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Upright or canister? Bagged or bagless? Corded or cordless. These are just some of the decisions you'll have to make when buying a vacuum. If you have carpeting, you may want to consider an upright as they tend to do a better job at picking up ground-in grit. Got pet hair? Check the results of Consumer Reports' tough pet hair tests to find an upright or canister that excels at that job. Here are some recommendations from our experts for vacuums that do best on carpeting, bare floors, and pet hair.
It's the challenge of deep-cleaning carpets that separates the winners from the also-rans. Of our picks, only the bagged-upright Eureka Boss Smart Vac 4870 bagged upright, $160, excelled in this tough test—it was also superior at keeping its emissions low. The Kenmore Elite 31150 bagged upright, $350, and Kenmore Elite 21814 bagged canister, $500, didn't do quite as well for carpets but together scored near the top overall, aided by plenty of airflow for tools and low emissions.
If you want neither the annoyance nor the expense of bags and don't need the carpet-cleaning power of a bagged vacuum, these two bagless vacuums should fit the bill. The chief strengths of the Hoover WindTunnel T-Series Rewind Bagless UH70120, $130 and a CR Best Buy, are its beefy tool airflow, low emissions, and superb pet-hair pickup. The upright Eureka AirSpeed AS1000A, $120, another CR Best Buy, matched the Hoover WindTunnel for emissions but slipped a bit in the other two tests. Neither vacuum, however, lets you shut off its brush roll, which could mar the finish of a wood floor and scatter debris. Two recommended canisters, the Kenmore 22614, $350, and the Panasonic MC-CL935, $330, both CR Best Buys, offer that capability and were top-notch for pet hair as well.
Neither bagged nor bagless models take a lead in picking pet hair off carpet, but the bagged-upright Kenmore 31140, $200, offers powerful tool airflow as well as great pet-hair pickup—and for a friendly price. The Kenmore Progressive 21714, $400, came closest among our picks for bagged canisters. So did the Kenmore Progressive 21614, $300, but for a lower price, earning it a CR Best Buy.
—Ed Perratore (@EdPerratore on Twitter)
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