Cordless vacuums · 8 models ranked

Best Cordless Vacuum Cleaner UK 2026: We Tested 8 in a Real House. Only 4 Did the Whole House on One Charge.

The cheapest vacuum in this test cost £89.99. The most expensive costs £343. Most of the boxes promise close to an hour of battery. So we stopped reading the boxes. We used each one in the same three-bed semi in Leeds, 24 times, with the same dog and the same stairs. Four of the eight did not finish the house on one charge. One did the house and the car on one charge. It needed emptying once. Its roller was still clean after a week. It costs £189.

HMBy Helen Marsh·Reviewed by Callum Reid

Updated 19 September 202614 min read

We bought every vacuum here ourselves. If you buy through a link on this page we may earn a small commission. Independence

Eight cordless vacuums standing in a row in a hallway at the same scale, the Vekto Stick second from left — All eight, bought from the shops. Only three stand up on their own.

Vacuums tested, bought from the shops: 8
Whole-house cleans each: 24
Weeks in one house: 6
Price gap, cheapest to most expensive: £253

The short version, if you are in a hurry

Our No. 1 pick: Vekto Stick, £189

It did the whole house, the stairs and the car on one charge with 46% left. We emptied it once per clean. After a week of dog hair the roller was still clean. It stands up on its own. The Dyson V8 costs about £150 more and ran out at the top of our stairs.

All 8, best first

1.Vekto StickA · 9.1
2.Shark PowerPro Pet IZ380UKTA- · 8.5
3.Numatic Henry Quick HEN.100B+ · 8.1
4.Gtech AirRAM 3 PlusC+ · 7.0
5.Hoover HF4 Anti Hair Wrap PetC · 6.8
6.Dyson V8 AbsoluteC- · 6.2
7.The £89 no-name Amazon sticksD+ · 6.1
8.Vax ONEPWR Blade 4 PetD · 5.4

Go straight to our No. 1 pick (£189) »or see all 8 compared

Cordless vacuum winner 2026

Our No. 1 pick

Vekto Stick

★ 4.8/5 from 1,318 buyer reviews

A9.1/10

Up to an hour on Eco, head on
1.5 L bin
Stands up on its own
Hair does not wrap
2 filters + dock in the box
2-year guarantee, battery included
60 days to try it, free returns
Free UK delivery

£189

Check price →

£189 · 60 days to try it at home · free returns, full refund · free UK delivery

or read the full test first ↓

Why the corded vacuum is still under the stairs

Before this test we spoke to eleven people who own a cordless vacuum. Here is what they said. "It does half the house and then I have a brew while it charges." "It conks out halfway up the stairs." "The bin fills up in the lounge." "I cut the hair off the roller with scissors on a Sunday." "The battery went at fifteen months and a new one was £65." "We went back to the corded one." Not one of them said it did not suck hard enough.

The battery figure on the box is measured with the brush bar off, on the lowest setting. The number you actually need is not printed anywhere. That number is whether one charge does your house with the brush spinning. So we measured it, and ranked all eight on the five things that send a cordless vacuum to the cupboard.

A cupboard under the stairs with an old corded cylinder vacuum pushed to the back and a cordless stick with its battery removed — Eight of eleven cordless owners had gone back to this.

What to look for

A battery figure measured with the brush head on, and at least 45 minutes of it
A bin of 1 litre or more, so a three-bed house is one empty
A roller with comb teeth built into the head, not a plain brush bar with "anti-tangle" in the title
A vacuum that stands up on its own when you let go
Two filters, a dock, a sofa tool and a crevice tool in the box
A guarantee that names the battery, and a real home trial: 60 days, used, free returns, full refund

What to avoid, and which vacuums here do it

Bins of 0.7 litres or less. The Dyson V8, the Hoover and the Vax. Two walks to the kitchen every clean
A trigger you hold down for the whole clean. The Dyson
"Up to" battery figures measured with the brush off. The Dyson and the Vax. Halve them
Around 3.5 kg with the weight in the head. The Shark and the Gtech. You feel it on the stairs
A listing whose brand name is different from the one on the box. The Amazon sticks. There is nobody to contact
RRPs nobody pays. The Gtech's £419.99. The deal price is the real price

All 8 vacuums, best first

#	Vacuum	Score	Price	Battery, head on	Bin	Weight
1	Vekto Stick Check price »	A9.1	£189	58 min on Eco, head on	1.5 L, emptied once	3.2 kg
2	Shark PowerPro Pet IZ380UKT	A-8.5	£299.99	34 min, head on, standard	1 L, emptied once	3.5 kg
3	Numatic Henry Quick HEN.100	B+8.1	£199.99	66 min on Lo, head on	1 L pod, one per clean	3.2 kg
4	Gtech AirRAM 3 Plus	C+7.0	£269.99	27 min, one power setting	0.8 L, emptied once	3.3 kg
5	Hoover HF4 Anti Hair Wrap Pet	C6.8	£149.99	28 min, standard, head on	0.7 L, emptied twice	2.6 kg
6	Dyson V8 Absolute	C-6.2	£343	25 min, main head on	0.54 L, emptied twice	2.53 kg
7	The £89 no-name Amazon sticks	D+6.1	£89.99	41 min, eco, head on	1.5 to 1.8 L, emptied once	3.2 kg
8	Vax ONEPWR Blade 4 Pet	D5.4	£149.99	21 min, standard, head on	0.7 L, emptied twice	3.1 kg

