Like a lot of other people ours died after less then a year. We got a new one under warranty, which they were very good with. This one lasted about the same amount of time. I thought it did a pretty good job of keeping the box clean but eventually the rake would clog and the motor would stall. It is supposed to stop if encounters a clog, but occasionally we would find it slipping the pulleys against a clogged rake. Eventually both of them suffered a failure of a gear in the "transmission".I don't think this is the worst machine in the world and maybe if you pay enough attention to it, it will last longer. But ours needed to be taken apart too much, the bags and liners are an added cost and for the price it is not worth it. I will not buy any rake style automatic box again.