On Boost mode, the battery drops to just 10-minutes, so use this sparingly. A mere two sweeps were required to grab all pet hair and we liked that we could check how much charge is remaining by pushing a button on the battery. Effective and easy to use, it’s an all-round great performer. Dirt doesn’t stand a chance and dust bunnies can’t hide from this vacuum with its innovative laser beam on its bare floor fluffy roller attachment. Simply turn it on to shine an angled beam of light directly in front of the vacuum to illuminate and nab the microscopic dust that other vacuums miss.
We’ve covered how easy the Shark is to move about due to its flexible neck. Those two things are at odds with each other in terms of manoeuvrability. The Shark’s head offers stability for when its folded to stand on its own, so it takes up less space than a traditional upright and you can store it anywhere.
But the V8 really stood out in our real-world, around-the-house testing, where it consistently dredged up more hair and dust than its closest competitors. The difference was especially noticeable on thicker rugs, where it completely outclassed other sticks at this price . We’re not sure why the Dyson V8 beat its competitors so soundly—its raw suction isn’t any stronger than that of most competitors—but the advantage was clear.
However, it’s worth noting that the listed run time is based on using your vacuum in standard mode. If you switch on high power, max power or boost modes, the battery won’t last quite as long. You’ll find “bargain prices” on older Dyson vacuums (the lower the “v” number, the older the Dyson model) but the Dyson v7 and v8 are are much less powerful than the newer Dysons. If you chose not to buy a Dyson v10 or v11 because of the price, in my opinion it’s better to go with one of the newer Sharks than the older Dysons that are a similar price. Full-sized vacuums face a more challenging embedded-dirt test, in which our engineers try to clean up sand that has been ground into pile carpet. She’s an experienced product researcher with years of experience in covering large and small appliances.
It comes with both a fluffy roller head for bare floors and a brush for carpeting along with a wide assortment of other attachments. If you’re not a fan of wall mounting your vacuums, the Samsung stores and charges in a free-standing caddy. Dyson’s entry-level sticks, including any variants from the V8 and the semi-discontinued V7 series, are the most affordable cordless vacuums dyson robot vacuum with enough power to dig clingy dust and hair out of most rugs. Other vacuums offer more battery life, comfier handling, and better bare-floor pickup. And we found some evidence that the V8 in particular is less reliable than many other cordless vacuums. But if you think effective carpet cleaning is a vacuum’s most important job, a Dyson is the best option for your money.
The Shark Rotator Lift-Away ADV is a great choice if you’re looking for a Shark vacuum that’s a little more affordable. While it’s bulkier and more difficult to maneuver than the Vertex Pro Powered Lift-Away, it’s worth considering if out-and-out performance is your main priority. Its dual-brushroll head helps it clear away debris on a wide range of surfaces, from bare floors to low and high-pile carpet, and it’s pretty effective in dealing with messes in shallow cracks and crevices. Like most other Shark upright models, this vacuum uses the brand’s ‘Lift-Away’ design, which lets you pick up and carry its canister body separately from its floorhead, making it easier to clean tight spots. Its power cord is pretty long, so you can clean larger areas without swapping outlets. We nearly made the cheapest version of the LG CordZero the runner-up pick in this guide, and buying this vacuum instead of a Tineco S11 or a Dyson V8 is a reasonable choice.
The first is the Hoover OnePwr Evolve Pet, which is sort of an updated version of the Linx available for a similar price ($150-ish). It had respectably strong suction in our tests and worked okay on rugs, but not nearly as well as the Black+Decker Powerseries Extreme that we recommend. And like the Black+Decker, this Hoover model is a snowplower on bare floors.