I love mine. When you're done just lift it out and most of the big stuff is there. They are a tad hard to clean. Mine has a small wire somewhere inside that I can't find but cuts up my finger every time I clean it.
I've got one and I love it, it even does a pretty good job with pellet hops. I can't answer definitively if it affects hop utilisation, my gut feel was that it would but I haven't noticed any difference since I started using it.
I clean mine with a hose which seems to do the job although it probably isn't all that thorough.
It works really well and is easy to get the hops into during the boil. Cleaning is not too bad, I just use a dish brush and run it under the tap. My only criticism is when they send it, they fold it up, so it gets creased, which affects my OCD....... it doesn't affect the way it works.