Great - love the ZUA3861P – Our old Miele was really showing its age and although it was still working well, our three pets were taxing it and it was becoming quite noisy. We could not find a shop that stocked the Electrolux UltraActive range so we were guided by the reviews on this site.

Decided on the ZUA3861P which replaces the ZUA3860P and I don't think there are any obvious differences apart from colour, and I'm trusting that some glitches with the electronics in early models are all sorted now. This is the unit with the power driven head.

We did the test of vacuuming with the old unit and then re-doing with the new Electrolux and an amazing amount of dust and hair came out of the carpets.

The rotating brushes really are effective and can be switched on and off with buttons on the handle on this model. Also the 5-speed motor can be adjusted in the same way.

This is our first bagless. With the bags, whenever it wasn't empty the old dust made a bad smell each time we used it. Now with the empty canister the smell is gone. Also the vacuum seems much more powerful.

Update: Be sure to clean out the filters, including the HEPA filter, as needed. I'm told that if you don't and then burn out the motor from clogged filters, this could blow your warranty. But it has much more vacuuming power when they are clean, so it's a no-brainer really.

Update #2: Usage on standby of the vacuum is only 2W. Apologies, I earlier had posted a high figure on standby, but since then I have a new meter and the usage when plugged in and not running is definitely only 2W. Bagless, effective, easy and fun to use. The motorised head on carpet. Long cord. Buttons on handle. Having to change heads when moving from carpet to hard floor.