I set out to buy a rechargeable but having found their suction to be really quite poor I was pleased I came across this little beauty. It is a true powerhouse as far as suction is concerned and is very solidly made. It has no batteries to run out after a mere 5-6 minutes (in the case of the new Dyson), either! You'll be surprised just how very powerful it is and yet it's so compact and easy to store. It will certainly be used for far more than what I intended - cleaning up small spills (which is as much as rechargeables can manage). It's entirely fine for larger jobs - stairs, for example. The powerful blower function is a surprise extra - I can imagine it will be excellent for various jobs I hadn't even considered for it.
It's very easy indeed to empty and keep the filters clean so maintenance is going to be a cinch. The mains lead is usefully long (6m) and easily, quickly and neatly wraps around the base of the unit, which can then be stored like an iron on its end (it's not much bigger than a steam iron, in fact).
Frankly at the price, it's superb value for money. The only negative I can imagine is having a lead attached but as it wraps so easily around the machine, which itself is so very compact, I can't imagine this will prove a problem.