Very early in this thread Janie said check Consumer Reports, the Buying Guide issue if there isn'r a current rating---from Consumers Union, non-profit, no advertising, a US magazine. Read the reports on vacuums. They'll give you price, compare different brands, tell you which is better for which types of soil--you know cat hair, dog hair, sand, coookie crumbs--and give you an information that you can then make your own infomred choice. But it probably wouldn't be nearly as much fun as this has been.
But we don't have carpet anymore. One night I left a candle burning and it melted and dripped on the carpet--a lot on the carpet--and the table caught fire and burned up the Christmas candy and the Christmas books and now we don't have carpet and it was worth it. Love that laminate.
Oh, yeah, though the fire was small, it did melt the cheap blinds on the windows and the artificial Christmas tree that we had finally gotten because sometimes we like to leave the tree up for two months and that's a lot to expect of a poor thing cut and stuck in water.
And I had to reupholster some furniture and make new draperies, and paint and so on and it was almost two years ago and there are still things to do. And we both did these things, I didn't have to do it all!
But back to vacuums. I'm so glad I hardly ever have to use my Hoover bought because of Consumer Reports recommendation and works great if you like to use one.