Price
Expand to view more details.Recommended or typical retail price. You can often get a better price by shopping around.
enter value/s in increments of 1 between 48 and 1299
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Type
Barrel vacs (aka cylinder vacs) are the type you pull along behind you – their long hoses and wands make them well-suited to cleaning a variety of spaces, including stairs and car interiors. Upright models are good for cleaning large areas of carpet as they have built-in power heads.
Dust collector
Bagless vacs have on-board bins which can be messy to empty, but at least you don't need to worry about buying bags. Bags can be less messy to remove and replace, but are an ongoing cost. Water filter models use a water tank to trap dust; it must be emptied after each use. See our buying guide for more info.
HEPA filter
High-Efficiency Particulate Air filtration – a filter for trapping very fine dust and pollen. Useful if you have allergies or asthma. Some are washable, others need to be replaced every year or so.
Pet hair removal score
To test pet hair removal, we embed cat hair in the carpet and, as with the dirt pick-up test, vacuum it to a set pattern and speed. We rate 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, we use the standard cleaning head. Pet hair for testing supplied by Woof Cat & Dog Grooming, Bondi, NSW.
enter value/s in increments of i between 50 and 100
Noise (dB)
Noise is measured at the user's position at maximum power setting. For comparison, a typical conversation is carried out at about 60dB, while city traffic is measured at around 80dB.
enter value/s in increments of i between 57 and 82
Cleaning performance score
This score is a composite of the quick carpet clean score (67%) and the complete carpet clean score (33%).
enter value/s in increments of i between 49 and 84
Power head
Has a motorised brush and is a good option for quickly cleaning up pet hair and lint as well as extracting dirt from carpet.
Turbo brush
Has a rotating brush driven by the vacuum's air flow. Good for picking up pet hair and lint, though generally less effective than a power head.
On-board tool storage
It's more convenient to store the tools and attachments in or on the body of the vacuum cleaner than to have to keep them separately elsewhere. Some models only have storage for one or two of the supplied tools.
Blower facility
The vacuum can switch from suction to blowing out air. Handy for inflating things like airbeds and balloons, or for blasting dust from hard-to-reach areas.
Availability
A Similar model is identical in most aspects except for a few. This means that a majority of its test results are identical so you can reasonably expect to get the same results from the model we tested, but for those aspects which aren't identical, we'll note these as "Not Tested" in the Compare tables.
A Tested model refers to a model that is still current and available in the Australian market. You should be able to order this model through your local retailer, or find it online.
These models can't be found in retailers or online or are no longer manufactured. You may still find these models on second hand websites, or in second hand dealers. Test methods may change over time, so criteria which can't be directly compared will contain an N/A.
An Identical model is exactly that. Performance characteristics will be identical and the only difference will be something trivial such as colour, which won't have an impact on performance.
These are models we haven't yet tested but that are available.
Included in this review
- Recommended
- Overall score
- Cleaning performance score
- Quick carpet clean score
- Complete carpet clean score
- Ease of use score
- Cleaning corners and edges score
- Pet hair removal score
- Brand reliability score
- Owner satisfaction score
- Noise (dB)
- Power measured (W)
- Measured dust collector volume (L)
- Good points
- Bad points
- Brand
- Model
- Price
- Availability
- Type
- Dust collector
- Carpet/hard floor head
- Power head
- Turbo brush
- Hard floor tool
- Crevice tool
- Upholstery tool
- Dusting brush
- On-board tool storage
- Variable suction control
- Variable power
- HEPA filter
- Washable HEPA filter
- Dust bag full or clear bin indicator
- Blower facility
- Power stated (W)
- Reach from power point (m)
- Weight (kg)
- Cost per bag
- Items supplied with vac
- Origin
- Contact