Although we don’t think the Shark is ugly, it’s definitely more of an acquired taste than the super slick and modern Dyson. But the Dyson has the edge on weight, being around 1.5kg lighter than the Shark. I personally didn’t mind the extra weight as it feels more stable as you navigate around a room, but if you’re keen on a lighter option, go for the Dyson.
In the Cleaning Lab, this Dyson model aced all of our performance tests for bare floor cleaning, pet hair pick-up and edge cleaning. Our pet hair tests are a bit more challenging, and we now embed dirt in the carpeting instead of scattering it on the surface as we used to do. And for bare floor testing, instead of combining all the debris into a messy array of cereal, sand, and rice, we vacuum up each type separately.
My favorite detail is that when I switch modes, the lights on the head of the machine automatically go off, and the wand or handheld piece will light up to illuminate the surface I’m cleaning. shark stick vacuum As its name implies, the Vertex DuoClean has two modes—one for hard surfaces and one for soft ones. In my humble opinion, Dyson stick vacuums are the apotheoses of the form.
Instead of a brush roll, the Hizero has a soft polymer roller that’s supposed to mimic the way a dog licks things off the floor. It’s pretty cool technology but it wasn’t great at cleaning my textured kitchen floor (to be fair, the product description does state that it performs best on “leveled” floors). If you have the benefit of perfectly flat floors this could work—especially if you’re in an apartment and worry about noise. But if your floors have seen smoother days or you have an old house with kids and pets, you’re probably better off with something that actually sucks (in the good way).
Emptying the dustbin is easy, and you can clean and replace the filter. The V8 Absolute is less powerful than the V12 Detect Slim and the V15 Detect, but it’s still a good value. Its bin capacity lies between that of the other two models, and it comes with many useful attachments. We found that it’s a superb cleaner on both rugs and bare floors, picking up fur and debris almost as effectively as our top picks.
This robust upright vac features anti-hair-wrap tech and offers dedicated modes for carpet and hard-floor cleaning. After zipping around the main floor of my house for 20 minutes, my floors were cleaner than shark pet vacuum they’d ever been—and they stayed that way. And until there’s a robot vacuum mop that works as well as the upright mop vacs, I’m quite happy to push mine around the house for a few minutes a few times a week.
It comes with a duster crevice tool, a pet multi-tool, and a storage clip, and it also easily transforms into a handheld vacuum that weighs just three pounds (it weighs 7.76 pounds when fully assembled as a stick vacuum). Most importantly, it’s clear that shoppers approve, because the versatile gadget has 3,600 perfect ratings and hundreds of five-star reviews. With the motor, battery and dust cup (the power unit) placed up top, it works like a traditional pole vacuum, making shark stick vacuum it easy to reach under low furniture or up high to clean ceiling moldings and light fixtures. Move the power unit — and the weight — down by the nozzle and it’s now easier to push and maneuver across bare floors, areas rugs and carpets. And with more of the weight at the bottom, it can now do a better job cleaning deep-pile carpets. Finally, you can detach the power unit completely and use it as a handheld for stairs, upholstery and other above-the-floor cleaning needs.
In testing, this vacuum performed extremely well, having no problem picking up dog kibble or pet hair from a variety of surfaces. The only area it struggled with was the high-pile carpet, as the cleaner head doesn’t have a height adjustment option. Cordless Shark vacuum cleaners offer convenience, but are limited to shorter cleaning jobs since run time is dependent on battery life. Our pick for best stick, the Shark Wandvac Cordless Stick Vacuum with Self-Empty Charging Base, WS642AE, comes in at 17 minutes (though it does have a quick charge time to get you back to cleaning again shortly).
The second cleaner head, the Laser Slim Fluffy, is made of soft microfiber fabric and is specifically designed to snag dust and fur from bare floors. It features a laser light that spookily illuminates dark corners—one moment the dust is spotlighted, the next it’s gone. Designed to deep-clean rugs and carpet, the V12’s Motorbar cleaner head has tooth-like rubber vanes that, Dyson claims, automatically clear wrapped hair during cleaning. In our testing, the head readily captured 6-inch strands of hair, but the brush was less effective with 18-inch-long hair. (You can remove the brush, and you can cut off long locks with scissors or a box cutter.) On bare floors, the Motorbar head efficiently cleaned baking soda and seeds, but it tended to snowplow Cheerios. This lightweight model cleverly folds in half for easier cleaning under furniture, and it has an extra-large, 33-ounce dustbin.