The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner

The best home vacuum cleaner is a versatile tool that is simple to use and maneuver. The ideal model should be light, efficient and quiet.

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 handle household debris, making it easier to control messes. No matter if you have a pile of pet hair or a clogged kitchen drain, it should be able to clean up the mess with little effort. It should also capture fine dust and stop the growth of bacteria, ensuring clean and healthy air quality. Selecting the best model for your needs will depend on factors like floor type, household size and budget. The most commonly used types are uprights, portable handhelds, lightweight sticks, and convenient robots.

The Black+Decker Flex Vac handheld vacuum is a lightweight device that has incredible power. It is ideal for families that have multiple pets or large houses. It also comes with an easy to empty trash receptacle that will help avoid messy clean ups. The vacuum can also be used as a mop to allow users to do two jobs at the same time.

Consider a full-size upright or canister corded vacuum for households with a lot of furniture. These models are equipped with more powerful motors as well as a motorized floorhead that can handle carpets that are embedded and tough dirt. They're also available with different models with different power settings to offer a variety of suction strength and longer battery life. If you or someone in your household suffers from allergies it's a good idea you to pick the vacuum with a HEPA filtration system.

2. Flexibility

The best vacuum cleaners are able to take on a variety of tasks in your home from quick dusting to cleaning carpets. They are typically lightweight and easy to maneuver. They should also have various attachments that suit your needs.

If you have pets, think about the right bagless robot vacuum to deal with pet hair. These vacuums typically come with a dedicated power brush that sucks pet hair off the main floorhead, and then directs it into the dust cup so it doesn't clog or become stuck around the vacuum's brush roll.

The best vacuums are equipped with smart features which integrate with your home systems, or adjust to different types of flooring and dirt levels. This is especially important for those with allergies, since these features can prevent fine debris from recirculating throughout the air.

Vacuums can be expensive, but the best ones go on sale at least once a year during major events, such as Black Friday and Amazon's Prime Day. There are also deals throughout the spring, when retailers announce sales to coincide with customers' annual spring cleaning.

The life expectancy of a vacuum varies depending on the model you choose and how you make use of it. However, the majority of our top picks last an average of eight years. If you want to make sure yours will outlast the other models, you should look for one with a longer warranty.

3. Simple to Use

A robot vacuum cleaner must be easy to move and use, even for an extended cleaning session. A compact, lightweight vacuum cleaner with convenient controls attachments, as well as an enormous, non-emptying bin are all important. Several features make it easier of use, such as motorized power nozzles that can tackle carpets and rugs more effectively with a tall and wide floor head that is able to reach under furniture, a rotating nozzle for better corner cleaning self-cleaning rollers, and LED lighting that illuminates the way ahead.

Shark Stratos, for example is our top choice and was the simplest to maneuver. It also utilized the smallest amount of battery power during our tests. It also features automatic adjusting suction as well as a sleek LCD display that has an indicator of battery power and the ability to switch between Eco, Auto and boost modes.

In our tests, the Stratos sucked up coffee grounds, kibbles, and flour easily. It also did a great job with flooring with low pile, removing rice, sand, and other particles with just a few passes. It also has a soft front-facing brushroll to capture small particles and stop pet hair from spitting out and a rigid rear brushroll that digs into carpeting.

The budget-friendly Kenmore Elite also has a dual brushroll design that is able to pick up wet spills and messes from hard surfaces. It is lightweight enough to be able to be carried to and from the stairs and even across the house cleaning robot without breaking the sweat. It's also more easy to maintain than most upright models, with an HEPA filter that's easily removable and a disposable dust bag which can be changed once fully stuffed.

4. Versatility

The Levoit is a model that's versatile that can tackle most cleaning tasks. It lacks many of the advantages offered by more expensive models but it does have many key features that ensure it performs well for everyday use. For instance, it comes with multiple cleaning modes that vary suction power and battery run time (including Eco) and an 8-foot hose that can reach above floors, and a large easy-to-empty dust container.

The brush roll is designed to capture and suck up hair without wrapping it around bristles, making it an ideal choice for families with pets that shed hair or even people who shed often. The tests it passed in standardized tests also demonstrated that it can take on all kinds of debris including carpets with low pile and hard floors; it even managed to remove rice, sand, and Cheerios from carpeting.

The Miele Flex Vac is a versatile cordless vacuum that also boasts impressive power. It was particularly effective at sucking hair from pets and also removing larger particles such as cereal. However, it had trouble with more clogged-up debris like dust from cars. It has a variety of attachments like a motorized power-nozzle that will quickly get rid of dirt and pet hair from upholstery.

5. Battery Life

A good vacuum cleaner for home use should last at least an hour before it needs to be recharged. If you have a cordless model, this is crucial because it lets you to tackle cleaning sessions without stopping and start again.

Our top choice Shark Stratos Cordless Vacuum has a long battery life and a dazzling debris removal. The three cleaning modes - Eco, Auto and boost let you control the power to allow you to clean longer without draining the battery too quickly. The robotic vacuum cleaner commercial features a sleek LCD display that displays whether there's a blockage, how much time you have left, and your battery status.

This model is ideal for families with pets as the no-tangle brushroll works well to remove pet hair. It also excels in tackling dust and dirt. However, it is unable to remove small particles such as flour from floors that are hard and cannot get coffee grounds from carpeting.

Tineco Floor One S7 Pro can also take care of wet spills. It's an upright vacuum that comes with features like an iLoop smart vacuum cleaner sensor that detects dirt and stains; self-cleaning which dry the brush roll; cleaner edges that get into corners and along baseboards; and a battery that lasts 40 minutes, which is more than any other model we've tested.

6. Cleaning is easy

The top vacuum cleaners make it a breeze to clean up the mess. The Levoit LVAC-200, for example, is lightweight and compact but impressively powerful. In our standard tests, it sucked everything from kibble to ground coffee to dog hair. Its dual brushroll design collects pet hair as well as other debris, without spitting it out or wrapping it around the cleaner head, which helps it stay free of blocking. The motorized tool can also remove embedded pet hair from upholstery, even in difficult-to-access places.

Another highlight is the Shark Stratos Cordless, which easily dealt with pet hair and other debris in our standardized tests. The main floorhead features a soft front brushroll that collects fine dust and debris, while the secondary floorhead with hard bristles is able to penetrate deeper into carpeting to catch larger dirt. The dust cup is large and easy to empty.

If you have a lot of carpeting in your home, you may want to consider a full size upright or canister vacuum with a beater to get a deeper clean. You can also choose an all-purpose wet-dry vacuum, which can tackle both floors and messes made by water or food, such as the Miele C3 Cat & Dog or the Henry Hoover. These machines can handle an array of household debris, from tiny pieces of food to huge messes, and may have more advanced features than the handhelds listed on this list.