There are many questions people ask when searching for their next vacuum cleaner. Do I get an upright? Do I get a canister? Are robot vacuums any good? Should I get a stick vac? All of these are valid questions, and in this article, I am going to address all of these questions and even more to give you the best answer from my experience of actually working on thousands of machines over my career as a service technician. It is incredibly easy to get caught up in pretty boxes, pretty labels and colors, certain features, fancy infomercials, perhaps you have been visited by a door-to-door salesman offering what seems to be the end game machine that offers many features, and attachments but is it really a value, do any of those features add value to the machine and your user experience? In this article I plan to answer those questions you may have about buying a vacuum, what questions should you be asking, and what features to look for when making your next purchase.
What Does a Vacuum Cleaner Do?
This may seem like an obvious question with a simple answer but there is more to answer than most consumers are aware of. The first basic job of a vacuum cleaner is to agitate the carpet. Like the agitator in your washing machine the agitator in a vacuum cleaner (or commonly referred to as a brushroll or beater bar) the job of the agitator is to agitate the carpet so well that the embedded dirt beneath the surface is loosened up for removal. Most vacuums on the market are only designed to remove surface dirt as this often looks good for marketing purposes, a good vacuum will not only remove the surface but the sand, dust mites, pet dander and other allergens often trapped beneath the surface. These elements can contribute to asthma, headaches, dizziness, illness, and more. On top of the physical symptoms, the damage these can cause to your carpet is astounding. If not removed, over time the heavier elements such as the sand which are hardest to remove will act as an abrasive to your flooring even if you have hard floors, this will wear down the flooring over time and many flooring manufacturers will not cover this damage under warranty.
The next most important job of the vacuum is the filtration, a vacuum that can pick up the dirt is nearly useless if cannot trap what is being picked up. After the dirt is agitated and pulled out of the carpet, the next most important job of the vacuum is to provide quality filtration. A vacuum that uses a quality HEPA bag made from a cloth like HEPA material that is in a sealed bag chamber where the dirt is unable to escape is what you want to look for. A machine that can do this is also one that will last longer and this is because the bag acts as a protective membrane keeping dirt out of the motor. Compared to a bagless machine that uses only gaskets and seals which over time will fail this can extend the life of the vacuum cleaner many times over. The average life of a bagless vacuum cleaner is 1 to 3 years, versus the average life of a quality bagged vacuum can be as much as 15 years or longer. There is however a time and a place for bagless machines, quick pickup machines or stick vacs, bagless is acceptable to keep down the complexity of the machine and keep down the type of bags to keep around your house.
The third most important thing a good vacuum will possesses is good airflow. It has been proven many times over that a vacuum that has poor suction, but high airflow will clean better. The reason for this is because the channels of a vacuum designed for airflow are designed to let larger particles of dirt through. This also allows for the passage or heavier or dense material such as sand, or pet hair, or larger materials. Vacuums that are designed for high suction are low airflow work good for attachments only, this does good from a marketing standpoint as this tends to look good on the video ad, but in reality, does not work as a well-rounded machine.
Should I Choose A Canister, Upright Or Stickvac?
This is a question that I get a lot as a technician what type of machine I should buy. The short answer is to go to your local dealer and see what they have to offer. Find a quality brand and search in the dealer locator section of their website where to buy and talk to a trained professional about your specific needs. However in this section I will list the pros and cons of all of these and what they are best used for.
Uprights
First up is the upright vacuum cleaner, this is a design that has been around for as long as the vacuum itself, this is the design that most people are familiar with, and what most households in North America use. Some of the biggest advantages of an upright vacuum is the convivence of it, many modern uprights do offer the ability to be used on all floor surfaces. These machines do generally offer better performance on carpets especially when equipped with a height adjuster. They generally do come in at a lower price point than a canister which does allow you to get more machine for the same amount of money. Some of the cons of uprights, the attachments can generally be a little more difficult to use. They do not do as good as maneuvering in tight areas, and generally cannot do stairs as well as a canister there are a few exceptions of course. I did mention that some of them can do hard floors, however it is an afterthought on many of them. Because of this, their ability on hard floors is limited so if you have mostly hard floors, you might want to consider a canister. Another con of an upright is the weight, because everything is contained in one package this increases the weight of the unit which in turn can make it harder to maneuver.