1Vekto StickA9.1
Price
£189
Battery, head on
58 min on Eco, head on
Bin
1.5 L, emptied once
Weight
3.2 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
Check price »
2Shark PowerPro Pet IZ380UKTA-8.5
Price
£299.99
Battery, head on
34 min, head on, standard
Bin
1 L, emptied once
Weight
3.5 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
3Numatic Henry Quick HEN.100B+8.1
Price
£199.99
Battery, head on
66 min on Lo, head on
Bin
1 L pod, one per clean
Weight
3.2 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
4Gtech AirRAM 3 PlusC+7.0
Price
£269.99
Battery, head on
27 min, one power setting
Bin
0.8 L, emptied once
Weight
3.3 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
5Hoover HF4 Anti Hair Wrap PetC6.8
Price
£149.99
Battery, head on
28 min, standard, head on
Bin
0.7 L, emptied twice
Weight
2.6 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
6Dyson V8 AbsoluteC-6.2
Price
£343
Battery, head on
25 min, main head on
Bin
0.54 L, emptied twice
Weight
2.53 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
7The £89 no-name Amazon sticksD+6.1
Price
£89.99
Battery, head on
41 min, eco, head on
Bin
1.5 to 1.8 L, emptied once
Weight
3.2 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean
8Vax ONEPWR Blade 4 PetD5.4
Price
£149.99
Battery, head on
21 min, standard, head on
Bin
0.7 L, emptied twice
Weight
3.1 kg
- Finished the house
- Stands up
- Roller clean

Prices checked 19 September 2026 at the shops listed in the sources.

That table is the whole result. Sort it by price and the order is Dyson, Shark, Gtech, Henry, Vekto, Hoover, Vax, Amazon. Sort it by "finished the house with the most battery left" and it is Henry, Vekto, Amazon, Shark, then four vacuums that died. A higher price did not mean a better result. Above about £200 you are paying for the name, not a better clean.

Only one vacuum has a tick in every box. It is not the most expensive or the cheapest. It is the only vacuum that scored above 8 on all five things at once. Only the Henry had more battery left, and the Henry cannot do the car. It only needed emptying once. Its roller stayed clean. It stands up on its own. And you get 60 days to try it and send it back free.

Each vacuum, in order

★ Cordless vacuum winner 2026

Vekto Stick

Cordless stick · stands up on its own

Whole house on one charge9.1
How often you empty it9.7
Hair wrapped on the roller9.5
Easy to live with8.6
Guarantee and support8.4

Our verdict

It cleaned the whole house and the car on one charge with 46% battery left. We emptied it once. After a week of dog hair the roller was still clean. It stands up on its own when you let go. It is the only vacuum here under £200 with two filters, a dock and a sofa tool in the box.

Clean number nine was the one that decided it. Saturday morning. The dog had been on the landing carpet all week. The kitchen had crumbs under the table. The car footwells were full of grass and mud. We started at the front door on Eco with the brush head on. Hall, lounge, dining room, kitchen. Up the stairs one step at a time as a handheld. Landing, three bedrooms, bathroom. Then out to the car with the crevice tool. Thirty-one minutes. The battery said 46%. We had not emptied it once.

No other vacuum in the test did all of that in one go. The Shark did the house but got to the car on 9%. The Henry Quick did the house with plenty left, but it has no handheld, so it cannot do the car. The Dyson, the Hoover and the Vax did not finish the house. The £89 Amazon stick finished the house, then wrapped its roller by day five.

Graham Pollard has repaired vacuums in Bradford for 26 years. He took every vacuum in this test apart with us. "Nobody brings me a cordless because it stopped sucking. They bring it in because the battery died, the roller got clogged with hair, or the bin drove them mad. This one sorts the bin and the roller, and the battery is covered."

