An extension hose also provides almost 11 feet of reach and makes it easy to clean drapes, stairs, or cobwebs without lugging the entire unit with you. It’s in the same line as our best overall pick, so there are some similarities, but this model is a bit more pared shark handheld vacuum down in design and features to warrant a smaller price tag. For starters, it still has a HEPA filter, swivel steering, consistently strong suction across multiple surfaces, and the same cord length (25 feet) to clean rooms and hallways without an outlet switch.
Despite its bulkier design, it’s also a little easier to maneuver than the Tineco. Shark makes a variety of vacuum types including upright, stick, and handheld models, all of which appear on our list. Choose the type of vacuum that fits your cleaning objectives and preferences—do you prefer to spot clean in short bursts, or do you lean toward deep cleaning sessions of your entire home? Do you want to do as little hands-on cleaning as possible, or do you like the satisfaction of a job well done? It’s easy to spray the solution onto your floor though, thanks to a well-placed button on the handle, and a light on the floor head allows you to see and catch debris hiding under furniture.
Here’s what happened when we put the Shark Vertex Upright Vacuum to the test. The Shark AZ1002 Apex not only performs well as a traditional upright vacuum, but has the lift-away canister of one of our other favorite picks (best overall) so you can convert it to other modes in seconds. This versatility means that I’m never more than a few clicks away from a canister-style mode (my personal favorite for stairs), or a handheld mode.
Customers describe it as a bulky machine, therefore it’s best for people who have the space to store it. When you’re using it, this machine zaps up crumbs, dust, and hair on both carpet and hard floors, and allows you to easily maneuver between floor types. A brush roll shut-off feature, that makes it easier to clean slick surfaces like hardwood and grouted floors without scattering debris in different directions, helps with this as well.
We found its turbo brush inconvenient, though, as it chokes on certain types of fluffy carpets, making it virtually impossible to push. The C3 Calima ingeniously stores its three useful attachments inside the canister. We did find it performed a little better on carpets than hard floors, but generally loved how easy it was to keep our house spick and span with this lightweight vacuum.
If you have serious allergies or asthma, you’re better off with a vacuum that collects debris in a self-sealing, disposable bag. We’ve tested all 10 of the featured cordless vacuum cleaners in this guide to challenge them for dirt pick-up, battery runtime and versatility across various surfaces throughout the home. This isn’t a low-budget vacuum; it’s a reasonably priced model that offers a lot of bang for your buck. It comes with all the features you need, but it’s still half the price of the premium brands. However it’s much better on hard floors than it is on carpets and there’s no upholstery tool or mini turbo brush.
In our tests its powerful suction meant it collected discarded crumbs, ground-in dirt, and even larger debris like cereal and cat biscuits without complaint. The floorhead also automatically detects the change in floor types, and the three power settings are useful shark handheld vacuum if you either want to deep clean a large pile rug or to lightly skim across the surface of hard floor. We found that the full power setting was on a par with our resident corded vacuum, and on the lowest speed setting worked brilliantly on hard floors.
We also conducted a ‘flour test’ on a grey rug, spilling flour and then hoovering it up to test performance (you can see one result above). It’s also worth bearing in mind any extra features you want – we consider extra tools, such as a dust brush and crevice tool, to be essential. And, as you’ll see, some models offer light-up floor heads and other extras to make cleaning easier than ever before. Predicted brand reliability is based on estimated problem rates for newly purchased cordless stick vacuums, not covered by an extended warranty or service contract, within the first five years of ownership.