I prefer one with dust bag so can minimise the contact with dust. My primary objective of getting a vacuum cleaner is to avoid dust as much as possible because of family asthma & sinus health issue. I went Tangs Orchard and asked the sales person to demo few different models, samsung, electrolux, bosch, karcher, miele, both bag and bagless. After the demo, I decided to get a bagged vacuum because I cannot imagine if getting a bagless one then I have to wash the dust container plus filter with the dust flying around my sinus nose. Gathered from user reviews, forums, and conversation with sales person , I listed below my 'must have' in selecting my first vacuum cleaner. Dust bag capacity - the bigger the better so as to save the hassle of frequent changing. Hepa filter - I need this because of family ashthma / sinus. Otherwise can do without. Wheels - 360 degree rotating wheels for easy maneuvering and protecting flooring. Vacuum head/brush - I need a Parquet brush which can prevent parquet/granite flooring from scratches. Operating radius - the longer the better so don't have to change the power plug when moving from room to room. > 8m is preferred. Noise - not very important to me but cannot be overly loud. Weight - not very important to me since I will be getting one with good wheels to move about, but cannot be more than 8kg. suction power - not very important to me because most vacuum can do a decent job, don't need a super high one that sucks to the floor like super glue, around 350 Watt is good enough for me. Input power - good to have a efficiency model e.g. 1200-1600 Watt, but 2000 Watt is also ok for me since I use it at most once a week. For larger house such as a bungalow, should get a efficiency model to save electricity cost. If you have no issue with health (e.g.asthma) and flooring (marble/granite/parquet), then a normal vacuum should do a decent job. I have not used a Philip before but Philip annual carnival sales was just over 3 months ago. You can get very good deal at Philip annual sales at its Toa Payoh plant. A Philip FC-9172 is about $299? For this price range I would rather go for a Miele S2121. If you just need a budget and decent entry model, perhaps can consider a samsung SC5250 at $69 best price from a seller in this forum. By the way, depending on where you buy it from, you can use your credit card or departmental card to get discounts, and remember to bargain hard for freebies such as additional brush, filter or dust bag.