My favorite detail is that when I switch modes, the lights on the head of the machine automatically go off, and the wand or handheld piece will light up to illuminate the surface I’m cleaning. As its name implies, the Vertex DuoClean has two modes—one for hard surfaces and one for soft ones. In my humble opinion, Dyson stick vacuums are the apotheoses of the form.
It feels quite well-built, is easy to maintain, and incurs low ownership costs. Unfortunately, its max battery life of about 40 minutes is shorter than most of its peers. ToolsMost of the cordless vacuums in our list come with at least a few swappable tools to help with specific tasks. If you have hard floors, look for a model that comes with a dedicated cleaner head – this has a softer brush roll to ensure the flooring isn’t damaged when vacuuming. Our team of CNET experts, editors and lab technicians has been testing vacuums in a smart home and testing warehouse located in Louisville for over 10 years.
It impressively cleaned my floors in a single pass without leaving any wet spots, and it was one of the quietest models I tried. The S5 Combo offers edge cleaning, but only on one end of the motorhead. Close runner-up, the Dyson shark pet vacuum V12 also makes life easier with its intelligent LED display and lightweight, slim design. The Vactidy V8 offers an incredible amount of features and suction power for a smidge less than £60, which is insane value for money.
The battery can be charged separately, though we wish it had a light to alert you when charging is complete. Nice extras that we didn’t see on other stick vacuums included a capsule to neutralize odors and a wand that flexes in the center to reach under low furniture. The flex wand also allows you to fold the vacuum in half for more compact storage or to stand it on its own without the need for wall mounting. Its cleaning performance on bare floors was very good, but this Shark model struggled with our carpet edge cleaning and pet hair pickup tests. It struggles a little with fine debris embedded in low-pile carpet fibers, but it does a great job with larger material and easily clears away pet hair on this surface type.
Corded vacuums, on the other hand, can be quite heavy and sometimes hard to maneuver, but their suction power is superior. By the end of the home testing period we had gotten rid of our old vacuum because this one performed so much better. It cleaned high-pile rugs more efficiently and had an easier time picking up bigger pieces of debris like kibble and popcorn kernels. With this vacuum, it’s very easy to remove the dust canister; however, emptying it was a different story, as hair tended to get caught on top. It’s small, which means you’ll have to take the time to empty it more often, too. However, we were thrilled to notice that there was no hair wrapped around the front roller, so we’ll take the tradeoff.
As the company’s flagship cordless model, it’s expensive, retailing at $ but, like its predecessor the V11, the V15 ripped through our suite of vacuum cleaner tests with ruthless power and complete. The 15 cordless vacuums we’ve tested in recent years range in price from $105 to $899. The Tineco Pure One S11 sits right in the middle of that pack with a retail price of $ but it performs as if it costs a lot more, with outstanding results in each of our main cleaning tests. The very first time I turned on the Shark Cordless Detect Pro, I was stunned by how surprisingly quiet it is compared to others I’ve used — including earlier models of Shark vacs. It’s comfortable to handle and glides over both carpet and hard flooring like a dream. As someone who swears by Shark vacuums, I didn’t think I’d notice a huge difference, but this one proved me wrong.
In order to get the HEPA label, a vacuum air filter must remove at least 99.7% of pollen, dust, bacteria, and any other airborne particles (0.3 microns in size). With carpet, we found that the trick is to put the vacuum directly over clumps of hair for the most effective results. We loved the swivel steer design of the Shark SV1106 Navigator shark pet vacuum Freestyle Upright Bagless Cordless Stick Vacuum, which made it easy to move and maneuver around the floor. It held up well over the course of six months and even replaced the vacuum we were using previously. The cord is long enough to allow you to carry the vacuum up and down the stairs; however, this vacuum is quite hefty.
A couple of other complaints would be that the dust bin is difficult to empty. If you liked the look of the Shark Stratos above but want something a little cheaper, this Cordless Stick Vacuum is an excellent option. The battery didn’t last quite as long on test, the suction wasn’t quite as good and it doesn’t have anti-odour technology but it still out-performed so many other cordless vacuums I tried. It’s also worth keeping an eye on the price, as you can often find it on sale. A popular complaint I have when reviewing cordless vacuums is the lack of edge to edge cleaning, visible when you vacuum alongside sideboards or cupboards and find a thin trail of dust left behind.