The 4 Best Upright and Canister Vacuums for 2024 Reviews by Wirecutter

This proven bagged model has great suction power and excels on bare floors and (most) area rugs. This vacuum does a great job of dealing with pet hair on furniture, even when used in its standard suction power setting. Its upholstery tool effectively collects shark handheld vacuum pet hair on fabric, though the vacuum’s relatively bulky design makes it a nuisance to use for extended periods. Shark is a good household manufacturer that produces items like mops and irons alongside vacuums at different price points and styles.

Neither one was a standout with sand (in fact, the Moosoo model was among the worst in those tests), but with larger crumbs at least, both are perfectly capable. Meanwhile, the Tineco Pure One S11 is the only cordless vacuum in the top 5 of our sand tests that retails for less than $500. At a price of $400 (or less, if you catch a sale), it offers a high level of performance at a strong value relative to the competition, which is a large part of the reason why it’s our top recommended cordless vacuum. The table below tells you the average percentage of sand each vacuum was able to remove from each of our three test surfaces. Sucking sand out of carpets like those is a real challenge — most of the vacuums we test can’t even remove 80% of the stuff when all is said and done. If you have thick carpets like those in your home, it’s definitely worth a look.

Its floorhead also doesn’t pivot flat to clean under tables and chairs, but its bottom-mounted dustbin would get in the way even if it did. It does get stuck on carpet tassels and thick rugs, too, requiring you to turn the vacuum off to lift it free. If you’re looking for an alternative, check out our list of recommendations for the best cordless stick vacuums, the best cordless vacuums, and the best cordless vacuums for pet hair. The Shark Rocket Pro is impressively effective on high-pile carpet. It can lift away solid debris and pet hair from this surface type, though some material can get stuck near its floorhead rather than being sucked into its dustbin.

Upright vacuums are always best for deep cleaning or thicker carpets since they usually have ultra-strong suction and larger dust caps, White says. Because of their large size, though, they’re not ideal for upholstery or small, harder-to-reach areas. With DuoClean PowerFins, you’ll get continuous contact with all surfaces, digging deep into carpets, directly engaging hard floors, and picking up more dirt and fur with every pass. After researching shark handheld vacuum and testing a variety of corded handhelds, including the Dirt Devil Scorpion Quick Flip, we’ve concluded that there aren’t any great options in this category. We didn’t find corded models to be better cleaners than our picks in our tests, there’s no guarantee they’ll last longer, and they’re much less convenient. In our testing, the CHV1410L had no trouble sucking up crumbs and dirt off bare surfaces like countertops and windowsills.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in family and consumer sciences from Queens College, City University of New York. The Dyson and Tineco models all have bin volumes of about 0.6 liter, which is fairly common across the category. Our alternate budget pick, the Moosoo XL-618, has double that capacity (1.3 liters) so you’ll need to empty the bin less often. Smaller vacuums are easier to maneuver but they often give up power and bin capacity.

shark pet vacuum

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. That used to come at the expense of power, but modern cordless vacuums suck with the best of them. You’ll want your cordless vacuum to be light and easy to move around but still able to remove as much filth from the floor as possible. CNET tested dozens of models to find the cordless vacuums with the best cleaning power, value and ease of use.