Check out vacschool.tripod.com/index.html for some great tips on what to look for when buying a vacuum. They do not sell vacuums on this site.
Another great site is an old vacuum cleaner forum that used to be called whatsthebest-vacuum and is now called abbysguide.com/vacuum/discussions
We have several different vacuums collected over the years. The cheap, lightweight canister purchased when 18 and just out of the house is great for vacuuming the stairs, bathroom rugs and under beds, yet is not good for large areas where pet hair & farm dirt can get tracked in. The powerful upright vacuum is great for everything else including cleaning the car interior, but because it has such strong suction power, it is too strong for a floor mat and too big to vacuum under the bed.
At one point it looked like the sturdy upright was going to fail so we tested all the big name brands. One surprising thing we found on several of the newer vacuums is they vented the exhaust in front of the upright. Try catching that pet hair on the vinyl kitchen floor if the exhaust keeps blowing it away! (Thankfully we didn't need to make a decision on which vacuum to buy as we were able to fix the old upright. It seemed to be much more powerful than the new ones we were looking at.)
I read recipes the same way I read science fiction. I get to the end and I think, "Well, that’s not going to happen."