In our member survey, Shark earns good marks for both predicted reliability and owner satisfaction. The "Lift-Away" in the model name refers to the fact that you can lift the collection bin away from the main handle and use it as a canister. This comes in handy when cleaning stairs and reaching into corners for cobwebs.
Airflow is ample and the Shark comes with several attachments. Testers like the Duo brushroll, which is great for both carpet and bare floors. The vacuum also picks up pet hair especially well, earning an Excellent on that test. It has exceptional suction power and does a solid job containing small dust particles in the dustbin. The lift-away canister makes it easy to clean out-of-the-way places. Knowing that I wanted to be a journalist from a young age, I decided to spiff up my byline by adding the middle initials "H.
But the real thing is so much better. Follow me on Twitter. We respect your privacy. All email addresses you provide will be used just for sending this story. Best Upright Vacuums of 10 models that tackle pet hair, carpet, and dirty floors with impressive results. By Mary H. Updated August 20, Test technician Alex Nasrallah takes inventory of the uprights in CR's vacuum lab. Photo: Consumer Reports.
Mary H. Farrell Knowing that I wanted to be a journalist from a young age, I decided to spiff up my byline by adding the middle initials "H. Sharing is Nice. The motor is also a slow starter, meaning that it gradually revs up to maximum power over a few seconds, rather than turning on at full blast.
Everyday reliability is another upside to the Miele canister vacuums. All of the cleaning heads made for carpets use no-stretch geared belts to drive the brush rolls, so they maintain their spin speed and cleaning ability over time. Most people can handle the replacement themselves, or you can go to a shop. Miele canister vacuums are also not especially prone to clogs, because they have wide, straight intake paths.
If they do clog which can happen to any vacuum of any type , Miele vacuums come apart at all the major joints, without needing any tools. That makes it easy to get into the cleaning head, the wand, or the hose to knock any obstructions loose. Cleaning performance is also top-notch. The Calima was second best in our debris-pickup test on short-pile carpeting, vacuuming up 84 percent of the sand—and—baking soda mixture.
And the Miele has other features that make it worth the extra money. The relative downsides: The Miele vacuum cleaners we like best are bagged and canister vacs, neither of which are very popular in North America circa We understand why people tend to avoid this style, but these particular vacuum cleaners are so good that we think most people can become comfortable with the style.
The last big downside to buying a Miele is that you may not have an authorized service center near you. Amazon is an authorized dealer, but third-party Marketplace sellers on that site often are not. Make sure the Miele model you choose is sold by Amazon through Amazon, or by an authorized dealer through Amazon this may require a little extra sleuthing on your part. Several Wirecutter staffers who own or have used Miele canister vacuums note that they can be unwieldy in small apartments, and their bulbous shape can make them difficult to store.
Is it a good idea to pay so much for a vacuum up front and risk a premature breakdown? Any vacuum cleaner is fine for pet owners. That said, we have some thoughts on why a robot vacuum is the most effective way to stop tufts of pet hair from piling up on your floors. HEPA filters are defined as those that remove They can be useful for people with severe allergies and asthma.
You can read a lot more about them in our guide to air purifiers. The rest of the vacuum cleaner needs to be tightly sealed, too.
And even a perfectly sealed bagless vacuum cleaner will eject a bunch of dust whenever you empty it. If you are worried about controlling particle emissions, our upgrade pick is excellent at doing so because it uses self-closing bags and has rubber gaskets throughout the system, plus you can swap in a HEPA filter if you need to.
Dyson makes good vacuum cleaners that cost way too much money by current standards. But you know what else meets those criteria? Also, Dyson uprights are made from plastic that sounds really creaky whenever the vacuums move. For such pricey vacuum cleaners, they feel a little cheap. To their credit, they are powerful machines with tremendous suction.
We also tried out the Big Ball Multi Floor bagless canister vacuum, but it fell short during testing in similar ways to the Ball Animal 2. It did not glide across floors as easily as the Simplicity or Miele canister vacuums we tested. Dyson plays up its self-righting feature—it can pick itself up when knocked over. Dyson also announced in March that it had stopped developing new plug-in vacuum cleaners, and was instead focusing on cordless models.
Cheap uprights may work pretty well for cleaning carpets at first. If you do take care of a cheap upright vacuum, after a few sets of new belts and filters, it will end up costing more than our main pick.
With the Shark Navigator Lift-Away guaranteed to last five years on warranty alone, the math proves that paying a little more right now will almost always save you money over time. We came close to recommending the Dirt Devil Razor Vac Plus UDB for anyone who wanted to take a chance on a cheap vacuum cleaner, but we decided not to. Even if you skip those, we read many reviews about it wearing down or just breaking after about a year. Their predecessor, the Bissell A , is still widely available, too.
