For hard floors and pet hair a canister would be ideal. Henry vacuums have strong suction and large hepa bags, there are several sized from 160, 200, and 240. Henry 160 is a medium sized canister, the Henry 200 and Henry 240 actually use the same hepa bag but are bigger so the bag will hold more in them. If you want the lightest weight I'd stick to a Henry 160. The Henry 200 is large and has a longer cord, probably your goldilocks option. I think the Henry 240 is overkill. I'd also add a Wessel Werk RD285, it's a hard floor tool without a brushes that hair will get caught in, it will gulp up hair. Personally, I like the Wessel Werk Turn & Clean Brush, it does have brushes so you'll want to vacuum off the hair when you are done, but it has a ball joint that lets it swivel and turn better than other brushes.

Miele and Sebo also make great canister vacuums and have more local vacuum stores that sell and service them. You could look at the Sebo E1 Kombi or Miele C3 Calima.

Hope that helps.

I think your concern about the Miele combo head is correct. I have a large pebble tile floor in a bathroom and the Miele combo head clacks and bumps going over it, the single large rear wheel exacerbates the uneven surface. I also think that a Miele vacuum would get faster wear on this kind of surface.

Instead I'd recommend a Henry 160. Henry is very very quiet about the same noise as a Miele and Sebo. Henry is more robust made for commercial use as well as residential use. I think the large hepa bags would do better and Henry can stand up to more knocks.

Henry comes with a similar combo head so instead I would recommend the Wessel Werk Turn and Clean Brush. The WW Turn & Clean has no wheels so it doesn't clack over uneven surfaces and it has almost a double pivoting neck so it has an amazing swivel. Another option is the Hoover Floor Brush this is a Wessel Werk D360 equivalent, it's a lightweight soft floor brush with wheels on the side so it doesn't clack the way a combo brush does.

Thoughts?