be removed and then re-assembled when you want to use the power head again. Not only is this incredibly inconvenient, all the extra wear and tear on these clips, attachment points and on the cord increase the likelihood of something breaking or wearing out more quickly.

The second problem is that you can't empty the cannister with the cord wound up in its keepers on the bottom because one end attaches to the main unit, and the other to the cannister that comes off for emptying.

There seems to be an increasing tendency to release products from development too soon, before the design is tested as it would be used by the consumer.

Otherwise, it's terrific -- great suction, nice hepa filter, compact, very nice electrostatic brush attachment for cleaning upholstery, a power button on the powerhead so it can be turned off for smooth floors, and perhaps my most favourite feature, a shoulder strap! Sometimes it's much more convenient to carry the vac, and so the strap is a nice touch.

It's new and it replaced a 20-year-old vacuum with serious age-related issues, and so of course, I'm enjoying it. But I expect that the design flaws mentioned above will prove exasperating and shorten the life of this product.

I just purchased this vacuum. In fact I haven't even received it yet. However it's replacing the same unit that I've had for roughly 6 years. I bought it back when it was called the 'Breeze', green in color and came with the powerhead. I just ordered it through Amazon because that's the only place in Canada I could find it. I hope that tells you something. But there's a lot more.

The reason I just ordered a new one is because the hard hoses on mine are plastic instead of metal and after taking major abuse, they finally broke. The vacuum however still works great and is THE best vacuum I've ever owned. And I've owned many, from bottom of the line uprights to top of the line Filter Queens.

When I bought my original it said to write the date on the filter and change it after so long. I'm still on my original filter. And we haven't used this vacuum like a vacuum, it's more a shop vac in our home because we live in an old house that we've been renovating for the past 3 years. There seems to be no amount of drywall or plaster dust, sawdust or sanding dust that will kill this thing. When the filter is full of thick heavy construction dust the suction is reduced but by that point the canister is usually full too. Otherwise there seems to be nothing this thing can't suck up. Years ago while I was living in another house I was renovating I went through 3 different vacuums because drywall dust killed them almost instantly. Not this one.

I've never had issues with emptying it or storing it, although it would be nice if it had a retractable cord. But from my experience with other vacuums it's just a matter of time before those break anyway. It does stand on it's end which makes storage easier and the 'up' end has a handle which makes stair vacuuming a snap. I have problems with my hands and can't lift uprights and this unit is light enough for me to manage without any trouble.

I've always used mine on both rug and floors and found the powerhead cord to be a pain but mostly during the changeover from powerhead to floor attachment. It's such a good vacuum though that I figured it was a small price to pay. And eventually I figured out that by not actually attaching the cord, just holding it, it sped things up and made it easier.

We have 3 cats and cat hair is no problem for this vacuum either. Well, other than making me realize just how much cat hair we were living with between vacuumings.

Overall I can't say enough about this vacuum. Once my new one arrives my old one is going to go downstairs rather that into the garbage because I want to keep it for backup in case I somehow break the new one. It's just that good.

I'm not sure why people are raving about this item. While the size is perfect for a condo, it doesn't come close to doing what it should. The power head is virtually useless; it can't even pick up larger objects from the rug let alone pet hair. I have to go over the carpet again with the bare floor tool, which, by the way, doesn't lock onto the nozzle and keeps coming off.

Whenever you want to go from using the power head to the other tools, you have to remove the power head and its chord from the hose and unplug it from the main unit. A real frustration and waste of time, esp. when you've got to assemble it again. In a short time, I've come to not even use the power head. It's just too much trouble.

I would definitely not recommend this product. The fact that it's small and light mean nothing in comparison to its overall poor performance and impracticality. I expected better from Dirt Devil.