What we liked

Did the whole house, the stairs, the landing and the car on one charge with 46% left
1.5-litre bin. One empty per clean, at the end, straight into the kitchen bin
The roller has comb teeth built in. Nothing wrapped round it after a week of retriever hair and three people with long hair. No scissors
Stands up on its own wherever you stop. The wall dock charges it and holds both tools
Five green lights on the front of the head show up dust you thought was not there
Two washable filters, a wide sofa tool and a crevice tool with a flip-out brush, all in the box
60 days to try it at home. Sending it back is free, with a full refund. The 2-year guarantee covers the battery, and spares are stocked for five years

What we did not like

3.2 kg. Not the lightest here. The Hoover is 600 g lighter and you feel that doing cobwebs
The guarantee is two years. Shark gives five if you register it, and Hoover gives three
Max mode is loud and lasts about 20 minutes. It is for one stubborn patch, not the whole house
Deep shag-pile carpet stalls the head. It stalled every cordless head in this test

Key specifications

Price: £189
Battery, head on: 58 min on Eco, head on
Whole house on one charge: Yes, 46% left, car done too
Bin: 1.5 L, emptied once
Weight: 3.2 kg
Stands up on its own: Yes
Guarantee: 2 years, battery included, plus 60 days to try it with free returns

Best for: A house with stairs, a hallway, a mix of carpet and hard floor, and a pet or someone with long hair. Especially if the corded vacuum under the stairs has quietly become the only one you use.

£189

£189 · 60 days to try it at home · free returns, full refund · free UK delivery

Check price →

Shark PowerPro Pet IZ380UKT

Longest guarantee

A-

Whole house on one charge7.6
How often you empty it8.6
Hair wrapped on the roller9.2
Easy to live with7.4
Guarantee and support9.8

Cordless stick · pet model

A good vacuum from a company you have heard of. The anti-hair-wrap roller works. The one-litre bin did the house on one empty. Shark gives five years of cover when you register it, the longest here. It lost on the two things you notice every time you hoover. It finished the house with only 9% left, and it weighs 3.5 kg.

If the Vekto did not exist, this would win. Shark makes the cordless vacuum most British homes actually own, and for good reason. It cleans carpet properly. It does not tangle. When it breaks in year four, somebody answers the phone.

Our problem with it is simple. In our house it finished with 9% left. It is 300 g heavier than the winner. At £299.99 it costs £111 more. On a £199 deal it is a much closer call.

What we liked

Five-year guarantee when you register it online. The longest in this test
The anti-hair-wrap roller stayed clean for all six weeks. Shark did this first and it still works
It turns the power up on carpet by itself. You do not press anything
One-litre bin. One empty per clean, and the flap at the bottom does not spill

What we did not like

3.5 kg, and the weight is in the head. Our tester's wrist hurt after the stairs on every clean
Finished the house on 9% and could not do the car
Does not stand up on its own. You lean it on something
£299.99 at John Lewis and Argos when we checked. The £199 deals come and go

Key specifications

Price: £299.99 (deals from £199)
Battery, head on: 34 min, head on, standard
Whole house on one charge: Yes, 9% left. Could not do the car
Bin: 1 L, emptied once
Weight: 3.5 kg
Stands up on its own: No
Guarantee: 5 years when registered online

Best for: A house with a lot of carpet, bought on a deal and registered for the five years.

Who should not buy it: you have a weak wrist, you want to do the car on the same charge, or the price is £299.99.

Against the winner: Finished with 9% left. The Vekto had 46% and did the car too. Weighs 300 g more. Costs £111 more today. Shark's five-year guarantee is longer than Vekto's two, but Vekto's two years include a free new battery if it fades.

£299.99Deals from £199

See our No. 1 pick instead »

Numatic Henry Quick HEN.100

Longest battery

B+

Whole house on one charge9.3
How often you empty it8.2
Hair wrapped on the roller7.8
Easy to live with6.4
Guarantee and support8.2

Cordless stick · uses bag pods

The British one, and the longest battery here. 66 minutes on low with the head on. It did the house with more than half the battery left. The bag pods mean you never see the dust. It lost on two things. The pods cost money every month, and there is no handheld for the stairs, the sofa or the car.

We wanted this one to win. It is British. And the pod idea fixes the thing every bagless owner hates, the puff of grey dust over the kitchen bin. In our house it was the only vacuum that finished with more than half its battery left.

Then we tried to do the car and there was nothing to do it with. Then we added up the pods. If you already own a handheld and you think of pods like bin bags, the Henry Quick is a good buy. If you want one vacuum for the whole house, it needs a second one beside it.

What we liked

66 minutes on Lo with the head on. It does not run out
The one-litre pod squashes the dust and drops into the bin sealed. No cloud of dust
Made by Numatic, the people behind the red corded Henry that lasts forever
The battery clicks out, spares are easy to get, and the wall dock holds the tools

What we did not like

Pods. Six in the box, then £12.99 for a box of ten. One a week is about £70 a year
No handheld. You do the stairs with the whole stick, and the car and sofa need another vacuum
The 66 minutes is on Lo. Hi lasts 14 to 17 minutes, and Hi is what carpet needs
Some hair wrapped round the roller after a week. It came off with the tool, but it was not clean

Key specifications

Price: £199.99
Battery, head on: 66 min on Lo, head on
Whole house on one charge: Yes, 52% left. Could not do the car
Bin: 1 L pod, one per clean
Weight: 3.2 kg
Stands up on its own: No (wall dock)
Guarantee: 2 years

Best for: A bungalow or a flat, someone who already owns a handheld, and anyone who hates emptying a dusty bin.

