Hi everyone,
Keep trying to contribute to the site as I believe you get out what you put in.
As a carpet cleaner I have the ultimate machine - a numatic turbo brush on the end of a twin 3 stage vac carpet HW extraction machine - the sort of thing that sends dysons running for cover...
I use this for 2 reasons, it means I don't have to carry round a seperate vac when I am carpet cleaning, also i am a fan of the turbo brush system. They are longer lasting and much easier to take apart than an electric head.
I advise, for domestic work, a small numatic plus a turbo head which you should be able to get for well under £150. The standard kit that comes with a henry won't pick up hairs.
Stay well clear of dysons. The DC07 is a great vac new, but anyone with any experience in the cleaning business will tell you that dyson quickly lose power. They are also heavy and unwieldy in small rooms, and useless for stairs. I don't know why so many people buy them.
Amongst the "rugsuckers" the Sebo reigns supreme. Once you have used one of these you will understand why. There are two versions, one is a bit more powerful but I can thoroughly recommend the cheaper one.
If you have £5-600 to spare, you could buy a numatic CT-570 which is a vac/extraction machine. It has the all important twin vac motors which make it an awesome dry vaccing tool, and it means you can have a stab at carpet cleaning too.
I have no experience of nilfisk but again in carpet cleaning circles I have heard good things about them.