Insert sucky joke here

June 27, 2021 9:18 AM

My corded upright vacuum is on permaloan to my daughter, so recently bought a cordless stick vacuum, thinking it would be a good enough for my situation (~1200 sq ft of living space, mostly hardwoods, 1 very low pile area rug) and its light weight, easier access, and ease of moving from room to room would make me more likely to actually use it. Except I think I don't like it, and I don't know if it's the particular model or the fact that a sub-$200 cordless stick vac is not the right tool for my needs.

This is the particular model. I got it on a good discount for Prime Day (please do not judge). Let us just head off suggestions of buying a Dyson, because there is no universe where I spend $500 on a stick vacuum.

The things that seem inadequate are:
--the dirt cannister seems very small and needs emptying multiple times if I'm doing some sort of "whole house" sweep-a-rama.

--it doesn't seem to handle larger clumps of pet hair very well (I have a big shepherd mix who sheds a lot) and in just a few days of testing out its capabilities has gotten clogged twice, once near the motor while using the wand tool and once in the linkage between the beater brush and the main tube.

--it doesn't empty well by just popping open the "door" on the dust cup, I've had to take the whole cup off every time and unscrew the filter, and it seems kind of tricky to latch back on.

--possibly due to getting clogged, it overheats and shuts down

--the suction seems quite inferior compared to your bog-standard $80 upright.
I'm going to give it another few days to make sure, but I'm 90% certain I'm going to return this model, and I'm mainly wondering if these issues tend to be weak spots for the cordless stick vac genre in general, or if a different model might be adequate for my needs.

I'm beginning to feel like the same money would be better spent just getting another $80 bog standard corded upright for the rugs and traffic areas and an EVEN CHEAPER cordless stick vac without a roller brush for things like doing the stairs and getting the nooks and crannies.
Thoughts?

posted by drlith to Home & Garden (11 answers total)

No cordless vacuum ever has the power I want.

We have a Shark Navigator. It’s miles beyond the $80 Hoover for not too much more, unbelievably powerful, easy to maneuver, easy to empty and clean,the attachments mount and detach securely and are well designed and useful, and the thing is rugged. There’s a lighter weight Navigator model that is like $140 or the big one is like $200? We love this machine, and my partner is a connoisseur of cleaning tools. It handles cat hair like it’s nothing.

Oh when the first one broke at a ripe age they sent us a new one.
posted by spitbull at 9:39 AM on June 27, 2021 [5 favorites]

I agree 100% with everything Spitball said. I also have the Navigator. If it broke down I would buy another
posted by ReiFlinx at 10:14 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

From your linked page:

Cleans Deeper: Utilize all of the 120AW suction power in max-mode for 8 minutes of fierce and focused cleaning when tackling the deepest dust and debris.

Suction power in air watts (AW) is generally about a quarter of a vacuum cleaner's electrical power consumption in watts (W) for a modern vac with HEPA filtration. A typical 1000W corded vac, then, should yield well north of 200AW of suction power. So even running hard enough to flatten its battery in eight minutes, your stick vac can only suck about half as hard as a half decent corded vac can do continuously.

Cordless vacs are essentially toys, good for spot cleaning and not much else.
posted by flabdablet at 10:29 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

I vote for the Sharks, too. I've had a couple brands, including one corded (blarg-if you're going with something smaller than a standard, might as well be cordless.) Right now I have a Hoover OnePWR, because it was on sale. Works pretty good on chunks of mud from irrigating left in the mud room and on dog/cat hair. Just don't get one with the collector high on the handle. The design is stupid--they're awkward to handle, and they don't pick up as well. The sweet spot for price IMO, is $150-180. Since I can't get excited about a cleaning tool, that's a price I don't mind paying for something that works well enough between the rare "serious" cleanings.
posted by BlueHorse at 10:30 AM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

To me, cordless is barely even useful for vacuuming the couch.

If you go back to corded, give serious consideration to a Miele C1 Pure Suction. I have vacuuming needs similar to yours (no pets, alas, but a lot of long hair that goes everywhere) and it works very well. You can switch it between (on this model, very-low-pile) rug and hardwood floor. It's on the higher end (Amazon says $300 right now), but it is generally agreed to last forever with some maintenance around the 10-year mark.
posted by praemunire at 10:46 AM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Unfortunately the only stick vacuums that can replace a corded are manufactured by the overpriced D company or one of its competitors such as TineCo (which tend to about as pricy). You can pick up a V7 for about $300 on sale, which imo is excellent value. FWIW we have the v11 and the Miele never comes out now.

My cleaning life got much better when i resigned myself to spending too much on a vacuum.
posted by lemur at 12:40 PM on June 27, 2021 [6 favorites]

I have two big dogs. I moved from a 500 sq ft apartment to a 1300 sq ft house and had the same problem with my stick vacuum.

I bought the Bissell Allergen pet vacuum from Target two days ago for $220. It does hard floor and carpet. And it's amazing how much per hair it's pulling out of the carpet.
posted by ChodenKal at 2:32 PM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Woot periodically has sales on older models from the D company.

I have one vac upstairs and one down. My house is small, so that works fine for me.
posted by humbug at 2:33 PM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

Let us just head off suggestions of buying a Dyson, because there is no universe where I spend $500 on a stick vacuum.

Even if you go outside the Dyson brand, you're going to be paying about as much for something that works as well as a corded vacuum. If value is your consideration, going back to a corded vacuum is probably your best bet.
posted by Aleyn at 5:23 PM on June 27, 2021 [2 favorites]

In fact I will recommend Shark’s cordless handheld for the stairs and “nooks and crannies” — although the big navigator has great tools for tight spaces too. The cordless handheld shark is pricey but it’s the only handheld dust buster I’ve ever used that *can* get cat hair and kitty litter and do an ok job on a dirty car carpet. (But the only thing that works better than the big Navigator on car carpets is my industrial strength shop vac, which has like ten times the suction of any hosuehold vac, if anyone wants to go nuclear). It has remarkable power for the format, and about 20-30 mins of use on full charge, which isn’t bad. It is also easy to clean and durable as heck.
posted by spitbull at 7:48 PM on June 27, 2021 [1 favorite]

What appears to be the problem to me is the vacuum you linked to does not seem to have a good hard floor head, the only head I can see pictures off looks like a head designed for carpet. You need a softer rotating brush that sweeps and lifts dirt but not one designed to beat the dirt out of carpet. So if you go for a cheaper brand that would be the main thing I would look for, it is really hard for a cordless vac to have the suction power of a corded vac so the correct head can make up for that lack of suction by lifting the dirt into suction range. If you're more concerned about just having pure suction instead and want to keep to a budget then a corded vac is probably the way to go.

Vacuum Wars does great reviews, tests and comparisons on vacuums and explains a lot of this. They do vacs at a range of price points and styles and are very informative so you might find some suggestions for what you're could buy there.
posted by wwax at 1:07 PM on June 28, 2021