The Dirt Devil Scorpion Quick Flip Hand Vac is the little hand-held that could! I was looking for something small that I could whip out and quickly take care of the mess my three-year-old makes when eating. What I wanted was a small cordless hand vac, so that is what I bought. Three times actually. I went through several small hand vacs and had the same two chief complaints about each: 1) They didn't have the suction power that I needed just to consistently pick up crumbs and cheerios off the floor and 2) They lost power (battery) quickly. A friend of mine recommended the Dirt Devil Scorpion and I finally gave in, trading cordlessness for an item that actually worked!   The first thing I noticed when picking up this Dirt Devil is that it weighed more than other models I had tried. I came to realize, however, that it was due to the mega motor it contained! While it is a little heftier than others, it's also a good thing because I felt like I was holding something substantial that had the capability of actually cleaning my carpets. The first time you turn this thing on you will say, "Whoa!" as you can feel the power it produces!   I immediately ran around my living room sucking up random bits of ... well, everything! And it did an amazing job! I didn't find anything on my floor it wouldn't suck up - and since I have four children, that's saying something! After clearing away everything in the middle of the carpet, I noticed how much my regular upright vacuum was leaving along the edge of the walls and in corners where it couldn't reach. I couldn't have that now that I had the awesome suction power of my Dirt Devil!   It quickly became apparent, however, that using the regular opening wasn't going to cut it in the sharp angles of corners and edges. Thankfully, this model is the "Quick Flip" and comes equipped with a plastic flip-down nozzle built right into the top of the unit. You push a button to release it from its hold, fold it down, then insert it into the regular opening. It's end is much smaller producing amazing suction in a small area. Since the tube is approximately ten or twelve inches long, it's perfect for getting into small areas that are normally forgotten. I love using mine in the lint catcher of my dryer, between my refrigerator and cabinets, and along my baseboards.   The next place I attacked with my Dirt Devil that hadn't been cleaned in *years* (I'm ashamed to say) was under the couch cushions of my sofas. These had three years worth of: accumulated random French fries, cheerios, crayon pieces, matchbox cars, dust bunnies, you name it! Not having messed with the attachments that come with it yet, I first tried to vacuum it with just base unit (after having picked up the large things you normally would before vacuuming such as cars and crayons). The darned thing is SO powerful, though, that it just sucked up the fabric and was hard to slide across the surface.   Frustrated and fearing it wouldn't be able to handle this simple task, I went to the box it came in for help and remembered the attachments. It comes with a black hose (think the kind you see at car wash vacuums, only smaller) with an angled piece at one end that fits into the mouth of the hand vac to create suction and an upholstery brush on the other. Fitting that piece into the base unit is always a game of trial and error for me. It looks like it goes one way, but doesn't fit. For the occasions I use it, I have to fiddle with it a minute to remember how it goes.   I was skeptical that the hand vac would be able to suck up anything since the bristles of the brush put the end of the hose a good two inches off the surface of the material. That assumption is probably why I don't make vacuums! I was so pleasantly surprised to see that the attachment made it glide smoothly across the surface of the fabric picking up everything as it went! I had no trouble getting up dirt, crumbs, my cat's hair, lint, and other randomness with the upholstery attachment.   Supposedly to aid in making the Dirt Devil easy to handle while using the upholstery brush attachment, it comes with a thin strap that can be clipped on to the top of the unit much in the fashion of a purses strap. This item is the only major mess up and is utterly useless! As hefty as the Dirt Devil Scorpion is, the thin strap that comes with it is almost laughable as are the cheap, frail looking clasps that attach it to the base. The box shows a woman cheerfully holding it over her shoulder like a handbag  while vacuuming her draperies with the other. Maybe if you stand still and don't actually move! It seems like a superfluous afterthought. It's much easier and more effective to just hold the handle of the appliance with one hand and vacuum with the other.   Cleaning out the holding compartment on this thing is one word: EASY! The front end of the unit snaps off, you can pull the filter off, dump out the contents, tap the filter on the edge of the trashcan, and reassemble the whole thing in about one minute. It has the same holding capacity of any other hand held vac that I have used. Consumers have to be aware that it is not terribly large and does not have a whole bag/canister to collect dirt in (like an upright) and should therefore be cleaned out every few uses. It's so easy to do, though, that this isn't a problem.   The biggest drawback to this item is the cord and lack of ability to store it; but there is a trade off. I have found through much personal experience that you will not get the suction power you really desire or expect from a cordless model. They are so comparatively useless that they're a waste of money! So resigning yourself to the fact that you HAVE to have a cord to have any power makes this a bit easier to swallow. What isn't easy, however, is that there is no good way to store the cord. Uprights either have an automatic retraction system or, more commonly,  pegs around which to wind the cord. This unit has neither! My best fix for this was just to shove it all back into the box it came in and store that in the closet. It's because of this one feature that I only give the Dirt Devil Scorpion  four out of five stars.

DesiraeGriggs

Lees Summit, MO