Dyson and Shark stick vacuums ace light cleaning
Three new stick vacuums have taken the top three spots in Consumer Reports’ tests of small vacuum cleaners. And although they didn’t meet claims that they clean like full-size vacuums, the lightweight contenders got excellent marks for cleaning bare floors and picking up pet hair, and also for light carpet cleaning. Frankly, we didn’t expect them to excel at deep carpet cleaning; that chore is best left to heavier uprights.
Topping our stick vacuum tests is the cordless Dyson DC59 Animal, $500, which the company claims “sucks up as much dust as a conventional vacuum." Next is the cordless Dyson DC59 Motorhead, $550, with claims that it can "out-clean the top five best-selling full-size vacuums across carpets and hard floors." Both weigh 5 pounds. In third place is the corded Shark Rocket HV302, $200, which claims it deep-cleans carpets better than the Dyson DC40, $500, a bagless upright that was lackluster in our tests. At almost 9 pounds, the Shark is the heaviest of the three.
Our tests of small vacuums include a lighter carpet cleaning test than that for full-size uprights and canisters and measure how well a lightweight vacuum removes surface debris from a carpet. The Dyson DC59 Animal, powered by a 21.6-volt lithium-ion battery, excelled at this test and was also superb at cleaning bare floors, edges, and pet hair. On the minus side, you get just 7 minutes of run time in high-power boost mode, and charging takes 4 hours. And the Animal was a beast on noise, the most raucous of the small vacuums in our tests.
The Dyson DC59 Motorhead did nearly as well and is quieter. It uses the same battery but gets only 6 minutes of run time in boost mode, with the same charging time. The Shark Rocket HV302 came in just behind the Dyson DC59 Motorhead, scoring a notch lower for edge cleaning (due to the left edge, where the drive belt runs) with similarly quiet operation. And the corded Shark doesn’t need charging.
When we put the stick vacuums through the tougher carpet cleaning test that we use for larger vacuums, they showed their true colors. The Dyson DC59 Motorhead and the Shark Rocket HV302 were only mediocre for carpets, and the Dyson DC59 Animal scored a bit lower, only fair. Ironically, the Shark met its claims that it cleans like the Dyson DC40 Multi Floor because that vacuum also scored fair in the carpet test.
Although the Dysons are expensive, you could do a lot worse than this trio if you want a light vacuum for bare floors, pet hair, and other surface messes. Then leave the deep cleaning to the big guys. For more choices see our Ratings of almost 140 hand, stick, upright, and canister vacuums and learn how to choose the right vacuum with our vacuum buying guide.
—Ed Perratore (@EdPerratore on Twitter)
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