The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner
The best vacuum cleaner for your home is a multi-functional and easy-to-use tool. The best model will be quiet, light and efficient.
This model provides excellent suction at a reasonable price. It also has an anti-hair wrap floorhead which is efficient as well as an anti-odor puck. It comes with a bin that is easy to empty.
1. Power
A powerful vacuum cleaner can efficiently manage household debris and make it easier to keep mess under control. No matter if you have a pile of pet hair or a blocked kitchen drain, it should be able to clear the mess with minimal effort. It should also capture fine dust and inhibit bacterial growth, for clean and healthy air quality. The right model depends on your budget, flooring type and size of your household. The most popular types are uprights, handheld vacuums that can be carried around and lightweight sticks, as well as convenient robots.
The Black+Decker Flex Vac handheld vacuum is a light device that has incredible power. It is able to remove pet hair and other larger debris effortlessly and is ideal for households with multiple pets or larger homes. It also comes with an easy to empty trash bin to avoid messy cleanups. The vacuum can also be used as a mop in order to allow users to complete two tasks at once.
For households that have a lot of furniture, it's a good idea to consider a more robust full-size corded upright or canister vacuum. These models come with more powerful motors as well as a motorized floorhead that can handle carpets that are embedded and tough dirt. These vacuums are also available in a variety of power modes to provide various suction capabilities and a long life battery. It's recommended to choose the vacuum that has a HEPA filter if someone within your home suffers from allergies.
2. smart vacuum cleaner are capable of tackling various chores around the home from dusting to deep-cleaning carpets. They're usually lightweight which makes them easy to maneuver, and should also have a variety of attachments to suit your requirements.
If you have pets, consider the right vacuum to handle hair from pets. They typically have an exclusive power brush that siphons pet hair off the main floorhead and directs it into the dust cup so it doesn't clog or get caught in the brush roll.
The top-rated vacuums also have intelligent features that can integrate with your home's systems or adjust to different flooring types and levels of dirt. This is particularly important for those with allergies, as these features can prevent fine debris from recirculating in the air.
Vacuums can be expensive, but they go on sale during major occasions like Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. You can also find deals throughout the spring, when retailers announce sales in anticipation of customers' annual spring cleaning.
The lifespan of a vacuum varies, depending on its model and the kind of use you put it through. However, the majority of our top-rated models last an average of eight years. If you want to be sure that yours will last longer than the competitors, choose one with a longer warranty.
3. User-Friendliness
A vacuum cleaner must be simple to operate and use, even during long cleaning sessions. This means a light, compact body, easy controls and attachments and an ample bin that doesn't require frequent emptying. Several features contribute to this ease of use, such as motorized power nozzles to tackle carpets and rugs with greater efficiency as well as a tall and wide floor head that reaches under furniture and has a rotating nozzle that allows for better corner cleaning self-cleaning rollers, and LED lights that light the way ahead.
For instance our top pick in this category, the Shark Stratos cordless vacuum, was easy to maneuver and utilized the most power from the battery during our testing. It also has automatic adjusting suction and it has a sleek LCD display that has an indicator for the battery and the ability to switch between Eco, Auto and boost modes.
The Stratos also took in kibble, ground coffee and flour with ease in our tests. It was able to handle carpets with low piles by removing rice and sand in just a couple of passes. It also has a front-facing brushroll that is soft enough to capture fine particles and prevent pet fur from spilling out and a rear brushroll which is stiff and can dig into carpeting.
The budget-friendly Kenmore Elite sucks up wet spills and messes from hard floors, thanks to the power of its dual brushroll design, but it's still light enough to carry up and down stairs, and across a house without breaking the bank. It's easier to care for than most other upright models as well and comes with a removable HEPA filter and disposable dust bag that can be changed after filling up.
4. Versatility
The Levoit is a highly versatile model, able of handling the majority of cleaning tasks. It isn't equipped with the advantages offered by more expensive models but it does have several essential features that make sure it's suitable for everyday use. It has a variety of cleaning modes that can vary suction power and battery runtime (including Eco), an 8-foot hose to reach above floors, and a massive easy-to-empty dust container.
The brush roll is designed to collect and remove hair without wrapping it around bristles making it a perfect pick for households with hairy pets or even people who shed a lot. The results of tests conducted on it proved that it was able to take on a variety of debris, including low-pile carpet and hard floors. It also removed sand, rice and Cheerios.
In addition to its versatility, the Miele Flex Vac has an impressive amount of power for the cordless vacuum cleaner. It was particularly effective at sucking hair from pets and also removing larger particles, like cereal. However, it was unable to deal with more caked-on particles like dust from cars. It also has a wide selection of attachments, including a motorized power nozzle that makes short work of pet hair and dirt that accumulates on upholstery.
5. Battery Life
A quality vacuum cleaner for home use should last at least one hour without needing to be recharged. If you have a cordless model, this is important since it allows you to get your cleaning done without having to stop and begin again.
Shark Stratos cordless vacuum is our top pick. It comes with an extended battery life and a powerful debris pickup. The three cleaning modes, Eco, Auto and boost allow you to control the power to allow you to clean longer without draining the battery too fast. The vacuum comes with a sleek LCD display that displays if there's a clog and how much time you have left, and your battery status.
This model is ideal for households with furry pets as the no-tangle brushroll can effectively remove pet hair. It's also very effective at dealing with dirt and dust, although it struggled to remove fine particles like flour from hard floors and could not remove coffee grounds from carpeting.
If vacuum robot looking to deal with wet spills too, the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro is a great option. It's a bagged vacuum, but it comes with features such as an iLoop smart sensor that detects dirt and stains; self-cleaning which dry the brush roll; better edge cleaning that gets into corners and along baseboards; and a battery that lasts 40 minutes, more than any other model we've tested.
6. Ease of Cleaning
The most effective vacuum cleaners make it a breeze to deal with the mess. The Levoit LVAC-200, for example is light and compact however, it is incredibly powerful. In our standard tests, it sucked everything from kibble to ground coffee to dog hair. The dual brushroll design captures pet hair and other debris without spitting it back out or wrapping it around the cleaner's head which helps keep it free of clogging. The motorized tool is able to eliminate pet hair that has been embedded, even from hard-to-reach areas.
The Shark Stratos Cordless is another outstanding model, since it was able to handle pet hair and large pieces of debris effortlessly in our standard tests. The main floorhead is equipped with a soft brushroll that can collect dust and debris. The second floorhead which has rigid bristles, can reach deeper into carpeting for more difficult messes. The dust cup is large and easy to empty.
If you have a lot of carpet in your home, you may want to consider an upright that is full-size or a canister vacuum with a beater for more thorough cleaning. You can also choose an all-purpose wet-dry vacuum that can handle floors and messes created by food or water like the Miele C3 Cat & Dog or the Henry Hoover. These vacuums can take care of various household waste including small crumbs and larger messes, and could provide more advanced features than the handhelds on this list.