I like Oreck vacuums. They are light and do a good job even with pet hair

My DIL is looking for a new vacuum and has done some research on them. On most sites the Oreck vacuum comes out on top over Dyson. The cleaning power is as good as Dyson but it wins out because of the light weight and the cheaper price.

If noise is an issue, look at Nilfisk GD1000 series. It's a commercial vac targeting the hotel and office cleaning markets, but it's also great for homes. We have one and the low noise level, light weight, large capacity and extra long cord are great.

I'll second the Hoover Platinum lightweight bagged. We've had ours for quite a while and it crushed the last Oreck I had, not to mention my neighbor's Dyson.

It is light, one of the quietest vacuums I've heard, has amazing suction...including right up to the edge. It grooms our carpets amazingly, and despite not having a brush roll that turns off picks up everything off tile and hardwood too (does not shoot it out the back).

The canister vac has really impressive suction for such a small unit also. It sucks everything out of the carpeting in my cars. As others have said, the bags are a little pricey, but they hold a LOT, and you won't be changing them that often.

If you are looking at Oreck, take a good look at the Riccar and Simplicity SupraLight series vacs. I found them to be much better than the Oreck machines. The Riccar RSL models use a stiffer brush on the brush roll, this helps greatly at picking up pet hair. I bought my mom a Riccar RSL5 and she loves it. It is very light and easy to use, has a lifetime belt and a steel brush roll. My local vacuum shop normally has the RSL5 for $399, but I got it on sale for $349 and she threw in a pack of HEPA bags (6) in with the deal.

As much as I was impressed with the Oreck models, the Riccar blew them away.