With four attachments and an alternative dust bin to use in handheld mode, the vacuum is completely modular and, in a slightly nerdy way, quite fun to play around with. I tested this vacuum in a bedroom particularly loved by my long-haired tabby cat, whose thick fur could probably withstand the pull of a black hole. Yet after a few passes, the Hoover managed to suck up the matted mess and, shark handheld vacuum best of all, none of it was left on the brush thanks to the anti-twist technology (Hoover’s equivalent to Shark’s anti hair-wrap). We tested each vacuum for several weeks in flats, houses with steep staircases and larger still houses to test the battery life. We compared them for weight, battery life, ease of use and flexibility to manoeuvre on wooden floors, carpet, linoleum and tiles.
It was the top performer in both the upright and canister categories at picking up sand (only the much heavier, more expensive Riccar Tandem Air Deluxe did better), and it excelled in our baking soda test. While its electric cleaner head struggled with baking soda shark stick vacuum close to baseboards, its parquet brush, designed for delicate bare wood floors, picked up baking soda in one pass (both parallel and head-on, which is rare). If you really want to know your house is clean, no other vacuum comes close to Dyson’s cordless whizz.
Wirecutter staffers who have owned the Navigator for seven or eight years told us that it still performs like it did on day one. For upright fanatics who want it all, the SEBO Felix Premium offers excellent cleaning power and filtration, comfortable handling, and an extra-long warranty. It also has a variety of different designs and functions that you can choose from. While missing many of the features of our top pick, the Shark Navigator needs little maintenance and has essentially no recurring costs.
Swap it out for the hard floor cleaning attachment and you get similarly impressive results for a longer run time. Actually the range of attachments was one of the things I like the most. Mine came with hard and soft motorised heads for carpet and hard floors, a Pet Pro motorised head with rubber bristles, which really worked, and various crevice and brush tools. Each of these types of machines have their own pros and cons to mull over.
One especially useful feature is the voice prompts, which let you know exactly what’s going on, whether you need to charge, refill the water tank, or empty the dirty water tank. Its 1.9-liter dust canister is the largest here and holds 150% more debris than the Dyson V15 Detect Absolute. The cleaning head is also wider than usual to cover more ground than others. We’re home cooks just like you—and we bring a home cook’s perspective to all of our rigorous testing.