I'll throw in a name no one else has talked about. We have a Tri-Star from 15 or so years ago. It's worked well and does a good job. My wife doesn't like the cannister and there is no tool storage. It's a simple basic, expensive vac that seems to do a good job and has been reliable. We had to replace the hose as the electrical for the power nozzle failed. We've gone through 4 or 5 power nozzle belts, and one roller for the power nozzle.

My wife has started talking about a central system. She hates dragging the cannister around. I don't blame her, but that's what I grew up with so I don't mind. It's constantly wrapping the cord for storage that I hate. 

Overall, I like it because it works and does a good job without throwing a lot of dust back in the air, but probably wouldn't recommend it because it's not handy and was too expensive (don't know if it's even available anymore, let alone what the price might be). 

If central isn't an option, I'd probably do as Mike and pick up something cheap. We paid the money because we had a dog in the house at the time, and the old thing we had wouldn't deal with dog hairs.