Best cordless vacuum cleaners 2021 – reviews of the top 12 stick vacuums
On the hunt for the best cordless vacuum cleaners? We’ve tried 12 of the top stick vacuums on the market from Beko, Dyson, Shark, Bosch, Halo, Miele, and Vax, to bring you our complete roundup. While they all look the part, not every cordless vacuum is up to the task of keeping your floors spotless. That said, we would happily replace even the best vacuum cleaners with a corded model when they’re as powerful and easy to use as the models in this guide. And they’re increasingly rivalling corded alternatives in terms of power and long-lasting battery life, too.
Many of the best cordless vacuum cleaners in our guide come in at under £200, which is about as little as you can expect to pay and still get a decent vacuum for your money. Splash out a little more though, and you can get models with pet attachments, smart LCD controls, extended battery lives, and impressive power. All of the cordless vacuums in our guide are ideal for nipping around the house when you’re in a hurry, and can be lifted up the stairs with no need to unplug and re-plug once you get to the next floor. While most of the best cordless vacuum cleaners in our guide come with bagless designs, we’ve also included some bagged options for those who are sensitive to dust or who simply don’t want to deal with the dirt when emptying the vacuum.
What is the best cordless vacuum?
With a great balance between value and high performance, the Shark IZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner is our top pick of the best cordless vacuums. We have voted the Dyson V11 Absolute as the best cordless vacuum cleaner in 2021 if money is no object. The Vax ONEPWR Blade 4 is our favourite budget vacuum cleaner.
Best cordless vacuum cleaners 2021
1. Shark IZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner
Best cordless vacuum overall
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.7 litres
Weight: 4.58 kg
Reasons to buy:
• Double up on batteries
• Shift from carpet to hard floors with ease
• Power designed for deep-cleaning
Reasons to avoid:
• It won’t stand upright
The Shark IZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner is a new drop from Shark, and it really blew us away when we put it to the test. First off, the PowerFins function means that rubber fins reach deep into carpets to pick up dust, crumbs, and scary amounts of deep-rooted pet hair with each and every pass. This is particularly good on carpet, but if you want to toggle to use on hard floors, you can use the smart display panel to switch over to a different floor type. That requires no switching out attachments, and there’s no need to even bend over.
We loved how easy it is to store this vacuum. It has a hinge in the middle which, with the press of a button, bends the stick forward to fold it in on itself securely. It will stand unsupported when packed away, but you can’t leave it standing up unsupported when you’re midway through using.
The control panel at the top of the Shark IZ300UKT Anti Hair Wrap Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner shows power levels and allows you to switch from Eco mode to regular and max power. It’s advertised to have 60 minutes of battery life, but that’s on Eco mode. On the regular setting we found that it lasted just over half an hour, which was still plenty impressive.
2. Vax ONEPWR Blade 4
Best cordless vacuum on a budget
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.6L
Weight: 3.1kg
Reasons to buy:
• Comfortable to use
• Impressive on high and low power modes
• Removable battery for east charging
Reasons to avoid:
• Small bin capacity
This stick-style cordless vacuum cleaner has a slight design difference to most of the vacuums in our guide: the cyclone cylinder sits sideways. But the thing that really stands out is its comfy grip. It’s perfectly shaped and has a soft touch. It feels nice enough in the hand that its 3.1kg weight doesn’t feel too heavy.
Buttons are under your thumb and responsive. One turns it on and off, another cycles between the two power settings (it remembers which one you were on last time) and the third turns on the floorhead’s powered brush and headlights.
It boasts triple filtration and runtime is quoted as 45 minutes but it will be much less on high power, using the floorhead. Its vacuuming was impressive on both power settings.
Tools are impressive too. It comes with a crevice nozzle and dusting brush, both of which are well designed. But at the time of writing it also came with a free Cordless ProKit 2 accessory pack.
This gives you an extendible, flexible crevice nozzle for tricky gaps, an upholstery tool, a stiff brush for tough dirt and a stretch hose so you can use the tools without the weight of the cleaner in your hand. The toolkit comes with a fabric storage bag too, but it would have been great if this could clip to the Vax.
The battery comes off and docks in a charger. And the Vax comes with a wall mount, so you can hang it up when not in use. Meanwhile, the 0.6-litre capacity dust canister isn’t large but it comes off easily and then is straightforward to empty.
