Top 10 Best Vacuum Cleaners

The Shark AX951 Apex is our top pick and we give it our highest recommendation. This beast of a vacuum cleaner has an extremely powerful motor that will allow it to suck up just about anything in its path.

The Shark Apex is one of the current crop of high-end vacuums with versatility as one of the primary engineering goals. It is a bagless, "lift off" design, which means that it is essentially a small cannister vacuum on a frame that allows it to function as an upright. For most general tasks, using the Shark AX951 as an upright and choosing the appropriate setting for hard flooring, low carpet or thick pile carpet is ideal. In certain situations, like cleaning carpeted steps, removing the motor from the upright frame and carrying the machine like a cannister allows proper cleaning without the need for a different vacuum that's specifically designed for the task.

You'll also love the accessory tool that it comes with that not only allows the Shark AX951 Apex to get dust and debris from under beds or dressers, but even lets you vacuum under stoves and refrigerators. As getting food crumbs in these places is inevitable, the simple ability to clean these areas will dramatically reduce the odds of attracting insects or rodents to the home.

The Shark NV360 Navigator occupies that sweet spot in any product lineup where price and quality intersect optimally. The Shark NV360 Navigator Deluxe has many of the same features that you'll find on other high end Shark vacuum cleaners, such as its powered cleaning head, anti-allergen technology and swivel steering for better maneuverability.

But perhaps the best thing about the Shark NV360 is that it's very powerful yet lightweight. At only 13 pounds, it's 24% lighter than the Shark Apex, but still has 89% of the Apex's suction power, giving it possibly the best power to weight ratio of any corded upright vacuum cleaner on the market. Contrast that with the Bissell 1831 CleanView below, which not only has a significantly weaker motor, but is heavier as well.

Additionally, the Shark NV360 Navigator Deluxe is a lift off model, allowing you to use it as either an upright or cannister vacuum, depending on your preferences or what the cleaning task requires.

For anyone who is ready to take a step up from "department store" vacuum cleaners but not yet ready to commit to a truly high end model, the Bissell 1831 CleanView is a great choice. While the fact that the Bissell CleanView is priced comparably to vacuums one can find at their local big box store is its immediate attraction, you'll find that this model does have a few advantages over most of the others that you'll find in the lower price ranges.

For one, the Bissell 1831 boasts OnePass Technology, which is a fancy way of saying that it will pick up most surface debris in a single stroke. While this is, to put it politely, extraordinarily optimistic, most users of the Bissell CleanView do claim how pleasantly surprised they were by how well it picked up dirt and debris.

Another feature you'll like is its Turbo brush tool, which is great for cleaning upholstery and vehicle interiors, and is much more effective than the wand attachments with simple fixed brush bristles on the end that usually come standard on department store vacuum cleaners.

The Bissell 1785A CrossWave is quite possibly the most versatile upright vacuum on the market. It can function as both a wet and dry vacuum, and it can perform both duties superbly well.

This unique ability means that you can use your vacuum to clean up spills on your carpet or rug, and avoid the hassle of having to clean up your stains with a towel. Since virtually any home that has ever been occupied by small children can be identified quickly by looking around for a Kool Aid stain in the carpet, the ability to vacuum the liquid out of carpets at the drop of a hat is a must have for any household, but especially one with kids.

The benefit of this wet vacuuming ability found in the Bissell 1785A CrossWave is not just about quickly cleaning up after liquid accidents, though. This vacuum has two separate liquid tanks, one for the cleaning solution and the other for the dirty water vacuumed off the floor. Becuase of this and the vacuuming action, the CrossWave can actually act as a hard floor mop and carpet shampooer. If sweeping a floor is bothersome, mopping is pure drudgery. The Bissell CrossWave turns it into a task as easy as routine vacuuming.

The Tineco Pure ONE S12 Plus is our top pick and we give it our highest recommendation. In addition to possessing one of the most powerful motors of any cordless vacuum on the market, it's also one of the most technologically advanced vacuums ever made. It boasts a slew of hi-tech features that you won't find on even the most high end Dyson models, like its Smart Suction Dust Sensor.

This feature allows the vacuum to detect how dirty the area being vacuumed is and will automatically adjust the suction power so as to use only enough power as required. This battery power saving system in combination with its dual batteries will allow you to get up to 100 minutes of extended runtime.

The Tineco Pure One S12 Plus also comes with an innovative, time-saving filter cleaning tool, which completely eliminates the hassle of having to remove, rinse out and dry the filter. In addition, you can even install an app that will allow you to monitor the performance of your vacuum in real-time from your phone.

