We really enjoyed using the hard flooring mode, which turns off the brush roller to prevent debris from being spit in every direction. When using this mode, we found it’s best to vacuum directly over debris, as it does not easily suck up debris that may be tangential to the motor head without the extra help from the brush roll. We also tried out the Big Ball MultiFloor bagless canister vacuum, but it fell short during testing in similar ways to the Ball Animal 2. Although it does have two suction levels, they’re both too strong to work on shag carpeting or very light area rugs without choking.
We think it’s pretty cool that, even though we keep refining our tests, the same vacuums keep coming out on top year after year. For handling, we had 22 testers run each model through a slalom course, simulating a real-life apartment with a tight floor layout to clue us in on a few frustrations and flaws that might annoy owners. For example, some vacuums can bunch up area rugs, and others are too heavy or clunky to steer around tight corners. Still other vacuums have trouble transitioning from bare floor to carpeting, and some have dustbins that are relatively more difficult to empty. Our testers vacuumed parts of the ceiling and a medium-pile and high-pile carpet, and they maneuvered the machines into corners and tight spots. We also measured each vacuum’s raw suction with a specialized gauge and each one’s airflow with an anemometer.
The wand can be essentially folded in half reducing the height of the vacuum. At about 17 lbs we’d have to say the vacuum isn’t really lightweight, however the canister is pulled along on wheels so you don’t feel the full weight of the machine when vacuuming. But if you lift the entire vacuum (carrying it up stairs for example) you will feel that the unit is not particularly light. It would have been nice if there was also some kind of dusting brush (something with soft bristles). 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. Writers Sarah Bogdan and Liam McCabe conducted research and testing for this guide.
“I’ve never had an issue with it, and it’s easy to empty.” Senior editor Grant Clauser has had the Navigator for at least two years and likes it better than the more expensive Dyson upright it replaced. “The only thing I’d change is a better way to attach the attachments,” he says. Editor Signe Brewster says it picks shark dustbuster up cat hair from a shag-like rug in a single pass. Sometimes she has to dig hair out of the dustbin by hand, but we’ve found that’s often the case for all bagless vacs. Senior editor Harry Sawyers mostly uses a cordless vacuum cleaner at home, but he whips out the Shark when he needs a deeper clean on his rugs.
It doesn’t have the filter or carpet-cleaning prowess of other vacuums, but it has plenty of power for the price. The biggest advantage of a canister vacuum is the long reach offered by the hose, but compared to the best upright vacuums or stick vacuums, that’s also a downside when you need to put it in the closet. As a consolation, most of these canister vacuums offer collapsing wands and retracting power cords to keep the storage as simple as possible. Against the tougher competition of bagged canister vacuums, the Apex let more fine dust into the air than Kenmore’s top-of-the-line sealed bag system did. The difference is only about 20%, and the Shark captured more large dust particles, so we’re happy with this performance considering the other advantages of the system.
Our recommendations are based on what we think are currently the best vacuums with a canister design. We don’t just base our results on overall performance but also factors like availability, price, and reader feedback. Mary H.J. Farrell is a senior editor at Consumer Reports whose real passion is for cooking and all that entails.
And even a perfectly sealed bagless vacuum cleaner will eject a bunch of dust whenever you empty it. Any vacuum cleaner is fine for pet owners, but a motorized brush head can be really useful on certain types of carpets and upholstery. But they’re often more or less the same as any non-pet vacuum cleaner, just with an additional mini-brush shark pet hair vacuum tool for tackling pet hair that’s clinging to upholstery. Plenty of non-pet vacuums have that tool, too, including many variants of the Shark Navigator, so you don’t need to go out of your way to find a vacuum cleaner marketed to pet owners. That said, we have some thoughts on how to stop tufts of pet hair from piling up on your floors.
Some of our staff testers disliked having to use the clips to take off the dust cup. Moving up the handle, the premium features that set the Elite apart from other canister vacuums in the under-$500 price bracket are handle-mounted control. You can turn the vacuum on and activate or deactivate the brushroll without shark pet hair vacuum bending over, and you can also control the level of suction bypass with an easy-to-use slider. This means you’ve got full manual control of the vacuum, making it easier to move from bare floors to small area rugs to full carpet. The Miele canister vacuums are among the quietest vacuum cleaners you can buy.
If sleek accessories are a priority for you, you’ll want to take a close look at it. Some of the experts we talked to said that if they could recommend just one vacuum, they’d recommend a Miele canister vacuum cleaner. All vacuum cleaners represent a compromise to some degree, and we think that the Navigator Lift-Away handles those compromises in a way that will make most owners happy.