I purchased this (not on Amazon as I found it cheaper elsewhere) after seeing a friend's. I wouldn't have paid the scary price if I hadn't seen it in action. I bought it because I am sick of seeing cat hair swirling underneath my sofa and dining table even when I sweep every day. Also, the baby makes crumbs around her highchair, and sweeping between chairs and table legs is a chore I could do without. This vacuum will revolutionise my cleaning. That sounds overly dramatic, but it's true. The clumsy broom and brush and dustpan will be banished to the shed, replaced by this neat little vacuum on its tidy docking station. I didn't expect it to perform as well as a regular vacuum because of the battery life, but this wasn't a problem. I've done the whole of my ground floor, the stairs and de-cobwebbed in less than 4 minutes. Even though I swept this morning, I have had to empty the drum twice - I just can't believe how much dirt it found. That is the scary but strangely pleasing thing about Dysons though.
If you have laminate or similar floors, are tight for space, have a bad back etc this is the vacuum for you. It is amazing! I'm not sure how it would cope cleaning carpets on a regular basis, but it coped well with the muddy back door mat, even before I'd worked out where the maximum power button was. It is smaller than it looks in the pictures and light enough that you don't feel any strain, even when doing the ceilings.
The only possible thing that could have made it better would be if the docking station actually charged it too. Instead you have to manually insert the charging cable, then hang it on the docking station.
This vacuum is worth every penny. Just shop around as it is available cheaper with web offers etc.
EDIT
Since writing this review, I have had a couple of problems with the Dyson. The battery died inexplicably and the trigger stopped working. To be fair, Dyson did replace the parts by first class post. The trigger problem was due to the filter not touching a sensor when the trigger was pulled. But I am downgrading my rating to 3 starts because I do not expect these 'teething problems' from such an expensive vacuum. I have also found that it gets clogged up easily when the battery is reaching the end of its charge as there isn't enough power to suck dirt though. I can only hope that they will offer a voluntary extended warranty if it continues to go wrong. My love affair with this machine has ended
EDIT
After several requests for a further update, I can confirm that I have had no more serious issues with this Dyson (as of Jan 2013). It is still in daily use. It is beginning to show signs of this frequent use, with a cracked drum which I have fixed with tape to maintain suction. While I would probably buy another, I would buy an extended warranty for it.