Best cordless vacuum 2021: The top stick vacuums for pet hair and hardwood floors we’ve tested
The best cordless vacuum cleaners make cleaning your carpets and hard floors an effortless task - thanks to suction power that can rival, and in many cases outperform, some of the best corded vacuums, and rechargeable batteries, you can zip around your home busting dust without the restrictions of a cable.
The best cordless vacuums, or the best cordless Hoovers - the moniker they’re sometimes given because Hoover was one of the first brands to manufacture vacuum cleaners - are also more lightweight than their wired siblings, making them easier to maneuver around your home.
In fact, many of the best vacuum cleaners we’ve tested are cordless, although if you’re looking for another wire-free option, consider some of the best robot vacuums, which can make their way around your home, cleaning your floors unaided.
Often dubbed stick vacuums thanks to the long wand that connects the floor cleaning head to the motor and dust canister, many cordless vacuums can double as handheld vacuums too simply by detaching the wand and connecting one of the tools the vacuums come with to the main unit. The best cordless vacuums for pet hair will cool with tools designed to hair from your furry friends from floors and upholstery.
There’s a wide array of cordless vacuum cleaners to choose from which can make picking the right one for you a perplexing task. Always consider how long the battery will last between charges and the size of the dust canister to ensure your cleaning sessions suffer from as few interruptions as possible. Also, check the vacuum will be able to reach under furniture and in any tight spaces you have in your home to ensure you’re thoroughly cleaning your floors every time you push a vacuum around.
If you’re investing in one of the best cordless vacuum cleaners, then make sure it doesn’t go to waste by finding out how often you should vacuum and how to clean your vacuum.
We’ve put models from behemoths such as Dyson and Miele, along with vacuums from smaller companies including Shark and Roidmi to the test to discover just which is the best cordless vacuum for you.
The best cordless vacuums 2021: ranked
Is this the perfect cordless vacuum cleaner? In our eyes, it very nearly could be. Not only is Dyson's latest launch more powerful than its best-in-class predecessor, the V11 Absolute, it also cleans better on all surfaces, but where it really shines is the inclusion of a laser on its hard-floor head that highlights microscopic dust invisible to the human eye.
It also ships with the High Torque cleaning head, which can be used on all floor types, and just like the Dyson V11 range, will automatically adjust the suction level to suit the floor type its cleaning if used on Auto Mode. Although, it's been given a slight upgrade too - in the form of 56 polycarbonate teeth that will shred hair so it doesn't get stuck around the brush bar. It's got the same LCD screen found on the V11 range too, but rather than just offering up the remaining tun-time and where blockages are located, it will now detail the amount and types of dust collected - evidence of just how thoroughly your home has been cleaned
A smidge heavier than its predecessor, now tipping our scales just over the 3kg mark and the average-sized dust canister are small niggles on an otherwise excellent cleaner. The V15 Detect Absolute doesn't come cheap, but with the same list price as the V11 Absolute, we think it’s worth the money if you want simply the best cordless vacuum cleaner available today.
Read our full review: Dyson V15 Detect Absolute
- What happened to the Dyson V12? Find out what we know about Dyson's change to its naming convention
While the Roidmi R10, which has previously been called the Roidmi S1E, doesn’t match the Dyson on suction power or run-time, at a fraction of the price it's a worthy entrant in our line-up of the best cordless vacuums. Easy to carry and use in both stick cleaner or handheld mode, this lightweight cordless vacuum excels when it comes to noise too. Even though its decibel levels are similar to other cordless vacuums, we found the tone was softer making it easy to chat while cleaning without the need to shout.
With six design awards under its belt, the Roidmi R10 ticks the style and substance boxes. There’s a good selection of tools too, including a motorized mattress brush that makes light work of upholstery cleaning.
The battery lasts for 40-minutes on standard power or 10 minutes of super suction if needed, which can’t quite match some competitors but considering the affordable price tag is a compromise we’re willing to make. The suction also could be stronger, on full power it wasn’t quite the oomph needed for deep-cleaning carpets, but it’s still a great everyday floor care option.
