I own an 'Animal', that I bought refurbished, and I've not only never had a problem with it, but it's been more reliable than any other vacuum cleaner I've ever owned and does actually clean better than others, in my opinion.

I've had mine for over 6 years now, so perhaps there's been a quality shift in the interim, but I've had nothing but good experience from mine.

Offtopic, while I haven't given it thought before now enough to consider myself a fanboy, I also quite like their bladeless fans and the hand dryers I've seen in rest stops.