The Best Home Vacuum Cleaner

The Best Buy Robot Vacuum vacuum cleaner for your home is a versatile, easy-to-use tool. The best model will be quiet, light and efficient.

This model offers excellent suction at a reasonable price it comes with a highly effective anti-hair wrap floorhead and an odor-neutralizing puck. It has a large bin that is easy to empty.

1. Power

A powerful vacuum cleaner will effectively manage household debris, making it easier to keep mess under control. It should be able to clean any mess, regardless of whether it's a clump of dog hair or a kitchen drain that is clogged. It should also be able to capture fine dust and inhibit the growth of bacterial, to ensure clean and healthy air quality. The right model depends on your budget, flooring type and size of your household. The most commonly used types include uprights, portable handheld vacuums light sticks, and practical robots.

The Black+Decker Flex Vac is a lightweight handheld vacuum cleaner that offers an impressively strong performance. It is perfect for households with multiple pets or houses that are large. It also comes with a simple-to-empty debris receptacle, which helps prevent messy clean ups. The vacuum can also be used as a mop to allow users to complete two jobs at the same time.

For households that have a lot of furniture, it's a good idea to consider a more durable full-size, corded upright or canister vacuum. These models come with more powerful motors, a motorized floorhead and can tackle embedded carpeting and tough dirt. They're also available in different power modes for varied suction strength and longer battery life. It's recommended to look for a vacuum with an HEPA filter if someone in your home suffers from allergies.

2. Flexibility

The best vacuum cleaners are able to take on a variety of household chores that range from quick dusting to deep cleaning carpets. They are typically lightweight and easy to maneuver. They should also come with several attachments to will meet your requirements.

Look into a vacuum designed specifically to remove hair from pets if you have pets. These vacuums typically have a dedicated brush that removes hair from the main floorhead and then directs it to the dust container, so it does not block the brush roll or wrap around it.

The best vacuums have smart features, that can be integrated with your home systems, or adjust to different types of flooring and dirt levels. This is particularly important for those suffering from allergies, as these features can prevent fine debris from recirculating in the air.

Vacuums can be pricey, but the best ones are on sale several times per year during major events like Black Friday and Amazon's Prime Day. There are also deals during the spring season, when retailers schedule sales in anticipation of customers' annual spring cleaning.

The life expectancy of a vacuum can be different, depending on its model and the kind of use it is put through. However, most of our top-rated models last for an average of eight years. If you want to outlast the other contenders, pick one that comes with a long-term guarantee.

3. Simple to Use

A vacuum cleaner must be easy to operate and maneuver, even during a lengthy cleaning session. This means a light and compact body, easy controls and attachments and a large bin that doesn't require frequent emptying. Many features make it easier of use, such as motorized power nozzles that tackle carpets and rugs with greater efficiency, a wide and tall robotic floor vacuums head that can reach under furniture, a rotating nozzle for better corner cleaning, self-cleaning rollers and LED lights that illuminate the path ahead.

Shark Stratos, for example, is our top pick and was the simplest to maneuver. It also used the smallest amount of battery power during our tests. It also has automatic adjusting suction as well as a sleek LCD display that has an indicator for the battery and the ability to switch between Eco, Auto and boost modes.

In our tests, the Stratos was able to soak up coffee grounds, kibbles, and flour easily. It also did a great job with flooring with low pile, removing sand, rice and other particles in just a few passes. It also has a front-facing brushroll which is soft to hold small particles and stop pet fur from spilling out and a rear brushroll which is stiff and can dig into carpeting.

The budget-friendly Kenmore Elite sucks up wet spills and messes from hard floors with the power of its dual brushroll design. However, it's still lightweight enough to be able to carry it up and down stairs as well as across the home without breaking a sweat. It's much easier to clean than many other upright models, too, with an easily removable HEPA filter and disposable dust bag that can be replaced after filling up.

4. Versatility

The Levoit is an extremely versatile model, able of handling most cleaning tasks. It might not come with all the features of higher-priced models, but its primary features ensure that it is an ideal choice for daily use. These include an 8-foot hose to reach above floors, and an enormous dust cup that is easy to empty.

The brush roll is made to capture and suck up hair without wrapping the bristles around it making it a good option for homes with pets that shed hair or humans that shed a lot. Its performance in standardized tests also proved that it is able to manage a variety of debris, including carpets with low pile and hard floors and even take out sand, rice and Cheerios from carpeting.

In addition to its versatility in its use, the Miele Flex Vac has an impressive amount of power for an electric vacuum cleaner. It was particularly effective in sucking up pet hair and also took larger particles such as cereal, though it struggled with more caked-on debris, such as car dirt. It has a variety of attachments, including a motorized power-nozzle which can quickly remove dirt and pet hair from upholstery.

5. Battery Life

A quality vacuum cleaner for the home should last at least an hour before it has to be recharged. This is important for cordless models, as it allows you to clean without stopping.

Shark Stratos cordless vacuum is our top choice. It has an extended battery life as well as a powerful debris picker. Its three cleaning modes - Eco, Auto and Boost - assist in regulating the power level, so you can continue cleaning longer without draining your battery too quickly. The vacuum has an elegant LCD display that lets you know if there's a clog or blockage, how long you have left, and your battery status.

This model is an excellent option for families with pets who shed hair, as its brushroll is non-tangle and is very effective in picking up pet hair. It's also extremely effective in tackling dust and dirt however it was unable to pick up fine particles such as flour from hard floors, and was unable to remove coffee grounds from carpeting.

If you want to tackle wet spills then the Tineco robotic floor scrubber One S7 Pro is a great option. It is a bagged vacuum, but it comes with features like an iLoop smart sensor that detects dirt and stains; self-cleaning that dries the brush roll; more effective edge cleaning that gets into corners and along baseboards and a battery that can last for automated vacuum 40 minutes - longer than any other model we've tried.

6. Cleaning is easy

The best vacuum cleaners make it easy to clean up the mess. The Levoit LVAC-200 is a lightweight, compact vacuum cleaner, but powerful. It was able to take in everything from kibble to ground coffee and dog hair in our standardized tests. Its dual brushrolls catch pet hair as well as other large particles without spilling them out or wrapping them around the cleaner's head. This helps it avoid clogging. The motorized tool can be used to remove embedded pet hair, even from hard-to-reach areas.

The Shark Stratos Cordless is another top performer, because it handled pet hair and large debris easily in our standard tests. Its main floorhead has a soft front brushroll that collects small particles and dust, while the second floorhead with stiff bristles penetrates deeper into carpeting for tougher dirt. The dust cup can hold plenty, and is easy to empty.

If your house is carpeted, you should consider a full-size canister or upright vacuum with beater bar for longer cleaning sessions. Choose a wet-dry vacuum cleaner which can take care of flooring and the mess caused by water or Best Automatic Vacuum food. Examples include the Miele Cat & Dog, or the Henry Hoover. These machines can handle a variety of household debris from small crumbs to larger messes, and may provide more advanced features than the handhelds on this list.