We bought the auto empty as a replacement for a previous Shark which worked well. This one is lighter, has more power, and does have the convenience of automatically switching power levels between bare floor and carpet.

The major flaw is that dog hair winds itself around the cone filter in the receptacle, and DOES NOT get sucked into the auto empty bin after docking. The promotional material specifically says this model has improved handling of pet  hair, and toots its horn about the auto empty feature, so I consider this an overall failure, if not false advertising. The holding bin of this new one is smaller than our older shark, meaning it has to be emptied EVERY TIME  we use it.  Buyer beware.