We were really impressed with the Vax’s comfort, array of tools and cleaning performance for a mid-priced machine.
Ideal Home’s rating 5 out of 5 stars
3. Dyson V11 Absolute
Best cordless vacuum for power
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.7ltrs
Weight: 2.97kg
Reasons to buy:
• Impressive runtime
• Very powerful
• Easy to empty
Reasons to avoid:
• A bit hefty
The Dyson V11 Absolute promises twice the suction (at the cleaner head) of any cordless vacuum cleaner. But it also costs twice as much as competitors. So is it worth the money?
We found that the 60-minute battery life holds true as advertised. Not only did it pick up the dirt we could see, it managed to catch a lot of invisible dust from carpets and even hard floors. We love the look, which is as high-quality as you would expect from an expensive Dyson vac. It doesn’t take the number one spot because it’s undeniably expensive compared to some other five-star options.
Attachments include a fluffy hard floor roller and four smaller accessories. The fluffy roller did well on wooden floors, but what we loved was the high torque floorhead which cuts back on power when working on hard floors and automatically increases it on carpets. You can monitor this with the bright display, which also shows how many minutes are left in your current mode. Not quite done? Just switch to a lower setting to make the most of your vacuum life.
Capacity is higher than ever and it’s easy to empty. But the run time and power controls are the stars of the show. If money’s no object, buy the V11: you won’t be disappointed.
Ideal Home’s rating 5 out of 5 stars
4. Roidmi RS60
Best cordless vacuum cleaner and mop combo
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.55 litres
Weight: 6.6kg
Reasons to buy:
• Quiet use
• Smart LCD display
• Mop attachment
Reasons to avoid:
• Heavy and not the cheapest
A mop and cordless vacuum rolled into one, the Roidmi RS60 has a high-quality, weighty feel that isn’t burdensome, but does feel like it’s designed to last. Other attachments include a mattress cleaner, soft roller, and crevice tool. There’s even a pet brush, which is designed to literally suck up the hair from your pet as you brush it. A smart idea, if you can get your cat or dog to cooperate.
It has a medium-sized dustbin of 0.55 litres, which does require regular emptying, but is easy to eject once you’ve removed the stick attachment. One of the most impressive things was the battery life, which lasted over an hour in testing, making it more than adequate for large homes.
The LCD display shows which of the three power modes you’ve opted for, and when you’re done cleaning, it even displays the amount of calories burned. The on button is lower down than the button that you use to switch modes, which we did find a little fiddly, but it’s useful if you switch between different power modes on a regular basis. While it’s not cheap, it’s a quality pick.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Roidmi RS60 review
5. Dyson V11 Outsize
Best cordless vacuum cleaner for large homes
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 1.7ltrs
Weight: 3.5kg
Reasons to buy:
• Powerful suction
• Easy to manoever
• Large dust tank and floorhead
Reasons to avoid:
• Not great on rugs
The Dyson V11 Outsize has re-engineered the Absolute to include a 150% larger bin, 25% bigger cleaner head, with up to 60 minutes of runtime. It also offers 20% more suction compared to the V10, which was a popular model just a couple of years ago.
Our reviewer was impressed from the start since the vac arrived in packaging made from recyclable cardboard, and how easy it was to assemble. It also already arrives with 20% of it’s 60-minute battery life so if you just can’t wait to take the V11 Outsize for a walk around the home, then this allows you to do just that. We found that this battery life – when fully charged – was more than suffice for whipping around a 2-bed terraced home. You also have the ability to adjust the cleaning modes which can make a difference to the battery life, and noise level.
It performed exceptionally well on large rugs and hard flooring (with the soft roller head attached). The suction is really good and the larger floorhead helps to cover more ground, quickly. Turning to a smaller rug with a 60cm dia, however, the cordless vac either wanted to move it around or just grind to a halt.
Using with the attachments such as the mini motorized tool and combination tool were useful around the home, across all levels, but there are 11 tools in total to opt for to give you yet more freedom to clean. There is no way to store these attachments on board the stick vacuum cleaner, however, so finding some suitable cupboard space for this would be useful. And lifting up the vac to use as a handheld is slightly heavier than previous models because of the enlarged dust tank although it’s not too uncomfortable.
Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
6. Bissell ICON 25V
Best designed cordless vacuum cleaner
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.4ltrs
Weight: 3.2kg
Reasons to buy:
• Impressive design details
• Versatile attachments
• Easy to mount on the dock
Reasons to avoid:
• Tricky to empty the bin
The Bissell ICON 25V really impressed us. It performs really well and the design includes impressive attention to detail.
Bright headlights on the floorhead illuminate cleaning. Run time is up to 50 minutes but it will be much less on high power. There are three power levels and the medium one is fine most of the time, but the vac doesn’t remember your last setting, it always starts at top whack, which reduces battery life.
The floorhead claims to beat the problem of hair tangles and we certainly didn’t manage to get it badly tangled. It’s also smaller than the Shark Anti Hair Wrap IZ251UKT floorhead. The 0.4 litre bin isn’t the easiest to empty but it’s ok.
Weighing in at 3.2kg, the design is a top-heavy stick that converts to handheld. It comes with just one tool, a crevice nozzle that converts to a brush. That’s great: you only really need those two tools. Though ironically the designers have given you space to store multiple tools at the charging dock.
We were even bowled over by tiny design details. For example, built into the inside of the dock is a little spirit level, to make it very easy to mount the dock level. Another one: the tip of the crevice tool lights up when it’s in use. We could go on. It’s a mid-priced cleaner but the performance and design combine to impress.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
7. Miele Triflex HX1 Cat&Dog
Best cordless vacuum cleaner for pet hair
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.5ltrs
Weight: 3.6kg
Reasons to buy:
• Sleek and modern design
• Very versatile
• Easy to convert
Reasons to avoid:
• Not the best battery life
Miele’s first cordless claims to be powerful enough to be your only vacuum cleaner. It’s also supremely convertible: you can rearrange the pieces to convert from an upright cleaner (bottom-heavy, perfect when you’re just vacuuming floors, stands up by itself) to a stick cleaner (top-heavy, very manoeuvrable) to a handheld.
It comes with three tools: crevice nozzle, dusting brush, flat upholstery tool. We weren’t convinced that you need the pet turbo brush unless your furniture is plagued with pet hair. But a second battery might be worthwhile.
The Miele Triflex HX1 Cat&Dog is easy to use, well designed and impressively powerful on floors and more. It really offers the cleaning power you’d expect from a corded cleaner. But the ‘up to 60 minutes’ run time is 34 minutes if you’re using the floorhead (which you probably are) and just 17 minutes at top power. Fortunately the lower power setting is good enough and 34 minutes is long enough for a couple of rooms.
You wouldn’t be able to vacuum a whole house thoroughly on one charge. You’d need a second battery or to clean little and often. Its 0.5-litre capacity is on the small side too. You’ll need to empty the dirt canister regularly, but this is easy and isn’t messy.
The Miele Triflex HX1 gives Dysons a run for their money. We missed the Dyson V11 Absolute’s charging dock and fluffy hard floor roller, but the Miele’s convertibility and sheer cleaning power won us over. If you don’t mind the price, the HX1 is a great buy. If you want the best vacuum cleaner for pet hair, we’ve also got another dedicated guide.
Ideal Home’s rating 4 out of 5 stars
8. Dyson Micro 1.5kg
Best cordless vacuum cleaner for small homes
Image credit: Dyson
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.1Ltr
Weight: 1.5kg
Reasons to buy:
• Lightweight
• Glides across hard floors
• Impressive power
Reasons to avoid:
• Not for carpets
The Dyson Micro 1.5kg is part of a new fleet of cordless vacuum cleaners from Dyson. It’s the lightest and smallest cordless vacuum in this guide, and with an entry-level price when compared to other Dyson models. The vacuum is very powerful, and we were impressed with the way hair didn’t get stuck around the roller brush.
Attachments include a soft roller cleaner head, mini motorised tool, and combination tool. While there is no roller for carpets, the mini motorised tool worked well on rugs and car upholstery in testing. We found that the battery life was just shy of half an hour, which is a way off Dyson’s 50 minute promise, but because the vacuum glides so effortlessly across floors, it made quick work of kitchen floors and hallway dirt and dust.
