Vacuum cleaners: How to buy the best vacuum cleaner Upright vacuum cleaners
Upright vacuum cleaners are good at covering large surface areas quickly
How upright vacuum cleaners work
An upright vacuum cleaner uses a motorised, rotating brush within the cleaning head to pull up dust and dirt from the floor and into the vacuum cleaner bag or dust container.
Upright vacuum cleaners are usually heavier than cylinder vacuums but require less effort to move around.
Upright vacuum cleaner checklist
Size
Think about where you'll be storing your vacuum cleaner, as this will often dictate the size and type of vacuum cleaner you go for.
Upright vacuum cleaners don't have the potentially awkward hose section you'll find on a cylinder model, which makes them quite easy to store - but their rigid structure means there isn't much flexibility if you're tight on cupboard space.
Using your vac
Consider how and where you'll be using your vacuum cleaner. Upright vacuum cleaners are great for covering large areas of carpet or floor, so can be a good choice for larger properties.
Weight and reach
Our tests have found that a vacuum cleaner's reach can range in length from 6 to 15 metres - a big difference when tackling a large room. Look for a vacuum cleaner with a long power cord so you don't have to keep stopping to plug it in elsewhere.
If you'll be using your vacuum cleaner both upstairs and downstairs, you should look for a light upright vacuum that won't be too heavy to carry up the stairs. Vacuuming the staircase itself can be tricky to negotiate with an upright - so look for an upright vac with a longer hose attachment to help make this task easier.
Type of flooring
Most vacuum cleaners have different settings for different floor surfaces - but some vacuum cleaners perform better on one type of flooring than others. Our vacuum cleaners review lets you search for vacuum cleaners that specifically scored highly for carpets, laminate floors or floorboards, as well as the best all-round cleaners.
Anti-allergy filters
Many vacuum cleaners these days are fitted with Hepa (high-efficiency particulate air) or S-class filters, which are designed to prevent allergens escaping and pick up extra dirt that would otherwise remain on the floor.
But simply having a filter doesn't guarantee the performance of the vacuum cleaner. Which? uses specialist machinery to test how much dust and fine particles each vacuum cleaner model retains.
In general, upright vacuum cleaners pick up pet hair better than cylinders
Pet hairs
Upright vacuum cleaners are generally better than cylinder vacuum cleaners at picking up pet hair, so if you've got a cat, dog or other animal this type of vacuum cleaner is probably a good choice for you.
In addition to our general cleaning tests on carpet and wooden and laminate flooring, we use real pet hair to assess each vacuum cleaner's pet hair pick-up. Our testers comb cat and dog hairs into an area of carpet about the size of A3 paper. We then time how long each cleaner takes to pick it up - the better cleaners take one minute or less.
Wattage
Vacuum cleaner manufacturers often use vacuum cleaner wattage or power as a product selling point - but good performance is about design and suction, and not a high-wattage motor. A high wattage doesn't guarantee you're getting a better cleaning vac, but it will mean you'll use more energy.
Noise
If you work from home or have a baby sleeping during the day, then vacuum cleaner noise is a key consideration - but it's not something you can test out in the shop before you buy, and sound levels between vac models can differ significantly. A high wattage usually means more noise, and upright vacuums are generally noisier than cylinder vacs.
If a quieter vac is high on your list of priorities, look for a model that scores four stars or above for noise in our vacuum cleaner lab test results.