What vacuum would you recommend?

I would recommend doing a bunch of research as there are third party reviewers who test them. I went with a shark uplight apex but I am not a vacuum professional, I just have asthma and hate dust.

I bought a cheap used miele canister after reading this: https://old.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1pe2bd/iama_vacuum_re...

It has been great so far. The bags are a little expensive, but worth it. It is quiet and pleasant to use and has strong suction, and parts are available if we need them.

the shark I bought doesn't use a bag at all - it has an integrated hepa filter I clean off once a week but aside from that no ongoing costs.

I am wary of taking 7 year old advice in general, given how quickly things change and how companies put out new products each year, but I hope you like your vacuum. I paid $215 USD for my vacuum new with a 5 year warranty - there's very little a tech could do on this vacuum that wouldn't cost more than a new vacuum.

I used to have the same opinion, then I used a Miele and it's really quite shocking how good it is. Not trying to sell you on one, but if you have the chance to try one out you may be surprised.

I love my Miele canister vacuum. Crazy expensive, but I’d rather skip a generation of cell phone and have a great vacuum instead. I owned a lot of crap vacuums before this one.

Rtings recently started reviewing vacuums which does a nice comparison: https://www.rtings.com/vacuum

Miele canister, hands down. It's the best vacuum I've ever used in my life, nothing else even comes close.

The high cost was hard to get over, but I waited for a sale and now I only wish I had done it sooner.

Maybe the carpet acts as a filter for dust that you would otherwise be breathing?

I dont think it filters anything - it just provides the dust a place to lay down until something knocks it up into the air. It would have to have some mechanism for getting the dust to the other side to act as a filter, and then you'd still have to clean/dispose of it somehow.

More of a grinder to make sure anything big enough to fall out gets smashed up into particles small enough to stay floating. (Less the occasional cleaning, which... isn't comprehensive. wash a used rug someday. ick.)

Carpets really just molt and let its shit go into the air.

Carpets should be illegal.