In that time, we’ve refined our testing methods and assessments in a controlled environment to measure the proficiency of robot vacuums, full-sized models and cordless stick vacuums alike. For more check out this detailed article on how we test vacuums at CNET. You typically hear about HEPA filters in regard to air purifiers, but vacuums also rely on them to clean your home’s air. In that time, we’ve refined our testing methods and assessments in a controlled environment to measure the proficiency of robot vacuums, full-sized models and cordless stick vacuums alike. Pet hairs find their way into every nook and cranny of your home, and different areas require different cleaning attachments.
Meanwhile, the Tineco Pure One S11 is the only cordless vacuum in the top 5 of our sand tests that retails for less than $500. At a price of $400 (or less, if you catch a sale), it offers a high level of performance at a strong value relative to the competition, which is a large part of the reason why it’s our top recommended cordless vacuum. Sucking sand out of carpets like those is a real challenge — most of the vacuums we test can’t even remove bissell handheld vacuum 80% of the stuff when all is said and done. If you have thick carpets like those in your home, it’s definitely worth a look. Designed for hard flooring, it shines a green laser out onto the floor as you clean, making it easy to see dust and other small bits of debris otherwise hard to spot with the naked eye. It isn’t much help under strong indoor lighting or sunlight, but it’s still a nice, unique feature that we found helpful as we cleaned.
It comes with three attachments, and two are specifically for tackling more pet hair messes. We included various vacuum types like cordless, corded, robot and handheld that work on all floor types to give shoppers an idea of the different styles that might be right for their home. Dyson’s V11 is the smartest, most powerful cordless vacuum to date.
In these cases, it’s best to swap out the rotating brush roll for a no-spin option if your vacuum comes with one, or turn off the rotation feature if your vacuum allows. Apart from being a strong performer in our pet hair tests, the A11 Hero was near flawless on hardwood floors, vacuuming up 97% of sand and 98% of black rice. It finished just outside the top 5 on low-pile carpet, removing a respectable 83% of sand and a near-perfect 99% of black rice — and every vacuum that did better in that test costs hundreds more. With all of those extra fibers for dirt to cling to, mid-pile carpet was more of a struggle, as the A11 Hero’s sand score fell to 73%, but it still nailed the black rice test, sucking up 98% of the stuff. The brush head on Black+Decker’s Furbuster vacuum has motorized anti-tangle rubber brustiles that lift pet hair off surfaces and prevent it from creating knots that can cause a clog.
From Dyson and Samsung to Tineco and Shark, here are the top models that cleaned up in our tests. It’s usually on the lower back or bottom of the machine (for Lift-Off® models, remove the Lift-Off pod to find label) or behind the cleaning tanks. Depending on the issue, having your vacuum serviced after the warranty has expired might not be worth the cash. To suss out any potential lemons, we dig through buyer reviews on multiple retailers to see if any vacuum brands or models have consistent breakage issues, either with the motor or external parts.
Best of all, the filters are washable, so you don’t have to spend money over time replacing them. Mehmetoglu recommends Dyson vacuums for pet hair and general household needs. ”They are one the more expensive side, but cleaning them is easy and the fact that you don’t have to replace vacuum bags is also an advantage,” she says. The 15 cordless vacuums we’ve tested in recent years range in price from $105 to $899. The Tineco Pure One S11 sits right in the middle of that pack with a retail price of $ but it performed as if it costs a lot more, with outstanding results in each of our main cleaning tests. If you need a vacuum that can deep clean the entire house over an hour of time or longer, a corded vacuum is still the best option.
Experts say the following four are particularly useful, although “any attachment can do a good job of picking up pet hair, as long as the vacuum’s motor is powerful enough,” Prouty says. Credit to Dyson for pioneering the cordless vacuum category with a series of capable — yet pricey — Cyclone V series bissell cordless vacuum stick vacs. Many years and many models later, Dyson remains a fixture of the category in 2023, but it’s not quite as dominant in our cleaning tests as it was five or 10 years ago. At this point, there are multiple competitors with top models that can go toe to toe with Dyson on our test floors.