While it’s probably not a top pick for large homes thanks to the small size of the dustbin, the Dyson Micro is well suited to flats and would also be a great pick for those who have an upright or canister vacuums for their heavy duty cleans, but want something for those midweek sweeps that can sit pretty when not in use.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Read our full Dyson Micro 1.5kg review
10. Vax Blade 32V
Best cordless vacuum cleaner for affordable power
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.6Ltrs
Weight: 3kg
Reasons to buy:
• Great for quick cleans and small homes
• Reminds us of the Dyson, at a much lower price
• The trigger doesn’t need to be held down
Reasons to avoid:
• No charging wall bracket included
The Vax Blade 32V’s cyclonic stick design is reminiscent of Dyson handhelds, but the chamber is horizontal. Tip it to one side and press a button to empty. Twist the other side to remove the washable filter.
Handling is similar to the Dyson V11 Absolute in terms of size, feel and excellent manoeuvrability. But it comes with just one big brush head and two detail tools (a brush and a crevice tool). Fewer tools then, less to store, but we miss the Dyson V11 Absolute’s soft head for hard floors.
The trigger is under your thumb and you just press it once, you don’t have to hold it down. Lights indicate charge and there are two extra buttons: one turns boost mode off (the default is on, which increases suction but halves battery life), the other makes the brush bar spin (the default is off).
Cleaning is impressive. It could replace the main vacuum cleaner in a small home and is superb for stairs and quick clean-ups.
Again it’s too top-heavy to stand up on its own. It comes with a very simple wall bracket that doesn’t include the charger – you’ll have to plug it in each time.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
10. Beko Powerclean VRT94929VI Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
Best cordless vacuum for battery life
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.8Ltrs
Weight: 2.9kg
Reasons to buy:
• Decent tool selection
• Pivots to reach under furniture
• One of the most powerful vacuums we’ve tested
Reasons to avoid:
• Switching out brush rolls is fiddly
The Beko Powerclean has a similar design to some of the best Shark vacuum cleaners, featuring an elbow feature that can bend down to reach under furniture without making you reach so far. It’s immensely powerful, too. There are three strength modes, but we found that we hardly needed to use the stronger settings because the lower mode was more than capable of tackling most messes.
With the Beko Powerclean, you get a good range of attachments, including the crevice tool, carpet and hard floor brushes, mini motorised brush head, flexible extension, and dusting tool. Switching out the tools is easy enough, but you need to twist a little screw attachment to remove the brush rolls and switch between hard floor and carpet. This takes a minute or so, but we also experienced that both carpet and hard floor attachments were versatile enough to do a good sweep of the entire home without switching.
The vacuum has a stand included, with a groove to hold the vacuum handle and charge it when not in use. Charging takes three hours, and the battery life is about 45 minutes. Controls work with a thumb trigger, and above this are the plus and minus buttons you’ll need to adjust strength.
From the LED headlights to the incredibly strong suction the Beko Powerclean VRT94929VI Cordless Vacuum Cleaner seriously wowed us. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to find it in stock.
Ideal Home’s rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Read our full Beko Powerclean VRT94929VI Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review
11. Shark Anti Hair Wrap IZ251UKT
Best workhorse cordless vacuum
Bagged or bagless? Bagless
Dust tank capacity: 0.4Ltrs
Weight: 4.1kg
Reasons to buy:
• Great for tangle-free cleaning
• Easy storage
• Plenty of attachments
Reasons to avoid:
• Lacking in maneuverability
The Shark Anti Hair Wrap IZ251UKT is big and heavy (4.1kg) enough that you might forget it’s cordless. So although it’s a top-heavy stick design, you won’t be waving it around. But you’ll also forget because the cleaning power is impressive. Its multi-stage powered floorhead whips up dust and hairs brilliantly and boasts ok headlights.
Battery life is up to 40 minutes and we tested the pet version that comes with two batteries, so you can double it. It also comes with a host of accessories, but that isn’t necessarily a good thing: where are you supposed to store them? There’s a crevice nozzle, brush, upholstery tool, an adjustable thin wand that’s good for getting behind radiators and under furniture, and because it’s the pet model a small motorised turbo brush too.
The bulky floorhead does a great job of cleaning: the combination of powered brushes seems to lift everything. They’re also designed not to get tangled with long hairs and our test bore this out. There are two power settings under your thumb, one for hard floors and one for carpets. But you can also pull a trigger with your index finger for a temporary power boost.
Just as impressive was storage: push a button halfway down the tube and the whole vac folds in half so you can stow it away in a cupboard.
