I worked in the Sears Sweeper dept for a year and a half. The ones I would not reccomend would be the Dirt Devil or the Eureka. Unless it is the Eureka bagless. I have the Sears Destiny which is equivalent to the Phantom bagless. It is great. I love it. I can't believe how much more hair I am sweeping up from Keegan compared to Shaianne. And I thought Shaianne shedded alot.
I preferred the Kenmores and the higher line Windtunnels, which would be the windtunnels. Be VERY aware of the other Hoovers, the cheaper ones. The advertise like 19.5 c.e.a or 25 cea which is
cleaning effectivness per amp It DOES NOT mean that it is higher than 12 amps. The HIGHEST amperage you can have is 12 amps. Shop vacs run on horse power so that is another whole story.
I told my customers that they could blow harder than these vacuums. They have no suction whatsoever. I didn't like them at all. No way would they pick up dog, cat, pet hair or cat litter. The Hoover Windtunnels are great they have awesome suction.
Rachel, my mom has had an electrolux for as long as I can remember so it is at least 20 years old. And it is a great sweeper, but it is literally falling apart! Another kind that is around here in Ohio is the Rainbow, it works with water to decrease the amount of dust. It is an awesome sweeper also. And also around here is the Kirby, it is top of the line also, and an awesome cleaner. BUT these sweepers run along the lines of $1000 or more and some people just simply and understandably can't afford that.
The bottom line is you do get what you pay for. If you go out and buy a $50-100 sweeper, you aren't going to have it very long. Especially with all the dog hair that you will have. If you go to a good honest sweeper shop and spend a little extra money you should have a sweeper that lasts you a good long time. If you want a nice upright for example the Top of the line Windtunnel Self Propelled like Candy has was about $399.99 and the ones that weren't self propelled were about $100 less. The top of the line Kenmores were about $300 also. Along the canister line which simply can't be beat when it comes to sweeping under beds and doing furniture, expect to pay slightly more. I wouldn't recommnend the Hoover Windtunnel Canister, if they still manufacture them. I wasn't impressed at all with them.
Another thing to look for then I will get off my soapbox () If you have lineoulum, tile or hardwoods at all you will want to look for a sweeper that turns off the beater bar when it does bare floors. If not, they simply scatter the dirt which is redundant.
Goodluck and let us know what you decide!
BTW, WELCOME TO PETTALK!!! YOU WILL LOVE IT HERE!!!