Among corded stick vacuum models, the Shark ZS362 Apex is without a doubt the best of the best. At 600 watts, it has the strongest motor of any stick vacuum cleaner on the market. Additionally, it has a large dust cup, long 30 ft. power cord and weighs just under ten pounds, making it significantly lighter than an upright vacuum.

One of the best features of this unit is that it uses Shark's "Zero-M" self-cleaning brushroll technology. Most people will agree: the bane of all vacuums is hair. Sheddings from dogs or cats with long coats can be bad. Head hair from family members with long hair can be even worse as it wraps itself around the vacuum's brush roller and diminishes its ability to clean effectively. With the Shark ZS362 Apex, though, you'll never have that problem, as it will automatically remove the hair from the roller as you vacuum

In addition, it uses dual brush rollers to really dig deep into carpets to get dirt and grime out. The versatile Shark ZS362 Apex can also be easilly converted to a handheld vacuum that works well for stairs and furniture.

Out of all the cordless vacuums that we looked at, we felt the Moosoo K17 easily offered the best value. This top selling "2-in-1" unit, which can be effortlessly transformed from a stick vacuum to a handheld unit, weighs a mere 2.8 pounds, making it not only the lightest vacuum on our list, but one of the lightest vacuums of any kind on the market.

And despite its svelt form, the Moosoo K17, with its 200 watt brushless motor and mini motorized brush head, still delivers solid cleaning performance that is comparable to even some of the higher end cordless models out there.

Another great aspect of this vacuum is that its battery is detachable and interchangeable, which means you can buy another compatible battery to use as a backup when the first runs out of juice. Using dual batteries this way will allow you to achieve maximum runtimes of up to 60 minutes.

If you're looking for an inexpensive cordless vacuum that has decent, but not great, suction power, then we highly recommend the extremely popular Hikeren 2-in-1. While its 120 watt motor is quite a bit weaker than that of the Tineco or Moosoo above, this vacuum cleaner is still effective enough for most basic cleaning tasks around the home.

The best feature of this vacuum is that, unlike the other vacuums on this list, the Hikeren is a wet/dry vacumm. Its wet cleaning capabilities combined with its ability to convert from stick to handheld form makes it truly one of the most versatile vacuum cleaners out there. This kind of multi-functionality means you can use it to clean just about any surface of your home or car, whether it's carpet, tile, linoleum or hardwood flooring, liquid spills and all.

Another advantage of this unit is its long battery life, which allows for continuous cleaning for up to 40 minutes on a single change. Additionally, this vacuum has a built-in LED searchlight and a flexible design for optimal maneuverability.

All in all, the Hikeren is a good starter vacuum, but if you're going to be doing any kind of serious cleaning or have especially dirty carpets, then you may want to consider upgrading to the Moosoo above (unless you need the Hikeren's wet cleaning capbilities).

We think this is an easy choice and have no qualms about proclaiming the Dyson V7 Trigger as the best handheld vacuum on the market today. Not only does this unit offer consistent spot clean-up ability that handheld vacuums are designed for, but it also boasts some serious power that you'll need for those tough cleaning tasks.

One thing that makes the Dyson V7 really unique is the mini powered head that ships with it. This attachment allows it to function much like a larger vacuum cleaner to power through jobs that most handhelds really have no business taking on, like cleaning pet hair off of furniture or carpeted stairs.

This burst of power does come with a price, though, as using the mini powered head kicks the Dyson V7 into max power mode, which will dramatically reduce the run time of the unit to about 6 min. instead of the usual 30 min. it would normally get.

The Black & Decker BDH2000PL combines decent suction power with a reasonable price, making it a great value buy. The most obvious and unique feature of this handheld vacuum is the pivoting nozzle. This nozzle allows the unit to fold into an even more compact package for storage. In addition to the storage advantage, the pivoting nozzle also allows the Black & Decker BDH2000PL to be shaped into a tool that targets unusual nooks and crannies to get the suction exactly where it is needed

If there is one real disadvantage of the Black & Decker BDH2000PL, and really all handheld vacuum models, it would be that it lacks versatility when compared to cordless stick vacuums, like the Hikeren 2-in-1 above. For just a little bit more money, you can get a vacuum that is not only cordless and lightweight, but is also cabable of being used as both an upright and a handheld vacuum. Even if you already have an upright unit at home, it's still nice to have the option of using it either way, so that is something you'll want to think about before you commit to buying a handheld only vacuum.