Read our full review: Roidmi R10 cordless vacuum cleaner
Miele’s first-ever cordless vacuum cleaner is, in our eyes, one of the best vacuum cleaners you can buy right now. It offers extremely powerful suction and has a similar floor-sensing cleaning head, which will automatically adjust the speed of the brush bar for a deep clean on carpets, to the Dyson V11 Absolute and the Dyson V15 Detect (above).
However, it differs from Dyson's rival vacuum cleaner, as it can be converted into a cordless upright cleaner by moving the main unit closer to the cleaner head. Not only does it mean the vacuum can be left free-standing rather than having to be lent against a wall or piece of furniture, but it’s also easier to maneuver but it did struggle to get under some furniture in this mode.
The battery lasted 60 minutes between charges on the lowest power setting - although this reduced to 16 minutes when we ran it on the highest power setting. We like that the battery is removable, so you can swap it with a fully charged one if you’ve purchased an additional battery, to ensure your cleaning session isn’t interrupted. At 4kg this is one of the heavier vacuum cleaners we’ve tested and it is expensive, but we think it’s worth it.
Read our full review: Miele Triflex HX1 Cat & Dog
The Omni-glide is a new type of cordless vacuum cleaner from Dyson - designed for hard floors, it can be laid completely flat meaning it can easily clean under low-lying furniture. It may be expensive, even though it’s one of Dyson’s more affordable cordless cleaners, but it offers powerful suction and is extremely versatile, in our eyes making it worth the hefty price tag.
The cleaning head has two soft brush bars so it won’t damage hard floors while gliding across them, and the double brush bars means it can cover a large surface area in one sweep, speeding up your vacuuming session. On top of that, four 360-degree castors and an articulating neck mean it’s easy to maneuver the vacuum in any direction.
It’s the second recently released vacuum from Dyson, the other being the V15 Detect (above) but it certainly doesn’t trail behind when it comes to suction power. On test, it collected everything from fine dust and biscuit crumbs to large debris such as cereal. Our biggest gripe is the vertical handles, which while ensures the vacuum cleaner can lay flat, is also cumbersome to hold when the vacuum is used as a handheld cleaner.
The Omi-glide is powered by a swappable battery, which lasts up to 20 minutes between charges, so it’s worth noting you will need to regularly recharge this cleaner. It’s a good buy if you’re looking for a compact, lightweight cleaner and only have hard floors in your home.
Read our full review: Dyson Omni-glide
For those with bigger homes, the Dyson V11 outsize combines everything that’s great about the Dyson V11 Absolute with a larger dust bin and wider cleaning head, to ensure you don’t have to abandon cleaning half way through to empty the vacuum cleaner.
Just as powerful as its smaller sibling, we were impressed that the Dyson V11 outsize sucked everything from discarded biscuit crumbs and ground-in dirt to cereal and cat biscuits. The stiff nylon bristles of the brush bar, which spins up to 60 times a second, are great at removing ground-in dirt from carpets. There are three power settings, which you can switch between manually, or use the Auto Mode couples with the High Torque cleaner head and let the vacuum cleaner decide how much power you need based on the floor type you’re cleaning. It’s got the same color LCD display that displays the remaining run-time, and if any blockages; where they are, and how to clear them.
The 1.9-liter bin is 150% bigger than the dust bin on the V11 Absolute and the Dyson V15 Detect Absolute but you’ll still only get 60 minutes maximum run-time, and the vacuum cleaner is considerably more expensive too. But it could be worth the extra investment if it means your floor cleaning isn’t interrupted.
Read our full review: Dyson V11 Outsize
Founded by two former Dyson engineers, Lupe Technology is a relative newcomer to the vacuum cleaner market, but its first cordless vacuum offers plenty of powerful suction. In our tests, it whipped away fine dust, biscuit crumbs, and cereal with ease, giving ex-employer Dyson and rivals like Miele, a run for their money. Although, when using the most powerful setting, we found the suction was so strong the vacuum became a little more difficult to maneuver on hard floors.
