And rather than replacing an entire machine, you also have the option to replace things like blocked filters, jammed brush rolls, frayed hoses and broken accessories yourself. On an average, a well maintained handheld vacuum from a quality brand irobot vacuum cleaner should last you a minimum of 6 years. You can use one of three different attachments, including a powerful motorized brush roll to really get into carpet and upholstery, making it a solid choice for pet owners in homes with at least two floors.
If you pay more for a robot vacuum, you’re more likely to be able to control its cleaning pattern, and to get a self-emptying dock. Most people are very happy with vacuums that cost around $150, and some of them can last for many years. The Tineco S11 is one of the lightest, most comfortable-to-use stick vacuums that also have enough cleaning power to work pretty well on most rugs (though it’s not quite the best we’ve tested). A unique dust sensor makes it easy for you to focus your efforts on areas that are actually dirty.
Our overall favorite vacuum, the Shark Navigator Lift-Away, had some of the best cleaning performance of all the vacuums we’ve tested. What we weren’t so enamored by was the noise – it’s one of the loudest vacuums we’ve tested, with our decibel meter registering 88db when using the vacuum on its most powerful setting on carpet. The vacuum cleaner also proved cumbersome to use in handheld mode, as a result of its weight. It made our arms ache when we cleaned up high, so we wouldn’t recommend using it in this way for very long periods. The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner is certainly a powerful vacuum. During testing, it sucked up fine dust and larger debris on both carpet and hard floor with ease on all power settings.
Hannah is our senior homes writer, specialising in reviewing the latest kitchen appliances, cleaning products, mattresses and bedding, and crafting equipment. Hannah has written about hundreds of products, from air fryers to smoothie makers to pillows, and is committed to finding the most reliable and best value for money buys. We judge the design, ease of use, instructions, and any innovative features. Then, we award each vacuum a final score to find the very best you can buy. It also doesn’t stand up on its own, which can be a pain if you need to move something out of its path. Still, it’s certainly versatile, and it glided well as a mop, leaving our floors sparkling and only lightly damp.
Other highlights include auto mode, which automatically adjusts power depending on the surface and mess to save battery life, an approximate 60-minute runtime, and an easy-to-change click-in battery. There’s also a six-stage airtight filtration system and a bagless dustbin that empties directly into the trash with ring pull, plus a detachable battery pack and wall-mounted charging dock. Runtime is roughly 40 minutes on average and the vacuum has three power modes.
We’ve been on the hunt for the very best Miele vacuum, Dyson vacuum, and Bissell vacuum. Today, we’re going to dive into the best models Shark has to offer. Another difference between the Dysons and Sharks is whether they have a trigger or on/off toggle switch. Dysons have a trigger that you have to hold down with your trigger finger the entire time you’re vacuuming. They do this as a way to conserve battery power and it does come in handy when you mistakenly suck up the edge of a rug as it’s a lot faster to release the trigger than to flip a switch to turn the vacuum off. The Sharks both have a typical on/off toggle switch that you don’t need to hold down.
It comes with a charging base so you’ll need to sit it on a shelf or counter to charge and it tops off in under four hours. You don’t even have to limit yourself to models that have the words pet or animal in their names. That just means they come with a tool for getting pet hair off of upholstery, or (occasionally) that a vacuum’s brush roll won’t tangle easily. But plenty of vacuums with names that don’t include animal or pet have these features, too. But if you don’t want a bot, then any decent vacuum cleaner will work fine.
All four vacuums weigh less than 10 pounds but the Dysons are a bit lighter than the Sharks. The Dyson v10 Animal is 5.9 pounds, the Dyson v11 Complete is 6.68 pounds, and the Dyson v15 Detect is 6.83 pounds while the Shark Rocket Pet Pro is 7.17 pounds and the Shark Vertex is 9.04 pounds. All four are quite easy for me to carry up and down stairs (they are all a LOT lighter than my old corded vacuum). The vacuum’s battery can be removed to charge, which also means its easy to replace in the future if you need to. Shark also sell batteries and you can buy a model with 2 batteries in the box if you wish, this means you can always have a battery on stand-by. Here at The Spruce, we want to ensure we fully stand behind every product we recommend and that when we say something is the best, we mean it.
No matter how we procure products, they all go through the same tests and must meet the same strict criteria to make the best-of cut. Shark has a diverse lineup dyson robot vacuum of vacuums, and their naming convention can sometimes be very confusing to parse out. In broad strokes, you can outline their model lineup as follows.