Worst Vacuums We Tested—and What to Buy Instead

Worst bagless upright: Amazon Basics Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 42

Yes, it’s only about $60, but you shouldn’t be swayed by this vacuum’s low price. As its name suggests, the Amazon Basics Bagless Upright Vacuum Cleaner is basic in its performance. Its biggest strength is that it’s lightweight and does well at picking up pet hair. The bad news is that it falters in other areas of cleaning, including being lackluster at cleaning carpets and only passable at picking up debris from bare floors.

The vacuum also has weak hose suction and tends to leak small particles back into the air after they’re vacuumed up, which can be a big problem for those suffering from allergies and other respiratory conditions. 

What to buy instead: Shark Navigator Swivel Pro Complete NV150 Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 70

If you want a high-performing bagless upright that’s not going to break the bank, it’s hard to do better than the Shark Navigator Swivel Pro Complete NV150 Vacuum Cleaner. It’s fairly lightweight at 13 pounds and is excellent at cleaning up pet hair and bare floors, though its performance on carpets is only adequate.

The vacuum, which costs less than $150, passed our clean emissions tests with flying colors, meaning it’s less likely to release particles back into the air after it’s suctioned them up. It comes with a manual suction control, which is helpful for vacuuming delicate items, and a hose that extends up to 11 feet to allow you to access hard-to-reach areas.

Worst bagged upright: Oreck Elevate Control Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 54

A mixed bag may be the best way to describe the Oreck Elevate Control. It’s good at certain things. For one, it’s excellent at vacuuming up pet hair and debris from bare floors. It’s also lightweight at 10 pounds and easy to push, pull, and carry.

But if your home has carpet, this probably isn’t the best choice. It earned only an okay score in our carpet cleaning tests, the lowest among all the bagged uprights in our ratings. Its suction power is less than satisfactory, and it’s also very noisy. And at around $300, it’s actually more expensive than several of the top-scoring vacuums in our ratings.

What to buy instead: Kenmore Intuition BU4050
Overall Score: 74

For less than $200, the Kenmore Intuition BU4050 is a steal. It’s impressive at cleaning carpets, an important asset if you have a lot of carpeted areas in your home. It also aces our tests in bare floor cleaning and pet hair pickup. It’s less noisy than the Oreck Elevate Control, though it still scores only a middle-of-the-road rating in our noise tests. And while the Oreck gets a top score for handling, this Kenmore’s is nearly as good.

We like this vacuum’s lift-away feature, which makes it portable and easier for you to clean stairs and above-floor areas. The vacuum also has a hair eliminator feature on its brush roll designed to prevent hair entanglements.

Worst bagless canister: Atrix Vortex VR25BCV
Overall Score: 37

Compared with the other bagless canisters we tested, the Atrix Vortex VR25BCV just doesn’t measure up. It’s lousy at extracting dirt from carpets, and when we tried using it to vacuum up pet hair, the hair got caught up inside the nozzle brush, resulting in a low pet hair removal score.

Our testers also noted that even though the Atrix model is claimed to have a HEPA filter, particles seem to escape easily from the vacuum, raising questions about its effectiveness in containing the dust and debris it picks up.

What to buy instead: Kenmore 500 Series DC5070
Overall Score: 74

We can’t really find fault with the moderately priced Kenmore 500 Series DC5070. It’s impressive at cleaning carpets, and even better at picking up pet hair and debris from bare floors, making it ideal for kitchens, bathrooms, and hardwood floors. It’s also excellent at capturing all the dust it picks up, earning it a first-rate score in our clean emissions test.

One of the features we liked the best about the Kenmore model is the handle on the side of the bin, which makes it easy to carry and maneuver. We also think its hair eliminator nozzle, which helps loosen and remove tangled hair, deserves a special shoutout.

Worst bagged canister: Eureka Mighty Mite 3670G Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 47

At less than $100, the Eureka Mighty Mite 3670G Vacuum Cleaner is inexpensive; we’ll give it that. But while it does well at vacuuming pet hair and debris from bare floors, it falls short in many other aspects. It’s noisy, has weak suction power, and is subpar at cleaning carpets. 

One of the features we found most inconvenient about the Eureka model is that there’s no retractable cord, so you have to manually wrap the cord around the bottom of the unit when you’re done vacuuming.

What to buy instead: Kenmore 200 Series 81214 Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 72

While other, more expensive canisters scored higher, the Kenmore 200 Series 81214 Vacuum Cleaner offers solid cleaning performance at a reasonable price. It only costs around $200, which is a bargain considering that the median cost of a canister is a little under $400, according to our survey members.

Of the canisters we tested, the Kenmore 200 Series 81214 is the best at cleaning carpets, and it’s no slouch at vacuuming pet hair and bare floors, either. It has strong hose suction power and, unlike the Eureka Mighty Mite 3670G, comes with a retractable cord.

