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Choosing a great vacuum

Finding a vacuum that’s both light and powerful isn't easy. From uprights to cylinders, bagged, bagless and handhelds, there are lots of options. And an expensive model won’t necessarily deliver; you could spend more than £200 and end up with a fairly poor vacuum cleaner.

Vacuum cleaner reviews you can trust

At Which?, our team of experts puts the machines through a rigorous test program. We test hundreds of vacuum cleaners to find out which ones are Best Buys and which ones are best avoided. We've reviewed models from top brands including Miele, Dyson, Hoover and Vax, whether they're cylinder, upright, bagged or bagless. Some of the results have even surprised us!

Take a trial to Which? and get full access to all our reviews and test results.

What makes a Which? Best Buy?

A Which? Best Buy vacuum cleaner will give you great cleaning results every time. Watch our video to see how much more dust a Best Buy will pick up than a non-Best Buy.

 

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Many of our tests simulate the real-life issues that you'd never be able to test in a shop. For example, we test each model on various floor surfaces to see how good it is at picking up ingrained pet hair, cleaning into corners and holding onto the very fine dust it picks up. And to make sure it doesn't make the cleaning process any more unpleasant, we check to see how loud it is.

Best Buy and Don't Buy vacs

Out of around 150 vacuum cleaners that we've tested, only about a third of them have been awarded the coveted Which? Best Buy status. Our tests have also uncovered some exceptionally poor performers that we've named Don't Buys to ensure you don't make a choice you'll regret.

Which? Best Buys aren't about the most expensive, feature-packed products. It's easy to spend more than £200 and still end up with a fairly poor vacuum cleaner. By testing each vacuum cleaner on the same criteria in a controlled environment we can identify the Best Buy bargains to be had among cheaper models.

Best Buy vacuum cleaners are built to last

Even if a vacuum cleaner does well in the lab, it can't be a Which? Best Buy unless we're sure it’s built to last. Every year we survey 35,000 people to uncover the most reliable brands, so you can be confident in your Best Buy.

Our unique survey shows that a lot of upright vacuum cleaners break down before you'd expect, so the brand’s reliability track record is a crucial part of our Best Buy assessment.

More ways to save money

Joining Which? gives you access to all of our reviews and Best Buy recommendations, covering thousands of products from laptops to child car seats. And if you're still baffled, you can always pick up the phone and call our helpline team for more personal advice.

Best of all, you can sample the benefits of Which? during a trial. Our advice will soon clear up which vacuum cleaner is the best one for you.