I have had my Hoover for almost three years now. I like it a lot and use it quite often. I noticed that with the type of carpet I have, I need to empty the canister a few times and shake out the filter so it will have more suction. It does pull a good amount of cat hair out of the carpet, I'm sure that if I clean all day everyday there won't be any dirt anywhere in the house.

I have found that I need to empty the canister into it's own little garbage bag so it limits how much of that stuff gets back into the air and floor. The filters aren't to expensive to replace, they can be around $12 and if you clean the filter often enough you should safely get 4-6 months. You should replace all filters for all vacuums every six months anyway. I normally take mine outside and bang it on the ground to get as mush of the gunk off as I can and go right back to vacuuming. The canister and the the plastic cup that hold the filter can also be ran under water and left to dry and it will also help the suction.