I love my Oreck. It works like a dream on my Karastan rug and transitions smoothly to the laminate and vinyl floors. Last time my 87 year old mom came over I demonstrated the pick-up capabilities by sprinkling shredded paper on both rug and floor and then vacuuming it up. She was so impressed she bought one too. It comes with a handheld vac to use on ceilings, walls, curtains, and furniture and is very powerful.

Hey guys.... I don't check the forum like I used to... I remember the days when I'd check it multiple times a day even from my phone and work computer.... I'm working two jobs now and I just don't have the time and energy to participate or cook like I used to.... but it feels like a part of my life is missing so I thought I'd check in and see how everyone was doing and make sure everyone was still alive :o) Now you know the way to bring me out of hiding is to bring up vacuum cleaners! Claire, You've gotten some excellent advice that I can only echo.... you guys didn't even need me for this :o) If you an afford it, Miele hands down! They are quiet and have great filtration and all the wheels on the canister body swivel so it makes backing out of a tight corner very easy.... you can just kick the machine whichever direction you want it to go and it will readily submit.... it can cost between 700 and 1000 dollars for a Miele, so if that's not in your budget, the alternative as others have mention is Panasonic/Kenmore. Panasonic still makes most of the higher end Kenmores, but there are a few that are now made by TTI (the parent company of Dirt Devil/Hoover/Royal) and they (TTI) are an awful company and they make incredibly low quality products... vacuum people around the world mourned the day they bought Hoover.... of course they closed the North Canton Ohio factory and put all the workers out of a job and moved all production to China.... Panasonic/Kenmore canisters will resemble the one in the link below and can be had for around 2 or 3 hundred dollars. Things to look for in an canister would include a fingertip switch (who wants to go back to the machine to step on a pedal?), brushroll off feature for quick cleaning on bare floors, dedicated bare floor tool for detailed cleaning in tight spaces, dedicated dusting brush, upholstery tool, and crevice tool (many manufacturers are trying to combine all those functions into one tool and their attempts result in a piece of trash that doesn't perform any of the tasks well), direct connect wands and hose (you should not be able to see a cord or wire on the outside of the hose.... it will get tangled and you will throw the machine in a bonfire), rubber coated wheels (just scratch the wheels of the model you are testing to figure out if it has this, it will be obvious), and a quick release wand.... a quick release wand is very nice.... there is a pedal at the bottom that if you step on will release the power nozzle with just one press... this makes getting the wand off very easy for snatching a quick cob web or doing baseboards or something that is just too big to go through the power nozzle... Another thing to look for is a manual height adjustment pedal on the power nozzle, many canisters lack a height adjustment and it's important to have one because everyone has different kinds of carpet. Telescopic wands are nice too. Something that I like (more common on Miele than Panasonic) is a swivel neck on the power nozzle.... then you get "power steering" and it makes it more maneuverable than a machine that you just have to push back and forth. LG has a new canister out that is called the "Follow ME"... it has motorized wheels and will literally follow the user around (look it up on youtube if your'e curious.... it's fascinating really) but I don't think that's necessary. The only real problems with the Panasonic/Kenmore machines are that sometimes the wheels or pedals on the power nozzle can break off, they are of course cheap plastic. If you insist on supporting an American company, Simplicity/Riccars are good machines, but for the money, I'd go with the German Miele.... still can't beat Panasonic/Kenmore for value for money. I'd recommend not to go bagless.... the only company that makes a decent bagless is Dyson, but their canisters tend to be bulky and not well reviewed.... the power nozzle motors are whiny, they lack a height adjust and a quick release wand and a fingertip switch and you get that bagless mess every time you empty the silly thing... though it's fun to see the dirt in the cup, the dust poof when you empty the thing makes it not much fun. Another thing to look for is a 360 degree swivel hose.... like the one in the link below, the hose swivels 360 degrees where it comes out of the machine. The alternative is that the hose would be fixed and typically come out of the front of the machine and you have to turn/pivot the entire machine every time you move.... I wish you luck in deciding and hope you'll let us know when you finally settle on a machine :o) Here is a link that might be useful: Panasonic canister on Amazon

I have a Dyson DC-18 and I love, love, love it. Worth every penny and if it broke I'd replace it exactly. It's a smaller, lighter weight model and it's loaded with power. I got it because I'm not getting younger and it's easy to pick up and haul around, plus it doesn't take up as much closet space as the bigger ones. I've never regretted picking the smaller one. Juddgirl, yes, I use it on my wood floors. I just switch off the beater bar and it hasn't scratched a thing (not even when I forgot to switch it off).

I have a Miele S7/U1 upright. I absolutely love it. It is a very versatile machine. I do find that other machines have slightly better agitation, but our brushes are fairly dirty though, so they aren't like new. I will tell you though, I do really like the agitation of Shark machines, but I do not care for the bagless design and the poor build quality. Dysons are the same way, but I would much rather buy a Shark. I did my own little test to see how effective the Sharks agitation was buy first running a Kirby on the carpet, then running over the same flooring once again with the Shark. There was very little debris that the Shark picked up. Just proving how effective Kirby's suction is. Our Miele has only clogged twice. One was a pencil and the other was a small piece of wood trim. Eventually dirt, hair, and other debris clogged around the items and reduced suction. It took 1 minute to resolve it each time. Also, I don't have any filters to clean, and when the bag is full, it self seals and no dust is let out anywhere. A box of bags and filters lasts us a year, and through Bed Bath and Beyond is $15.