They all have great owner ratings and work well on carpets. We dismissed this model for its poor maneuverability, annoying, high-pitched whine, and noticeably shoddy quality.
This vac requires belt replacements after about a year of use, and it has poor maneuverability and a cheap build.
We were unable to test this feature ourselves for this update, but we will try to do so in the future. Like our main pick, the NV, the ZU is a Lift-Away model, meaning it has a detachable canister, which makes it more maneuverable and easier to handle. The ZU62 lacks this feature, but it has a bigger dustbin.
We came close to recommending the Shark Navigator Swivel Pro NV because the dustbin is easy to empty and the handle is comfortable to hold. In our fine-debris pick-up test, however, it picked up less sand and baking soda than any of the other upright models we tested.
We tested the top-of-the-line Shark Apex and found it to be a good vacuum, but probably not worth the extra cost over the Navigator. It has a dual-brush cleaning head that supposedly helps it pick up hair and dusty debris off of bare floors. But that adds a lot of bulk to the vacuum, and we never found bare-floor pickup to be a problem with the single-brush models in the first place. The Sebo Felix is reliable and long-lasting, with a solid warranty five years.
But the nosedive began around the time Miele rebranded the line it used to be called the S7 series , in late Reps from Miele assured us that nothing about the vacuum changed except the name, but more and more complaints about pet-hair clogs and defective units popped up and dragged down the user ratings. They are sturdy, American-manufactured machines and made to be repaired pretty easily.
The Shark Navigator series is already relatively light, at about 12 pounds, but there are plenty of great vacuums that are even lighter. Almost all of them weigh less than 10 pounds, and many of them are very good cleaners. Oreck is known mainly for its super-light upright vacuums. But they only clean well on bare floors or short carpet, and none of them have a hose or attachments.
The Simplicity Freedom S10S is a super-sturdy yet lightweight model from Tacony best known for their tanklike uprights. If you want an affordable canister that can clean carpets, consider the Kenmore Panasonic made vacuums for Kenmore at the time, and may still do so—the looks a whole lot like that old Panasonic.
Other variants are available. Liam McCabe is a senior staff writer for Wirecutter, and has covered the wild world of appliances since After testing dozens of robot vacuums, he is neither worried about AI nor holding his breath for self-driving cars. He enjoys visiting factories and learning about regulatory loopholes, and has flooded our testing area only three times. Sarah Bogdan is a staff writer at Wirecutter covering appliances. Previously, she tested cleaning products and appliances at Good Housekeeping.
Her degree in mechanical engineering and product design helps her understand how products work and how people interact with them. Our pick. Upgrade pick. Miele Complete C3 Calima A top-notch canister vacuum, built to last Praised by nearly everyone as excellent, this nimble canister vacuum works on any kind of flooring, runs quiet, and should last for decades. Everything we recommend. Why you should trust us Who should get an upright or canister vacuum Bagged or bagless? Canister or upright vacuum?
Do you need a vacuum with HEPA filters? What about Dyson upright vacuum cleaners? What about a cheaper vacuum? Notable competition. Why you should trust us. Interviewed owners and repair technicians at independent vacuum stores, including Denis Spindler, owner of Mr. Spoke with brand reps, product managers, and engineers of brands we reviewed, including Dirt Devil, Dyson, Miele, Sebo, and Tacony manufacturer of Simplicity and Riccar vacuums. Some of these chats were during product demonstrations at trade shows; others were more-formal conversations about particular products.
Considered owner-satisfaction info published by J. Power and the American Customer Satisfaction Index. We spoke to representatives from both groups about their methods and assumptions in evaluating vacuums and appliances in general. Looked at video reviews from other publications, such as Vacuum Wars , which has excellent reviews and head-to-head comparisons of noteworthy models more on its editorial strategy here ; reviewer Chris White has done paid consulting work for SharkNinja.
Who should get an upright or canister vacuum. Plug-in vacuums cost less and last longer than other types of vacuum cleaners with similar cleaning abilities. For example, our Shark pick costs about half as much as our favorite Dyson cordless and is under warranty for much longer.
Plug-in vacuums have an unlimited run time, so they can work in homes of all sizes. That being said, cordless-vac run times are now almost long enough that a battery is no longer a limitation. The best plug-in vacuum cleaners are almost always stronger cleaners than most other vacuum types.
Our cordless stick vac upgrade pick, the Dyson V11 Torque Drive , is as powerful, but only on its highest suction, which drains the battery in 12 minutes.