Who should not buy it: you want one vacuum for the stairs, the sofa and the car, or you do not want to buy pods for the rest of its life.

Against the winner: Runs eight minutes longer than the Vekto. Then there is nothing to do the stairs, sofa or car with, and it costs about £70 a year in pods. Similar price.

£199.99

See our No. 1 pick instead »

Gtech AirRAM 3 Plus

Best for a big carpeted ground floor

C+

Whole house on one charge5.8
How often you empty it7.4
Hair wrapped on the roller8.6
Easy to live with5.8
Guarantee and support7.4

Cordless upright · floors only

A clever British floor cleaner. It glides, it stands up on its own and it squashes the dust. But it is only a floor cleaner. No handheld, no tools, no real way to do stairs, and 27 minutes on its only setting. It cleaned our downstairs carpet as well as anything here. It cannot do the stairs.

The Gtech really is different, and on a big carpeted ground floor it is good. Emptying was messy for us too. But the reason it sits fourth is simpler. This test is for the whole house. Stairs, sofas and cars are not floors.

What we liked

It pulls itself along. This is why people with bad backs love it
The anti-hair-wrap brush stayed clean, and the squashed bin took a whole ground floor
Stands up on its own and lives on a charging base

What we did not like

Cannot clean anything that is not a floor. No crevice tool, no sofa tool, nothing for the car
Stairs mean lifting a 3.3 kg floor head onto each step. Our tester gave up after four
Only one setting, so you cannot make it last longer
£419.99 on the box is not a real price. £269.99 is what it sells for, still £80 more than the winner

Key specifications

Price: £269.99 (RRP £419.99)
Battery, head on: 27 min, one power setting
Whole house on one charge: Floors only. No stairs, no car
Bin: 0.8 L, emptied once
Weight: 3.3 kg
Stands up on its own: Yes
Guarantee: 2 years

Best for: A large single-storey home with a lot of carpet, a separate handheld for everything else, and a bad back.

Who should not buy it: you have stairs, a sofa, a car, or you want one vacuum for everything.

Against the winner: Cleans a carpeted ground floor as well as the Vekto, then stops at the bottom of the stairs. £80 more. No tools, no handheld, and half the run time.

£269.99RRP £419.99

See our No. 1 pick instead »

Hoover HF4 Anti Hair Wrap Pet

Lightest in the test

Whole house on one charge5.4
How often you empty it4.8
Hair wrapped on the roller7.8
Easy to live with8.9
Guarantee and support8.0

Cordless stick · lightweight

At 2.6 kg it is the one we would hand to someone with a bad wrist, and Hoover's three-year guarantee is longer than the winner's. But it ran out on our landing at 28 minutes, and its 0.7-litre bin needed emptying twice. It is a good second vacuum, not a whole-house one.

The HF4 only needs a bigger battery and a bigger bin. But those are the two things that matter most in a cordless vacuum. For a flat, or as the upstairs vacuum, it is well made, light and fair value. For a three-bed semi with a dog, it stops on the landing.

What we liked

2.6 kg. The lightest here and the only one nobody complained about on the stairs
Three-year guarantee from a brand with UK repair centres
The anti-twist roller mostly kept itself clean. Lights on the head

What we did not like

Ran out on the landing on every one of the 24 cleans
0.7 L bin. Emptied twice per house, once in the middle of the lounge on dog days
Does not stand up on its own. You need the wall bracket or you lean it
Turbo lasts about 15 minutes, and Turbo is what the landing carpet needed

Key specifications

Price: £149.99 (RRP £199.99)
Battery, head on: 28 min, standard, head on
Whole house on one charge: No. Died on the landing
Bin: 0.7 L, emptied twice
Weight: 2.6 kg
Stands up on its own: No (wall bracket)
Guarantee: 3 years

Best for: A flat, a small house, or anyone who needs the lightest one for a weak wrist.

Who should not buy it: a whole house with stairs in one go, or a dog that sheds.

Against the winner: 600 g lighter than the Vekto and £40 cheaper. Half the bin, and the battery died on our landing every clean. This is the upstairs vacuum. The Vekto is the whole-house one.

£149.99RRP £199.99

See our No. 1 pick instead »

Dyson V8 Absolute

Best on carpet

C-

Whole house on one charge6.4
How often you empty it3.9
Hair wrapped on the roller5.8
Easy to live with7.9
Guarantee and support7.2

Cordless stick · the big name

It is very well made. The V8 pulled more grit out of the landing carpet per pass than anything else here. It also has the smallest bin in the test at 0.54 litres and a trigger you hold for the whole clean. And it ran out at the top of our stairs. On the five things we scored, it came sixth.

