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Just an additional vote for Miele if bagged and Shark (Duo Clean lift away) if bagless. My folks have a Miele and it really is as good as everyone says but hefty (it is well over a decade old now though), and we've had a Shark for about a year with 2 indoor cats and a dog, its been fantastic and significantly better than the Dyson it replaced. The only thing I will criticize it for is the hose is just slightly too short when not being used as an upright.
Thanks for the vacuum recs btw - will read up but Miele sounding promising.