Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs: Reviews of new vacuums from Eureka, Miele, Panasonic, and Electrolux

Hoping to save the world as well as your carpets? Looking for the ultimate vacuum for pet hair? Our testers weigh manufacturer claims as part of testing for our continuously updated ratings of upright and canister vacuums (available to subscribers, along with our October 2009 report on vacuums), and what they find is often less than meets the eye.

Eureka says its EnviroVac 3041 upright, $72 (shown), "delivers powerful cleaning results while using 33 percent less energy than a typical upright vacuum." We judged this 16-pound vacuum very good overall, especially for cleaning bare floors and picking up pet hair with low emissions, though carpet cleaning was only good. The energy-use claim didn't bowl us over either. That's because using an 8-amp upright vacuum instead of the typical 12-amp model would save you only about $3 a year—assuming you vacuum an hour a week and pay the national-average price for electricity.

When it came to pet hair, another newly tested Eureka, the Pet Pal 4716, $80, wasn't so friendly. "Plastic teeth loosen it, rubber strip grabs it and bristles remove it" is how the manufacturer details the pet-hair process, which may be how the stair and upholstery tool works, but on two models of the Pet Pal 4716 the agitator brush jammed and quickly wore the belt to breaking when picking up large amounts of cat hair, earning it a score of poor. This upright also scored a poor for airflow with tools.

The top scorer of our latest tests was the Miele S 7580 Bolero upright, $800. This Miele was among the best at cleaning carpets, and its pet-hair pickup and low emissions were excellent as well. Its swivel-neck design allows for tighter turning, a plus since the 22-pound Miele is among the heavier uprights in our ratings. And its electronic suction control, with a choice between manual and automatic, adapts the motor speed for the surface you're cleaning.

For hundreds less than the Miele, the Panasonic MC-UG775, $490, has its attractions. One we wish we saw more often is the removable bag caddy, a cagelike apparatus that allows airflow around the bag as it fills and also eases bag replacement. The Miele scored better overall and was a notch higher for carpets, but the Panasonic did better on bare floors, tool airflow, and ease of handling.

Another Panasonic upright, the MC-UG693, $190, was most suited for cleaning bare floors, as was the sole canister we tested, the Electrolux Ultra Silencer EL6986A, $300. That Electrolux is easily the quietest vacuum in our ratings. Get more details on this Electrolux in this recent post and stay on top of our latest vacuum tests in these Inside Consumer Reports Test Labs items. —Ed Perratore | e-mail | Twitter | Forums | Facebook

Essential information: If you're in the market for a new vacuum cleaner, check out our free buyer's guide, which also includes ratings of hand and stick vacuums.