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This Article Sucks: The Best Vacuum Cleaner for Your Home

Buying a vacuum isn’t glamorous. And, if we’re being honest here, you probably only think about the finer points of your vacuum in one of two scenarios: when you’re actually vacuuming and when that vacuum finally stops working altogether.. You’re not thinking about vacuuming up dog hair while you’re adopting a new puppy; you’re thinking about how adorable Luna’s fuzzy, white fur-do is. When you heard that hardwood floors were easier to clean than carpet, you probably didn’t make a mental note that you might also need a specific kind of vacuum cleaner that works differently than your trusted carpet cleaner.  And you certainly didn’t have vacuums on the brain when you were shopping for your new car,  one that would require a whole different vacuum with a very specific type of nozzle.

That’s where we come in.

Whether you’re a pet owner looking to finally clean up all the hairs around your house, an allergy sufferer with a mind to eradicate pollen and dust once and for all, or someone who just wishes you had a maid to handle all the cleaning in the house, we’ve got you set with a ton of different options to make vacuuming suck less — or more, depending on your perspective.

1

Best Vacuum for Pet Owners

While each pet has his or her own distinct shedding schedules, anyone who has ever had a cat or a dog knows that their hair gets everywhere — on furniture, clothes, floors, rugs, linens — truly everywhere.That’s why we’re going to skip the song and dance and jump straight to recommending the best general purchase for pet owners nationwide: The Dyson Ball Animal.

Specifically, the Dyson Ball Animal 3. Like the name suggests, this vacuum was made with pet owners in mind, featuring specialized tools such as a pet grooming tool for medium and long-haired pets, as well as a tangle-free turbine designed to suck up pet hair from your upholstery, floors, and even your cars. This vacuum uses de-tangling technology to prevent hair from getting wrapped around the brush bar and interior vacuum parts, so it never slows down. It’s also easy to navigate around  corners and furniture thanks to the ball technology.

2

Best Vacuum for Hardwood Floors

The tricky thing about vacuuming hardwood floors is that you need a vacuum with enough suction and the right design to pick everything up without blowing a metric ton of dust into the air or scratching your floor.. That means the perfect hardwood floor vacuum should be a mix of powerful yet gentle, and we’ve got just the cleaner in mind.

The Miele Hardfloor Bagged Vacuum Cleaner is designed with a special floorhead for hardwood floors and low-pile carpets, and has a special floor brush if you’ve got more delicate wood floors installed in your house. None of this comes at the cost of power thanks to this model’s 1200-watt vortex motor and six power settings to unlock deep-cleaning. Because this isn’t a stick vacuum, you also have the added bonus of plenty of versatility to curve around and under your couch for a more thorough spring cleaning.

3

Best Vacuum for Carpets

Ah, the joys of vacuuming carpet. While the fuzzy wall-to-wall flooring can keep your toes warm in the winter, it also has an unmatched talent for collecting dust, hair, pollen, crumbs, and settled air pollution — nothing you want to keep around for very long. You’ll also need a vacuum with a specific constellation of features. Suction power is essential, but too much suction and your vacuum’s going to be hard to push over any carpet or rug in your house; Too much height and your vacuum won’t pick up anything. Once again the name of the game is balance, and there’s one vacuum we know that can serve folks well.

The Hoover PowerScrub Deluxe Carpet Cleaner is everything a homeowner needs to make sure dirt doesn’t build up in their carpets and rugs. The Hoover comes with a SpinScrub brush — a 360 rotating brush design that removes deep-embedded dirt and stains —an 8-foot hose, stair tool, upholstery tool, and crevice tool. This combination of power and versatility makes this vacuum cleaner a great match for any carpeted home.

4

Best Vacuum for Allergies

If your main concern is making sure your vacuum cleaner can get rid of all irritants for your allergies, what you’re going to want is a vacuum cleaner with strong filtration. The filter on your cleaner is critical for trapping microscopic allergens and evicting them from your living spaces.

The Miele Complete C3 is our pick for a vacuum cleaner designed to get rid of all the allergens in your rooms. The HEPA AirClean Filteris a particularly potent feature, since it was specifically designed to trap fine dust and allergens. These filters catch up to 99.95% of all viruses, bacteria, and particles, and the Complete C3 comes with 16 filter bags. As far as regular vacuum cleaning functions go, the floor brush, 1200-watt vortex motor, and ergonomic hose all ensure that your house will be as clean and sniffle-free as possible.

5

Best Automatic Vacuum

“Okay, Shopper Advocate, but what if I’m lazy?”

We’re kidding (sort of), but we also empathize with sometimes just not being in the mood to vacuum, regardless of how many special features your favorite cleaner may have to make sure the job’s done in a flash. For people who find themselves in this mood more often than not, we have just the tool for you: a robot.

The iRobot Roomba J7 is our top pick for a robot vacuum. This bad boy comes with smart mapping for controlling and scheduling which rooms are cleaned and when. Advanced sensors help prevent this Roomba from getting stuck and stalling out around obstacles. Multi-floor mapping and away-scheduling set you up  for serious success. All you have to do is leave the house, and you can return to freshly cleaned floors.

Vacuum Cleaning Doesn’t Have to Suck

What we’ve realized is that making vacuum cleaning painless tends to require more forethought than most folks have the time for. It’s a surprisingly involved research project that changes depending on your home décor, pets, and lifestyle. That’s why we wanted to lay out the options as clearly as possible so you can think about it once and never have to worry again. 

Don’t forget to check back with Shopper Advocate for more guides like this that cut through the mess to give you clean and clear solutions.

Osagie is an expert on what makes a product high-quality. At ShopperAdvocate, he's using powers to help shopaholics nationwide pinpoint the best tools.