Not surprisingly, the V15 Detect was a powerful performer in our tests, particularly in our sand tests, where it removed the largest overall total of sand from our hardwood, low-pile carpet, and mid-pile carpet test floors. It was our No. 1 finisher on low-pile carpet, with a sand score of 93% and another perfect 100% with the black rice. It’s a strong performer on plushier, mid-pile carpet, too, which is our most difficult test. The Pure One S11 finished in third here, gathering up 78% of the sand and, once again, 100% of the black rice. In our exclusive CR surveys, more than 40 percent of battery-powered stick vacs owned by our members developed problems with the battery within the first five years of ownership. Corded stick vacuums do not have this issue, which is why we give separate reliability ratings for cordless and corded stick vacuum brands.
Also interesting is the readout on the back of the vacuum, which lists the ratio of dirt collected by particle size. Bissell Zing’s canister vacuum is a great option for smaller homes or apartments. The retractable, 15-foot power cable lets you move around most average-sized rooms without having to drag the canister around the entire time. When it is time to change rooms, the large wheels and integrated carrying handle make it easy to move the vacuum. The Zing may be small, but it has good suction and cyclonic action to collect most dirt and debris.
This robot vacuum comes with a self-emptying base that can store up to 45 days of debris. It’s designed with a self-cleaning brushroll to prevent pet hair from creating blockages and offers powerful suction. Once you pair the Wi-Fi-enabled vacuum with the companion app, you can control it from your phone as well as with voice assistants. From there we can bissell handheld vacuum calculate the percentage of dirt and debris pickup for every run and the average amount of soil a vacuum manages to remove. Additionally, we run anecdotal (visual) pet hair tests for each vacuum, on all three floor types, to help us select the best cordless vacuum. When cleaning is finished, you can stash the thing away on its wall-mounted charging dock.
Shark vacuums are generally better built than BISSELL’s comparable offerings and deliver better overall performance. However, some BISSELL models are a little easier to maintain—many new Shark models use non-removable brushrolls that can be a hassle to clean properly. Cordless vacuum warranties will vary by manufacturer and by model, but the majority of models we’ve tested will offer at least a year of coverage, if not two.
We chose lighter-weight vacuums for better control and present you with a variety of cordless, corded, handheld, upright and canister-style models. BISSELL vacuums usually fall into a budget-friendly price range, though you may be sacrificing some measure of cleaning performance, build quality, or quality-of-life features in exchange for that affordability. They tend to perform worse on all surface types than Shark vacuums and struggle more with clearing large debris than most Eureka vacuums, though they tend to be similarly affordable.
The ICONpet Cordless Vacuum has a high-powered motor to clean your floor quickly. And since it runs on a 22-volt battery, you won’t have to wrestle with a pesky cord getting in your way while you’re tidying up. I often have them vacuum as part of their chores but it’s hard for the younger kids to navigate a cord. Overall, whether a vacuum is corded or cordless is only one factor that influences a vacuum’s suction power. For example, a corded vacuum with a brush head that’s prone to getting clogged with hair tangles is going to be less efficient than a cordless model with an anti-tangle brush head. The best cordless stick vacuums are lightweight and maneuverable without sacrificing the cleaning power of a corded model (and without costing too much, either).
If your vacuum doesn’t have an anti-tangle brush head, you’ll likely have to clean it frequently in order to keep it functioning properly, Mehmetoglu says. Eureka’s upright bagless vacuum makes cleaning your floors and carpets effortless. Best of all, you won’t have to stop too often to empty out the canister — the extra-large canister can hold over four liters of dirt. All you need is to give it a rinse with warm water and let it air dry. They fit right on the vacuum, so you don’t have to worry about misplacing one when you need it most.
My favorite feature is that this vacuum converts into a handheld vacuum, allowing me to easily spot clean small messes or add the included tube to reach elevated surfaces. One full charge gives you 40 minutes of run time, according to the brand. The design of this cordless Dyson stick vacuum is similar to the Tineco one above. It offers three adjustable levels of suction power and separately converts into a handheld vacuum and is lightweight enough to reach elevated surfaces. Dyson’s vacuum gives you up to 60 minutes of run time on a single charge, according to the brand, and its main cleaner head has a motorized brush roll to automatically clean wrapped hair from the brush while in use. Right now, based on our tests, the cordless vacuum with the best suction power is the Dyson V15 Detect, which offers 230 air watts of suction.