Vacuum cleaner reviews: How we test
Video shows why Best Buys are better
Find out how our tests find the best vacs, and how much more dust Best Buys can pick up.
Video: How we test vacuum cleaners
Cleaning tests
When testing vacuum cleaners, we let machines do the hard work using custom-built test rigs.
For our carpet test, first a machine spreads special test dust over a carpet and grinds it in. We then strap each vacuum cleaner into the rig, which pulls and pushes it back and forth five times as it sucks up the dust.
We repeat this test several times, measuring when bags or canisters are empty, and also when they're filled with 100g and 400g of dust. Each vacuum cleaner covers a distance of 288m in this test alone. The rig springs into action again to do a similar job for smooth and creviced wood floors.
Which? tests vacuum cleaners using real pet hair
Vacuum cleaner pet-hair test
To assess each vacuum cleaner's pet hair pick-up, our testers comb cat and dog hairs into an area of carpet slightly larger than an A3 piece of paper. We then time how long each vacuum cleaner takes to pick it up. The better vacuum cleaners take a minute or less.
Vacuum cleaner dust retention
We use specialist machinery to test how much dust and fine particles the vacuum cleaners can retain.