I've had both a decently priced Miele and a Dyson barrel vacuum before (can't remember the model numbers now, this was a while ago) and when dealing with pets and my wife's hair the Dyson wins hands down. The Miele clogged horribly. I guess it depends on what you're vacuuming, but I'd try Miele again.

Now I have a Dyson V-8 cordless and it works fine. It runs long enough to vacuum the whole house and a bit more and is more convenient than anything corded.