I have had this vacuum for many years now. It is incredibly sturdy. We have five people (four with long hair) and two cats (one with long hair) in the house. It picks up all the hair and you just need to pull it off the front brush (unlike with those vacuums that have the spinning canister where the hair gets all tangled up.) It is super light to carry around. Often I vacuum up things you shouldn't, like water, by accident, and it has never broken so far. I take it out into the driveway and vacuum my car with it too as it is portable, with great suction, and can get into small spaces. I didn't even know you could replace the filter until just now when I found one on this website and ordered it, and my filter was quite deteriorated--I just washed it all these years. I can't believe the vacuum has lasted this long. When it does break, I will get another.