Bagged or bagless? How we picked upright and canister vacuum cleaners. Below, we list the factors that we prioritized. Crucial, bare-minimum features. It can map and remember multiple rooms and floor plans and it beat all other robot vacuums for quickly and effectively spot cleaning a small area. It detects carpet automatically to ramp up suction only when needed, and its dual rubber roller brushes won't clog with pet hair like bristles have a tendency to do.
When it's finished cleaning, the vacuum returns to its charging base, and dirt is automatically transferred into a large-capacity bag for mess-free disposal it seals completely before you toss to keep dust and dirt contained.
Not your typical handheld vac, the Worx model has a unique compact, boxy shape, removable battery that fits into other Worx tools and a top handle. Its crevice and brush tools store right on it, and a built-in flexible hose reaches four feet. A top performer in our cleaning tests and a Good Housekeeping Best Cleaning Product Awards winner, this model easily picked up all the debris and pet hair we put down, even without using the max power setting.
The hose makes it easy to reach into tight spaces, and it ran for 23 minutes at standard power on one charge. Although it's a little heavier than other handheld vacuums, you don't need to hold it up to use it. Robots that vacuum and mop are all the rage, but the Roborock S7 stood out for how thoroughly it covered our test areas — barely missing a speck of the debris we put down and navigating smoothly around obstacles we placed in its path.
It's fully featured and easy to use. The smartphone app was helpful and easy to navigate. In mopping mode, the Roborock uses sound waves to scrub stuck-on stains from bare floors, and the pad automatically lifts when it senses carpet to keep from wetting it as it vacuums. Features like a child lock and cleaning controls are easily accessible on the robot's top, and it even responds to voice commands.
Bottom line? The Roborock S7 does what robots are supposed to do: It does the cleaning for you. While the Dyson V15 Detect bears a striking family resemblance to other Dyson models we have recommended, it has some significant innovations that earned it a Good HousekeepingBest Cleaning Product Award. Selected as one of the best stick vacuums , the V15 conquered dirt and microscopic dust.
In our review, we were very impressed with the bare floor brush that beamed a laser on the floor to spot and pick up even the tiniest bits of debris that were otherwise invisible to us. We also liked the assortment of cleaning tools that accompany the vacuum as well as the clear LCD display that indicates battery life and real-time performance like particle pick up.
Three powerful suction modes — eco, medium or auto, and boost — allow you to adjust the suction up or down to grab heavy dirt or protect delicate rugs as you move through your house. In auto mode, the vacuum senses whether it's on bare floor or carpet and adjusts the power and runtime accordingly. It's cordless and has a minute run time, so the only reason you'll need to stop cleaning is because the job is done! In the Good Housekeeping Cleaning Lab , all vacuums are tested exactly the same way for more accurate performance comparisons, and our tests are based on the ASTM International industry standard test methods.
For each model, we evaluate the following:. We even have a separate machine to clean the carpets between test runs so one result won't influence the next.
We look at how well the vacuums remove large and small debris, like gritty sand and dried orzo pasta, from hardwood , tile and linoleum flooring, how well they clean along edges and how much suction they draw through the tools.
We also factor in the weight of each model. All special features and claims are assessed, and we even give the owner's manual a grade. In our Cleaning Lab tests, upright vacuum cleaners do the best job of removing ground-in, embedded dirt from carpeting because they are usually heavier than other styles and the weight of the nozzle helps them reach deep into the carpet pile for better cleaning. Uprights can weigh anywhere from 10 to over 20 pounds, which can be heavy to carry up and down stairs.
If your home has more than one level and you prefer an upright, consider keeping one on each floor. Most uprights feature on-board hoses, wands and tools for vacuuming crevices and upholstery and cleaning above-the-floor spaces like door frames and crown moldings. Many full-size canister vacuums come with a power nozzle that has rotating brush to mimic that of an upright.
We recommend this attachment if you prefer a canister and have deep pile carpets in, say, just the bedrooms. Canisters can be heavy, too, but are easier to pick up and carry with two hands.
All have hoses and attachments for dusting, upholstery and crevices. Because the motor and canister can be placed out of the way, these vacuums are easier to maneuver into tight spaces and to use on stairs than uprights are. The cleaning performance of this type of vacuum is getting better and better, and it may be the only vac some homes require.
Most are slim enough to stash in a corner or closet for speedy clean-ups. Second batteries are also helpful so you always have a back-up.
Most come with attachments, like dusting brushes and crevice tools and charging stands for storage. Most can be controlled with an app on your phone, and some are even voice enabled. They can return to the home base for a recharge and then go back to cleaning wherever they left off.
Robot vacuums are great maintenance cleaners.
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