Stick vacuum cleaners

Test performance

• Hard floors – we use the stick vac’s power head (or hardwood floor head if included) to pick up a variety of materials, such as cornflakes, potting mix and flour.

• Carpet clean – our carpet cleaning score is made up of a quick and full cleaning test. For our quick carpet clean assessment, we rub a precise amount of dust into a piece of test carpet and then, using the standard brush head, pass the stick vacuum over it four times and weigh the collected dirt. For our full carpet cleaning assessment, we make a further six passes and weigh the collected dirt.

• Pet hair – we rub pet hair into a piece of test carpet, then use the stick vac’s standard brush head to vacuum it up with 10 passes and weigh the collected hair.

• Ease of use – assesses the movement of the main cleaning head, looking at the stick vacuum’s ability to clean under low furniture, along with its versatility and mobility, ease of emptying, control use and what on-board tools are provided.

We no longer include corners and edges and handheld performance as part of our overall score in our stick vacuum tests, but we do note how well each model performed these tasks by giving them a good, acceptable or poor rating.

Stick vacuum cleaners repairability scoring

Cordless vacuums should last at least 5 years. But many are thrown out before then if they break and can’t be repaired. So, we’ve decided to introduce a repairability score. This will give you an idea of how repairable the model you are considering may be.

Our score assessment is based on the following criteria:

Documentation

We check the stick vacuum’s manual to see if it covers battery and filter replacement. We award extra points if there is a diagram of the product showing the spare parts available either online or from the manufacturer. We also check to see if repair manuals are available anywhere.

Part replacement and availability

Batteries are the most important spare parts for stick vacuums – if your battery dies and you can’t get a replacement, then the whole unit ends up in the landfill. So, we score a vacuum on:

• whether the battery is replaceable (it’s either a swappable battery that clips in and out or one that requires removal of a few screws)

• if there is a reliable source of replacement batteries.

We check online for batteries and talk to stick vac manufacturers and third-party repair shops. At the same time, we check for the availability of filters, chargers, bins (if applicable), motorheads and wands. Scoring is weighted on the part’s importance, with batteries and chargers being top. Extra points are awarded if other parts are also available.

Stock availability

We check with stick vac manufacturers and spare part retailers for stock availability and lead times. If a part has to be back ordered, or comes from overseas with a long lead time, then points will be deducted.

The score

The maximum repairability score a stick vacuum can receive is 100. This score is then combined with our test score to create our overall score. Currently, we weight our score at 60% test, 20% repairability, 10% predicted reliability and 10% brand satisfaction.

If a product tests well but scores poorly for repairability this will be reflected in its overall score. Of course, you might decide to ignore the overall score and choose a product based on its test score alone, which we also publish.

Predicted reliability

It’s reasonable to expect a new stick vacuum to remain fault-free for at least the first 5 years. Our predicted reliability won’t tell you whether the vacuum cleaner in your laundry will stop sucking tomorrow, but it does show which brands make models that are less likely to fail.

Brand satisfaction

Satisfaction is important – no appliance should be a source of buyer-regret. Appliances with very satisfied owners are more likely to get cleaned regularly and maintained well. Their owners are more likely to seek repair for faults than look for a quick replacement.

Survey data

In our reliability and satisfaction survey, consumers tell us about faults that have left an appliance they own unusable or mean they’ve had to change how they use it. We also ask them how satisfied they are with the appliance. We use their data to produce our predicted reliability and owner satisfaction scores.

We use a statistical test to rate the relative performance of each brand. Compared to data we have for all products (of the same type) in the survey, we rate each brand with highest, high, average, low or lowest reliability and satisfaction. You can compare the rating of different brands for the same product type (for example, the reliability rating for Miele and Dyson stick vacuums), but you can’t compare the results for different product types (for example, satisfaction of LG TVs and Samsung cordless vacuums).

We analyse brands that get at least 30 responses in our survey. That means there are some brands we can’t analyse because we don’t have enough data. For those brands, we assume they have average predicted reliability and owner satisfaction.

Our data is based on responses for 2,217 cordless/stick vacuum cleaners in our 2024 survey.