Upright vacuum cleaners are best for carpet, say reviews, although most upright vacs can also clean bare floors. However, if you mostly have bare floors with just a few rugs, a canister vacuum is a better choice. Canister vacuums are also easier to carry up stairs or to the garage, though they tend to be more expensive than upright vacuum cleaners.

Consumer Reports performs the best vacuum cleaner testing, and in its latest review, 36 upright vacuums are rated for cleaning ability on carpet and bare floors plus performance with tools, as well as noise, emissions and ease of use. Consumer Reports editors also test how well vacuums can pick up pet hair on carpet. Which? magazine, the U.K. equivalent of Consumer Reports, also tests upright vacuums. Although not all tested vacs are available in the U.S., editors go into great detail about Dyson vacuums, including reliability issues and company response. Consumer Reports and Which? Online are easily the most comprehensive reviewers of vacuum cleaners.
Along the same lines, Australia's Choice magazine tests and compares vacuum cleaners in four separate price categories. The issue with Choice is that most of the vacuum cleaners reviewed aren't available in the U.S. It's still worth a look, though, to see if the model you're considering is included in the latest round of reports.
We found a number of less-formal reviews from The Wall Street Journal, Good Housekeeping and The Independent, a U.K. newspaper. Owner reviews posted to Amazon.com, Viewpoints.com and Epinions.com are very useful when it comes to upright vacuums. Many vacs at Amazon.com have received hundreds of owner-written ratings, giving us a good picture of long-term reliability and ease of use. While it's not yet comprehensive enough to rival large text-based user review sites, ExpoTV.com has some interesting consumer-posted video entries. The big advantage of video is that owners can actually demonstrate features, specs and failure points rather than just describing them.