That’s not the most important feature on a vacuum, but it’s a standard on canister designs and makes storage easier. Retractable cord systems add weight and the Apex is already a heavy vacuum as it is, but on a premium-tier vacuum, we’d like to see some innovation beyond the bare-bones wrapping system. As a secondary vacuum for quick pickups at home or in a car, the $139 Lift-Around is lightweight and maneuverable.
It doesn’t have the filter or carpet-cleaning prowess of other vacuums, but it has plenty of power for the price. The biggest advantage of a canister vacuum is the long reach offered by the hose, but compared to the best upright vacuums or stick vacuums, that’s also a downside when you need to put it in the closet. As a consolation, most of these canister vacuums offer collapsing wands and shark canister vacuum retracting power cords to keep the storage as simple as possible. Against the tougher competition of bagged canister vacuums, the Apex let more fine dust into the air than Kenmore’s top-of-the-line sealed bag system did. The difference is only about 20%, and the Shark captured more large dust particles, so we’re happy with this performance considering the other advantages of the system.
While cleaning the stairs was a bit time-consuming, since we opted to use the extension hose, rather than the motor head, the vacuum’s suction was still plenty powerful through this alternative mode. We also appreciated using the lift-away pod to carry around while cleaning curtains or reaching light fixtures. However, this pod was a bit sticky to release and required more force than we expected. All in all, we don’t think you can go wrong investing in this upright vacuum with a powerful motor and adjustable cleaning modes to tackle all of the floorings in your home. The Shark NV360 Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum, our Best Upright pick, is a great choice, too. This more basic Shark vacuum lacks features like a self-cleaning brush roll, but still qualifies as a quality upright vacuum, thanks to its fully-sealed system with HEPA filtration and a lift-away canister option.
And even a perfectly sealed bagless vacuum cleaner will eject a bunch of dust whenever you empty it. Any vacuum cleaner is fine for pet owners, but a motorized brush head can be really useful on certain types of carpets and upholstery. But they’re often more or less the same as any non-pet vacuum cleaner, just with an additional mini-brush tool for tackling pet hair that’s clinging to upholstery. Plenty of non-pet vacuums have that tool, too, including many variants of the Shark Navigator, so you don’t need to go out of your way to find a vacuum cleaner marketed to pet owners. That said, we have some thoughts on how to stop tufts of pet hair from piling up on your floors.
Bissell has aimed squarely at the budget vacuum target, and hit the mark. For bare floors and cleaning tight spots, this is a tool that will get the job done efficiently. The agility of Shark’s motorized brush head makes steering with one hand no problem, but if you’ve got a large room to cover you’ll definitely want to use upright mode most of the time.