Cordless, Corded, Smart and More

The Shark Anti Hair Wrap Duo Clean Cordless Vacuum Cleaner (IZ201) has pretty much everything you could want in a vacuum cleaner, except for a snappy name.

It has many of the features of a luxury cleaner, but at half the price of the market leaders. It’s powerful, it has headlights and its jointed “Flexology” stick makes it easy to vacuum under furniture without stooping or bending.

Its specifications are comparable to the best on the market as well, although with a maximum cleaning time of 40 minutes compared to rivals’ 60 minutes, a second battery would be a useful purchase.

Happily, you can buy a model with a spare battery, and with that in mind, this is a budget-friendly cordless that we’re happy to recommend to people with a home of any size.

It has an RRP of £349 but if you shop around, you should be able to buy it for £249 and at this price, it’s a bargain.

Read our full Shark Anti Hair Wrap Duo Clean IZ201 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner review

This is a great product, at a great price, particularly when compared to market-leading brands. Capsule is an independently designed and produced vacuum cleaner, the creation of an engineer with two decades of industry experience.

Cordless, manoeuvrable and very light at 2.6kg – thanks to its carbon-fibre shell – it has the power of an upright and some very nice design features that set it apart from competitors.

Its specifications are also an improvement on those of rival products. Capsule needs three hours to charge its lithium-ion batteries and after that will run for at least half an hour without a loss of suction. It also has a dust-collection capacity of 1.6 litres.

Replacement parts are easily available and Capsule’s makers encourage you to send it in for servicing, so it’s both environmentally friendly and budget friendly as well. 

There are no bells and whistles, just solid cleaning power. We’d highly recommended it for smaller homes, flats or as a versatile handheld.   

Read our full Halo Capsule review

The latest Dyson vacuum cleaner not only ups the power (from the V11’s 185AW to 240AW) but adds totally new technology in the form of a green laser, which illuminates dust that would otherwise be invisible to the naked eye. Bear in mind that this is only effective on hard floors, not on carpets.

But that’s not all. A piezo sensor links to the LCD screen, showing the size and volume of dust particles captured, allowing you to see exactly how much dirt you’ve sucked up. Is it a bit of a gimmick? Maybe, but it’s pretty addictive to use and gives you a sense of a job well done. The screen also displays arguably more useful info, such as the battery life and troubleshooting help.

On the minus side, the battery will only last you for about 20 minutes if you’re using the High Torque head in Auto mode and it then takes 4.5 hours to charge. A second battery will solve this problem but will add to the V15 Detect’s already significant price.

Read our full Dyson V15 Detect review

This vacuum cleaner is our recommended all-rounder. It has everything. And more stuff on top of that. It’s even got a mop attachment that – in a surprising break from tradition – works brilliantly. As well as being designed for every type of cleaning you can imagine, it’s also light, comfortable to use and has a long battery life.

While people with larger homes may think that a cordless is not for them, the Jet 90 could change their minds. It’s powerful enough that, even on its lowest setting, it can give a really deep clean. It also has space to charge a second battery (which you’ll need to buy separately), so if you run out of power before you finish, you can swap it out and keep going.

This isn’t a vacuum cleaner for minimalists. You’ll need space to store its large stand and attachments but if you can find such a spot, it’ll amply reward you with its usefulness and flexibility.  

Read our full Samsung Jet 90 (Pro) review

This is a brilliantly designed vacuum cleaner for hard floors. Its manoeuvrability takes a lot of the labour out of vacuuming.

But it is specialist vacuum cleaner. It won’t be ideal if you have (for example) a large, fluffy dog as pet fur is likely to clog up the tiny bin and get tangled in the casters that give the Omni-glide its impressive moves.

Still, if you have a city pad, or if you’re looking for a second vacuum cleaner as a kitchen runaround, we’d recommend it. 

Read our full Dyson Omni-glide review

Very few corded vacuum cleaners make it into this round-up as brands are putting their energy and innovation into cordless cleaners. That’s not the case with Hoover, which has packed a lot of great design features into this handy little vac, including swivel steering.

It’s very well-priced and delivers impressive suction, especially if you’re coming from a cordless cleaner. And it has many of the features you’d get from the best cordless cleaners: it has a bagless system and a washable H13 HEPA filter.

Hoover has also done its best to minimise the effect of the cord. It’s over 8 metres long, which should reduce the number of times you have to unplug it and move it to a nearer power point. Still, you’ll have to wind it by hand, which was annoying: we’d have preferred a cord that automatically retracted.  

Read our full Hoover Upright 300 review

This high-quality cleaner would be an excellent option for people with larger homes who are looking to replace their upright with something cordless. However, we’d recommend investing in a second battery, or buying the Pro model, which comes with one.

The TriFlex is a solidly built appliance that we would expect to last for a very long time. As a trade-off, it’s heavier than the V11 and the Samsung Jet 90. This isn’t an issue in Comfort mode, which is where the TriFlex really comes into its own and beats the competition hands-down (and, in fact, hands-off). It bears its own weight and will stand up by itself, unlike most other stick cleaners, so it has all of the advantages of an upright cleaner, without the cord.

However, in its Range and Compact modes, it’s a little heavier than competing stick/handheld cleaners. But if you want a replacement for an upright, with the versatility you need to clean upholstery, blinds and curtains, the TriFlex is our recommended option.

Read our full Miele TriFlex HX1 (Cat & Dog) review

The Cyclone V10 is undeniably a phenomenal cordless vacuum. It packs more than enough power to justify the steep price, with three settings, multiple attachments, and a slick design with added options like wall-mounting.

The hour-long battery life (less on higher speeds) isn’t quite enough to clean a big house top-to-bottom, and the weight will also be an issue if you’re trying to clean for that long anyway – but for most people, this will be plenty.

Just stick to the Animal model, and resist paying over the odds for unnecessary add-ons in the Absolute and Total Clean versions.

Read our full Dyson Cyclone V10 review

For a reasonable price, the Hoover H-Free 500 is a decent little stick vacuum. And we mean little: it’s really lightweight and packs away in a cleverly compact, transformer-like way.

Like others, it offers a modular system so you can clean in different ways. We found it to be very versatile and reasonably powerful, too.

However, the turbo mode will only give you eight minutes of cleaning and, with an average of 25 minutes overall, you’ll need to be organised about charging. This, combined with a small dustbin, means it’s more suited to flats and small homes. You might want to consider an Energy model, which comes with an extra battery.

Read our full Hoover H-Free 500 review

The Proscenic P11 isn’t for everyone, but if you live in a flat and have a fairly minimalistic lifestyle – that is, if you have hard floors, not carpet and don’t own a giant shaggy dog – it could be for you.

The P11 has a lot of high-end features, including LED headlights, a touchscreen that displays battery life, two charging options, a swappable battery and a mop attachment. It’s also very light and easy to use as a handheld cleaner. 

It’s not the most powerful vacuum cleaner (in spite of its impressive on-paper suction), and it’s not hugely robust. But if you’re looking for an appliance to help you with a bit of light cleaning, it’s a pleasure to use.

Read our full Proscenic P11 review