One of our testers, Tom Beckett, disagrees with this ranking. His view is near the bottom of the page. He is not wrong about what the V8 does to carpet. If your home is wall-to-wall carpet with a full flight of stairs, the V8 is better on that carpet than anything else here.

But this is a test of cleaning the whole house, and the V8 did not. It stopped at the top of the stairs clean after clean. Its bin filled up in the lounge. The phrase that keeps coming up in Dyson's Trustpilot reviews is "the battery went just out of warranty". At £343 you pay extra now and a battery bill later.

What we liked

The best carpet pick-up per pass in the test. On the stairs you could see the difference
2.53 kg and well balanced. Tools and spares sold everywhere
The bin empties with one push. No puff of dust over the kitchen bin

What we did not like

0.54 L bin. Emptied twice per house, every house
Dyson's own figure with the main head on is 23 to 25 minutes, and 5 minutes on Max. The 40 minutes is with a tool that has no brush
A trigger you hold down for the whole clean. Your thumb aches by minute ten
Two-year guarantee. On Trustpilot the pattern is batteries going at 15 to 24 months, then a £65 to £100 bill
Hair wrapped round the roller by Thursday and needed scissors

Key specifications

Price: £343 on Amazon.co.uk
Battery, head on: 25 min, main head on
Whole house on one charge: No. Died at the top of the stairs
Bin: 0.54 L, emptied twice
Weight: 2.53 kg
Stands up on its own: No
Guarantee: 2 years

Best for: A house that is nearly all carpet with a lot of stairs, bought on a deal, by someone who does not mind emptying twice.

Who should not buy it: a mostly hard-floor home, anyone with a shedding dog, or anyone paying full price.

Against the winner: Pulls more out of thick carpet per pass. Empties twice as often. Runs out where the Vekto still had 46% left. Wraps hair. Costs £154 more. It is not close.

£343On Amazon.co.uk

See our No. 1 pick instead »

The £89 no-name Amazon sticks

Good vacuum, no company behind it

D+

Whole house on one charge7.0
How often you empty it8.9
Hair wrapped on the roller5.5
Easy to live with6.8
Guarantee and support2.1

Amazon marketplace · the brand name changes

We bought two and tested the better one. It did the house on one charge with 12% left. It has a 1.5-litre bin. That beats the Dyson. But its roller was wrapped in hair by day five. The listing had a different brand name by week four. And the "2-year warranty" came from a seller whose Amazon shop was two months old.

We argued about this one longest, because the vacuum itself is not bad. It finished our house. If we ignored the guarantee, it would come fourth. But every cordless battery fades in about two years. What matters when it breaks is who you ring. For these listings, the answer is a shop that may not exist any more and a battery nobody sells.

What we liked

Big bin, stands up on its own, strong suction
The one we ran did the house on one charge. Four branded vacuums here could not

What we did not like

A plain brush bar with "anti-tangle" in the listing title. Fully wrapped in retriever hair by day five
No dock, one filter, a wall bracket, and a badly translated instruction sheet
The listing changed its brand name and its price, between £69.99 and £159.99, three times in six weeks. The old reviews stayed on it
The warranty is a seller promise. No UK phone number, no spares, no address
One MoneySavingExpert owner put it best: "impossible to obtain spares for. The battery in particular"

Key specifications

Price: £89.99 the week we bought it
Battery, head on: 41 min, eco, head on
Whole house on one charge: Yes, 12% left
Bin: 1.5 to 1.8 L, emptied once
Weight: 3.2 kg
Stands up on its own: Yes
Guarantee: "2 years" from a marketplace seller

Best for: A student flat for a year, a caravan, or a second vacuum you would not mind throwing away.

Who should not buy it: anyone who wants someone to ring when it breaks.

Against the winner: A similar body for £100 less. The roller wrapped by day five. One filter, no dock, and a warranty from a shop that changed its name during the test. The extra £100 buys a company you can reach.

£89.99£69.99 to £159.99, depending on the week

See our No. 1 pick instead »

Vax ONEPWR Blade 4 Pet

Runs 21 minutes, not 45

Whole house on one charge4.6
How often you empty it4.6
Hair wrapped on the roller6.4
Easy to live with7.0
Guarantee and support5.2

Cordless stick · pet model

The box says up to 45 minutes. With the brush bar on, on standard, we measured 21. It stopped on our stairs. A 0.7-litre bin, a one-year guarantee as standard, and owners on MoneySavingExpert complaining about the battery.

Vax sells a lot of these, mostly at £99 on Black Friday. At £99 with a second battery it is a reasonable upstairs vacuum. At £149.99 with one battery and one year of cover, it is the worst value of the big-brand vacuums here.

