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Aug 11, 2023

Best cordless vacuum cleaners 2023 UK

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Make light work of vacuuming with the GHI's tried and tested stick vacuums

Cordless vacuum cleaners, also known as stick vacuums, free you from the frustrating faff of cords. They're lightweight, easy on the back and run on rechargeable batteries, meaning no more irksome plugging and unplugging as you move around the house.

Features vary between models; some have far more power than others, better attachments and, crucially, longer battery life. Before you buy, consider the size of your home, its occupants (including cats and dogs!) and any extra tools that may come in handy.

If you're looking to save money on your next vacuum, we've found great deals on some of our top-rated picks including our Dyson runner-up, as well as these Beko and Vax products. Keep scrolling for our full reviews.

At the GHI, we put 52 stick vacuums to the test to find the best for tackling pet hair, cars, carpets, hard floors and more. There's a model for all households and budgets in our top 12:

There are several types of vacuum cleaner on the market, including upright, cylinder, robot, handheld and stick. The design of a cordless stick offers the most convenience and manoeuvrability, typically featuring a slim "stick" body and a smaller canister to be regularly emptied. They’re compact to store (some can be mounted on the wall) and lighter than upright and cylinder vacuums, making them generally more comfortable to use.

Sticks tend to come with a range of useful attachments, such as a crevice tool for awkward areas like cars, an upholstery tool for de-crumbing sofas and a motorised brush for collecting stubborn pet hair.

You can usually recharge batteries within a few hours and some models let you buy two at once for twice the running time. The suction power of sticks is also getting stronger as technology develops, making the top-end performers a brilliant investment.

From Dyson to Hoover and Vax, we've tested all of the latest models to find the top 12 for you. Scroll on to read our expert verdicts, and for a detailed guide to how we tested them.

Score 97/100

If you don't have space to store your vacuum in a cupboard, this sleek design would look neat on display. It glided over all surfaces and lifted 96 per cent of dust on test. It also removed all biscuit crumbs and pet hair with ease. On stairs, it reached into all corners and overall proved effortless to use.

It only takes two hours to charge but battery life – two are included – varied in use; moving it between speeds and surfaces, it lasted 19 minutes, while on its lowest setting it lasted for over an hour. The digital battery display will keep you informed though.

You can handily empty its contents into the accompanying 2L docking station at the push of a button and its thin extension nozzle is long, reaching awkward spots easily. It's expensive but innovative.

Score: 95/100

This vacuum scored top marks all-round for its pick-up on carpet and hard floors. Light and easy to manoeuvre, it scored well as both an upright and a handheld, removing embedded pet hair in a single sweep.

However, while its suction power is impressive, it's expensive, and it's worth noting that it lasts just over eight minutes on the maximum power setting before taking 3.5 hours to recharge. It lasts much longer on lower settings, though.

Score: 95/100

In vacuuming circles, the Miele Triflex is big news. The brand's first cordless stick vacuum can be used in three different configurations, as an upright, stick and handheld vacuum. It aced every challenge we threw at it, attaining perfect scores in almost every one of our pick-up tests, although when using it as a stick vacuum, the dust pick-up worked better on short pile carpets than long.

We love the headlights on the brush head and how easy it is to empty the canister. Its 17-minute runtime on maximum power is remarkable but can't be used in conjunction with the small electro brush on long pile carpets. It can feel a little heavy, too.

Score: 95/100

Bringing its signature smiley face to stick vacs for the first time, this offering from Numatic impressed on test. It's nimble to use, felt well-balanced and light, and glided effortlessly across every surface we tried it on. It comes with an extra, roomier handle too.

Surprisingly for a stick vac, this one is bagged, and we found the bag captured all dust well. It comes with plenty of replacements, too. Pick-up was outstanding; on carpet and when tackling pet hair, it proved to be a top performer. It only lost marks on laminate floorboards but it still collected 92 per cent of the dust laid.

The battery only lasted 14 minutes on the speed boost setting but when using a mix of speeds across different surfaces it ran for a respectable 34 minutes. It charges quickly in two and a half hours, too.

