Kuskokwim wrote:

Are there any reviews by an objective, unbiased source (e.g.,
Consumer Reports)?

Yes, CU has rated vacuums:

I bought the Nov CR issue last night, but apparently it's not the issue
that contains an indepth review of vacuum cleaners - just a table
showing a handful of best performers. This is the Canadian version, and
the special Canadian insert that shows the equivalent cdn models isin't
even showing the correct model numbers.

I was going to buy a one-month access to CR's online website, but when I
got to the point where I was filling out my CC information, it said that
it was a _recurring_ one-month charge unless or until I cancelled it,
which I immediately swore at them. They just lost some direct revenue
because I wanted a one-time charge to my card, not to have to deal with
cancelling it so I wouldn't be charged for a second (etc) month.

It would be nice if there was a code inside the CR magazine such that if
you bought CR at the news stand that you could use the code to access
the CR website for a limited time (one month?).

I purchased a Sears Kenmore "Elegance" model 23107 (black color) which
is same as 23106 and 23105 (purple and yellow). The Elegance black
model ($399 CDN, on sale) is the same as the US Ebony 28614 model ($288
USD). We get screwed up here in Canada over the exchange rate, seeing
how the CDN dollar is almost at par with the USD.

All of the sears vacuum cleaners (including the really expensive "Blue"
(US) or Intuition (Canada) have the same canister unit and beater-bar
roller brush. The Blue/Intuition has a beater bar unit with a
detachable hard-floor cleaning head, but all units have a small powered
accessory head for cleaning stairs and furniture.

There's a lot of talk about suction and hepa, but it's all noise. How
the beater-bar interacts with carpeting is where your real cleaning
action is. All vacuums have enough suction to bring dirt/hair into the
capture bag or container once it's been dislodged by the beater bar.