As an owner of a TriStar vacuum for seven years now, and having paid about $2500 for it originally in 2001 I feel that this product is one of the most over priced, poorly designed pieces of junk on the market. As a former technician with business equipment for 20 years I feel I have a very good understanding of what constitutes a good well designed piece of equipment and what constitutes a piece of junk. Tri-Star Vacuum cleaners fit squarely into the category of garbage. They probably have never tried to use their own designs before releasing them on an unsuspecting public. The one good point I will give them is that they use a die-cast metal body that is powder coated, but that does not make them worth $2500 or even $500. My advice to everyone out there reading this is buy a Dyson! At least that guy thought about his design.