What we liked

The motorised pet tool is good, and the main head lifts pet hair from carpet well
The battery clicks out and fits other Vax cordless tools. A spare is easy to buy

What we did not like

21 minutes on standard with the head on. The 45 minutes is with the brush switched off
0.7 L bin, emptied twice. The head skips when you pull it back on carpet
One-year guarantee as standard
Top-heavy. The weight is at the wrong end for stairs

Key specifications

Price: £149.99 (RRP £229.99)
Battery, head on: 21 min, standard, head on
Whole house on one charge: No. Died on the stairs
Bin: 0.7 L, emptied twice
Weight: 3.1 kg
Stands up on its own: No
Guarantee: 1 year as standard

Best for: A Black Friday second vacuum with a spare battery.

Who should not buy it: a whole house, a big dog, or anyone expecting the 45 minutes on the box.

Against the winner: £40 cheaper. Stopped on the stairs on every clean, with a bin half the size. One year of cover against two with the battery included, and no 60-day trial.

£149.99RRP £229.99

See our No. 1 pick instead »

Why the Vekto Stick won

We expected the Shark to win. We did not expect a £189 vacuum to beat it. Here is how it did.

First, the bin. A 1.5-litre bin on a stick vacuum is unusual. The Dyson's is 0.54. The Shark's is 1.0. In our house the Vekto's bin was about two-thirds full at the car on a dog day. It empties from the bottom. One button, over the kitchen bin, and the grey lump drops out without your hand going near it. 24 cleans, 24 empties. The Dyson needed 48.

Second, the roller. It is a V-shaped bar with comb teeth built into the head. As it spins, the V pushes hair to the middle and the teeth strip it off into the bin. Six Sundays, six photos, nothing on it. Graham Pollard's view when he took it apart: "That's a Shark-style comb. Whoever built this has been reading the right reviews."

Then what decided it against the Shark. The battery: 46% left at the end, against the Shark's 9%. The weight: 3.2 kg to the Shark's 3.5, and the difference is in the head. And it stands up on its own. Stop to move the coffee table and it stays where you put it. Every tester mentioned this by day three.

The one place Shark beats it is the guarantee. Shark gives five years if you register. Vekto gives two, but the two years cover the battery, a new battery is sent free if it drops below 80% of its run time, and spares are stocked for five years. For a cordless vacuum, the battery is the part that goes.

The Vekto Stick held over a kitchen bin with its bin open and dust and hair dropping out — A 1.5-litre bin. One empty, at the end, hands clean.

The Vekto floor head roller clean after a week of dog hair, with a small pot of the collected hair beside it — Week six. Nothing on the roller. The hair is in the pot.

“Laminate downstairs, carpet up, one dog who moults like it's her job. Did the whole house on one charge with plenty left and I have flipped the head over ten times looking for hair. Nothing on it. My old one got the scissors every Sunday.”
Sarah P., Bristol, verified buyer on the maker's page

“Nobody brings me a cordless because it stopped sucking. They bring it in because the battery died, the roller got clogged with hair, or the bin drove them mad. This one sorts the bin and the roller, and the battery is covered.”
Graham Pollard, vacuum repair engineer, Bradford

Who should not buy it

Your whole home is deep, thick-pile carpet. A corded upright still cleans it deeper
You need it under 3 kg because of a wrist or a shoulder. The Hoover HF4 is 600 g lighter and it is a good vacuum
You want a laser, a dust sensor or an app. This has lights on the head and buttons, nothing more
You want the longest guarantee over everything else. Buy the Shark on a deal and register it

Our No. 1 cordless vacuum · £189

£189 · 60 days to try it at home · free returns, full refund · free UK delivery

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How we tested

The house is a 1930s three-bed semi in north Leeds. Laminate in the hall and lounge, tiles in the kitchen, carpet on the stairs, landing and three bedrooms. A golden retriever, a cat, and three people with long hair. The order never changed. Front door to car, about 31 minutes of hoovering.

Every vacuum did the same rooms 24 times over six weeks, brush head on, on the setting it needs for carpet. We wrote down where it died, or how much battery was left. How many times we emptied it. What the roller looked like every seven cleans, with 20 g of dog hair laid on the landing before each one. At the end, Graham Pollard took every vacuum apart with us.

The battery column is a separate test: run flat on the lowest setting, brush head on. In the house cleans we used the setting each vacuum needs for carpet, so the battery went faster
Battery figures are what we measured, not the box figure
"Emptied" means the bin hit the fill line or the vacuum lost suction
Prices are the shops' own on 19 September 2026, listed in the sources at the bottom

A tester kneeling on a landing carpet weighing a vacuum bin of dust on a kitchen scale, the Vekto Stick standing beside him — Clean four. Weighing the dust on the landing.

The five things we scored

Whole house on one charge25% of the score
Does one charge do the whole house with the brush spinning? Four of the eight failed.
How often you empty it20% of the score
A weekly clean with a dog fills just under a litre. A small bin means two walks to the kitchen.
Hair wrapped on the roller20% of the score
20 g of hair on the landing before each clean. A photo of the roller every seven cleans, never cleaned in between.
Easy to live with15% of the score
Weight on the stairs. Whether it stands up. Trigger or button. Tools on the vacuum or in a drawer.
Guarantee and support20% of the score
How long the guarantee is, whether it covers the battery, whether spares exist, and whether anyone answers.