It makes a good handheld vac too, and the dust canister is easy to empty once you remove the tube to convert it. But with the tube, we found the machine too heavy for it to feel easy in the hand for cobwebs.
In all, with two batteries and powerful cleaning, it makes a good replacement for a corded upright cleaner. You don’t have to plug it in but it’s not really lighter or more manoeuvrable than a corded model.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
12. Halo Capsule Vacuum
Best lightweight cordless vacuum cleaner
Bagged or bagless? Bagged
Dust tank capacity: 1.6Ltrs
Weight: 2.6kg
Reasons to buy:
• Very lightweight
• Generous tank size
• Ideal dustbin for those who want a bagged vacuum
Reasons to avoid:
• Fiddly to control
This new contender has an unusual design, with a lightweight (2.6kg) carbon fibre body and curvaceous styling. The handle is unusually positioned at the top too.
It’s a stick-style cleaner with a powered floorhead (no headlights) and two tools: a crevice nozzle and a dusting brush. They push on to the cleaner with the tube for cobwebs and awkward corners, or straight onto the body for use as a handheld vac.
It’s a bagged cleaner with a decent capacity of 1.6 litres. It comes with 53 compostable paper bags, enough to last years. The run time is up to 60 minutes, but will be much less on high power, using the floorhead.
The controls are good. A power button under your thumb turns it on and it always starts at the middle one of the three power settings. You press the other yellow button to cycle between them. This works well as you rarely need the top setting and the low setting is a bit weedy.
The thin blue button in between turns the powered brushes of the floorhead on. Every time you turn the vac on, you have to push this again. That’s a bit annoying.
Also annoying is the way the floorhead easily clicks to lock at 90 degrees… this top-heavy cleaner can’t stand up by itself, so what’s the point? It’s annoying when it happens mid-cleaning.
But the floorhead cleans well, with and without the brushes spinning. And we love the fact that the Halo Capsule is lightweight. Even the charger is petite. It leaves us wishing that the tube was in two pieces, so that the whole cleaner could pack down into a small kitchen cupboard: that would be novel.
Ideal Home’s rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Everything you need to know about buying a cordless cleaner
What are the different types of cordless vacuum?
- Stick vacuum cleaners are handhelds that you add a wand to, to extend the reach – then add a brush head to clean floors or a smaller tool for cobwebs and other hard-to-reach spots. They’re fast, manoeuvrable and good for getting under furniture. But the weight is all in your hand, which can be tiring after a while. They often can’t stand up by themselves if you want to pause to move something.
- 2-in-1 upright vacuum cleaners look more like traditional upright vacuum cleaners. The weight is fairly low down, but the middle section pops out and doubles as a handheld cleaner for small stuff. Often the upright’s handle also pops off and doubles as a wand, giving the handheld extra reach for high-up stuff like cobwebs.
How much should I spend on a cordless vacuum?
Image credit: Vax
Budget around £150 for a good-quality cordless with decent cleaning power. But you can spend more than three times as much on premium models. More money can buy you powerful suction, longer battery life or better tools.
Some of the best cordless vacuums we tested came in at the £250 mark. If you can afford it though, it’s worth spending the extra money. More power and longer battery lives will pay off in the long-run, and the convenience of a cordless vacuum won’t be outweighed by limited power.
What other key questions do I need to ask about cordless vacuums?
Bagged vs bagless?
It’s a tricky choice. On the one hand, bagless vacuums reduce the environmental impact and the expense of buying vacuum bags, only to throw them away. However, removing dirt from a bagless vacuum isn’t without its challenges. Hair can get wrapped around the filter and you’ll likely let off a bit of a dust cloud. Of course, brands like Dyson are constantly developing solutions to this. The new Dyson range has ejector technology that makes emptying the dustbin completely hands-free. For this tech though, you will have to pay.
Charging your cordless vacuum
It can take anywhere from three to six hours to charge a cordless vacuum in-between uses. If you plan on using it as your main vacuum cleaner, you need to opt for one with the battery life to make it through your home before you have to recharge, or you’ll have to go back later for different rooms.
Some cordless vacuums come with replaceable batteries, meaning you can switch out for a new, fully-charged battery if the one you’re using dies. We did text every vacuum in this guide for battery life, the most successful being the Dyson V11 Absolute with a mighty 60 minutes.
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