Stick vacs are handy for light picking up at the end of the day or a quick sweep around the house when company is dropping by. Whatever you buy, you want one that gets the job done.
Consumer Reports has rated 27. The $220 Electrolux Ergorapido Brushroll Clean 2-in- 1 EL2095A just pushed around a test mixture of Cheerios, rice, and sand. That Electrolux is also among the worst on the edge test, leaving behind a swath of sand after two passes.
The Dyson V6 Absolute is much better, picking up all the sand along the edge. It’s lightweight, weighing just five pounds, but it has a hefty price of $600. It is excellent at surface cleaning a carpet and picks up imbedded pet hair easily. The rechargeable battery runs for about 14 minutes.
Another recommended vacuum, the $230 Shark Rocket DeluxePro TruePet, HV322 has a cord so you don’t have to worry about running out of power. It weighs about nine pounds and does an excellent job picking up pet hair. A light on the Shark’s deck illuminates dirt in dark, hard-to- reach spots, like under furniture.
For far less, the $130 Bissell Trilogy Superlight 1683 also does a great job sucking up pet hair and is quieter than a lot of the machines Consumer Reports tested. On bare floors, the Trilogy is even better at picking up little bits of debris.
And for even less, Consumer Reports recommends another cordless stick vac for $70, the Dirt Devil Accucharge BD20035RED. It’s not as good as some others at picking up pet hair, but it delivers 21 minutes of cleaning before it needs a recharge.
