The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner
The ideal vacuum cleaner for home use is a multi-functional, user-friendly tool. The right model should also be lightweight, efficient, and quiet.
This pick offers great suction at a low cost and comes with a powerful anti-hair wrap floorhead and an odor neutralizing puck. It also has a large bin that is very easy to empty.
1. Power
A high-powered vacuum cleaner will efficiently take care of household debris and make it easy to keep your mess under control. If you're dealing with a heap of pet hair or a blocked kitchen drain, it should be able to suck up the mess with a minimum of effort. It should also be able to remove dust particles and inhibit bacterial development, for a healthy, fresh air. Selecting the best model for your needs will depend on factors such as the type of floor, household size and budget. The most popular models are uprights, portable handhelds lightweight sticks, and convenient robots.
The Black+Decker Flex Vac handheld vacuum is a lightweight device that performs with remarkable strength. It can remove pet hair and other larger debris with ease which makes it perfect for households with multiple pets or large homes. It also has an easy-to empty debris receptacle to prevent messy cleanups. The vacuum can be used as a mop to allow users to perform two tasks at once.
Think about a large upright or canister corded model for households with lots of furniture. These models come with more powerful motors, a motorized floorhead and can take on carpeting embedded and stubborn dirt. These vacuums are also available in a variety of power modes that offer a variety of suction strengths and a longer life battery. It's also a good idea to look for an appliance with an HEPA filter if someone in your home suffers from allergies.
2. Flexibility
The best vacuum cleaners can tackle a range of chores in your home from quick dusting, to deep cleaning carpets. They are usually light and easy to maneuver. They should also include several attachments to suit your needs.
If you have pets, think about a vacuum that's designed to handle hair from pets. These vacuums typically have a dedicated brush that removes hairs from the floorhead and then directs it to the dust container so that it does not clog the brush roll or wrap around it.
The best vacuums come with smart features, which integrate with your home systems, or adjust to different types of flooring and dirt levels. This is particularly important for those suffering from allergies, since these features to stop fine particles from circulating in the air.
Vacuums can be pricey, but the best ones are on sale a few times a year during major events, such as Black Friday and Amazon's Prime Day. There are also sales throughout the spring, when retailers offer sales to coincide with the annual spring cleaning of customers.
The life expectancy of a vacuum can vary depending on the model you choose and the way you make use of it. The majority of our top-rated vacuums last on average eight years. If you want yours to outlast your other contenders, pick one with a longer-term guarantee.
3. Simple to use
A vacuum cleaner should be simple to use and maneuver even during a long cleaning session. A lightweight, compact vacuum cleaner with convenient controls attachments, large, non-emptying bins are all crucial. This user-friendly design is possible thanks to numerous features, such as motorized power head that clean carpets and rugs more effectively with a tall and wide floor head that can be used to reach under furniture, rotating nozzles for corner cleaning, and LED lights which illuminate the walkway.
Shark Stratos, for example is our top choice and was the simplest to maneuver. It also utilized the least battery power in our tests. It also comes with an automatic suction adjustment as well as it has a sleek LCD screen with a battery indication, and the ability for users to switch between Auto Eco and Boost modes.
The Stratos also sucked up kibble, ground coffee and flour easily in our tests. It handled low-pile carpet well by removing the sand and rice in only a few passes. It also comes with a soft front brushroll that can capture tiny particles and prevent pet hair from spilling back out, as well as a rigid rear brushroll that digs into carpeting.
The budget-friendly Kenmore Elite also has a dual brushroll design that is able to pick up wet spills and messes from hard surfaces. It is lightweight enough to carry up and down stairs, and around the house, without breaking the sweat. It's also easier to maintain than many other upright models too with a movable HEPA filter and disposable dust bag that can be replaced when it's full.
4. Versatility
The Levoit is a highly versatile model that can handle all cleaning tasks. It lacks many of the perks offered by pricier models however, it does come with a number of essential features that make sure it's suitable for everyday use: it has multiple cleaning modes that can vary suction power and battery run time (including Eco), an 8-foot hose to reach above floors, and a large dust cup that is easy to empty.
The brush roll is designed to collect and suck up hair without wrapping it around bristles, making it an ideal pick for households with pets who shed hair or even humans who shed lots of hair. The results of tests conducted on it also showed that it can take on all kinds of debris including hard floors and low-pile carpet and even remove rice, sand, and Cheerios from carpeting.
In addition to its versatility and versatility, the Miele Flex Vac has an impressive amount of power for the cordless vacuum cleaner. It was especially effective at sucking up pet hair as well as larger particles such as cereal. However, it struggled with more caked-on debris like dust from cars. It has a variety of attachments like a motorized power-nozzle which can quickly remove dirt and pet hair from upholstery.
5. Battery Life
A good home vacuum cleaner should run for at least an hour without having to recharged. This is essential for cordless models because it allows you to clean without stopping.
Shark Stratos cordless vacuum is our top choice. It has a long battery life and a powerful debris pickup. Its three cleaning modes - Eco, Auto and Boost help to manage the power level so that you can keep cleaning longer without running out of battery. The vacuum has an elegant LCD screen that displays the status of your battery, how much time is left, and if there is a blockage.
This model is a great choice for households with hairy pets, as its brushroll is non-tangle and is excellent at picking up pet hair. It also excels in tackling dust and dirt. However, it struggles to pick up fine particles such as flour from hard flooring and cannot get coffee grounds from carpeting.
If automatic vacuum cleaner looking to tackle wet spills too it is the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro is a great choice. It is an all-in-one model that comes with features such as an iLoop sensor which detects spills, dirt, and stains. It also has self-cleaning that dries out the brush roll. It also offers superior edge cleaning that allows you to get to the corners and baseboards. The battery lasts for 40 minutes, which is more than any other model we test.
6. Ease of Cleaning
The best vacuums make cleaning up messes effortless. The Levoit LVAC-200 for instance is light and compact but incredibly powerful. It was able to take in everything from ground coffee to kibble and dog hair in our standardized tests. Its dual brushrolls catch pet hair as well as other large particles without spitting them out or wrapping them around the cleaner's head. This prevents blocking. The motorized tool can also remove pet hair that has been embedded in upholstery, even in hard-to reach places.
The Shark Stratos Cordless is another top performer, because it handled pet hair and large pieces of debris effortlessly in our tests. The main floorhead is fitted with a soft brushroll to capture fine dust and debris. The second floorhead that has bristles that are rigid, can penetrate deeper into carpeting for larger messes. The dust cup can hold plenty of space and is easy to empty.
If your home is carpeted, you should consider an upright or full-size vacuum that has beater bar for longer cleaning sessions. Or, opt for a wet-dry vacuum, which can tackle the floors as well as messes caused by food or water like the Miele C3 Cat and Dog or the Henry Hoover. These machines are capable of handling a wide range of household debris from small crumbs to large messes and could be more sophisticated than handhelds on this list.