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This little hand held vacuum arrived in the mail the other day. Ben opened the box and got out all the parts and figured out how it all worked.

I went to work on something else and later when I looked through the photos on my camera, I found these. 

He vacuumed all my furniture upstairs and down!

We're all head over heels happy about it!

And here is my opinion on vacuums (feel free to skip this part and have a good day)- When Bill and I first got married, we found a nice Kenmore upright at Sears that his parents bought for us as a wedding gift. It lasted 1 apartment, 1 duplex, and 2 houses (aprox. 13 years). Then when we were moving into apartment #2, I borrowed my sister-in-law's Oreck XL upright vacuum. We were living on the 3rd floor of our building and I saw her carry it up all three flights of stairs in one hand while fully pregnant!! Then I used it myself and was just blown away! Our former DOV (dear old vacuum) was at least three times as heavy and Audrey couldn't use it, which to me is a big factor. So, I got an Oreck. All my kids can use it and get it from point A to B, etc. It has not broken and I've had it going on 6 years. Replace the belt every 3-4-6 months, depending on use and same for the bag, of course. 
With the hand held, ah, remember the Dust Buster days? My grandma had one, no, two, no maybe more. Actually, a Dust Buster hand vac was not such a good idea for Grandma's house that was as airtight as a sieve, had a wood burning stove, housed 2 farmers, 3 full-sized indoor dogs and a myriad of cats on a sandy, dusty plot of earth. Anyway, I knew good ol' DB was not for me. My DOV had the attachments as part of the upright, but you know how annoying it is to try to balance a heavy, giant vacuum on a stair as you use the crevice tool to suck up that Cheerio lodge where the carpet tacks reside. Another option is a small ShopVac, but we're going for clean here, not re-arranging the dust. So you'll notice that the Oreck XL is just that, an upright. No attachments. In my opinion, that's a good thing. You're gonna want to take this all over the house and get at things your DOV could never reach. And as you've noticed, the Oreck Pro 5 is lightweight, easy to use, slips over your shoulder and gets the job done. I asked the salesman about the cons/problems with it and he said as long as you don't use it as a wood chipper, you're good to go. (Though I'd bet he'd say it is still a lightweight cleaning device not one meant for large amounts of dust and debris like sawdust since the bag is still small.) I checked and checked on the Oreck website for this vac and couldn't find it. That's when I made a beeline for the Oreck booth at the Iowa State Fair this year and spied it in the corner. The salesperson said it is offered under the commercial line. 

So that right there is my op on vacuums. I'm a thousand, million, a lot more inclined to vacuum just simply because it is so easy and light to use. Who knows, maybe your kids will do headstands and backflips and grab your camera in their excitement, too!!