If you need a basic yet beloved vacuum that won’t break the bank, consider the Shark NV360 Navigator Lift-Away Deluxe Upright Vacuum. This model has fewer vacuum features than others, but it costs less, too. Our testing team gave it a 5-star rating for its simple dyson robot vacuum setup—it was assembled and ready for use in less than five minutes—and a 4.5-star rating for maneuverability. They found it difficult to move around on carpet surfaces, and docked its rating for this reason, but did add that the vacuum is not too heavy overall.
To simulate small particle size, we use a mix of play sand and landscaping sand. To emulate larger dirt particles, we use uncooked black rice. To see how vacuums deal with pet hair, we use our mixture of clippings sourced to us through our local pet groomer. We run bissell crosswave cordless each vacuum in a straight line across three different surfaces (hardwood, low-pile carpet and midpile carpet). On all three test beds, the test area is 30.25 inches long. On a hard floor, the vacuum managed to pick up an average of 98% of the sand we dropped.
She has firsthand knowledge of how our vacuum tests were both developed and performed, as well as where each product excelled or fell short. Before conducting lab testing, she scoured brand and retailer websites, and considered price, verified customer reviews, features, and design when selecting the vacuums to test. She also considered the latest technology, practicality, and real-life cleaning situations. Emma Phelps, an updates writer for The Spruce, also assisted in updating this roundup to note the latest Shark vacuums we tested that didn’t quite make our final list. When shopping for a vacuum, the decision between a corded and cordless model depends on your specific needs and priorities. A corded vacuum offers an unlimited runtime and is a good choice for whole-house cleaning.
It has Shark’s typical excellent build quality and ease of use. It’s well enough packaged to survive even rough shipping, and it’s simple to assemble. Snap-in the wand and connect the beater head for upright use, or just snap on an attachment for handheld use.
So for me, the run time of any of these vacuums is plenty – I’ve never had one die on me before I was done with what I wanted to get vacuumed. Figuring out and comparing run times of cordless vacuums is tricky because the times reported by the brands are not under conditions of typical use. Dyson v10 and v11 cordless vacuums reportedly have up to 60 minutes of fade-free run time with a non-motorized attachment . The Shark Rocket Pet Pro and Shark Vertex reportedly have up to 40 minutes and 60 minutes, respectively, of runtime in standard mode measured at the hand vac . So we’re not really comparing apples to apples here between the two brands and neither is telling us how long to expect the vacuum to run when being used as most of us would.