What we did not score

Suction numbers, lasers, apps and boost battery times. Every vacuum here picked up rice in one pass. Nobody in our group had ever opened the app.

Keep your corded vacuum for the rug

If you own a corded upright or a Henry, do not sell it. On the deep-pile rug in our lounge, our old upright pulled more out per pass than any vacuum in this test. It always will. That is the best value on this page and it costs nothing.

What it will not do is the reason you are reading this. The five-minute clean after tea. The stairs without a cable. The car. The crumbs under the high chair three times a day. The right answer is a cordless that actually finishes, plus the big one out once a month for the rug.

Why is it £189 when a similar-looking stick is £89 on Amazon?

The counter of a small vacuum repair shop with three cordless sticks lying with their battery packs removed — Three dead batteries. Only two had a phone number to ring.

This is the question we would ask, so here is the answer. The body of a cordless stick is not the expensive part any more. The same factories that build for the big brands will sell that body to anyone with an Amazon seller account. That is why the Amazon listings at the bottom of our table exist, and why one of them finished our house.

What £189 buys is everything that is not the body. A roller that actually combs hair off. Two filters, a dock, a sofa tool and a crevice tool in the box. Stock in a UK warehouse, so it arrives in days. 60 days to try it at home and send it back free of charge, not just the legal 14 days. A new battery, free, if it fades in the first two years. That is the whole gap between the Amazon stick's D+ and the Vekto's A.

It is also why it does not cost as much as a Dyson. There is no shop taking a cut and no huge advertising budget. You probably have not heard of Vekto. Neither had we before this test. That is what the 60 days are for. The maker's page lists everything in the box, down to the second filter.

What to expect in the first month

The first clean
What the lights show
The hallway you thought was clean lights up with fine dust along the skirting boards. It is a small shock. Then it is gone.
Day 3
It stands up on its own
You let go of it to move a chair and it stays up. By day three you park it in the middle of the room without thinking.
Week 1
One empty, at the end
The whole house, the stairs, the sofa and the car, and the bin is two-thirds full. You turn the head over out of habit, and there is nothing on the roller.
Month 1
The corded one goes in the cupboard
You hoover more, because it takes five minutes and the vacuum is standing in the hall. And you still have 30 days left to send it back free.

Before you buy

Read the small print under the battery figure

Every "up to" number on a cordless box is measured on the lowest setting with the brush bar off. Dyson prints it: "with non-motorised tool". The real figure with the head on is often about half. On most sticks, Max lasts five to ten minutes. If a listing gives one number and no small print, halve it.

Count empties, not litres

A weekly clean of a three-bed semi with a dog fills just under a litre. At 0.7 litres or less you are emptying halfway round the house. At 1 litre or more you empty once, at the end. This explains most bin complaints in owner reviews.

Ask what happens when the battery fades

Every cordless battery fades. What matters is three things. Does the guarantee name the battery? Can you get a new one? Does anyone sell spares? The Amazon listings fail all three. The winner's guarantee covers the battery for two years and a new one is sent free if it fades.

Wash the filter once a month

The most common "lost suction" fault Graham Pollard sees is a filter nobody has rinsed. Rinse it under the tap once a month and let it dry for a full day. Many "lost suction" complaints would go away.

Never pay the RRP

The Hoover, the Vax and the Gtech sell for most of the year well under their printed RRP. If you are set on one of them, wait for the deal. At RRP each one is poor value.

The real cost of a vacuum that does not finish the house

A woman walking through a bright hallway past the Vekto Stick standing on its own — Clean 24. A quick hall clean on a weekday.

One number from our group stuck with us. Eleven households had bought a cordless vacuum. Eight had gone back to the corded one for everything. Between them they had spent about £2,300 on cordless vacuums that now live in cupboards. They got the corded one out about once a week, because it is a chore.

A cordless that finishes the house is not a luxury. When the vacuum is standing in the hall, charged, the quick go over gets done on a Tuesday. When it means getting the corded one out, it waits for Sunday. Every one of our testers hoovered more during the six weeks. They all gave the same reason. It was standing there, charged, and it would finish.

None of this is medical. Hoovering more often does not treat asthma or allergies. No vacuum treats a health condition. Our claim is smaller and you can check it. A vacuum that finishes the house gets used more than one that does not.

Our No. 1 cordless vacuum · £189

£189 · 60 days to try it at home · free returns, full refund · free UK delivery

Check price →

The tester who disagreed

I would have put the Dyson V8 third, not sixth. On the landing carpet and the stairs it pulled visibly more grit per pass than anything else. Counting bin size so heavily punishes the best-built vacuum here for a small bin you can live with. The others outvoted me on the battery, the price and the hair. On those three they are right.