Score: 94/100

Dyson products are always thoughtfully designed, and this vac is no exception. All of its accessories fit on to the end of the vac seamlessly and although it doesn't come with storage, you can clip two to the unit if you need to carry any around in use.

A digital display will update you on battery life, which proved to be accurate, and on eco mode it lasted for just over an hour. Using a range of settings, it lasted for 34 minutes. The vac comes with two batteries but note they take over four hours to charge.

It removed over 95 per cent of dust from short pile carpet and on long pile it lifted substantially more than we had laid. Pet hair was similarly gobbled up.

While it glides smoothly over most surfaces, especially on hard floors, the strong suction means it can get tiring to move on long pile carpet. It's heavy and proved a little hard to use on stairs, too. This machine is ideal for bigger homes.

Score: 94/100

Designed specifically for pet owners, this cordless Vax comes with all the necessary bits and bobs to keep your home fur-free. The main floorhead collected all dirt in one swipe, leaving our carpets looking spick and span, while the mini motorised pet brush proved similarly effective.

It impressed as a handheld performance-wise, but be sure to angle it correctly as it pushed crumbs away if held flat to the floor. We found the boost mode especially powerful and loved how speedy the canister was to empty. It's a shame that it can't stand up on its own, but it's otherwise hard to fault for everyday household use.

Score: 94/100

You'll need a high budget to invest in this serious bit of vacuuming kit. It boasts a ton of tools, including a wet brush for mopping floors and an extending crevice nozzle. It picks up all dust, grime and pet hair brilliantly, but the battery runs out in under 10 minutes on full power.

It also doesn't stand up on its own, which can be a pain if you need to move something out of its path. Still, it's certainly versatile, and it glided well as a mop, leaving our floors sparkling and only lightly damp. If you can justify the price, you won't regret the purchase.

Score: 94/100

If you’ve got children or grandchildren who run around leaving biscuit crumbs in their wake, this vacuum will suck them up in a flash. In fact, it lifted the biscuits and then some on test; we measured 107 per cent of the debris we’d laid.

It proved a similarly powerful cleaner on hard floors, short pile carpet and floorboards, consistently lifting most dirt in just one sweep. It struggled a tad on long pile, but still fared respectably. It's nimble and proved impressive in the car too.

On eco mode, the battery life lasted for over an hour, while on multiple speeds it gave us 21 minutes of use. Its quick charger will give you more juice in an hour's time – although the first charge took us over four hours. We didn't find it that comfortable to use, and it's fiddly trying to fit the accessories onto the base. The dust cannister, however, empties effortlessly.

Score: 94/100

Though not as advanced as the pet-specific model above, this simpler Vax is a smart choice if you don't have any furry friends. The intuitive design has controls that are easily accessible on the handle and it has LED lights on the front of its floorhead to show up every speck of dirt.

The dust canister is a breeze to empty, the motorised brush can be turned off when vacuuming delicate floors and the boost mode wowed us with its excellent pick-up on all surfaces. It manoeuvres well as a stick but the handheld unit proved trickier in tight spaces.

Score: 92/100

Dyson's latest offering brings serious ease to your cleaning routine. Complete with a comprehensive selection of tools (everything from a hair screw tool to a wand clip), an LCD screen also keeps you up to date on battery life. It excelled across all floor types and its notably powerful suction picked up pet hair quickly.

There's no continuous power button, so you do have to keep your finger on the trigger throughout use, and it can be bulky to manoeuvre, especially when used as a handheld. You’ll also have to use it on eco mode to vacuum long pile carpet, as its high power can make it hard to manoeuvre.

We love the impressive new laser feature, which shows up the tiniest of dirt as you go, but it only works on hard floors.

Score: 92/100

For homes filled with nooks and crannies, this vacuum is well worth considering. It demonstrated strong pick up skills on all floor types and was an expert at cleaning hard-to-reach areas thanks to a flexible tube that easily gets into difficult spots and an LED nozzle that shows up dirt even in low light areas.

