Vacuums

The Stanley SL18129 is a portable shop vacuum with a powerful motor, but it's not the quietest.

REVIEW The Dirt Devil Quick Flip is portable and lightweight and does a good job of picking up sawdust on hardwood and carpet.

REVIEW The DeWalt DCV581H's rechargeable battery and quiet motor make it a unique, portable shop vacuum.

REVIEW The Shop-Vac 9653610 is a good mid-range shop vacuum to choose, with 3 horsepower, a 6-gallon tank, and reasonable price.

The Dyson Ball Animal 2 offers impressive suction and cleaning power, with powerful suction and fluid maneuverability.

Review The Oreck XL Classic U2200HHS Upright is an easy to use vacuum cleaner for all types of flooring. However, with no cleaning tools, it isn't exactly versatile.

REVIEW The Eureka Easy Clean is one of the best hand vacs for sheer vacuuming performance, though it struggles somewhat with cleaning car upholstery.

The bObsweep bObi struggles to navigate a room, but it might be a good choice for those with open spaces that only require light cleaning.

REVIEW The Dynamic U1 has a ton of cleaning power and is built to trap allergens at every stage, but it an expensive option for most budgets.

REVIEW The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser is a corded hand vacuum with limited mobility but a lot of suction power.

REVIEW The Shark Navigator Lift-Away Pro is an affordable vacuum cleaner with decent cleaning power.

REVIEW The Black & Decker 20V MAX Lithium Pivot handheld vacuum has a good performance and convenient rotating head for reaching difficult places.

Review The Hoover FloorMate Deluxe is an affordable hardwood floor vacuums that uses water, cleaning solution and spinning brushes to clean hard surface floors.

Editor’s Note: This product has been removed from our side-by-side comparison because it is no longer available.

The Dyson V6 Trigger handheld vacuum is the signature hand vac of the Dyson brand and has the price tag that goes along with it. It has a nice design, with a rechargeable lithium battery and a modern trigger-style handle that's comfortable to hold.

The Shark Cordless Pet Perfect II is made specifically for pet hair on upholstery and carpet. It offers a decent level of suction, a rechargeable battery and several attachments. The charging stand doesn't take up a lot of space and has slots for all the tools.

The Dirt Devil Accucharge handheld vacuum cleaner runs for a long time, has a great warranty and weighs little, but it did poorly in our tests. This is one of the worst portable vacuums we tested for picking up pet hair.

The MetroVac Vac N Go handheld vacuum is designed differently from every other small vacuum cleaner, with a long steel tube for the dustbin instead of plastic. It's one of the lightest of all the vacuums in our lineup and has a couple of convenient attachments.

The iLife V3s Pro turned in a perfect performance on suction tests and it is the least expensive of all the units we tested, making it a great value. This robotic vacuum was not perfect in every way but it is very impressive for the price.

The Ecovacs Deebot N79S has strong suction and a collection of features that make it easy to use. One of the most noticeable things about this robotic vacuum is its quiet operation.