I have two carpeted stairs in my house so I bought these hoping I could use them to keep up with the dirt/hair my pets get on the stairs left steps behind. I charged it overnight, gave it a full 12+ hours, and then optimistically got to work. Basically it just moved the hair a little. With MANY runs, I eventually took about four steps, noticed an even more noticeable decrease in his ability, and decided to drain the tank just in case it would help. It was easy to open, but maybe it's because the cat's hair is light-colored, but the little flap wouldn't open no matter how hard I shook and patted it, so I had to turn it over, fish out the fur with my hands, and then throw it in the trash can. Generally not impressed at all. I wasn't expecting it to perform as well as a full-size vacuum, but I expected better performance than just scraping my fingers on the carpet and picking up whatever I could clean.