Below is my review written a month or two after I bought this two years ago. I still give it four stars even though in the last month it has failed to pick anything up. When I took it apart I realized what happened. My painters had helped themselves to this vacuum and used it to pick up sanding and sheetrock dust and other debris. What you see in the photo if you enlarge it is a ton of sawdust and a bunch of pet hair.I used a real shop vac to get rid of all of the dust and hair and put it together so that it works again but I’m waiting for the cyclonic attachment for this to come on Monday to see if that helps with the filtration problem.I see in the manual that there’s a high-performance filter available for this but it did not come with mine so I’ve been using the “normal pre-filter“ and it obviously doesn’t keep out pet hair. So my advice is to either get the high-performance filter to use over the pre-filter or buy the cyclonic attachment (and you can see the reviews for it on Amazon. I will update with a description of that once I see how it works).Otherwise, this has been a real jam for me and I haven’t had any problem with cracking or battery charging or anything else. I just think Makita could’ve done a better job with filtration. you shouldn’t have to buy a separate attachment for $35 to keep dust out of the inside of a vacuum!Early 2019:I just got this, so can't review longevity. So far here are my pros and cons:PRO: Suction is fantastic! No kickback of granular things like cat litter AT ALL!TIP: Leave the head on the pile you've sucked up for a fraction of a second to give it time to get all of it into the hose. Otherwise some will be left on the floor.PRO: Battery life is great! I charged it maybe 30 mins out of the box and it cleaned my entire kitchen, family room and spots in bedroom bathroom. Still more charge left.CON: The icons on the charger are inscrutable! I still can't figure it all out but when the middle light on the bottom turns green you are good to go.PRO: the head fits in every small areas. It swivels and can run very flat.CON: The head is very small so you have a lot of moving it around compared to something like the Shark Navigator. It is more like a dust buster with a handle.PRO: Because it is more like a dust buster, you don't really vacuum the same way: you just move the vacuum over the whatever and it picks up. No continuous back and forth.PRO: Works great as a hand vac in the car and on the stairs! Does a better job than the carwash does at cleaning out salt and crumbs in the grooves on the seats!PRO: I love the on-board edge cleaner!CON: There is no way to lock the switch ON so you have to constantly hold it down. This is a ridiculous omission considering the Makita drills which do have this feature. My trigger finger would get very tired so it was on/off on/off. Such a simple thing to fix!CON: The handle where you have to grab and trigger the switch is too short by about an inch. I am 5'4 and have very long arms (used to be 5'6) so I can't imagine someone taller being able to use this without bending over.CON: I don't see how you can wall mount the charger and there are no instructions for it. You have to remove the battery from the vac and put it in the charger (tough on my arthritic hands) and leave it setting somewhere until the sound goes off. Shark Navigator has a stand that you set the vac on, it charges and you just leave it there until you need it. I find this lack of abilities in the Makita really problematic.CON: The vac doesn't stand up by itself (but neither does the Shark Navigator).SUMMARY: despite the negatives, the positives are worth it: much better suction. Cleaning the dirt cup is easy...you just rotate it a quarter turn to remove it but you do have to use your fingers to peel off pet hair, if any, and occasionally rinse it out (like the Navigator).