Handheld vacuums are battery powered and convenient for quick cleanups around the house because they’re compact enough to sit on a shelf or countertop between uses. They are particularly helpful for people who share a home with kids, pets, or anyone else who produces frequent, small messes. A handheld can clean up a pile of spilled coffee grounds in the time it would take you to dig your main vacuum out of the closet and unwrap its cord. Since 2013, we’ve looked at 180 hand vacuums and conducted hundreds of hours of research and testing. We’ve concluded that the Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit is the best for most jobs.
The four foot hose made it easy to reach into tight spaces, and it ran for 23 minutes at standard power on one charge. Our tester called this hand vac “very comfortable to use,” giving it perfect scores in six of our seven ease of use evaluations, including for handle comfort and for quality of the owner’s manual. Although it fell from its previous spot as our best overall handheld vacuum, we still love the Black+Decker Cordless Lithium Hand Vacuum—it’s also one of our top-rated inexpensive vacuum cleaners. We found that it effectively captures large and small debris, such as kibble and kitty litter.
You can then charge the battery for an hour for a short cleaning session or four hours to get it back to full juice. Compare the nozzles, cleaning heads, brushes and other accessories are included with each handheld vacuum. We don’t recommend any mini handheld vacs because our picks are better performers, similarly priced (or less expensive), and more versatile. However, if you have hand or wrist issues, one of these lighter hand vacs might be a good alternative.
Some stick or canister vacuums also have a handheld configuration, making them even more versatile if you need to clean larger areas. If they’re cordless, they may also have a shorter continuous battery life than non-handheld vacuums. Our top pick for a handheld vacuum is the Shark UltraCyclone Pro Handheld Vacuum, thanks to its powerful suction, large dust bin, and reliable battery. If you’re looking to spend a little less, you’ll enjoy the Black+Decker DustBuster Cordless Handheld Vacuum, which is lightweight, powerful, and also boasts a large dust cup. The flexible, 3-foot hose also makes it easy to get into tight spaces like behind cabinets, or in between cushions. This vacuum does require two hands to operate (one to hold the motor, and one to vacuum with the hose), but the portable, cube design makes it easy to carry around.
It charges in under three hours and runs for up to 25 minutes (one of the longest run times among the models in our test group), and it has a built-in extendable crevice tool. Its filters are washable bissell cordless vacuum and replaceable, too, and its bin volume is the largest of the handheld vacs we’ve tested. It might have been designed for a workshop, but Rigid’s hand vacuum is right at home inside the house or car.
Since then, we’ve done additional testing, including evaluations for our annual Cleaning and Organizing Awards. During our testing of these handheld vacuums, we found that motorized brush tools are the only attachments that can truly pick up deep-seated pet hair, and the Multi Auto comes with one included. We used this vac to clean up debris the other vacs left behind during our tests. It also has an extending hose nozzle—and other helpful included attachments—that helps it maneuver in, under, and around seats to find runaway dirt and debris. It also has a user-friendly handle and flashlight to make it even better for using in the car. High powered cordless cleaning in a lightweight design with a wide variety of tools makes the Multi Cordless Hand Vac one of the best from BISSELL®!