The 3-in-1 vacuum can be used as an upright cordless vacuum with either the cleaner head or a one-meter extension hose. It can also be converted into a lightweight, portable vacuum for cleaning stairs or up high, by detaching the main body from the main tube and floor head assembly.
The battery lasted just under 60 minutes in our tests when used on the lowest power setting, and it can be swapped out for a fully-recharge battery (if you purchase one) if one charge isn’t enough for you to clean your whole home. The vacuum cleaner is one of the loudest we’ve tested, emitting a noise that’s equivalent to a diesel truck traveling at 40mph and it’s expensive too, but it certainly makes cleaning your floors a breeze.
Read our full review: Lupe Pure Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
If you're happy with your current wired vacuum cleaner, but want a cordless cleaner that's close to hand to clear up recently created, small amounts mess like cookie crumbs, then consider the Shark WandVac.
The cordless vacuum sucked up fine dust and small amounts with easy, although we found larger quantities of debris required a few sweeps back and forth. The Shark WandVac is loud in use, too.
That said, the simplistic and lightweight stick vacuum comes with silicone ‘Powerfins’, rather than conventional bristles in its cleaning head, to prevent pet or human hair from getting stuck. It can also be converted into a handheld cleaner and used with the crevice tool or fluffy brush head for upholstery or up-high dust-busting.
Don't expect the battery to last as long as more expensive rivals, such as the Dyson V15 Detect above, but for clearing up small spills, it's more than ample.
Read our full review: Shark WandVac
Not only is this cordless vacuum excellent at cleaning pet hairs from rugs and dry spills from tiles, but it’s also a high-tech choice that comes with an app to let you know when the bin needs emptying and provides the battery level too. It’ll even keep track the calories you've burned while cleaning.
It doesn’t quite manage the deep cleaning we’ve seen on the very best cordless models, but with three cleaning modes and a collection of eight different tools, it’s certainly versatile.
It's nicely lightweight and the super-powerful turbo mode doesn’t disappoint, although the run-time is relatively short in this mode. The H-Free 800 is an excellent all-round cleaner for a decent price.
Find out more: Hoover H-Free 800 - should I buy one?
The predecessor to Dyson’s V11 range, the Dyson V10 cyclone offers impressive cleaning power but at a slightly more affordable price, although not quite as competitive as other models on the market. In fact, Dyson was so confident about the performance of its cordless vacuums when it launched the V10 Cyclone that at the same time it announced it would no longer be building corded vacuum cleaners.
It’s on par with the V11 when it comes to cleaning performance. We found on carpets and hard floors it did a sterling job of sucking up fine dust, pet hair, and even larger debris such as cereal and cat litter. It’s got the same size dust bin and matches the V11 on an up-to 60-minute runtime, though do be aware that if you push it to its most powerful suction settings that figure drops dramatically. At full power, it doesn’t last quite as long as the V11 either, and it doesn’t have the ability to automatically adjust the suction power to suit the floor type you’re cleaning. There’s no LCD display either, but it is lighter and cheaper.
Read our full review: Dyson V10 Cyclone
The Dyson Cyclone V10 Absolute is superb, but it's also superbly expensive. If you're after something a little less extravagant, but just as well served in the sucking stakes, consider the Shark Anti Hair Wrap Flexology IZ201UK cordless vacuum cleaner instead.
