The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner
The ideal home vacuum cleaner is a multi-functional tool that is simple to operate and use. The best model must be lightweight, efficient and quiet.
This model offers excellent suction at a reasonable price it comes with a highly effective anti-hair wrap floorhead, as well as an odor-neutralizing puck. It also has a large bin and is extremely easy to empty.
1. Power
A high-powered vacuum cleaner will effectively manage household debris and help to keep mess under control. It should be able to clean any mess, regardless of whether it's a pile of hair from a dog or a kitchen drain clogged. It is also required to capture fine dust, and stop the growth of bacterial, for a healthy, fresh air. Choosing the right model for your needs will depend on factors like the type of flooring, the size of your household and budget. The most common types include uprights, portable handheld vacuums light sticks, and practical robots.
The Black+Decker Flex Vac handheld vacuum is a lightweight device that has remarkable strength. It can remove pet hair and other larger debris with ease and is ideal for households with multiple pets or large homes. It also features an easy-to-empty debris receptacle, which helps prevent messy cleanups. The vacuum can also be used as a mop, allowing users to perform two tasks at once.
For households that have a lot of furniture it's a good idea consider a more robust full-size corded upright or canister vacuum. These models typically feature larger motors as well as a motorized floorhead to tackle stubborn dirt and embedded carpeting. They're also available with different power modes to provide different suction and longer battery life. It's also a good idea to look for the vacuum that has a HEPA filter if anyone in your home is suffering from allergies.
2. Flexibility
The best vacuum cleaners can perform a variety of household chores from quick dusting to deep cleaning carpets. They're usually lightweight, making them effortless to maneuver. They will also come with a variety of attachments that will meet your needs.
Look into a vacuum designed specifically to handle hair from pets if you own pets. These vacuums typically have a brush specifically designed to remove hair from the main floorhead and then directs it to the dust container so it doesn't block the brush roll or wrap around it.
The best vacuums come with smart features, that integrate with your home systems or adjust for different floor types and dirt levels. This is especially important for those suffering from allergies, since these features keep dust particles from circulating in the air.
Vacuums are expensive, but the most effective ones go on sale several times per year during major events, such as Black Friday and Amazon's Prime Day. You can also find great deals in the spring when retailers plan sales to coincide with the annual spring cleaning.
The life expectancy of a vacuum can vary depending on the model you choose and the way you use it. Most of our top-rated vacuums last on average eight years. If you want to make sure yours will outlast the competition, look for one with an extended warranty.
3. Easy of Use
A vacuum cleaner should be simple to operate and use, even during a longer cleaning session. A lightweight, compact vacuum cleaner with easy controls attachments, as well as an enormous, non-emptying bin are all crucial. This ease of use is possible thanks to numerous features, such as motorized power heads that can clean carpets and rugs with a tall and wide floor head that can be used to reach under furniture, rotating nozzles to clean corners, and LED lights which illuminate the walkway.
For instance our top pick in this category is the Shark Stratos cordless vacuum, was a breeze to maneuver and utilized the least amount of battery power during our testing. It also has automatic adjusting suction, it has a sleek LCD display that has a battery indicator and the ability to switch between Eco, Auto and boost modes.
In our tests, the Stratos was able to soak up kibbles, coffee grounds and flour effortlessly. robotvacuummops worked well on flooring with low pile, removing sand, rice and other debris with only a few strokes. It also has a soft front brushroll to collect fine particles and prevent pet hair from spitting back out, as well as a rigid rear brushroll that digs deep into carpeting.
The budget-friendly Kenmore Elite also has a dual brushroll design that picks up messes and wet spills from hard surfaces. It's light enough to carry up and down stairs and even across the house without breaking sweat. It's also easier to maintain than most upright models, with a HEPA filter that's easily removable and dust bags that can be changed when it's is full.
4. Versatility
The Levoit is a multi-functional model that can tackle most cleaning tasks. It doesn't have many of the advantages offered by more expensive models but it does have a number of essential features that make sure it is suitable for daily use. It has a variety of cleaning modes that alter suction power and battery run time (including Eco), an 8-foot hose that can reach above floors, and a huge, easy-to-empty dust cup.
The brush roll is designed to capture and suck up hair without wrapping it around bristles making it a perfect option for households with pets who shed hair or even people who shed lots of hair. The tests it passed in standardized tests also demonstrated that it can take on all kinds of debris including carpet with a low pile and hard floors It even managed to take out sand, rice and Cheerios from carpeting.
In addition to its versatility, the Miele Flex Vac has an impressive amount of power for a cordless vacuum cleaner. It was particularly effective at collecting pet hair. It also picked up larger particles like cereal, but it did struggle with more caked-on debris such as car dirt. It also has a wide range of attachments, including a motorized power nozzle that makes quick work of pet hair and dirt on upholstery.
5. Battery Life

A good home vacuum cleaner should last at least an hour without having to recharged. For a cordless model this is important since it allows you to tackle cleaning sessions without having to stop and start again.
Our top choice, 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 to allow you to clean longer without draining the battery too quickly. The vacuum has a sleek LCD screen that shows the state of your battery and the amount of time remaining, and if there is a clog.
This model is ideal for homes with pets because the brushroll with no-tangle is effective in removing pet hair. It is also very effective in tackling dirt and dust. However, it struggles to remove fine particles such as flour from floors that are hard and cannot get coffee grounds from carpeting.
Tineco Floor One S7 Pro can also handle spills that are wet. It's an all-in-one model that comes with features like an iLoop sensor which detects dirt, stains and spills. It also has self-cleaning which dries out the brush roll. It also provides more effective edge cleaning that can reach the corners and baseboards. The battery can last for 40 minutes - more than any other model that we tried.
6. Ease of Cleaning
The best vacuum cleaners make it a breeze to deal with the mess. The Levoit LVAC-200 is a light, compact vacuum cleaner that's powerful. In our standard tests, it pulled everything from kibble and ground coffee to dog hair. The dual brushrolls snatch pet hair and other large particles without spilling them out or wrapping them around the cleaner head. This helps it avoid getting blocked. The motorized tool can also remove embedded pet hair from upholstery, even in hard-to reach places.
Another notable is the Shark Stratos Cordless, which effortlessly handled pet hair as well as other debris in our tests. Its main floorhead has a soft front brushroll, which captures fine dust and debris, while the secondary floorhead with rigid bristles reaches deeper into carpeting for tougher mess. The dust cup is large and easy to empty.
If your house is heavily carpeted, consider an upright or full-size vacuum that comes with beater bars for more thorough cleaning sessions. Select a vacuum cleaner that is wet dry that is able to handle floors and messes resulting from water or food. Examples include the Miele Cat & Dog, or the Henry Hoover. These machines can handle a variety of household debris, from small crumbs to bigger messes. They also provide more advanced features than the handhelds listed in this list.