Dyson vacuums tend to occupy a much higher price point than BISSELL’s offerings, which is reflected in generally superior performance and better build quality. That said, BISSELL’s selection of corded models is far more extensive than what Dyson offers. However, they’re a must for those who experience allergy symptoms when exposed to pet dander, dust and other microscopic allergens on cat and dog hair, says Carl Prouty, product specialist at Abt, an appliance and electronics store. We run each vacuum in a straight line across three different surfaces (hardwood, low-pile carpet and midpile carpet). Say hello to the best Dyson cordless vacuum, the Dyson V15 Detect.
Aside from switching out the tanks, you can just sit back and relax while it hustles around your room doing all the work for you. It’s a great maintenance cleaner, first vacuuming hard floors and area rugs to remove surface dust, then scrubbing hard floors to get them clean and shiny. In our tests, it cleaned hardwood and tile floors thoroughly getting all the way up to the tight corners and picking up pet hair and dry debris we didn’t even know was there. This corded upright has a tangle-free brush roll and a hair spooling system in the dust cup that makes pet (and human) hair pickup — and the inevitable cleaning of the vacuum after — a breeze.
In these cases, it’s best to swap out the rotating brush roll for a no-spin option if your vacuum comes with one, or turn off the rotation feature if your vacuum allows. Apart from being a strong performer in our pet hair tests, the A11 Hero was near flawless on hardwood floors, vacuuming up 97% of sand and 98% of black rice. It finished just outside the top 5 on low-pile carpet, removing a respectable 83% of sand and a near-perfect 99% of black rice — and every vacuum that did better in that test costs hundreds more. With all of those extra fibers for dirt to cling to, mid-pile carpet was more of a struggle, as the A11 Hero’s sand score fell to 73%, but it still nailed the black rice test, sucking up 98% of the stuff. The brush head on Black+Decker’s Furbuster vacuum has motorized anti-tangle rubber brustiles that lift pet hair off surfaces and prevent it from creating knots that can cause a clog.
The Dyson and Tineco models we tested each offer two years of coverage, as does the Samsung Bespoke Jet, though Samsung only offers a single year for its Jet 75 and Jet 90 cleaners. The Dyson and Tineco models all have bin volumes of about 0.6 liter, which is fairly common across the category. Our alternate budget pick, the Moosoo XL-618, has double that capacity (1.3 liters) so you’ll need to empty the bin less often.
Not surprisingly, the V15 Detect was a powerful performer in our tests, particularly in our sand tests, where it removed the largest overall total of sand from our hardwood, low-pile carpet, and mid-pile carpet test floors. It was our No. 1 finisher on low-pile carpet, with a sand score of 93% and another perfect 100% with the black rice. It’s a strong performer on plushier, mid-pile carpet, too, which is our most difficult test. bissell cordless vacuum The Pure One S11 finished in third here, gathering up 78% of the sand and, once again, 100% of the black rice. In our exclusive CR surveys, more than 40 percent of battery-powered stick vacs owned by our members developed problems with the battery within the first five years of ownership. Corded stick vacuums do not have this issue, which is why we give separate reliability ratings for cordless and corded stick vacuum brands.
This robot vacuum comes with a self-emptying base that can store up to 45 days of debris. It’s designed with a self-cleaning brushroll to prevent pet hair from creating blockages and offers powerful suction. Once you pair the Wi-Fi-enabled vacuum with the companion app, you can control it from your phone as well as with voice assistants. From there we can calculate the percentage of dirt and debris pickup for every run and the average amount of soil a vacuum manages to remove. Additionally, we run anecdotal (visual) pet hair tests for each vacuum, on all three floor types, to help us select the best cordless vacuum. When cleaning is finished, you can stash the thing away on its wall-mounted charging dock.
A sealed vacuum with HEPA filtration may be the best option to ensure you’re trapping allergens such as dust mites, pet hair, dander, pollen and more without releasing them into the air. Another important factor behind why we chose the vacuums that made the list was maintenance ease. With the exception of the bissell cordless vacuum Miele, all the vacuums selected are bagless. They’re more cost-effective because you don’t need to buy vacuum bags regularly. Instead, you simply drop the contents into the wastebin when you’re done. Plus, the canisters (and in many cases, the filters) could be rinsed out if they appear to be extra dirty.
Also interesting is the readout on the back of the vacuum, which lists the ratio of dirt collected by particle size. Bissell Zing’s canister vacuum is a great option for smaller homes or apartments. The retractable, 15-foot power cable lets you move around most average-sized rooms without having to drag the canister around the entire time. When it is time to change rooms, the large wheels and integrated carrying handle make it easy to move the vacuum. The Zing may be small, but it has good suction and cyclonic action to collect most dirt and debris.
My favorite feature is that this vacuum converts into a handheld vacuum, allowing me to easily spot clean small messes or add the included tube to reach elevated surfaces. One full charge gives you 40 minutes of run time, according to the brand. The design of this cordless Dyson stick vacuum is similar to the Tineco one above. It offers three adjustable levels of suction power and separately converts into a handheld vacuum and is lightweight enough to reach elevated surfaces. Dyson’s vacuum gives you up to 60 minutes of run time on a single charge, according to the brand, and its main cleaner head has a motorized brush roll to automatically clean wrapped hair from the brush while in use. Right now, based on our tests, the cordless vacuum with the best suction power is the Dyson V15 Detect, which offers 230 air watts of suction.
It comes with three attachments, and two are specifically for tackling more pet hair messes. We included various vacuum types like cordless, corded, robot and handheld that work on all floor types to give shoppers an idea of the different styles that might be right for their home. Dyson’s V11 is the smartest, most powerful cordless vacuum to date.