The best home vacuum cleaner is a multi-functional tool that is easy to maneuver and use. The right model should also be lightweight, efficient, and quiet.
This model offers great suction at a reasonable price. It also includes an anti-hair wrap floorhead which is efficient as well as an anti-odor puck. It also boasts a large bin and is extremely easy to empty.
1. Power
A powerful vacuum cleaner can effectively manage household debris and make it easy to keep the mess under control. It should be able to clean any mess, regardless of whether it's a clump of hair from a dog or a kitchen sink that has become blocked. It should also capture fine dust and inhibit the growth of bacterial, to ensure clean and healthy air quality. Selecting the best model for your needs will depend on factors like the type of floor, household size and budget. Most common types are uprights, portable handhelds, light sticks, and handy robots.
The Black+Decker Flex Vac is a hand-held vacuum that is lightweight and has an impressively strong performance. It is able to remove pet hair and other larger debris easily and is ideal for households with multiple pets or large homes. It also comes with an easy to empty debris receptacle to prevent messy cleanups. The vacuum can be used to mop and allow users to finish two tasks at a time.
For households with lots of furniture it's a good idea to consider a more robust full-size corded upright or canister vacuum. These models usually have more powerful motors and a floorhead with a motorized design to take on difficult dirt and carpeting. These vacuums can also be found in different power modes to provide different suction capacities and a longer life battery. It's an excellent idea to choose the vacuum that has HEPA filters. HEPA filter if anyone in your home is suffering from allergies.
2. Flexibility
The best vacuum cleaners are able to tackle a range of chores in your home, from quick dusting, to deep cleaning carpets. They're typically lightweight which makes them easy to move around, and will also come with a variety of attachments to meet your requirements.
If you have pets, think about a vacuum that's designed to handle pet hair. These models typically have a separate power brush that draws pet hair off the main floorhead, and then directs it into the dust container to ensure it doesn't get stuck or wrap around the vacuum's brush roll.
The top-rated vacuums have smart features that integrate with the home's systems or adapt to different floor types and levels of dirt. This is especially important for those with allergies, since these features can prevent fine debris from recirculating in the air.
Vacuums can be a bit 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. You can also find great bargains in the spring, when retailers schedule sales to coincide with customers' annual spring cleaning.
The life expectancy of a vacuum can be different depending on the model and the kind of use it is put through. However, our top-rated picks last for an average of eight years. If you want to be sure that yours will last longer than the competitors, choose one with an extended warranty.
3. Easy of Use
A vacuum cleaner should be simple to operate and use, even for an extended cleaning session. A lightweight, compact vacuum cleaner with convenient controls attachments, as well as large, non-emptying bins are all essential. Many features make it easier of use, such as motorized power nozzles that can tackle carpets and rugs more effectively with a tall and wide floor head that is able to reach under furniture, a rotating nozzle to ensure better corner cleaning, self-cleaning rollers and LED lights that light the path ahead.
For example, our top pick in this category is the Shark Stratos cordless vacuum, was easy to move and required the most power from the battery during our testing. It also features an automatic adjustment of suction and a sleek LCD display with an indicator for robotvacuummops the battery and the ability to switch between Auto, Eco and boost modes.
The Stratos also took in ground coffee, kibble and flour easily in our tests. It did a great job at removing carpets with low pile by removing rice and sand in just a few passes. It also has a soft front-facing brushroll to capture fine particles and prevent pet hair from spitting out and a rigid rear brushroll that sinks into carpeting.
Similar to the budget-friendly Kenmore Elite sucks up wet spills and messes from hard floors, thanks to the power of its dual brushroll design. However, it's still light enough to move up and down stairs as well as across a house without breaking a sweat. It's also less maintenance-intensive than many upright models with an HEPA filter that is easily removable and dust bags that can be changed once fully stuffed.
4. Versatility
The Levoit is an extremely versatile model, able of handling all cleaning tasks. It might not come with all the features found in more expensive models, but its primary features ensure that it is a good choice for everyday use. These include an 8-foot hose that can reach above floors and an enormous dust cup that is easy to empty.
Its brush roll is designed for capturing and sucking up hair without wrapping the bristles around it making it a good option for households with hairy pets or people who shed a lot. Its performance in standardized tests also proved that it is able to manage various kinds of debris, including carpets with low pile and hard floors; it even managed to remove rice, sand, and Cheerios from carpeting.
In addition to its versatility in its use, it also has a wide range of uses. Miele Flex Vac has an impressive amount of power for an electric vacuum cleaner. It was particularly effective at cleaning pet hair, and also took larger particles such as cereal, but it was unable to tackle more caked-on debris, such as car dirt. It comes with a variety attachments like an electric power-nozzle that will quickly get rid of pet hair and dirt from upholstery.
5. Battery Life
A quality home vacuum should run for at least one hour without having to recharged. This is crucial for cordless models, as it lets you clean without having to stop.
Our top pick, the Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum, offers a lengthy battery life as well as impressive debris removal. The three cleaning modes - Eco, Auto and boost, help you to manage the power so that you can clean longer without draining the battery too fast. The vacuum has an elegant LCD display that displays if there's a clog or blockage, how long you've got left and your battery status.
This model is an excellent option for households with hairy pets, as its no-tangle brushroll does an excellent job of collecting pet hair. It's also effective in cleaning dirt and dust but it struggled to remove fine particles such as flour from floors and could not remove coffee grounds from carpeting.
Tineco Floor One S7 Pro can also handle wet spills. It's a bagged vacuum but has features such as an iLoop smart sensor that can detect dirt and stains; self-cleaning that dries the brush roll; better edge cleaning that gets into corners and along baseboards and a battery lasting 40 minutes, which is more than any other model we've tested.
6. Ease of Cleaning
The top vacuum cleaners make it easy to clean up messes. The Levoit LVAC-200 is a light, compact vacuum cleaner that's powerful. It sucked up everything from kibble to ground coffee and hair from dogs in our standard tests. Its dual brushroll design catches pet hair and other large debris without spitting it back out or wrapping it around the cleaner head, which helps it stay free of obstructions. The motorized tool is able to eliminate pet hair that has been embedded even from difficult-to-access areas.
Another notable is the Shark Stratos Cordless, which easily handled pet hair and other large debris in our standardized tests. The main floorhead is fitted with a soft brushroll to catch dust and other debris. The second floorhead, with its rigid bristles can reach deeper into carpeting to take on larger mess. And the dust cup holds plenty of space and is easy to empty.
If you have a lot of carpeting in your home, you might need to consider a large upright or canister vacuum with a beater for deeper cleaning. Select a wet-dry vacuum that is able to handle floors and messes caused by water or food. Examples include the Miele Cat & Dog, or the Henry Hoover. These machines can handle all kinds of household debris including small crumbs and bigger messes. They also offer more advanced features than the handhelds in this list.
