More specialized accessories, including a motorized pet brush and specialized floor brush for hardwood floors, may also be included with your vacuum. These can provide a more suitable clean in specific situations. The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ Handheld Vacuum, our best handheld pick, surprised us not only with its effective performance but also with its number of accessories, including a motorized pet brush attachment. This vacuum proved to be a great tool for refreshing upholstery and clearing pet beds of extra hair. It runs quietly across three power modes and reliably sucks up dirt, debris, and pet hair from bare floors, rugs, and carpet, plus it features a four-stage HEPA filter. The Max Flex Handheld Vacuum looks like a mad scientist shrunk a full-size vacuum, thanks to the extendable hose that wraps around the unit when you don’t need its full length.
While we consider convenience when choosing our top vacuum picks, we also examine overall cleaning performance, noise, and allergen and dust management. In addition, no vacuum assessment would be complete without looking into how it performs on pet hair, along with considering service and reliability. Let’s see how Shark stacks up in these categories before diving into our top four picks. Many people choose cordless vacuums for convenience sake — they don’t want to lug around a bulky canister vacuum or fight with tangled cords. But there are other factors to consider when choosing the right cordless vacuum.
They’re especially life-changing if you live in an apartment or smaller house with a cramped floor plan, because they’re so thin and light and easy to steer, and there’s no cord to get caught on any corners. And even in bigger homes, you may find that you get used to cleaning just a few rooms at a time, so that battery life isn’t such a big deal. The best cordless models are strong enough to clean as well or nearly as well as plug-ins, even on most types of rugs. 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.
The Shark Vertex DuoClean PowerFins Cordless Stick Vacuum was the clear winner in our search for the best Shark vacuum—and best vacuum in general. Although we recently tested the irobot vacuum cleaner Pro with Clean Sense IQ, the newest model in this specific line, it did not compare in suction capability or ease of use to the older PowerFins model. The Shark Vertex PowerFins Vacuum features powerful suction on all surfaces, a storage-friendly handle, and generally quiet operation. As we discovered in The Lab, it has the power you need to leave your carpets deeply clean and your hardwood floors sparkling. This model earned a perfect rating for its effectiveness and didn’t cause any debris to scatter in the process.
If it’s still hard to clean the densest rugs, you can also turn down the suction. Dyson’s latest offering brings serious ease to your cleaning routine. Complete with a comprehensive selection of tools (everything from a hair screw tool to a wand clip), an LCD screen also keeps you up to date on battery life. It excelled across all floor types and its notably powerful suction picked up pet hair quickly. You’ll need a high budget to invest in this serious bit of vacuuming kit. It boasts a ton of tools, including a wet brush for mopping floors and an extending crevice nozzle.
To get the most out of a cordless vacuum, it’s best to pick one that is easy-to-maneuver in different spaces, is lightweight, and has strong battery power. Another difference between the cordless vacuums I tested is in dustbin size – both Dysons I tested have double the size dustbins as the Sharks. The dustbins for the Dyson v10, v11, and v15 hold 0.8 quarts while the dustbins for the Rockets hold 0.34 quarts. All four vacuums have simple one-touch emptying where you push a button and the bottom pops open and the dust is supposed to fall out without ever having to touch it. However, with all four vacuums I often have to use my hand to get the crap in the dustbin because it doesn’t fall out on its own (which I think is due to having a family of girls with long hair). For a direct comparison the Dyson V8 weighs roughly 2.6kg, and the Bosch Athlet 3kg.
Its flexible wand is also useful in areas that are hard to reach. The dust canister is a breeze to empty, the motorised brush can be turned off when vacuuming delicate floors and the boost mode wowed us with its excellent pick-up on all surfaces. It manoeuvres well as a stick but the handheld unit proved trickier in tight spaces. We love the headlights on the brush head and how easy it is to empty the canister. Its 17-minute runtime on maximum power is remarkable but can’t be used in conjunction with the small electro brush on long pile carpets. Cordless vacuum cleaners, also known as stick vacuums, free you from the frustrating faff of cords.
I think the extra features of the v15 are worth the $50 difference so recommend the v15 over the v11 if it’s within your price range. Based on all of the features I discussed, if I had to choose between a Shark or Dyson and the cost for all of them was exactly the same, I’d go with a Dyson. But that’s not the case – when looking at cost, the Dysons are priced significantly higher than Sharks. While the Dysons may have more features than the Sharks, the Sharks are great vacuums for the price and their multiflex feature is awesome.
We are thrilled to say that this vacuum has performed well because we started using it in one of our homes over a two-month period. The self-emptying dock is a game changer and we’ve even managed to squeeze 6 weeks’ worth of debris before emptying the dock (Shark notes that it can hold up to 30 days worth of dust). While we’ve noticed that it has a tendency to pull pet hair behind it, requiring several passes on carpet, we really appreciate the speedy clean it offers and fast charging time.