This vacuum is nothing like the avacado green Magic cord canister vacuum that I bought at a garage sale in the 90's and I think that's a good thing. Its build quality is ... well we will see. Its allot lighter, both in hose and canister, which is welcome as I'm not in my 30's now.This 400 series model 81414 has its duster and crevice tool on the wand just under the hose connection, where I use to have to lean down to dig them off the top of the vac. All controls are on the handle, which is un heard of with vacuums under $1000 let alone for $200. I have had the larger 600 series too. Both have good suction, however if you want the better, heavier build of the 600 go for it. 600 series and up have much better build quality but again they are heavyer, bulkier and for me cumpersome to use. While I have expensive vacuums too, like my favorite, the Riccar upright R25P & R27CV (Retail$800 & $1000) and wanting a miele mouthed canister, but to get the controls on the handle meant lightening the wallet $1800! Not a brillant move.Whats it like to use?Well, like I said, its light and when using it like you should, with the handle in one hand and the hose in the other, to pull the canister, its light and easy to use, easy to stop and use the wand for quick crevice or dusting. The wand and power head stand up much better than the 600}, still take a knack. I use it in the car aswell and again the smaller handle gets in better on the dash where the windshild meets and it tight it fits with adjusting the duster, where 600 up not aswell. I bought a powered upolstery brush for my 400 as i do like that feature with the 600up its standard.the Power head works great on carpet(HI) and hard floor(med) and can pick up my unpoped popcorn without going to the hard floor head that in of itself works better, but the power head with the brush off gets it done. It has 4 heigth asjustment. exlo,lo which seem the same to me. med,hi. I run the vacuum motor on medium for all of this not high. I have added a aftermarket stick on green laser that makes all dirt hair ect shown on hard floors way clean after use. I use my Riccar R25P that has dirt sensor lights,as a bench mark for other vacuums I have. After vacuuming with the Kenmore I went over it with my Riccar R25P with dirt sensor lights.The dirt sensor light only came on once brief, which is a pass for me.what are the quirks and issues?Well first off is the bag and how it is placed in the vacuum. Its really big and seems too large for the vac.So you are to take the bag and fold the long side almost in half under the collar. If itis not done right it bunches up at the motor intake and severly retuces the suction. This will not show up on the bag change indicator but is noticable and I suspect is the reason people complain of low suction. Not a big deal if you know.Then their is the poorly designed colar and seal. I have noticed that the bag can shift the colar so that its not quite in the correct place lifted from its seat which causes the second complaint of poor filtreation. I fix that with a piece of Box tape. THis is also good when changing the bag, you have some tape to put on the hose hole for caintainment.The bag colar holder has some foam seal and I can see it needing replaced at some point. Its currently a $13 part and very easy to change out at the same time as the bag.The hose is NOT crush proof and known to fail after lots of use. Then theirs people like me that get destracter and decide to go somewhere in the mini van, hit the hatch closer and drive to the store with the hose smashed inthe hatch dragging the vacuum and cord down the freeway. Let me tell you, the wheels and cord was just gone.So what have we learned here? Canisters do not work well for freeway use.Ok now you know why I have had more than one.new hose is Currently $90 with all the controls, plug and play. Cheaper used.Lots of new and even more used parts available for people like me that want to cut down on landfill and fix it.So whats the bottom line?This vacuum checks allot of Boxes for me.The power head is the old school type not the NEW no hair tangle power mate. I have that power nozzle ordered and will update what its like.I l ike old school. It has with passsed the test of time.Tools and controls are at your finger tips.HEPA filtration bags are large and do not need changing or cleaning like yucky bagless gross stuff..Most people don't realize how importand a TRULY SEALED HEPA vacuum is. Your dusting will be less to start with.HEPA systems can capture bactiera, viruses and some really nasty stuff that many vacs do not capture. I do not have any bagless vacuums in my house and the one in the garage is hitting the garbage. THey simply do nothing but require more work. If your vacuum gets dusty from a few months of use.. its not working..Why have a vacuum to clean with that requires it to be cleaned? If it is not contained inside the bag then its not working in my book.Its way better than almost any...