It's worth noting that it is a bit cumbersome; it's got a large charging station that works best mounted on a wall and testers found it quite heavy as a handheld vacuum. That said, its "SelfStand" feature means it can stand upright unsupported and it has a great selection of tools, including a large soft brush that can be angled to get into tight spots too.

We have also tested the newer Beko Smart PowerClean™ Pro VRT95929VI which scored half a point less.

Score: 91/100

Give your home a fresh scent with this innovative new vac from Shark that features built in air-freshening technology to combat any stale smells. Its cleaning credentials are equally impressive; it lifted pet hair in one sweep and gobbled up every last speck of the biscuit crumbs laid on carpet.

Like all Shark vacs, it's intuitively designed, and while its battery doesn't last very long on turbo mode (around 12 minutes on test), it runs for 35 minutes on the standard setting and comes with a second battery. Not that you really need to worry about switching between modes; its ‘clean sense IQ’ technology will automatically ramp up the power if it detects a notably dirty spot.

Other models did a better job of banishing pet hair from car upholstery, and its strong suction meant it didn't glide as smoothly on hard floors as some. But these minor misgivings aside, it's a truly stellar cleaner.

We test each cordless vacuum cleaner on three different floor types: carpet, laminate, and floorboards. First, we assess general pick-up using a formulation of dust designed by the GHI experts. We lay down a set amount and weigh out exactly how much each vacuum has collected after a set number of sweeps.

Does it make light work of picking up pet hair? Well, we call in plenty from the Battersea Dogs and Cats Home to find out. We grind pet hair into the carpet before vacuuming, to create the worst-case scenario.

We also test performance when picking up small residue, such as crumbs, particularly when testing in handheld mode.

On top of this, we run an interior car cleaning test to assess how well each vacuum tackles crevices, before trying it out on a set of stairs to see how easily it manoeuvres.

We judge the design, ease of use, instructions, and any innovative features. Then, we award each vacuum a final score to find the very best you can buy.

Testing the pick-up of stick vacuums on short pile carpet and hard flooring

Yes, is the short answer. But whether they will work as well for your home is another question – if you live somewhere bigger and like to do all your cleaning in one go, then you may find that stick vacuums’ smaller capacity and limited battery life isn't quite right. If this is the case, a cylinder vacuum could be a wise alternative.

If you take a more room-by-room approach and don't mind having to empty the canister or recharge your batteries more frequently, then there's little reason why a stick vacuum wouldn't suit your home just as well as a corded one, if not better.

The technology behind cordless vacuum cleaners has come a long way in the last few years, with lots of options to choose from. Some of the latest innovations to look out for include:

Hannah is our senior homes writer, specialising in reviewing the latest kitchen appliances, cleaning products, mattresses and bedding, and crafting equipment. Hannah has written about hundreds of products, from air fryers to smoothie makers to pillows, and is committed to finding the most reliable and best value for money buys.

Hannah is also interested in sustainability in the home and has completed a course with the University of the Arts London in sustainable textiles, so she can help cut through the noise on what's green and what's not. Hannah helps to uncover the best cleaning hacks too, with a focus on easy, natural solutions.

Hannah has an MA in Magazine Journalism and has previously worked as a freelance lifestyle and women's sports journalist, working for Stylist, Sky Sports and more.

Hannah has also previously worked in a florist and can normally be found caring for her house plants or sewing something new for her home or wardrobe.

You can find Hannah on Instagram on @sewnbyhan

Blossom is our Senior Homes Tester. Passionate about finding the best home products and appliances for our readers, she has tested everything from blenders to pizza ovens.

Blossom enjoys delving into the intricacies of products and refining testing protocols for hundreds of items. Innovative items like robot vacuum cleaners and wine coolers are among her favourite tests to date, and her most notable accomplishment is toasting 360 slices of bread in a determined bid to find the best toaster.

In her free time, Blossom openly admits to being a music geek and indulges her creative side through crocheting, baking, singing and writing.

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