Worst corded stick vacuum: Dirt Devil Vibe SD20020 Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 30

With the Dirt Devil Vibe SD20020, which costs less than $50, you’re getting what you pay for, unfortunately. The vacuum is terrible at cleaning carpets and only marginally better at cleaning bare floors. It struggles to pick up debris from the edges of a room, and it’s unexceptional at vacuuming up pet hair. 

One of its most convenient features is that it can be turned into a hand vacuum, but for a corded vacuum, its 16.5-foot cord literally falls short of its competitors. As a brand, Dirt Devil corded stick vacs earn a middling rating in predicted reliability, and its owner satisfaction rating is well below par. 

What to buy instead: Shark Rocket HV301 Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 73

For a vacuum that offers great value for a decent price, go with the Shark Rocket HV301. It’s superb at picking up debris from bare floors and sucking up pet hair. And its ability to clean edges is respectable, though like most stick vacs, it’s only so-so at removing dirt from carpets.

As a brand, Shark corded stick vacuums have a stellar rating in predicted reliability and a near-top-level rating in owner satisfaction, which gives them an edge in our scoring evaluation. This model comes with a long cord (30 feet) and can be converted into a hand vacuum.

Worst cordless stick vacuum: Ryobi One+ HP 18V PBLSV716K
Overall Score: 41

The Ryobi One+ HP 18V PBLSV716K isn’t the vacuum to get if you have a lot of rugs at home. In our tests, the vacuum struggled to pick up dirt embedded in carpet. It also wasn’t that much better at picking up debris from bare floors or cleaning the edges where walls and floor meet. 

The one thing the Ryobi model has going for it is that its battery is compatible with other Ryobi tools, a plus for anyone who already has Ryobi products at home. And as much as it faltered in our other cleaning tests, the vacuum did well at suctioning up pet hair.

What to buy instead: Shark Stratos IZ862H
Overall Score: 74

At around $350, the Shark Stratos IZ862H isn’t exactly inexpensive, but it’s the lowest-priced model among the cordless stick vacuums we recommend. Overall, the Shark vacuum is very good at cleaning. It’s hard to beat at cleaning bare floors, and it does a solid job of picking up pet hair. Although it’s only passable at removing dirt from carpets, it’s very good at vacuuming the edges of a room.

The model comes with plenty of useful features. It has a dirt sensor that automatically boosts the vacuum’s suction power when it detects dirt. There’s also a self-cleaning mechanism on the brush roll that prevents hair from being tangled around it. 

Worst robotic vacuum: Lefant M210
Overall Score: 49

When it comes to cleaning performance, the Lefant M210 is, at best, uneven. It does well at cleaning debris from bare floors, but our testers noticed that the vacuum’s lack of a brush roll affects its cleaning ability in several other areas. For instance, the vacuum has a tendency to push pet hair around rather than picking it up. And it’s only passable at cleaning the edges of a room and substandard at suctioning up dirt embedded in carpets.

It’s a quiet model that doesn’t make much noise, but it’s not the most straightforward to use. Our testers gave it a near-bottom-level score for ease of cleaning the filter and emptying its bin.

What to buy instead: Eufy C10 T2292
Overall Score: 69

For about $250, you’re getting a robovac that cleans well. The Eufy C10 T2292 is superb at navigating around furniture and cleaning debris from bare floors. It’s also excellent at picking up pet hair and very good at sweeping debris from the edges of a room.

Some of the drawbacks of this robotic vacuum are that its dustbin is on the smaller side and it’s only so-so at cleaning carpets. But we like that its brush roll is easily removable and that it’s one of the quieter robovacs we’ve tested.

Worst handheld vacuum: Black+Decker Dustbuster HLVC315B10 Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 45

Let’s be clear: The Black+Decker Dustbuster HLVC315B10 Vacuum Cleaner isn’t a horrible vacuum. It’s pretty quiet, and its wide nozzle can be adjusted to different sizes depending on your cleaning needs.

The vacuum, however, has an excessively strong exhaust that can blow the debris on your floors around instead of picking it up. Its exhaust led to its terrible score in bare floor cleaning, though the handheld vac fared better at cleaning edges and pet hair, earning favorable scores in both.

What to buy instead: Black+Decker DustBuster ION HHVI315JO42 Vacuum Cleaner
Overall Score: 76

For an equally inexpensive alternative—from the same brand, no less—consider the Black+Decker DustBuster ION HHVI315JO42 Vacuum Cleaner. It’s also really quiet, and although our testers noted that the model also has a strong exhaust, it seems to have less of an impact on the vacuum’s cleaning ability.

In our tests, the DustBuster ION HHVI315JO42 was top-notch at suctioning up pet hair and debris from bare floors. It also does a very good job picking up debris from carpets, though it’s less effective at cleaning edges.