VAX is nothing like the beautiful TV adverts. The vacuum cleaners are infuriatingly bad. Our experience with cheap vaccums has been superior to what we have experienced using VAX, which are not cheap. Everytime we use it, all of the crumbs and things we have cleaned up fall out the bottom as soon as you switch it off. And yes, we empty the cylinder and filter regularly. But it is so bad, that unless you empty both ON EACH USE, it continues to happen. It's really irritating to continually spend time cleaning only for all of the stuff to fall back out again. And if you use the 'turbo boost' mode - it flicks stuff everywhere! But if you don't use the turbo boost mode, it bascially doesn't even have the power to suck anything up at all, even off tiles. We have also had issues with the batteries failing on several occasions, and the first time was when the vacuum was only a week or so old. It is also very flimsy and wobbly, so vacuuming up stairs etc is very very annoying, because it doesn't hold its position, and the head of the vacuum flops all over the place. I will never ever use VAX again.