I don't see a huge difference, but we don't have a dog and DS is still pretty young. My cleaning lady, though, does not like it. She prefers the no-name $100 one I bought at Bed, Bath and Beyond when I moved to DC and needed something for my teeny apartment that I lived in alone, and I'm pretty skeptical it was possibly a better vacuum.
Two things I do like about it are the no filters and the canister is super easy to empty.