13 Best Vacuums: Carpets, Hardwood and More
When was the last time you cleaned your floors? If you’re checking out these deals, it’s probably been too long….
I just started using an app called Tody to manage my household chores. It’s neat because it gives you a little bar chart to see how long it’s been since you completed various task. That’s how I know my floors are filthy. If you’re in the same boat as me, we need to get vacuums. Fortunately, there are some excellent sales right now.
Special offer for Gear readers: Get a 1-year subscription to WIRED for $5 ($25 off). This includes unlimited access to WIRED.com and our print magazine (if you’d like). Subscriptions help fund the work we do every day.
Dyson Vacuum Deals
Check out our Best Dyson Vacuums and the Best Cordless Vacuums guides for more.
Photograph: Dyson
The Dyson V15 Detect is our top pick for Dyson vacuums. Like most stick vacuums, it’s light, easy to use, and powerful. But the Detect’s defining feature is its ability to highlight—via a green laser—and detect how much dust it’s picking up and adjust its suction power accordingly. It’s ideal for people who suffer from allergies or just want the cleanest possible floor.
For larger homes, our top Dyson pick is the Outsize+. It’s not much more powerful than the Detect, but it has a dustbin that’s about 150 percent bigger, a cleaning head that’s about 25 percent wider, and it can run for twice as long—all so you can cover a lot of area in less time and without having to recharge as often.
On the opposite end of the scale, the Dyson V12 Detect Slim (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is our top pick for smaller spaces. It’s a bit cheaper than the full size Detect—especially now—and it’s light and easy to use. It lacks the smart capabilities of the full Detect, but if that’s not a major loss for you, this can save you some cash.
The Cyclone V10 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is a little bit older, but don’t let its age fool you. We loved it in 2018, and it still works just as well. It’s light, has a generous dust bin, and can run for up to an hour on a single charge. The Cyclone V10 Animal is a slight step up that’s designed for homes with a lot of pet fur to clean up.
Our favorite vacuum for homes with a lot of pet fur to clean up is the Dyson Ball Animal 3, which is currently not on sale. However, our reviewer, Jaina Grey, owned its predecessor for almost two decades before it conked out. The slightly older Ball Animal 2 even has a self-adjusting cleaner head that the 3 lacks, which makes this a great time to buy.
If you’re more into upright vacuums—or simply want a vacuum on a budget—then we recommend the Origin. When it’s on sale, anyway, like right now. It’s nearly as powerful as the Ball Animal 2, and it comes with a stair tool and combination brush nozzle. It’s not as convenient as a stick vacuum, but when it’s on sale, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper.
Robot Vacuum Deals
Photograph: RoboRock
Our top pick for robot vacuum cleaners, the Roborock Q5+ (9/10, WIRED Recommends), is one of the best around. It avoids all the little hassles of most robot vacs, like getting stuck on strings or falling off the stairs. It’s the easiest robot vacuum we’ve tested to just set and ignore. If you’re buying from Amazon, make sure to click the coupon button to get this deal.
This robot vacuum is our absolute top pick, with a couple caveats. First, it’s more expensive than our top overall pick, and there are some valid concerns about Amazon’s data collection policies. It’s also worth noting that this vacuum is frequently available at this price. So it’s less that this is a sale, and more that it’s often on a long-term anti-sale, but right now it’s safe to buy.
The Samsung Jet Bot AI+ might be a large, ugly gadget, but it’s got brains. In our testing, it had some of the best navigation among all the bots we’ve tried, even steering around a sleeping 80-pound dog. Normally it’s so expensive it’s in the four-figure range, but right now it’s on a substantial discount.
The Shark AI Ultra 2-in-1 (8/10, WIRED Recommends) surprised us after some less-than-stellar previous products from the company. But this model is now our top pick for a vac-mop combo. It uses laser navigation to map your home, and you can designate vacuum and mopping zones. It worked great at both tasks, though you’ll need to swap between the vacuum bin and mopping bin in between jobs.
More Cleaning Deals
Photograph: Amazon
When your pet makes a mess that a vacuum can’t clean, this Bissel spot cleaner is our favorite for smaller jobs. It’s cordless and portable, so you don’t need to lug it around like a balky suitcase. It works great at getting out stains, and it’s even easy to clean the device itself.
Handheld vacuums aren’t quite as popular as they used to be, before stick vacuums were invented, but they’re still, you know, handy. And the Shark Wandvac is our top pick overall. It’s light and small, and it has surprising suction for its size.
Technically, this might be a hair-styling tool, but it’s also part of Dyson’s sale, and we like it too much not to include it. The Airwrap Multi-Styler (8/10, WIRED Recommends) is easy to use with one hand, it offers a variety of functions for different hair types, and it uses less heat than many other stylers, so there’s less damage to your hair. You’ll need to be signed in to your My Best Buy rewards account (which is free if you don’t have one) to see the discounted price.
About The Author
