SEBO K3

My SEBO K3 vacuum cleaner. I've been using a crappy Kenmore canister for over 20 years that had poor suction and leaked dust into the air. The room would smell and my allergies would flare up each time I vacuumed. With this fine piece of German engineering, the HEPA filters contain all of the dust, leaving my house dust-free and smell-free.

$600 is a just a little low for a BIFL canister with a powered head, with the entry level models (Zero-G, Miele Classic C1 Cat & Dog, SEBO K3) ranging from $680-850. That said, the $550 SEBO Dart upright sounds perfect for your use case. This one gives you a height-adjustable motorized head for carpets that can be shut off as necessary for hard floor cleaning, as well as an easy-remove brushroll for maintenance.

Easy to maintain and bags and parts aren’t too expensive. I think you should find a local Sebo Dealer and take a look at the Sebo K3 $799 and Sebo E3 $999. Both of these come with a power head for best carpet cleaning but you might be able to use an E2 Turbo $599 if you have a small amount of low-medium pile area rugs.

At $700 you’re close enough to the $1000 price point to get a c3/e3, and they’re well worth it, especially considering how long you’ll be using this for. If you don’t have a lot of carpet, and instead have hardwood + area rugs your options are the Henry, miele C1, sebo k1/2, sebo E1/2.

While I like SEBO for a lot of reasons (long warranty and good dealer network, reasonable cost of parts, very durable and long lasting), I'm a little hesitant to recommend one of their vacuums unless you've got a local dealer with a good return policy. This is because the ET-1 power nozzle used on the Dart, Felix, K3, E3, and D4 is sometimes known to bog down on higher pile carpets.