This was my gift to myself for returning to work after sitting at home for seven years. Having both parents work shifts helps keep the house clean and gives me more time with the kids as it should be. We have a cheap robot vacuum for the top floor that's great up there as it's all hard wood floors, but this one works great on our thick carpet. I hire the vacuum cleaner three days a week when we're not usually at home. I also like it because we have so much carpet that it comes in straight lines. We have a dog that has a LOT of hair and sheds A LOT of hair and does a great job with all of his hair! It takes about 6 hours to walk down the stairs (the battery needs to be charged twice but I don't need it so I don't care.