The 10 best vacuum cleaners

For £100 you won’t find a better hoover than a classic Henry. You know the one – compact, brightly coloured and with an adorable face. While it may look too cute to work, it doesn’t half put in the graft. There’s a reason why you always see these little guys in offices and building sites, because they suck on an industrial level, which is all you really want in a vacuum cleaner. They’re also built simply (read: less to go wrong) right here in the UK and there are alternatives on offer if you want more, such as pet-specific, energy saving or heavy duty.

Don’t fancy doing the housework? Get a robot to do it. Of course, if you don’t have the cash to splash on an iRobot Roomba, which range from £300 up to a whopping £1,500, then you should take a punt on this Bagotte BG600. It handles carpets just as well as hard floors, which many of the cheaper Roomba alternatives don’t, and it comes with the optional add-on of a water tank. That means once it’s finished sucking up the dirt from the floors, it can mop them too.

WORX is a company that makes DIY tools, so it’s no wonder that this WX030 Cubevac handheld is not only shaped like a square toolbox, but is also highly durable. It has two speeds, two different attachments and one-touch emptying. The filter can be removed and washed. A three-hour charge will get you 45 minutes of vacuuming, which is high in the handheld arena. And best of all, WORX batteries are interchangeable between all their tools, so if you already own something by them, you can conveniently juggle power supply.

Two things make this Shark NV620UKT a winner for the stairs. Firstly, it has a super long cord so you won’t have to faff around with finding another plug socket halfway up. Secondly, something Shark calls ‘powered lift-away technology’, which is kind of a fancy way of saying the lightweight body detaches from the long stalk bit (technical term) to make it easier to manoeuvre in awkward spaces. It also has two floor settings, which are interchangeable at the press of a button, extra tools for crevices, varied surfaces and pet hair, and it’s got little headlights, so you won’t miss a single spot.

Few good hoovers come in at under the £100 mark these days, but the Kärcher WD2 manages. Ok, so the design is basic and it’s a bit tall, so if you yank it around too fast it’s prone to toppling, but you get what you pay for. And what it lacks in style (it doesn’t half resemble a Minion) it more than makes up for in functionality. It sucks up dry and wet messes, although remove the bag if you’re cleaning something wet, the numerous attachments are easily stored on the body, and an unexpected upside is that you can detach the top, leaving a sizeable bucket on wheels, which doubles conveniently as a mop bucket.

Anyone with a pet (especially a young one) will know that a hoover alone simply won’t cut it when it comes to cleaning the house. Well, the Bissell CrossWave Pet Pro 3-in-1 claims to minimise some of that back-breaking work by vacuuming, washing and drying, whether you’re using it on hard floors or carpet. From what we can gather, the dryer won’t leave your floors bone-dry, you’ll need to leave them to air for a bit, but the washing and hoovering capabilities are impressive. It even comes with a litre of Febreze cleaning solution to start you off.

Want a vacuum cleaner that doesn’t look like a vacuum cleaner? One that you’d be proud to display in your living space? You want the Shark WV200UK Handheld. This dust-busting wand is so sleek, with a minimal, space age grey finish that you’d be hard pressed to guess it was a hoover. Given its size, you won’t be doing a whole house with this, but it’s perfect for tidying up the odd mess. Its two attachments make cleaning slatted blinds a cinch too and you can empty it swiftly with one touch.

The main selling point of this Miele Complete C3 Pro Powerline is that it’s good for collecting animal hair. The user reviews are somewhat divided on that, but a real advantage we noticed is that it’s great for hardwood floors. It has six power levels, so you can increase the suction for non-carpeted areas, but most importantly, it has a removable powered brush bar, so there’s no fear of scratching. Other neat bonuses include the bumper strip round the head to save walls and furniture from any accidental nicks, accessories are stored in the body and just one touch will wind in the cord.

Considering its size, the Shark Cordless IZ201UKT is a touch on the heavy side, but that’s because it has the capabilities of a more powerful upright packed into a neat little body. The long arm detaches, so you can store it easily, this also makes transitioning from upright hoovering to cleaning the stairs, sofa or curtains a real cinch. Another beneficial aspect of this Shark is that it has a bendy bit, like an elbow, so you can get over, under and into awkward spots. It also boasts an anti-hair wrap brush and a charge that lasts 40 minutes.

Dyson – it’s probably the name we think of first when we think of vacuum cleaners, even before Hoover and that’s what we call the things here in blighty. But are they any good? Well, they didn’t get this popular for nothing. The short answer is yes, but opinions will no doubt be polarised. What we can say is their Small Ball range is surprisingly nifty. They’re light, manoeuvre extremely well and there’s no fussy bag to deal with. For £50 more you can get the Animal 2 version, which has a ‘tangle-free turbine tool’. Oooh.