9 Best Vacuums for Busy Families, Tested by Experts
These hardworking vacs from companies like LG, Samsung, and Shark make quick work of dirt and debris
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Parenting can be messy: Pizza crumbs scattered across the kitchen floor. Cheerios swallowed between couch cushions. Arts-and-crafts glitter littering the living room carpet.
Not surprisingly, cleaning is a huge part of the daily lives of parents with young children. My coworkers who have toddlers say they have to vacuum their homes multiple times a week. In the kitchen, they’re likely to pull out a vacuum at least once a day.
The parents I spoke to say they value a vacuum cleaner that’s effective, convenient, and time-saving. As CR home and appliances writer Daniel Wroclawski puts it, “It needs to work well and be able to easily get to the latest crime scene.”
Different types of vacuums fit that bill. A hand vacuum, for instance, can be useful for cleaning up mealtime messes on the spot. But if you have pets and a lot of carpeting in your home, you will want to back that up with an upright, which is better for deep cleanings.
In our labs, we test vacuums to determine how effectively they clean carpets, bare floors, and the edges where walls and floors meet. Depending on the type of vacuum we’re testing, we scatter sand, cereal, peas, rice, and flour to see how much debris they can pick up.
Below, we’ve chosen nine highly rated models that are convenient to use and powerful at cleaning. For even more options, check our complete vacuum ratings.
Handheld Vacuums
Portable and easy to use, the parents I spoke with say they favor handheld vacuums for spot cleaning, especially kitchen spills. “Mealtimes can be messy, which makes a hand vac a necessity,” says CR writer Lisa Fogarty.
While a hand vac won’t have the power and capacity of a full-sized vacuum, it can quickly clean up messes that fall from a high chair or into a car seat without you needing to drag out your primary vacuum.
They’re also a great tool for teaching your children to vacuum after themselves. “My daughter is now at the age when she can vacuum up her own messes, and she uses a hand vacuum for that,” says CR editor Ginger Cowles. “It’s a win-win: She’s learning about responsibility and feels like she’s contributing to the cleanliness of the household, and I, frankly, don’t have to clean it up.”
The Shark Ion W1 WV201 exhibits impressive performance on both carpet and bare floors, with great performance against pet hair—all while being quieter than most models. It’s very small and light, making it easy to clean those hard-to-reach places, but its small bin size does mean you’ll be forced to go and empty it (potentially a few times) when trying to clean a particularly large spill. It’s also on the low end of vacuums we test in terms of run time, about 10 minutes, but also one of the quickest to recharge.
The Black+Decker Max+ DustBuster AdvancedClean+ HHVK515J00 was stellar at suctioning up Cheerios and rice from bare floors and edges in our tests. It also does a respectable job of picking up debris from carpets. But one of its greatest strengths is its long run time. It can run for around 23 minutes in its highest-power mode (the longest of the hand vacs we tested), so you’re less likely to have to worry about the vacuum dying on you in the middle of your cleaning. (Assuming that, as a busy parent, you can even find 23 consecutive minutes to devote to cleaning.)
We found the Black+Decker CHV1410L to be excellent at cleaning bare floors and solid at cleaning carpets despite not having a power brush attachment. The vacuum comes with a crevice tool that can help you reach into hard-to-reach areas, whether in the folds of a child car seat or between your couch’s cushions. It’s worth noting that this vacuum is noisier than most of the other handheld vacs we tested.
Robotic Vacuums
No time to vacuum? That’s when a robotic vacuum can come in handy. “Sometimes I’ll rely on our robot vac for quick cleanups when I can’t clean something right away. A touch of the button and it’s done,” Cowles says. With a robotic vacuum, you can set it and forget it, leaving it to handle routine cleanups throughout the day. It’s ideal for touch-ups and light, ongoing cleaning, but before you turn it on, you should clear your floor of obstacles—never an easy thing when kids are involved.