Canisters
Next on the list is the canister vacuums, this is the style of vacuum where the power unit and electric brush are separate and connected by a hose with power running to it. The first pro of a canister is the versatility, compared to an upright these are far more versatile than an upright. These are a lot easier to switch between tools and surfaces than an upright because of the fact that that power unit and brushroll are separate and you generally will have a longer hose than what you will get on an upright vacuum. Because of this feature these will also perform better on hard floors, and generally will be equipped with rubber wheels and offer dedicated hard floor tools that will not damage your delicate surfaces. Another pro of the canister is the weight, because the power unit and power brush are separate, this allows the canister to be lighter to move around, lighter to push and overall easier to use. One of the cons of a canister is the learning curve, when first starting to use a canister it does take some getting used to. For some people the learning curve is a drawback and can turn some people from ever trying one in their own home even though it might be the best solution for their home. Another con is the price, an apples to apples canister compared to the equivalent upright will generally cost as much as 50% more, but for many the pros of a canister often times outweigh the cons. Storing the additional tools of a canister can be a little more difficult as some of them do not offer onboard tool storage for the extra tools.
Stickvacs
This is the newest trend to the vacuum market the appeal of these is the theory that they are lightweight and easy to use, most of them have no cord and they can reach places most uprights cannot. One pro of these machines is their versatility, many of these have a large variety of attachments, upholstery and stair brushes, crevice, pet hair tools and many more. This is part of the appeal of these machines if the fact they have many tools for many different applications. Another pro is their ability to be configured in multiple configurations, take the wands off and attach the upholstery brush you have a machine for cleaning upholstery or stairs, add the extension wands you have a machine that can lay nearly flat and get under most areas a traditional upright cannot. Most of them are cordless, this is a nice feature especially if you have a lot of space to clean. Here are some of the cons, first one is they are difficult to store. Because they do not stand up on their own they require either a bracket that mounts to a wall or charging base to store them and those tend to take up a lot of room. They are expensive, typically these are anywhere from $300 for lower end ones onwards up to $800 or more depending on what model, brand, and features you want. They don't have the same power of a traditional vacuum. As I mentioned before most of these are battery and because of that they are limited on what kind of power they can create, their agitation generally isn't the greatest and the cleaning ability is limited. These at best are hard floor only or quick pickup machines not actually intended to replace your corded vacuum cleaner. They don't have very good filtration. Again mostly due to their size and the fact that nearly all of them are bagless fitting a proper filter on them usually is not possible. So if you were to try to use this as your main vacuum, this would not be able to trap the dirt or allergens properly which in turn would hurt your indoor air quality.
Robot Vacuums
Last but not least we have robots, there really isn't much to say about this category, these are good for quick pick-up easy to use but that is about it. These generally do not have the power of traditional corded vacuum, or even a stick vacuum because the small batteries they have are tasked with running the drive wheels, and the many sensors they have, leaving little left to run the sweeping or suction mechanisms if equipped with a suction fan most however are not. They really do not have much for filtration because their suction motors if they have any are very small and not able to move enough air to go through a quality filter. These do not have enough power to work on thick carpet they are meant mostly for low pile and hard floors. They are not intended to replace a traditional vacuum cleaner; they are for intended for being a quick pick-up machine for surface debris only.
Overview
It is my hope that this article was informative enough to help you make an informed decision on your next vacuum cleaner. This is not meant to steer you towards a certain brand but rather to provide information to you to help you be more decisive when choosing a new machine.
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