This feature is very handy for any household, but particularly one that’s conscious of their environmental impact or sticking to a budget. Washable filters come with many Shark vacuums, including the model We Still Like, the Shark Rocket Ultra-Light Corded Stick Vacuum. A good stick vacuum should be lightweight, but not necessarily light-duty. The Shark Rocket Ultra-Light Corded Stick Vacuum used to be our Best Stick pick, and we think it’s still a great option even if it doesn’t have the latest technology or slimmest design. This model impressed us with its maneuverability and effective suction on all types of flooring.
A tank for Shark cleaning solution, which is included in your purchase, is built into its body. The floor head uses replaceable mop pads that include a unique chamber for collecting debris, and it features an easy-release button so you don’t have to touch the dirty pad when your cleaning session is done, too. Nevertheless, once this vacuum was performing well, we found it excelled at picking up all types of debris and no hair was caught in the brush roller. The swivel head makes it easy to maneuver under lower pieces of furniture and it’s lightweight enough to easily transcend a flight of steps. Because of the small dust bin size, we think this vacuum is more suited for apartments or townhomes, but it could also serve as a quick mess-cleaning tool in busy households. Lastly, if you’re looking for an inexpensive canister vacuum with only a bare floor head, the Bissell – Zing is our budget pick.
It cleaned well in our tests, it’s comfortable to use, and it comes with a good set of tools. But like with other cheap vacuum cleaners, the cost of replacement filters ($20 per year) makes it a bad deal. Even if you skip those, we read many reviews about it wearing down (or just breaking) after about a year. Though Dyson announced in 2018 that it would stop developing new plug-in vacuum cleaners in order to focus on cordless models, the company appears to have reversed course. We plan to test it, but since it is almost identical in weight and appearance, we suspect we’ll run into similar problems as with the Ball 2.
In our own emissions test, we also found that the Navigator Lift-Away released less than 2,000 particles sized 0.5 micron or larger per cubic foot. If you’re sensitive to dust and other allergens, you may want to consider a high-end bagged vacuum cleaner. This shark canister vacuum is the most rigorous set of tests we’ve done on vacuum cleaners at Wirecutter, particularly the cleaning tests. In previous versions of this guide (and in our other vacuum guides), we also did a bunch of testing, but we didn’t measure the results as carefully.
You should keep in mind when shopping that Shark vacuums offer both powered and non-powered lift-away canisters. When it comes to powered lift-away canisters, you’re able to use the motorized floor head with its spinning brush roll while in lift-away mode. When shopping for a vacuum, the decision between a corded and cordless model depends on your shark robotic vacuums specific needs and priorities. A corded vacuum offers an unlimited runtime and is a good choice for whole-house cleaning. Pay attention to the length of the cord to minimize how often you’ll need to stop and switch outlets, though. For context, our Best Upright pick, the Shark NV360 Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum, has a 25-foot cord.
If you need the vacuum for dusting work then you will have to ante up and buy a dusting tool. Fortunately the Canister Pet has been manufactured with a sealed system (Shark calls shark dustbuster this an “anti-allergen complete seal”) which is an important feature for quality air filtration. This ensures that the vacuum does not leak unfiltered air back into the room.