How To Select a Good Vacuum Cleaner

Selecting a good vacuum cleaner is necessary for you to avoid cleaning headaches. The wrong one will only cause you problems, wasting your time during the day. But how do you select a good vacuum cleaner?

A good vacuum cleaner is entirely based on your needs. Larger vacuums are better for thick carpets, while stick vacuums are suitable for hard floors. High air watts typically show a good indicator.

Below, we will go through a five-part set of points for what you need to know about for getting a good vacuum.

Knowing Different Types of Vacuums

The first part of quality vacuum finding is knowing the different types of vacuum cleaners. If you want to choose the best vacuum, you start with the style most suited for you.

Here are the different areas worth nothing:

• Upright vacuum cleaners – Your standard form of vacuum cleaner comes in both bagless and bagged forms. These are fatter versions of stick vacuums, making them stronger and harder to lift.
• Corded stick vacuum cleaners – Stick vacuums are best suited for light and portable projects. Their dust cups are small, making them most suitable for single rooms and hardwood floors. The length of the power cord limits the corded form.
• Cordless stick vacuum cleaners – Cordless stick vacuums are the most suitable and portable and lightest available vacuums, second to handheld vacuums. However, you can convert these into handheld vacuums with ease. The only limit comes from the battery power.
• Canister vacuums – Canister vacuum cleaners are large bucket-like attachments with long hoses. They are great for extensive capacity work but not great for moving between floors.
• Robotic vacuum cleaners – Robotic vacuum cleaners are smaller than a handheld vacuum and great for automated work. Typically, you don’t see them handle anything beyond light-duty work.
• Handheld vacuums – These types of vacuum cleaners are battery-powered and small. These are great for cleaning out the inside of vehicles and spot-vacuuming spots. These vacuums are better for tight spaces.

Ideally, you’ll want to start with an upright or cordless stick vacuum cleaner. However, having backup vacuums is suitable depending on your needs.

For example, robot vacuums are great if you want to quickly clean your home while you aren’t there. However, these vacuums aren’t usually suitable for large-scale projects.

How Much Suction Power Do I Need for My Vacuum Cleaner?

High suction power is a sign of an excellent deep cleaning tool. This, combined with other features, is a perfect measure of quality. This quality applies to both thick carpets and those who have hard floors with area rugs.

Air watts are a good measure of determining suction power. Air wats act as a combination of water lift and air pressure (CFM). Ideally, you would want air watts around of atleast 100.

Ideally, you’ll want air watts that exceed that number slightly. Many Shark model vacuums are around 140.

Choosing Good Vacuum Cleaners for Pet Owners

Pet hair is one of the most significant issues when it comes to cleaning. A standard brush roll typically isn’t enough when cleaning carpets of pet hair. Instead, it would be best if you had something suitable for pet hair.

Good vacuum cleaners do this by having multiple brush rolls of specific mechanisms. Having multiple brush rolls is one way to do this.

You might also choose to spot pet hair and switch out the head. Seek out vacuums that specifically are rated for hair (or have specific attachments). Otherwise, look for vacuums with multiple brush rolls.

Bag vs. Bagless Vacuum Cleaners – Which is Better?

Other than cordless vacuums vs. corded vacuums, it would be best if you also compared the bags. Smaller vacuumed (like a handheld vacuum cleaner) is only in a bagless form.

Bagged vacuums are only suited for a canister vacuum cleaner or upright vacuum cleaner. These enable you to contain the dust with greater ease but have a great deal of waste as a result.

Bagless vacuum cleaners are known to have a dust bin that comes in a cup. Dropping the contents of this dust cup into a bag dumps dust into the air.

A bagless vacuum cleaner is more common, but it needs a HEPA filter to work correctly.

Do I Need a HEPA Filter?

A HEPA filter stands for High-Efficiency Particular Air filter. HEPA filters remove any dust particles with a size of 0.3 microns or larger. Without getting too far in the science, that is most of your dust particles.

HEPA filters typically work as an excellent substitute for bagged vacuums. This is why bag vacuum cleaners are no longer in as much production.

Due to their size, stick vacuums, cordless models, and robot vacuum cleaners all do not have bags. Canister vacuum cleaners and stick vacuum cleaners do have bags and less chance of having a HEPA filter. 

Wrap Up

A big part of what makes a good vacuum cleaner depends on your family’s priorities. However, most people like to have upright vacuum cleaners with good suction power as a starting point.

If you want a vacuum with great combined features, check out our review of the best upright vacuums with detachable handheld features. Thanks for reading!