When buying a vacuum cleaner, keep in mind the type of cleaning that's required.
- Barrel models are easier to carry up stairs and use in awkward places, such as a car or behind furniture.
- Upright models suit large areas of carpet cleaning, on a level surface, as they have built-in power heads.
- All models on test are good on hard floors, and a conventional cleaning head is all you'll need to vacuum carpet. But when it comes to pet hair, in most cases a model with a turbo brush or power head will give a more thorough clean. However the latest testing is showing that Turbo brushes are performing better when dealing with pet hair compared to previous models.
Our extensive testing of vacuum cleaners reveals that if you need to rid your home of pet hair, most expensive models do this very well, as unlike cheaper vacs they're likely to come with a turbo head or power brush. Nevertheless, mid-priced models that come with these features are also available, and give excellent results for picking up pet hair.
For more information on vacuums of all sizes see Vacuums cleaners.
Reliability
To see how reliable the top performing brands are from this test, as well as reliability information in 21 other appliance categories, go to CHOICE's kitchen and check out our latest appliance reliability results.
Brands tested
- Electrolux Green Ultra Silencer ZUSG3900
- Electrolux JetMaxx ZJM6840
- Electrolux Ultra Silencer ZUS3940P
- Hoover Freedom Bagless FR7185
- Hoover Hygiene Plus VC358N
- Miele Duoflex 4000 S4212
- Miele S5211
- Miele S5311
- Nilfisk Extreme Eco 9061003010
- Nilfisk Power Allergy P40 9059908010
- Samsung Twin Chamber Plus SC8690
- Vax Power Plus 3 All Terrain VPPAT1600
Can't find the model you're looking for? Check out results from our earlier tests, also in this report. These result are not directly comparable to our most recent test due to changes in the test method, but they will give you a good idea of how they perform. Note that the latest mid-priced vac results are directly comparable to the last expensive vacuum cleaners test.
How we test
Dirt removal from carpet Our tester, Peter Horvath, pre-loads the vacuum cleaners with artificial household dust, embeds sand evenly into a section of carpet and vacuums it to a set pattern and speed. The sand collected is then weighed and recorded as a percentage of the sand applied; this is repeated twice for each vacuum cleaner and results averaged. He rates all models based on the dirt pick-up performance from carpet using the standard cleaning head. CHOICE doesn't test on hard floors any longer as we found that all vacuums pick up from 99 - 100% of dirt on hard floors.
Ease of use is based on how easy it is to manoeuvre the cleaner and move the cleaning head on the carpet and under low furniture. Peter assesses how difficult it is to empty and change the dirt receptacle; operation of the controls; and how easy the supplied accessories are to use and store.
Cleaning corners and along edges Sand is spread into a right-angled corner, and using the standard cleaning head it’s vacuumed to see how close to the corner each cleaner is able to pick up dirt.
Pet hair removal Peter embeds cat hair into the carpet and, as with the dirt pick-up test he vacuums it to a set pattern and speed. He rates the results based on how much cat hair is left behind after the test. Where supplied, the turbo brush or power head is used for this test; otherwise he uses the standard cleaning head.
Scratch test For uprights, the cleaning head is set to the hard floor setting and stops the brush from rotating; for barrels, Peter uses the hard floor tool or standard cleaning head set to hard floor. He runs the head back and forth 50 times over a lacquered fibre board and checks for scratch marks. No models on test left any marks, which is typical for most vacuum cleaners, so this result is no longer added to the overall score.
Noise is measured at the user’s position at maximum power setting. Even though most models produce similar sound readings, some emit a high-pitched whistle that can be irritating.
