We used to recommend the Miele Dynamic U1 line of upright bagged vacuum cleaners, but we’ve watched the owner ratings plummet. But the nosedive began around the time Miele rebranded the line (it used to be called the S7 series), in late 2014. Reps from Miele assured us that nothing about the vacuum changed except the name, but more and more complaints about pet-hair clogs and defective units popped up and dragged down the user ratings. Dyson makes good plug-in vacuum cleaners that cost way too much money by current standards. We’ve tested several Dyson upright vacuums over the past few years, including the Ball MultiFloor 2, and haven’t found a great reason to recommend one over our other picks. We also measured each vacuum’s raw suction with a specialized gauge and each one’s airflow with an anemometer.
For little clean-ups around the house, the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ is a budget-friendly handheld vacuum. It weighs less than 3 pounds, making it easy to carry around your home, and it comes with three handy attachments, including a crevice tool, scrubbing brush, and self-cleaning pet power brush. Weighing 1.4 pounds, the Shark WANDVAC Cordless Handheld Vacuum is the smallest member of the Shark vacuum family. While we didn’t test this pick in The Lab, we put it through real-world testing in a home. We found it to be startlingly loud (and the sleeping pets in the home seemed to agree with that sentiment).
However, they tend to have a few maintenance needs, and some models can be a little more tricky to clean. However, the Shark vacuum does feature a flexible wand that is a real game changer for reaching under furniture. You can stop ignoring the dust bunnies under your sofa, since Shark designed this vac with a hinge that gives the floor head greater reach.
If you’re tired of dragging out a full-size vacuum to suck up pet hair every few days, the Shark Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum is a great option for your home. The battery-powered model has an impressive runtime of 50 minutes, and in our testing, we found that it could often last more than an hour without losing suction. Its main cleaner head has a self-cleaning brushroll that prevents pet hair from getting tangled around it, and the vacuum also comes with a crevice tool and pet multi-tool that’s ideal for cleaning upholstery.
We are excluding cereal for this test because that was a point of struggle for this vacuum, but considering this canister has a number of attachment tools that would effortlessly clean cereal and other large debris. RELATED – Looking for a Dyson canister vacuum that you don’t need to wash or replace the filter? Click here to see the full cleaning results of the Miele Compact C1 canister vacuum.
If you’re sticking to a budget, you’ll still get a good clean from the Shark NV360 Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum. This more basic Shark vacuum lacks features like a self-cleaning brush roll, but still qualifies as a quality upright vacuum, thanks to its fully-sealed system with HEPA filtration and lift-away canister option. All the canister vacuums in Consumer Reports’ tests do a terrific job cleaning bare floors, and some are very good at cleaning carpet. Because the weight is distributed between the canister itself and the powerhead, they’re easier to move around than upright vacuums. Note that among Shark models, only the more expensive “powered lift-away” models like the Apex can run the brushroll motor when the base is detached.
Our testing team gave it the highest possible marks for its simple setup—it was assembled and ready for use in less than five minutes. We found it difficult to move around on carpet surfaces, and slightly docked its maneuverability rating for this reason, but we did note that the vacuum is not too heavy overall. There are numerous configurations for storage, the foldable wand is helpful if you don’t have full height storage. Additionally, because the wand and floorhead are freestanding, they can be stored separately to the canister or clipped to it, for storage as one combined unit. Or, when disassembled the compact canister will easily slot into a smaller cupboard. For this review, Helen spent a week thoroughly testing the Shark Vertex Bagless Corded Canister Vacuum, putting it through its paces through her home and assessing its performance.
It’s the more feature-rich and expensive of the two, and we’ve put it to the test to see if it’s up to the job. The difference in power between the most expensive and least expensive groups is worth noting, but all of these vacuums have enough power to easily pick up heavy sand and debris on all floor types. For carpet, the higher suction numbers shark pet hair vacuum won’t really help without excellent height control, or a more complex brushroll system like the Shark – Apex uses. The turbine-powered brushroll on the Electrolux – EL4021A didn’t help much, though. It got stuck in longer carpet fibers and was only slightly more effective than the bare-floor tools included in less expensive vacuums.