The Eureka Altima bag-less vacuum tries hard to look like and provide features like its competitors, but it struggles to make the grade. Perhaps this is why Eureka continues to bring out numerous updated models. I have owned the Eureka Altima 2972 for a couple of years and am ready for a change.

My first impressions of the Eureka Altima were favorable: it looked nice, had a long extension wand, was bag-less and had two easy-to-locate and replace filters. Additionally, it had a bright yellow, telescopic, anti-static feather duster attachment that I thought would encourage me to dust more often. Other features included a headlight to illuminate the dirt, an extra side brush to get up close to the base boards and variable height settings for differing thickness carpets.

It sounded impressive, but the novelty factors wore off quickly. I do like the bag-less option and the dust cup is easy to remove, empty and clean. The cyclone system may be the primary filter, but the secondary, top-mounted filter is not nice to clean and takes forever to dry if washed--and it needs cleaning after every time the vacuum is used. As for the feather duster--to me this is pure gimmick. I don't think it ever worked, so I still don't dust very often and if I don't remove it from the storage shaft before vacuuming, it rattles around in a very annoying way.

Although I picked up the floor model before I purchased it, I didn't appreciate how heavy and ungainly this vacuum would be. It is heavy to push around and feels unbelievably heavy when it has to be lifted up and down stairs. The whole stair cleaning process is a dreaded event as a result. And then there's the suction--after the first three months, I can honestly say, what suction? There are still many bits of debris on my carpets after vacuuming and I have had to resort to brushing my sitting room carpet because the vacuum doesn't touch the multiple bits of lint.

For a MSRP of $129.99, I honestly don't think this model is good value for money.