We just bought one of these to replace a smoking Hoover upright which we'd had for just about 8 years. It cost 399 at Lowes and we used a 20% off bed batch and beyond coupon to knock it down to 329. An extra 2 year warranty was 29 bucks which gives it a 7 year warranty.
Once we got it home, it's pretty impressive. It's very easy to move around, my 9 year old manages it with ease. It weighs 19lbs so it's not so hard to carry up or down a stairs. It doesn't use a bag and it's very easy to empty it into a bin, literally with a button push.
The cleaning action is pretty impressive. It pulled a LOT of fluff from the carpets on their first clean with the Dyson. About a half a can of it. The telescopic wand is pretty cool and makes cleaning high A/C vents pretty easy.
Overall, we're very pleased with it. We considered buying a DC19 also which was 550 bucks but couldn't see the point in spending the extra 150 dollars.