The iRobot Roomba Max 705 may be slightly more expensive than other robots in our ratings, but its ranking as the highest-performing robot vacuum we’ve tested may be a compelling reason to lay out the cash for it. It’s quiet and performs well in every cleaning test we’ve thrown at it. It’s also outstanding at vacuuming up pet hair and is no slouch at cleaning carpets either, thanks to a feature that automatically increases suction power when it’s on carpets. This vacuum is also superior to many other robotic vacuums in terms of navigating spaces and avoiding obstacles. The vacuum comes with an automatic emptying base and brushes designed to be tangle-free. It should be noted, however, that iRobot has filed for bankruptcy, though the company has reassured consumers that app and product support for its vacuums won’t be affected.
The Dyson 360 Vis Nav stands out for its unique features and powerful cleaning performance, despite some limitations and its high price (though we’ve found it on sale, at times half off). It’s on the heavy side but compensates with extremely strong suction, effectively picking up pet hair and embedded dirt. Instead of a conventional side brush, it uses an extending side duct to tackle edges and corners. It also has a large brush roll that spans the full size of the vacuum for effective cleaning. Though its dustbin is relatively small, it’s equipped with a convenient one-touch ejection system for easy emptying.
While the vacuum earns very good scores for data security, it’s less than satisfactory when it comes to data privacy. Dyson robot vacuums earn a solid rating for predicted reliability, based on our member surveys, though they get bottom marks for owner satisfaction.
Stick Vacuums
If you want to deal with spills as quickly as possible, consider a cordless stick vacuum. It’s less bulky and more lightweight than an upright, and it saves time because you don’t need to find a power outlet and maneuver a cord around the room.
In recent years, cordless stick vacuums have grown more powerful in their cleaning performance. However, one of the remaining issues with these vacuums is that their batteries may diminish or die completely the longer you own them.
Pricey though it may be, we found the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra VS90F40DMK/AA to be unbeatable in cleaning prowess. It earns impressive ratings in our tests for cleaning bare floors and pet hair, all the while being extremely quiet. Unlike most of the cordless stick vacuums we’ve tested, it’s also very good at picking up debris from carpets, with great edge cleaning performance.
The vacuum has the longest run time (52 minutes) of all the stick vacs that CR recommends, and we like the fact that its digital display shows how much run time is left while you’re using the vacuum. You can also use it with a companion app that unlocks detection capabilities and automatic run time, and suction optimizations. One feature harried parents will appreciate is the multipurpose storage tower that can automatically empty the dustbin.
The LG CordZero All-in-One A949KTMS is another model with well-rounded cleaning abilities. It aced our tests on bare floors, edges, and pet hair and does a respectable job cleaning carpets as well. Similar to the Samsung Bespoke AI Jet Ultra VS90F40DMK/AA, this model features a multipurpose storage tower that automatically empties the dust bin. There’s also a compressor lever in the bin to help pack in the debris and make room for more . . . and with kids around, you know there’s always more to clean up.
Upright Vacuums
Sometimes, a heavy hitter is required to keep your home clean. While a stick vacuum is well suited to dealing with messes as soon as possible, it can’t match the cleaning power of an upright, especially when it comes to carpets and rugs. And compared with a canister, an upright takes up less storage space with its vertical design.
For a bagged upright model, we recommend the Kenmore Intuition BU4050. For any parent who doesn’t want to lug around a heavy vacuum while juggling child care duties, it’s also worth noting that this vacuum is fairly lightweight at 15 pounds. As an added bonus, it features a lift-away design that makes cleaning stairs and hard-to-reach places easier. This model excels at removing debris from bare floors and does a very good job at cleaning carpets. It also scored a top-notch rating in our pet hair tests, making it ideal for families with pets.
If you prefer a bagless model, the Shark Navigator Professional NV360 Vacuum Cleaner balances budget-friendliness with great cleaning performance. It’s one of the few models to earn an elusive top rating in our carpet tests. It similarly aced our pet hair and bare floor tests. At 14 pounds, it’s also one of the more lightweight uprights in our ratings. Its detachable pod makes it easier for users to clean their stairs or under furniture. Other features include suction control and a brush-on/off switch that helps prevent debris from scattering when cleaning uncarpeted floors.
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