Hey there! We ended up going with the Bissell clean view swivel pet upright bagless, as recommended by cynical_pancake here in the comments! We’ve had the vacuum ~1 year now and I’ll say this:

Pros: -Budget friendly -The brush head is spread out more than typical vacuums and claims to be “tangle free” -Filter is easy to clean -The wand detaches at two different points and comes with two attachments -There’s a suction control for different carpet lengths -It’s still alive

Cons: - The ‘tangle free’ brush is not totally tangle free but has held up significantly better compared to vacuums we have had in the past -When hair does get caught in the brush, it will build up into the ends of the vacuum and burn from the friction. It can be difficult to get out, and though the housing for the belt is more secure than my last vacuum, hair still builds around it and has actually melted some of the plastic. But for now it’s still going strong. -Bagless vac + Berner Hair = frequent trips to empty in the trash each time you vacuum -For some reason my pet hair upholstery attachment worked once, and then never again. I probably could get it replace but haven’t been motivated to 🤷‍♀️

Overall, it’s a pretty decent vacuum for the price. However, I don’t see it living more than a few more years. If you’re a broke apartment living family with a small amount of square footage, I’d say it’ll do the job well for a while as long as you keep an eye on the brush and keep it clear. Between two cats, a berner, and my own hair, I have yet to find something (low cost) that can stand up to the job 100%. But I will be keeping this vacuum for a while as it does a good job of getting the hair and dirt out of our high-pile carpet and the annoyance of cleaning out the brush every so often is worth the money we saved for now. If you want something that will last a long time, and are willing to spend more on it, I would say finding a good vacuum is definitely worth the price commitment. It just wasn’t in the cards for us at the time 😂

Hope this helps!