Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

I live with my parents in a luxury 2-bedroom apartment (1184 square feet).  The floor is mostly carpet, but the entry and kitchen have what I think is ceramic tile, with recessed grout, and the bathrooms and laundry room have what I think is linoleum style to look like tiles.

A couple of weeks ago, my mother's caregiver said the vacuum cleaner (a Nilfisk GS 90 that I think we bought in 1992 if not earlier) had stopped working.  I took it to a repair shop, and I was told that it was some voltage controls that had overheated because the bag was full (I don't know when it had last been changed, and the caregivers might not have known how to open it to check the bag; also, even before we started having caregivers come, I rarely thought to check the bag before using it).  He was having some trouble finding prices for them, but considering its age and that it was already overdue for more than $400 of replacement parts (the hose, the hepa exhaust filter, the micro filter, and the main filter), I figured it would make more sense to buy a new vacuum cleaner.

However, I'm having some trouble finding one that's a good compromise between the features I want and the cost.
Given that the failure was apparently caused by an overfilled bag, I figure I should get one that makes it easy to know when to empty the bag/bin, e.g. by having an indicator light turn on.
I'm fairly sure I want a canister vacuum rather than an upright (among other things, the space we used to store the Nilfisk in wouldn't fit an upright)
I want it to be reliable, and fewer/cheaper expected replacement parts would be good (e.g. bagless, washable filter).
A HEPA filter would be nice, since my father and I both have allergies, but probably not critical, since we'd continued using the Nilfisk even though it has been a little over 8 years (iirc) since last time the hepa filter was changed, so it probably had reduced effectiveness.

Can anybody suggest a vacuum cleaner that would be good for my family?  Preferably under $300.

The "cloth" is synthetic material, basically blown glue, with very small pores. In general if the filter media filters 99.97% of particles down to 0.3 microns in size then the filter media qualifies for a HEPA designation. And that is what the bag is, a filter media that also happens to contain the dirt. You can see when you use HEPA bags the bag chamber of your vacuum stays very clean and the other filters do not become as dirty as fast. Here is an interesting primer: http://www.donaldson.com/en/aircraft/support/datalibrary/042665.pdf You can read my previous recommendation for a high quality vacuum that does not cost a huge amount of money, from Panasonic. Alternatively you can often buy store demos of high end Kenmore canister vacuums for very little money from freight liquidators such as Empire Liquidators. Many Sears stores will also have a department selling close outs. I have seen new in box Kenmores sell for around $115 on closeout, and these are not the Chinese made cheapies but the better Panasonic manufactured models from their big plant in Nuevo Leon Mexico.