Dyson! I bought mine at Target on sale, plus I got the pink one so some of the purchase price went to breast cancer research... and I got myself a nice $100 gift card. After all was said and done it cost maybe $250?
I love it. It's actually the second we own - mom has one in the basement, mine is upstairs, so we don't have to lug it up and down stairs (unfortunately, we did not buy the light one, so it is not exactly a joy to carry.)
It works lovely on non-carpeted surfaces too.