A review left by a college student made the deal for me in this purchase. He was more than right. It's not a vacuum. It's a miracle. It has a suction valve. Because the suction is so strong, you may need to reduce it to move it across the floor. In earnest. I don't know why this feature isn't number one in their marketing and packaging that this vacuum sucks so much you may need less suction to move it. He pulls my rug as I walk across it. After a test pass across the carpet, it pulled out a half-inch of very fine, nasty dust that my old vacuum never seemed to bother with. It's so awesome my teenager couldn't wait to use it in his room. It sucked things that shouldn't be sucked into a vacuum, like hair clips, and that vacuum didn't bother it. I just sucked it all the way in without breaking the clamp and pulled it out from the top. The wheels roll smoothly and make turns. Calm. It is easy to empty. I'm in love. My kids are already in bed but honestly I can't wait for them to wake up so we can vacuum some more and watch in awe and disgust at how poorly our old machine ran.