Ooohhh… sexy topic!
We’re thinking along the lines of a bagless upright, like Dyson, or Oreck. We have carpet and cats, but the cats don’t shed all that much.
Any experience the Doper community would like to share would be appreciated. Thanks.
Yeah you were reading my mind!!
Dyson rocks, and I have used one for a year now at my parents’ house. The pet version is the only thing that’ll get dog hair off the furniture. Does a great job on carpets too.
I will recommend Dyson to the OP cuz it rocks, but while we’re talking about vaccuums can someone recommend me one that’s NOT $500? Someday I’ll get myself one but not any time soon. Need something that’ll do a good job and is under $100.
Do you have hairless cats? 
Just lucky, I guess. There’s hair here & there, but it’s not like we’re ankle-deep in it. So hair-sucking is not a major criteria in choice of vacuum.
The Dyson is the best vacuum I’ve ever used - if the bag vacuums I’ve used before (a couple Hoovers and an Electrolux) could pick up nearly as much dirt, dust and hair, the bags would be full after 2 or 3 rooms. Consumer Reports bagged on the Dyson for not being sturdy, and sure enough we had one attachment break apart after colliding with a door, but it was two parts that fit together so wasn’t broken.
I recommend getting just the bare-bones Dyson upright if you don’t have extreme animal hair problems. You’ll save around a hundred bucks over the “Animal” model, and about $50 from the “reaches under bed-attachment” model, because the basic vacuum portion is the same on all three. We got the mid-level under-bed package. Colors are different for the three models too, as I remember.
The Dyson Animal is the best vacuum I’ve ever owned. I have 2 dogs and 3 kitties and you wouldn’t even know it! My husband actually likes to vacuum because it picks up so incredibly well. We used to fight over who got to use it first (sad I know). Now I just let him do it
Mrs. Mercotan recently purchased a Dyson, and has nothing but high praise for it. In the past she’s used a Kirby, among others. But thus far she feels the Dyson is the best ever.
I’ve never used a Dyson, but the Rainbow I purchased over 20 years ago is still running well.
Another Dyson fan checking in. I would now never buy anything else, and routinely give them as wedding presents.
If you can swing $140, Consumer Report’s current “best for most” Best Buy is the Eureka Boss Smart Vac Ultra 4870
If cheap is the driving factor, $80 gets you the Bissell CleanView II 3576-1, which got a “very good” note from them.
Or, try to do what we did, and snag a grubby Kirby on eBay for $20. 
Thanks, everyone. We’ll be looking more closely at Dyson.
You know I’m gonna have to say I don’t much like our Dyson. We’ve had it for 8 months or so, doesn’t seem to pick up much at all, unless we’re really clean. But with a cat and dog that’s not the case. It doesn’t pick up some things, even bits of fluff that I can pick up by hand, and some times one chamber will get full while the other 3/4 is empty.
Now we could have a crappy model or something like that, but I also can’t stand the attatchments. They are hard to get at things sometimes especially if I’m trying to get at something close like the cat tower. Iris likes it better then me, but I’ve used better cleaners then the Dyson.