The 4 Best Upright and Canister Vacuums for 2024 Reviews by Wirecutter

Otherwise, it continues to perform better than many competitors. Handheld vacuums are particularly helpful for people who share a home with kids, pets, or anyone else who produces frequent, small messes. The AdvancedClean+ HHVK515JP07 charges in under three hours and runs for up to 25 minutes (one of the longest run times among the models in our test group), and it has a built-in, extendable crevice tool.

When testing the vacuum, we also found it to have a super easy setup and immediate effectiveness; its strong suction picked up all the debris on the floor in less than a minute’s time. In general, it maneuvers smoothly thanks to its swivel steering, especially around edges, although its heavy weight makes cleaning on stairs a bit of a challenge. But you can easily detach the nozzle to get into trickier areas, which is a big help.

As with its performance on low-pile carpet, a small amount of debris gets stuck at the lint strip at the back of the floorhead rather than getting sucked into the dustbin. This is the age-old question for vacuums regardless of whether you have pets. For ease of movement, cordless vacuums are great because they’re lightweight and easy to use.

It’s equipped with swivel steering (for grabbing those bits of hair in the corners), a super powerful suction, and an easy-to-empty dust bin that doesn’t require one of those old-fashioned bags. The Shark Cordless Pet Plus Vacuum comes with specialized pet tools, such as the Motorized Pet Tool and Crevice Tool, for targeted and efficient pet hair removal from furniture, stairs, and hard-to-reach corners. The cordless design offers unmatched flexibility and convenience, allowing you to move freely from room to room without the hassle of cords or outlets. The lightweight construction and easily detachable handheld option make it perfect for quick clean-ups and above-floor cleaning. This model is no longer a pick because of its relatively short, 11-minute battery life, and because we found it noisy. Though it was great at picking up larger debris, it did not excel at picking up baking soda from a medium-pile carpet (possibly because the filter got clogged).

Whether you’re dusting off your basement, attic, or city apartment, the right vacuum cleaner can make a huge difference and save you precious time. Unfortunately, that dustbin is quite small, and as a result, fills up very fast. But if you’re okay with taking some extra time to empty it out a few times as you go, then you’ll still be happy you picked up this light, helpful vacuum, which is always helpfully ready to go in its charging port. If we’re being real for a sec, pet hair isn’t the only household struggle that comes with having a dog or cat. There’s also the smell that tends to show up wherever the pet dander (skin cells that they shed, basically) and hair is. That’s why we love this particular Shark vacuum—the HEPA filter and odor-neutralizing, air-freshening cartridge combat any sort of unwanted smells from your very-much-wanted fur babies.

Cut the hair off your brush roll, and empty the dust pan.” She also suggests rinsing the filters with lukewarm water and air drying them, and wiping any parts of the vacuum attached to the battery with a damp cloth. As for vacuum tubes, “they can be cleared of debris with a little baking soda and vinegar,” White says. Stick and handheld vacuums are much better for smaller, quicker jobs, and they also have better maneuverability to reach areas that upright vacuums can’t, says White. However, their small size means you’ll likely have to empty their dustbins often, and their suction won’t be quite as strong.

Like the Navigator Pro, this vacuum features a detachable pod that can be used to clean stairs, furniture and windowsills. The vacuum also converts into a stick for lightweight cleaning, and features specialized odor neutralizing technology to keep your home smelling fresh—a nice perk when pets are around. The machine’s HEPA filter and Anti-Allergen Complete Seal pulls in and traps 99.9% of pet dander, shark stick vacuum dust and allergens. With its powerful battery and sealed HEPA system, the Dyson Humdinger operates more like the top half of a Dyson stick vacuum than a traditional handheld vacuum. While we haven’t tested this specific model, we’ve tested Dyson’s previous Car & Boat handheld vacuum along with enough Dyson stick vacuums to know how well they clean and how easy they are to use and maintain.

shark pet vacuum

Bet you weren’t thinking about pet hair when you picked out your fur baby, huh? The ultra-lightweight Rocket Deluxe Pro Corded Stick Vacuum converts into a handheld vacuum for easy floor-to-ceiling cleaning. Some readers have asked us about handheld wet-dry vacs from DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Ryobi. We have not tested them, but they appear to be well suited for cleaning up the type of metal debris that you’d find near a workbench and that wrecks some regular hand vacs.

However, keep in mind that it took many passes on the carpet to finally pick it up. Deep-pile carpet proved to be an even bigger problem because the shark pet vacuum debris got stuck deep in the fibers. While testing, we liked the extendable hose, which was great for getting into corners, even up on the ceiling.

There’s a crevice tool for cleaning tight corners and an upholstery nozzle with a clip-on hard-bristle brush to deal with debris on upholstery or to scrub away embedded dirt. In its ‘Barefloor’ surface setting with no attachments, you can expect a nearly shark stick vacuum 40-minute runtime, less than newer Shark vacuums with higher-capacity 2450 mAh battery packs. You can keep tabs on the remaining runtime via the trio of LED indicator lights on the battery, which turn off one by one as the charge level decreases.