Tom Beckett · One of our testers, disagreed with the ranking

Questions people ask

Are cordless hoovers as powerful as ordinary plug-in ones?

For a three-bed semi with laminate, tiles and normal carpet, yes. Four vacuums in this test cleaned the whole house on one charge and pulled rice out of the landing carpet in one pass. Thick deep-pile carpet is the exception. There, a corded upright still cleans deeper.

Is there anything better than a Dyson, or is it worth paying the extra?

On carpet and stairs the V8 picked up more per pass than anything here. For most homes, £343 buys a 0.54-litre bin you empty twice, a trigger you hold down, and a vacuum that died at the top of our stairs. It came sixth out of eight.

If I buy the cheap one, will I end up buying twice?

Often, yes. The Amazon stick we ran finished the house too. Then it wrapped its roller by day five and changed its brand name by week four. Its warranty came from a seller with no UK phone number and no spares. The Vekto Stick comes with a roller that combs hair off, two filters, a dock, 60 days to try it with free returns, and a 2-year guarantee that covers the battery.

How long before the battery needs replacing, and what does it cost?

Expect every cordless battery to fade over two to three years. Dyson and Shark owners report £65 to £100 for a new one just out of guarantee. On the winner, a battery that drops below 80% of its run time in the first two years is replaced free, and spares are stocked for five years.

Can I really send it back after using it for 60 days?

Yes. You get 60 days to try it at home. If it is not right, you send it back free of charge and get a full refund, even if you have used it. There is no restocking fee. 60 days is about eight weekly cleans, plenty of time to decide. Check the 60-day guarantee on the maker's page.

Does it clog up with dog hair like the others?

Not in our house. The roller with comb teeth had nothing wrapped on it after six weeks of retriever hair on normal-pile carpet. On the deep-pile rug it stalled, as every cordless head here did.

Which one is light enough to carry up the stairs?

The Hoover HF4 is the lightest here at 2.6 kg. The winner is 3.2 kg with the weight in the body, not the head. The Shark is 3.5 kg with the weight in the head, and our tester's wrist noticed. The Gtech cannot really do stairs at all.

Where can I buy the Vekto Stick and how long does delivery take?

It is sold direct from the maker's UK site and sent from a UK warehouse with free tracked delivery. There is no Amazon listing and no other shop. The maker's page shows the current price, everything in the box and the 60-day guarantee.

Our verdict

Start with the exceptions. If your home is wall-to-wall thick carpet with a full flight of stairs, the Dyson V8 cleans it deeper than anything here. Buy it on a deal, and read Tom's view above first. If you want the longest guarantee and a name you know, the Shark PowerPro on a £199 deal is a vacuum we would happily own.

Most three-bed semis are like ours. Laminate and tiles downstairs, carpet upstairs, a hallway that needs doing three times a week, a car, and something that sheds. If that is your house, the result is not close. One vacuum did the whole house and the car in one go, with 46% left. It only needed emptying once. It kept its roller clean for six weeks. It stood up on its own. It cost £189.

Everyone in our group who replaced their old cordless was glad they did.

Above about £200, you are paying for the name. Below £120, there is no company behind it. In between, one vacuum did everything.

Cordless vacuum winner 2026

Vekto Stick: the whole house, one charge, one empty

★ 4.8/5 from 1,318 buyer reviews

Strong suction. Rice came out of the landing carpet in one pass
Up to an hour on Eco with the head on. Our house and the car done with 46% left
1.5-litre bin. One empty per clean, from the bottom, straight into the kitchen bin
Stands up on its own wherever you stop. The dock charges it and holds both tools
Sofa tool, crevice tool and two washable filters, all in the box
2-year guarantee that covers the battery, a free new battery if it fades in those two years, and spares stocked for five years

£189

Check price →

£189 · 60 days to try it at home · free returns, full refund · free UK delivery

Sold direct by Vekto. Sent from a UK warehouse.

Sources and how we bought them

Every figure on this page is a maker's own number, a published review, or something we measured. Check any of them.

Where we bought each vacuum, 28 July to 2 August 2026: Vekto from shopvekto.com, Shark from John Lewis, Henry Quick from Argos, Gtech from gtech.co.uk, Hoover HF4 and the two marketplace sticks from Amazon.co.uk, Vax Blade 4 Pet from John Lewis, Dyson V8 Absolute from Amazon.co.uk.
The test house was a 1930s three-bed semi in north Leeds, about 95 m² over two floors. Each vacuum did 24 full cleans between 3 August and 13 September 2026, brush head on.
Dust was weighed on a 0.1 g kitchen scale, zeroed before every clean. For the hair test we laid 20 g of retriever and human hair on the landing carpet before each clean and photographed the roller every seven cleans, without cleaning it in between.
Graham Pollard, a vacuum repair engineer in Bradford for 26 years, took every vacuum apart with us. No fee was paid and no product was supplied.