I was so excited when I first bought this vacuum. It was my first stick vacuum and it worked great. I recommended it to all my friends. Then all of a sudden after 6 months it totally died. It would only work occasionally and I put in *hours* cleaning every nook and cranny, researching how to troubleshoot problems, and can find no reason why it stopped working. We are on a tight budget and cannot afford to buy a new vacuum every 6 months. SO disappointed.