The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner
The ideal vacuum cleaner for your home is a multi-functional, user-friendly tool. The ideal model will be lightweight, quiet and efficient.
This suction model is a great value at a low cost, with an effective anti-hair wrap floorhead and an odor-neutralizing puck. It comes with a large bin that is easy to empty.
1. Power
A powerful vacuum cleaner can efficiently manage household debris, making it easier to keep messes under control. It should be able to clean any mess, whether it's a pile of dog hair or a kitchen drain that is clogged. It is also required to trap dust and prevent the growth of bacteria to ensure healthy, fresh air. The best model to meet your needs depends on factors like floor type, household size and budget. The most commonly used types include uprights, portable handheld vacuums light sticks, and practical robots.
The Black+Decker Flex Vac is a hand-held vacuum that is lightweight and has an impressively high-quality performance. It is ideal for households with pets that are multiple or houses that are large. It also comes with an easy to empty trash bin to avoid messy cleanups. The vacuum can also be used as a mop, allowing users to do two tasks at once.
Think about a large upright or canister-corded vacuum for households with a lot of furniture. These models usually have larger motors as well as a motorized floorhead to tackle difficult dirt and carpeting. They are also available in various power modes to provide a variety of suction capacities and a longer life battery. It's also a good idea to choose the vacuum that has a HEPA filter if anyone in your home suffers from allergies.
2. Flexibility
The most effective vacuum cleaners can take on a variety of tasks in your home that range from quick dusting, to deep cleaning carpets. They are usually lightweight and easy to maneuver. They should also include a variety of attachments that will meet your requirements.
If you have pets, consider a vacuum designed to handle pet hair. They usually come with a dedicated brush that removes pet hair from the main floorhead and redirects it into the dust container, so it does not block the brush roll or wrap around it.
Many of our top-rated vacuums come with smart features that integrate with your home's systems or adjust to different types of floors and levels of dirt. This is especially important for those with allergies, since these features can keep dust particles from circulating in the air.
Vacuums can be expensive however, they're on sale during major events such as Black Friday and Amazon Prime Day. You can also find deals during the spring season, when retailers offer sales in anticipation of the annual spring cleaning of customers.
The lifespan of a vacuum varies depending on the model and the way you use it. Most of our top-rated vacuums last for an average of eight years. If talks about it want to be sure that your device will last longer than competitors, choose one with an extended warranty.
3. Easy of Use
A vacuum cleaner should be simple to operate and use, even during an extended cleaning session. This means a light, compact body, convenient controls and attachments and an ample bin that doesn't require frequent emptying. This ease of use is possible thanks to numerous features, such as motorized power head that clean carpets and rugs better, a large and tall floor head to reach under furniture, rotating nozzles for corner cleaning, and LED lights which illuminate the path.
For example, our top pick in this category is the Shark Stratos cordless vacuum, was easy to maneuver and used the most power from the battery during our testing. It also comes with an automatic suction adjustment and a sleek LCD screen with a battery indicator, and the ability for users to switch between Auto Eco and Boost modes.
The Stratos also took in ground coffee, kibble and flour easily in our tests. It also was able to handle carpets with low piles by removing sand and rice with just a few passes. It also has a front brushroll that is soft to catch fine particles and prevent pet fur from spitting out and a rear roll which is rigid and digs into carpeting.
Likewise, the budget-friendly Kenmore Elite sucks up wet spills and messes that can be found on hard floors, thanks to the power of its dual brushroll design. However, it's light enough to carry up and down stairs, and across a house without breaking a sweat. It's easier to care for than other upright models too, with an easily removable HEPA filter and a disposable dust bag that is able to be changed when full.
4. Versatility
The Levoit is a highly versatile model, able of handling the majority of cleaning tasks. It may not have all the features found in more expensive models, but its primary features make it a good choice for everyday use. This includes an 8-foot hose which can reach over floors and a large dust container that's easy to empty.
Its brush roll is made to capture and suck up hair without wrapping it around bristles making it a perfect choice for families with pets that shed hair or even people who shed a lot. Its performance in standardized tests also demonstrated that it can take on various kinds of debris, including carpet with a low pile and hard floors and even remove rice, sand, and Cheerios from carpeting.
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 up pet hair and also removed larger particles like cereal, but it struggled with more caked-on debris like car dirt. It comes with a variety of attachments like a motorized power-nozzle that can swiftly remove dirt and pet hair from upholstery.
5. Battery Life
A good home vacuum cleaner is one that can run for at least one hour without having to recharged. This is important for cordless models, as it lets you clean without having to stop.
Our top choice Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum is a great choice, with a long battery life and impressive debris pickup. The three cleaning modes, Eco, Auto and boost help you to manage the power so that you can clean for longer without draining your battery too fast. The vacuum comes with an elegant LCD screen that shows the battery's status and the amount of time left, and if there is a blockage.
This model is a great choice for households with hairy pets, as its no-tangle brushroll is excellent at collecting pet hair. It's also very effective at tackling dust and dirt, although it struggled to remove fine particles such as flour from floors and could not remove coffee grounds from carpeting.
If you're looking to deal with wet spills then the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro is a great choice. It's an upright vacuum that comes with features such as an iLoop smart sensor that can detect dirt and stains; self-cleaning, which will dry the brush roll cleaner edges that get into corners and along baseboards; and a battery lasting 40 minutes - longer than any other model we've tested.
6. Cleaning is easy
The best vacuums make cleaning up mess a breeze. The Levoit LVAC-200 is a good example, is lightweight and compact but impressively powerful. It sucked up everything from ground coffee to kibble and hair from dogs in our standard tests. The dual brushrolls snatch pet hair as well as other large particles without spitting them out or wrapping them around the cleaner's head. This helps it avoid blocking. The motorized tool can be used to eliminate pet hair that has been embedded, even from hard-to-reach areas.
Another highlight is the Shark Stratos Cordless, which easily dealt with pet hair as well as other debris in our standard tests. The main floorhead features a soft front brushroll, which captures fine dust and debris, and the floorhead that has hard bristles is able to penetrate deeper into carpeting for more difficult mess. The dust cup is large and easy to empty.
If you have carpeting in your home, you might need to consider a large upright or canister vacuum that has a beater for deeper cleaning. Select a vacuum cleaner that is wet dry that is able to handle floors and messes caused by food or water. Examples include the Miele Cat & Dog, or the Henry Hoover. These machines can handle a wide range of household waste, from small dust to large-scale messes. They may be more sophisticated than handhelds on this list.