The UH70600 upright vacuum creates some serious force that almost carries it to a 5-star rating.I'll start by simply stating that I really like this vacuum. Everything about the unit is well laid-out, with useful attachments and perks everywhere. I only had one issue with the unit, but I'll get to that later. First, the vacuum does its job well. I've had a series of sub-hundred dollar vacuums, both bag and bagless for my whole life. I used my usual vacuum for a thorough cleaning of my house 2 days before I received the Hoover UH70600. Once I received the Hoover, I fired it up and vacuumed the whole house again. I don't have any pets or extraneous sources of dust, but after using my usual vacuum just 48 hours ago the Hoover sucked up an amazing 66% full canister of dirt and dust. I was shocked that the UH70600 picked up so much more dirt than my old vacuum did (and kinda grossed out at my old vacuum's weak performance). So if you're using a sub-hundred dollar vacuum I can fully say with confidence that this Hoover will definitely do a noticeably better job cleaning your house. Now, I've never used a Dyson, or an extra expensive vacuum before, but for the price here on Amazon, you're getting good cleaning value with the UH70600.
As far as attachments go, they're great. The upholstery attachment effectively cleaned my couch, and the dusting brush is outstanding for sucking up the dirt on stairs. All of the attachments have a permanent resting spot on the unit itself. A minor complaint is that the extension wand rests on the left side of the vacuum and the crevice tool has to loosely fit inside the extension wand. It remains in the extension wand during normal vacuuming, but when the extension wand is in use, you're forced to leave the crevice tool on the floor. The hose that emanates from the vacuum for attachment use is made of a heavy duty, slinky, rubber-like material. It has some heft to it and seems impressively durable. It's not cheap plastic. The power cord is slightly longer than the cords on my previous vacuums, and I welcomed the extra mobility that it affords. I do love the auto-retract feature of the power cord. It retracts quickly, but not so fast that you feel like you have to dodge a sharp whip coming back towards you.
I have noticed that people have complained about the belt drive on this unit. I cannot confirm nor deny that problem as I only have bare floors and relatively low carpet. I left my vacuum on the second lowest setting and didn't have any problems, nor did I smell any burning rubber. If you do have higher carpet, though, there is a handy footswitch that you can hit on the bottom of the vacuum that stops the brush drive and allows you to only use suction to clean your carpet. As I stated before, this Hoover does generate great suction, but I'm not sure if that alone will be enough to clean a thick, high carpet.
So where does the UH70600 lose a star? Unfortunately, it's when you finish vacuuming and have to empty the trash. Detaching the dirt canister is easy enough, but opening the dirt chamber over the garbage is a royal pain. There is a release lever located towards the bottom of the canister, but when pressed, the door fails to open. My canister was over 66% full, but there wasn't enough weight in there to open the door. I doubt a full canister will open from just gravity either. Further complicating the matter is that there isn't a convenient place to grab onto the bottom door and rip it open. As a result you're stuck doing this dance of holding onto the canister with your legs, using a hand to hold the release lever, and using your other hand to try and pry the door open. Once you finally rip it open with excessive force, it causes some dust to fly upwards and creates a bit of a mess. I've learned to manage it since my first adventure opening it, but still, I have to dock it a star just because of this. I tried to open the door on a unit in the store, and had the same problem. Some other more expensive models have a neat button that you push down and it forces the door to open downwards...it's far more effective.
Overall, though, the Hoover UH70600 is a great value for cleaning your house. Once you graduate beyond a 1-bedroom apartment, and if you don't want to drop several hundred on a vacuum, I would recommend this unit. Just be prepared to dance with the dirt door quite a bit.
UPDATE
I've been using the vacuum for several months now. After wearing it out, I'd say the door opens 75% of the time on it's own now. I guess it just takes time to break it in, so long term, it's not as big of an issue as I originally thought. The new development, however, is that a LOT of dust/dirt gets trapped in the bottom brush area. There is a transparent acrylic plastic covering, so you can see the dust. In the instructions it shows you how to take apart the brush head and clean it out. It's not the worst thing in the world, but it fills up with a lot of dust quick and seems to affect your vacuum's efficiency until you clean it.
2nd UPDATE
I've been using the vacuum for well over a year now and have received several comments on my review, so I thought I would summarize my reply comments here. The waste door now opens every time for me, so while it likely will be a problem initially, I can say with confidence that it shouldn't be a long term issue if you do indeed purchase this vacuum. The filter seems to build up a lot of dust quickly, but hey, I guess that's what it's supposed to do, right? It's not too bad to rinse out the spongy, disk-shaped filter, but it does take 2-3 days to completely dry. If you vacuum again after only 1 day of drying you'll wind up with a moist, caked-on layer of dirt/dust on the filter. I really do hate how much dust and hair get caught in the brush head area, though. You can clean it out, but you have to loosen two red sliders underneath the main brush head and then pry open the two main plastic components to get at the globs of dust. It's gross and I find myself doing it after 3-4 serious vacuuming sessions. I have recently tried out another ~$150-179 vacuum, and after using this Hoover, it is really tough to go back to a vacuum that doesn't have a retractable cord now. The retractable cord can get a little stuck sometimes, but if you yank it and loosen it a bit, you can get it to retract smoothly again. But, man...that annoying dust accumulation in the brush head area still knocks this otherwise 5-star vacuum down to 4-stars.
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