Metal components in a vacuum cleaner are better than plastic but will make the unit much heavier. Some vacuums may actually put dirt back into your home. A vacuum cleaner should expel or exhaust only fresh, clean air.

You want to make sure to get a vacuum designed for your mixture of carpeting and hard flooring. Vacuums with replaceable bags can add up each year adding significant cost to your initial purchase. Vacuums can lose suction when the filters or bags get clogged and blow dirt back into the air.

Check the height of fully assembled attachments to make sure that you won't be bending over or holding your arm up to use them. Though they may not be more powerful, higher priced uprights have a lot of gadgets that may be handy for your home, providing you use them. Consider where the vacuum cleaner will be stored to make sure it will fit the space.

Canister vacuum cleaners that have onboard tool storage make tools handy to reach. Find out how often belts, filters, and other items will need to be cleaned and/or replaced. Check out the manufacturer's warranty for the new vacuum, and if your place of purchase will extend the warranty.

You'll need to decide whether you want a bag or a bagless vacuum. Always check and see how long the warranty is good for; the longer the better of course. It'll cost more buying a unit with a bag because you'll be buying bags ongoing.

Canisters at the uppermost end of the price range may be merely expensive, and not necessarily of higher quality or more effective. A bagless vacuum may leak dust, dust mites, mold spores, fungus, bacteria and allergen particles into the air, so small you may not be able to see all of them but will be cheaper though in the long run, because you're not buying and using up bags. You may want to find a canister vacuum cleaner with wheels that won't scuff or damage your floors.

Higher priced upright vacuum cleaners may range from $200 to $500, depending on the features. Make sure the machine feels comfortable. The lower priced upright vacuum cleaner may or may not include manual adjustment for the height of the carpet.

HEPA filters trap small particles that may cause respiratory and other problems for asthma and allergy sufferers and others with health problems. When shopping for vacuum cleaners it's a good idea to take your health - (allergies, asthma, respiratory health, back health and physical health) into consideration. A bagless vacuum that uses filters may leak dust, dust mites, mold spores, fungus, bacteria, smoke particles, chemicals and allergen particles into the air, so small you may not be able to see all of them. HEPA is a type of filter that can trap a large amount of very small particles that other vacuum cleaners recirculate back into the air of your home.

It's up to you to decide if a true HEPA is necessary for your family, or if capturing a smaller amount of particles is worth the price break on filter costs; however your family's health is worth paying a little higher price. HEPA-like or HEPA type filters may only capture only 85 to 90 percent of particles and that percent can fall even lower for particles of 1 micron and below, unlike the true or absolute HEPA filters. If possible test air-tightness; you can do this by vacuuming for a little bit with a floor model and see how much dust has collected on the outside of the vacuum.

And just a reminder to make sure you check the warranty. A quality vacuum cleaner can be an excellent investment if you do your homework. Make sure you add on replacement bags to your initial investment if they're required.