A smidge cheaper than the Dyson V10, you can often pick-up Shark’s cordless vacuum for 30% less than the list price, making it a comparable option. It can only run for 40 minutes on a single charge compared to Dyson’s 60 minutes, but there is the option to purchase a version with two batteries for easy switching when you run out of battery
The brush-roller features Anti Hair Wrap technology that prevents hair from getting tangled up, so you no longer have to spend hours picking out the strands yourself, and the main ‘stick’ of the cordless vacuum is bendable which makes it much easier to clean under furniture and in tight spaces. It also comes with three additional tools
Read our full review: Shark Anti Hair Wrap Flexology IZ201
"AirRam" sounds almost like too cool a name for a white goods product – it could be a special move in Street Fighter or something like that. But the Gtech AirRam MK2 backs it up with respectable sucking action, and at a palatable price point too.
Designed like an upright, you'll get about 40 minutes out of the AirRam MK2 per charge, giving the Dyson V8 Absolute a run for its money. It'll run off a mains power supply too, though don't expect to go very far with the short cable that's supplied.
Gtech Airlock technology adapts the head for different flooring types which guarantees a good suction seal whether tackling carpet or hardwoods, while a removable cylinder bin lets you easily dispose of any collected grime.
But though it's not too heavy, the lack of a hose or different attachments makes it less versatile than some of the other products on this list. Still, it gets the job done, and at a far more affordable price than the competition to boot.
Find out more: Gtech AirRam MK2 - should I buy one?
How we test cordless vacuum cleaners
To find the best cordless vacuum cleaner, we evaluate how successfully each model collects everything from fine dust and dirt to larger debris such as cookie crumbs and cereal. As well as assessing how well floors are cleaned, we’ve also compared how easy the vacuum cleaners are to maneuver on carpet and hard floors, as well as whether dust pick up is evenly distributed across the cleaning head, or concentrated in one area.
We rated each design on how durable it is, as well as simplicity of emptying, how loud it is during use and how long the battery lasts. For each model we wanted to know whether it was easy to convert into other modes; such as a handheld vac, the useful tools and accessories it came with to clean edges or remove pet hair, and that it didn’t require reading a thick instruction manual before use.
How often should you vacuum?
Knowing how often you should vacuum may seem obvious because, for many, it’s simply when the floors look dirty or when it’s cleaning day in your home. However, it all depends on the types of flooring you have. If you have carpeted floors, these may need vacuuming just once a week but hard floors, especially in kitchens, can often need vacuuming every day.
Staying on top of vacuuming your flooring can not only help it look great, but it’ll also suck up dust and dirt that naturally settles on our floors. For carpeted floors, the longer you leave the dust, the more likely it is to embed itself deeper into the carpet fibers making it much harder to fully clean.
For more on this, head to our full feature on how often should you vacuum?
How to vacuum like an expert
Surely using a vacuum cleaner isn’t rocket science, right? However, many of us could be wasting effort by not vacuuming in the correct way. Whizzing around your floors as fast as you can is fine for a quick clean before guests come over, but it’s not going to be enough to clean your floors thoroughly each time.
When you want to give your flooring a deep clean, start at the edges of the room using a crevice tool. Work your way around the room slowly swiping the crevice tool in side-to-side motions so that it picks up the dust that has settled next to your baseboards.
Once you’ve done the edges of the room, use your vacuum’s normal floor head and work back and forth slowly across the room. Repeat the same motions in the opposite direction across the floor so that nothing is left behind.
We’ve got plenty more tips and handy hacks for making sure your vacuum performs as well as possible in our feature on how to vacuum like a pro.
Are cordless vacuums worth it?
Cordless vacuums have come a long way in recent years and these appliances can now rival the power and performance of premium upright and canister vacuums. With many models suitable for use as a handheld vacuum too, cordless vacuum cleaners now leave little to be desired and can be used as your sole vacuum, rather than as a handy extra to a bulkier upright model.
The downside, of course, is that you have to charge cordless vacuums but many are now available with a second battery, and with up to 60-minutes run time, it’s likely you’ll be able to make it around your home on a single charge (unless your house is very large).
If you’re still not sold, find out about the other types of vacuum cleaners or read our comparison of canister vs upright vacuums.
- Check out the best Dyson deals
- Alternatively, grab a bargain with these best robot vacuum cleaner deals
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