Choose the Right Vacuum for the Job

These lightweight tools (most weigh under 10 pounds) are much more powerful than they used to be. But their cleaning prowess still can’t match an upright or canister (especially on carpet), so they’re better for targeted tasks. They’re good enough that if you live in a small space with mostly hard-surface floors, a top model like those shown below could suit your needs.

In the past, CR didn’t recommend cordless stick vacuums because of reliability problems reported by our members. That has changed this year. For the first time, the median brand reliability rating for cordless stick vacuums meets the threshold for CR to recommend some models. The improvement is due largely to the introduction of several cordless stick brands, such as Miele and Samsung, that rate better than the brands in our past ratings.

That’s not to say that cordless stick vacs are now problem-free. In our survey data, battery problems persist for our members, including batteries whose life gets progressively worse (17 percent of cordless sticks have had this problem), batteries that die completely (10 percent), and batteries that never hold a charge for long, even when new (7 percent). 

So when buying a cordless stick vac, look for one that comes with an extra battery or one that you can buy an extra battery for. Also, know that one charge generally allows only 10 to 15 minutes of high cleaning power. In our vacuum ratings, you can also look for brands with a higher score in predicted brand reliability, which indicates they’re less likely to experience problems as you use them.

Here are our top corded and cordless stick vacuums.