I have a Hoover "Quik-Broom Tempo" vacuum sweeper, made by Hoover of North Canton, Ohio; I bought it new when I moved here 17 years ago. It's all plastic, but it works very well as long as the filter is kept clean. I notice when the filter becomes clogged, the machine loses suction in a hurry--not unlike most vacuums. I generally clean it once every two or three uses, which seems to work out just fine.
Just because a vacuum sweeper is made of plastic doesn't necessarily mean it won't last; a sweeper from a reputable manufacturer should last years if it isn't abused or used to pick up things like sharp metal pieces or other things besides dust and dirt. As I said, I've had this one 17 years, it is used about once a week on average, and it shows no signs of breaking down. Another thing my vacuum has in its favor is it was made by a well-known sweeper manufacturer; Hoover has been around for decades--my grandmother had a Hoover upright that lasted quite a while, and I used it for some years after her death in 1985 until I moved to my apartment. That Hoover was a great sweeper, but one thing I didn't like about it was that it used paper vacuum bags which filled up after only a few uses (I lived in a house at the time with a good-sized living room, carpeted, and a long hall, also carpeted, between there and the back of the house). Changing the bags wasn't a big deal, but I certainly don't miss it with my Hoover Quik-Broom, which is bagless.
BTW, Dave (VK member TUD1) has a vacuum sweeper that should outlast any modern machine made in the last ten years. Kirby is a company that has been making sweepers since at least the '50s, so they know their business when it comes to vacuum sweepers. These sweepers were made of solid metal, not like today's plastic throwaway ones that crack at the least provocation (think of the fragility of today's flat screen televisions, or anything else incorporating plastic in its construction, which is just about everything these days.
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Too bad, but, as Walter Cronkite always ended the CBS Evening News, that's the way it is (in the 21st century).