I happened to need a new vacuum a few months ago, and I asked a professional cleaner friend for her advice (don't laugh - it's a very lucrative business here in

I happened to need a new vacuum a few months ago, and I asked a professional cleaner friend for her advice (don't laugh - it's a very lucrative business here in Sydney). She said, basically, Nilfisk or Miele, whichever's on sale. I asked about Dyson since I'd also been at least somewhat impressed by their marketing materials. The response was that while their performance is reasonable in a light use context, they are not at all durable and their use is unheard of in a commercial environment. They also have no commercial products, which is a red flag because while a company's marketing might be able to bamboozle consumers, the professionals are far less impressed with glossy brochures and only concerned with consistent performance, reliability and TCO. Nilfisk and Miele have commercial products. That was pretty much "case closed" for my decision making process and I bought a Nilfisk. YMMV.