If it’s time for a new vacuum cleaner, I always buy the upright that is most highly recommended by Consumer Reports. Comparing very expensive vacuum cleaners to their recommendations is a real eye-opener.
It would be wrong for me to copy/paste information from the Consumer Reports website that is intended to be visible to only their paying subscribers, but I think this teaser may be allowed: “New designs and features are producing increasingly high-tech vacuums, but high-priced, feature-laden machines don’t necessarily deliver better cleaning.”
http://www.consumerreports.org