A good cordless vacuum is a helpful addition to any household cleaning arsenal. When you don't need to worry about staying in range of an outlet, cleaning small, out-of-the-way areas inside your home and in tighter spaces like car interiors is easy. You also don't have to worry about a power cord getting snagged on a piece of furniture and bringing a frustrating pause to your cleaning session. However, despite recent strides in extending overall battery life, a cordless vacuum still can't offer the worry-free indefinite runtime of a corded vacuum. For many, however, this trade-off is worth these appliances' go-anywhere range.
Best overall: Dyson V15 Detect
Check out the Dyson V15 Detect if you're looking for one of the most powerful, feature-packed cordless vacuums on the market. While it won't out-muscle any high-end corded machines out there, its suction motor is plenty potent for something this size; it won't have any trouble dealing with anything from pet hair to loose cereal pieces, whether those messes are on bare floors or carpet. Unfortunately, its strong suction force can cause it to drag around lightweight rugs and make it hard to push and pull around on thick carpeting.
This vacuum can run up to over an hour. However, you're likely to see less than that: it can automatically increase its suction power on carpeted floors, saving you the trouble of fiddling with its controls. Still, it'll drain its battery faster if you have a lot of rugs in your home. It also features a built-in dirt sensor, which measures and counts particles and fine grit sucked into the vacuum and gives you a rough estimate of allergen quantities in your home through the LED screen at the back of its body. All these gee-whiz features can't conceal its biggest flaw, however. It's far from the sturdiest-feeling vacuum on the market, with an almost all-plastic construction that doesn't feel as premium as its high price tag would suggest.
Best budget cordless: Shark Rocket Lightweight Cordless IX140C
If you're looking for something more affordable, the Shark Rocket Lightweight Cordless IX140C is worth a look. It's a way more stripped-down, back-to-basics vacuum when compared to the high-end Dyson V15, with no automatic power adjustment features and no built-in dirt sensor with an LED screen. It also has a noticeably less powerful suction motor, and it'll have a harder time lifting away heavier messes. If you're okay with missing out on those features, it's worth checking out. This Shark won't have trouble dealing with pet hair or lightweight debris on hard floors or carpets. Make sure you clean its head often, though, as pet hair tends to get wrapped around its roller brush thanks to its close-spaced bristles.
Also, battery life is nothing to write home about. You'll have to run the vacuum without attachments in its most energy-efficient power setting just to see 40 minutes of continuous use. In other words, you should expect a battery life of 20 to 30 minutes in day-to-day use, which gives you little time to clean larger rooms.
Best cordless upright: Shark Vertex Pro Powered Lift-Away
If you want a cordless vacuum with a higher capacity dustbin than stick models like the Dyson V15 Detect or Shark Rocket Lightweight Cordless, the Shark Vertex Pro Powered Lift-Away is a good option. Compared to those other two stick models, it exchanges maneuverability for a larger dustbin that won't need emptying as often. Besides, it's still more maneuverable and easier to store than the average corded upright. Its 'Lift-Away' design lets you pick up and carry its canister body separately from its floorhead while cleaning awkward spots with its wand. It has a solid range of attachments, including an upholstery tool that cleans pet hair on fabric surfaces and a fine-bristle dusting brush for delicate surfaces.
Expect 30-40 minutes of use on a single charge, which is fairly average for a cordless vacuum nowadays. Unfortunately, you'll need to be careful when cleaning around obstructions like tasselled rugs, which can easily get caught up in its floorhead.
Best cordless handheld: Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+
If you only need a cordless vacuum for cleaning tight spots, the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ is a good choice. This compact vacuum excels at clearing away solid debris on bare surfaces like countertops, shelves, tile, and hardwood flooring. It's also powerful enough to draw out debris from rugs and carpets. While it's on the larger side for a handheld vacuum, it's still small enough to stow away in most cupboards and closets. Its dirt compartment is also spacious, so it won't need emptying at the end of every single spot-cleaning job. The CH951 variant has a crevice tool, a hard-bristle brush, and a miniature turbo brush with a self-cleaning brush roll. Unfortunately, the turbo brush tool isn't all that practical: it's pretty bulky, and it struggles with clearing away pet hair from upholstered surfaces, to the point where you're better off using the hard bristle brush to deal with strands of hair on fabric-lined furniture.
The vacuum's 10-minute battery life is poor, even by the low standards of other handheld vacuums, so you'll need to work fast when cleaning larger messes. Worse yet, the battery is built into the body and isn't easily replaceable. The vacuum also does a terrible job of sealing in particles like pet dander or dust, with fine particles easily escaping from its exhaust.
Best cordless workshop: Ryobi 18V One+ 3 Gal Project Wet/Dry
If you want a cordless vacuum that can handle dry and wet messes inside your car, garage, or workshop, you need a shop vac! The Ryobi 18V One+ 3 Gal Project Wet/Dry is a great option for this use. It's relatively compact for a shop-oriented vacuum, so you can stow it away on a shelf or under a work table when not in use. That said, it's still much bulkier than a conventional handheld, so you might have difficulty working within the confines of your car.
The trade-off of this larger design is a much greater debris capacity and a far more powerful suction motor, which lets it easily clear away heavy debris and liquids—just make sure to remove the filter before using it to clean up wet messes. While the included 4.0 Ah battery only supplies roughly 15 minutes of runtime, you can easily swap out the depleted battery for a fully charged one, which is likely something you already have if you own any other Ryobi One+ products like a cordless drill or reciprocating saw.
Conclusion
There's no shortage of cordless vacuums on the market, with various models that cover a range of budgets and uses, whether you're looking for a lightweight and agile cordless stick vacuum or a handheld model for cleaning tight spots. We don't just base our results on overall performance but also on factors like availability as well as general public feedback.
Written by Evan Jakab, RTINGS.com
Disclaimer: The prices displayed are accurate at the time of publication. We'll do our best to keep them as up-to-date as possible, but you may see slight changes. The products in this list are ranked by independent third parties. Rankings are based on both reviews and independent testing.
