For hardwood floors I'd suggest a good quality, professional grade, dust mop from a janitorial supply store (get a couple mop heads while you're at it so you can keep them laundered - dirty mop heads can hide debris that can actually scratch the floor finish). One with a nice wide sweep to it. Skip the crappy little dust mops found at stores today. I can run a dust mop over the floors in a fraction of the time it takes to vacuum them - and NO cord to mess with. I only use a vacuum on hardwood floors for an occasional edge cleaning.

You might check the Consumer Reports Buying Guide for 2013 (available at news stands and probably at your local library Reference Section). There's quite a bit of information about vacuum cleaners in it (starting on page 129). They rate them for carpet, bare floors, tool airflow, noise, emissions, handling and pet hair - as well as cost.

-Grainlady

I agree with grain lady. I have never understood using a vacuum on hard surfaces. We used dust mops on hardwood floors years ago and it was quick and clean. I used something on the mop head like endust to hold the debris it picked up. I would love the wide ones they make today.

I can't imagine cleaning up my wood floors and all the dog hair on them with anything but my central vac with hide-a-hose. Since you don't want to retrofit your new home, I'd definitely look into a canister with a large bag that you're not constantly changing. In my last house we didn't have a central vac but used a Miele canister (LOVE IT) but even then, that got annoying because of the short hose and short cord. The bags and filters were also quite pricey and filled up quickly with dog hair. We also have a Hoover Linx cordless vac we would whip out for quick clean ups. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably check out the Electrolux Sanitaire Commercial vacuum SC3700...it's a new canister with large bag, long hose, and long cord. Just keep your Shark Navigator for any rugs/carpeting. Hope this helps!

Dear Karyn
Writing to from sweden here and I live in a 3000 sqf big house and I have 2 Miele vacuums. One is an S4 model and one is a S5 model both no longer sold I the US!
If I were to get a new vac I would love to have a Sebo airbelt D4 Premium!
That vac has what Miele misses- longer hose, longer cabel, and a huge bag.
It is a domestic vac with cord rewind, built in tool, motorized carpet head with adjustments.
The pro vac mentioned here from elux/sanitaire i have used when cleaning professionally and disliked alot, yeah it has a big bag but it is U shaped with the inlet in the middle and dust an dirt are supposed to go to either side but if there are alot of hair or carpet fluff it will get blocked fast and it has nn cord rewind!
On YouTube there are a guy called ibaisaic that u can check out that has reweid it!
Best of luck vacuum hunting /

Thank you everyone, sorry I've been away and it took me until now to respond.

I love the dust mop idea if it can keep up with the volume of hair from a golden retriever.

The vacs with bags are just not going to work for me - I'm spoiled with the Shark bag less. I was looking at various models and was surprised to find out that many bag less models out there do not seal very well so they would just recirculate the dust back into the air.

Anyway, I think for the immediate future we're going to try the dust mop idea and see how we get on. That really only leaves bedrooms and a family room area to actually use a traditional vac on, so if it works out - no need to get anything else! :-)

I just bought a dust mop for...........spiders and the mess they leave on the side of my home especially the deck. I hate dragging the hose over all the time and I don't know if it will damage the paint using water as often as necessary. I saw a neighbor using a dust mop and thought I would try it. I will hose it off first it is an awful mess, then start using the mop. AND I will bag the mop head before I bring it in to wash. I don't want the wee spiders in my home. My door jambs and window sills are full of their mess.