This vacuum really sucks! (in a good way)

Striking out into the world at my tender
young age of 23, I have confirmed my place in
the ranks of suburbia by buying my first vacuum
cleaner. It truly is a once in a lifetime
experience as you can never go back over the
first small appliance hump again.

Having no experience in the subject, I
simply went to a couple of local stores in
my area and read the back of the vacuum boxes.
Of course they said absolutely nothing about
reliability or quality. They only spouted off
basic facts. How am I supposed to know how
good a vacuum is by the accessories list. I was
pretty much left to let intuition guide my fate.

It lead me first to the obvious brands
such as Hoover and Bissel (their saturation
advertising method works). I found many of their
models to be of great quality however, for someone
just starting out, their prices were way too high.

The vacuum I currently own, the Dirt Devil MVP
upright, caught my eye as I looked for alternatives.
It only cost $120.00, had a large 12 amp motor, and
seemed to offer a lot of extra features.

There is a very good Hepa filter on board which
the manual claims filters 99% of the particles in the
air. Whatever that means, it sounds good to me. There
is an onboard accessory rack which contains a variety of
attachments and the accompanying hose, all ready to go.
There are seven floor settings which can be adjusted at
the turn of a knob as well as a headlight for seeing
into dark corners.

Assembly only took five minutes and required a
phillips head screwdriver. It already had a U-type
vacuum bag installed within it's body.

After plugging the vacuum in it was time to take
this suburban hot rod for a test drive. I found it to
suck up most debris very well. It seemed to be at it's
best when cleaning up wood sanding dust and small
debris. However when run over flaked off paint chips
it took a couple of passes to pick them up. I noticed
it made a very nasty rattling noise as it vacuumed up
small screws or rocks. Understandable, but annoying. I
don't remember my mom's vacuum making the same sound as
a kid.

I made a mistake by accidentally vacuuming up a string
(on my very first day of ownership, no less). The vacuum
started to emit a nasty burning smell until I shut it off
and removed the string. I learned a lesson that day but
still wonder if a higher quality vacuum would have
burned so quickly.

The results of my tests? I'm impressed with the extra
features on the vacuum, it's ease of use, and low cost. I
wish the sucking power was a little stronger and the
quality was better. Overall, I feel this a good vacuum for
a bachelor like myself, but, for families I'd have to
recommend something a little more durable and powerful.