I love love love this vacuum. My parent have one and I borrowed it to clean my college apartments and still use it on my current apartment. I never realized how much dirt and cat hair there was until I swept with this vacuum and saw that it really sucks up everything. I also love that this vacuum never clogs, no matter how dirty the carpets are. I think its pretty cool that it all comes apart and then back together so easily and has little hidden cleaning tools in it for the small parts.
I have a dog that sheds and the Dyson does pick up hair better than any other vac I've had. I agree that its heavy to carry upstairs. The filter seems to clog more now than it did when I first got it. Not sure why thats happening.
I have two dogs who shed moderately & with navy blue carpet in our living room, I don't know what I would do without our Dyson vac some days! It cleans better than any vac I've ever used. I've never really felt it was heavy to carry up/down stairs, but then the older vacs that I have used in the past were super heavy too so maybe I just don't notice that!