Vacuums That Don't Suck

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Speaker 12 There was a famous story about a guy whose robot vacuum rolled over dog poop and spread it over every square foot of his carpet

Speaker 12 very, very methodically.

Speaker 14 I'm Christine Sear-Clissette.

Speaker 15 I'm Kyra Blackwell.

Speaker 16 I'm Rosie Garrint, and you're listening to The Wirecutter Show.

Speaker 15 This episode is called Vacuums That Don't Suck.

Speaker 16 Hello, Christine and Kyra.

Speaker 13 Hello, hello, Rosie.

Speaker 16 I'm excited to bring in the first of our spring cleaning episodes.

Speaker 16 We're really leaning into it this month. That's right.

Speaker 14 March.

Speaker 16 Yeah, it's March. It's spring.
I'm personally holding my own feet to the fire. We got to do better.

Speaker 13 Oh, excuse me. We.
I got to do better.

Speaker 14 Well, Rosie, do you have a good vacuum?

Speaker 16 I have an okay vacuum is what I'm prepared to say at this time.

Speaker 14 I think that's like a box a lot of people would check, honestly.

Speaker 16 I have had very bad vacuums. I have used very good vacuums.
Right now, I have an okay vacuum.

Speaker 14 I have been editing a ton of Wirecutters cleaning coverage lately for a little project I can't quite share yet, but it's going to be big. It's going to be awesome.

Speaker 14 But what I've found remarkable is that in so many of these pieces we have on the site about how to clean basically anything in your home, vacuums show up so often and sometimes in surprising ways because they're just so versatile.

Speaker 14 And I think if you're gonna invest in one thing to really clean your home, a vacuum is almost always gonna be one of the best investments you can make just because it's the best thing for getting up that dust, for cleaning weird places in your home.

Speaker 14 It can be really effective for capturing allergens in your home. And

Speaker 14 it is really terrible when you have a bad vacuum.

Speaker 15 I do remember when my mom bought a Kirby vacuum in the 90s because a door-to-door salesman convinced her that it was like the best thing in the world.

Speaker 14 Right. That was a thing.
What do these look like?

Speaker 15 They look like these gigantic tanks. I mean, the design has changed now, but the one that's still currently sitting in my parents' house is like chrome and huge and it weighs a thousand pounds.

Speaker 15 And when it gets to be that hard to use, you never use it. And then there's no point in buying it in the first place.

Speaker 14 You know, we have a lot of vacuum recommendations on our site. Kirby, I don't think, is one of them.

Speaker 13 We've come a long way.

Speaker 14 We have come a long way. I don't think you have to buy a tank these days, although maybe that is what floats your boat.

Speaker 13 That's great.

Speaker 14 We have lots of options. And we're going to talk a little bit about what is worth your money and time, because I think that's another thing, right? Cleaning takes time.

Speaker 14 If you get something that's kind of suboptimal, it's going to take you more time. You're going to waste time.
This is all about the life value proposition, you know, like the money-time trade-off.

Speaker 16 What is more precious than time? That's right.

Speaker 15 Today, we're going to be talking with Courtney Schley, who has been overseeing our vacuum coverage for years. She's also been at Wirecutter for nearly a decade now.

Speaker 15 She knows a ton about vacuums and basically runs a testing lab out of her own house in Philly.

Speaker 14 We're going to take a quick break. And when we're back, we'll dive into the first things you should ask yourself if you're finding that your current vacuum is just terrible.

Speaker 14 May we say it kind of sucks.

Speaker 14 And how to find one that will actually get the job done.

Speaker 13 We'll be right back.

Speaker 1 The Wirecutter Show is supported by Rocket Mortgage.

Speaker 4 Your home is an active investment, not a passive one.

Speaker 5 And with Rocket Mortgage, you can put your home equity to work right away. When you unlock your home equity, you unlock new doors for your family.

Speaker 7 Renovations, extensions, even buying your next property.

Speaker 8 Get started today with smarter tools and guidance from real mortgage experts.

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Speaker 13 Welcome back.

Speaker 15 With us now is Courtney Schley.

Speaker 17 Courtney is an editor who has edited all of our vacuum coverage.

Speaker 15 Courtney has done a lot of real-world testing because she has a lot of our vacuum pics in her house because she has four kids and she has a new cat. So she's constantly cleaning.

Speaker 14 Courtney, welcome to the Wire Cutter Show. Thank you.
I love that you're here. We have worked very closely together.

Speaker 13 You've worked very closely with Kyra for many years.

Speaker 14 So it's, it's awesome to have you here. You also work really closely with our vacuum testers in the office.
And we're going to talk a little bit more about that later.

Speaker 14 But something I find really interesting about you and the way that you work is that you're basically kind of like running a vacuum testing laboratory out of your home.

Speaker 14 Can you tell us a little bit about your setup at home and how many vacuums you have?

Speaker 12 Sure. Yeah.
It's very much a real life testing scenario. I live in a big old stone house on the outskirts of Philadelphia.
It's four stories, so a basement and three stories.

Speaker 12 I have a wall-to-wall carpet in some areas. I have older, you know, delicate antique hardwood flooring.
I have rugs. I have three staircases.

Speaker 12 lots of dust and various old house schmutz that tends to accumulate, and lots of nooks and crannies. And I also have four young kids.

Speaker 13 Wow. They are the real test for a vacuum, right? And you now have a cat now, right?

Speaker 12 And we now have a cat.

Speaker 14 So, how many vacuums do you have to clean the house?

Speaker 12 So, I mean, I probably wouldn't have quite this many if I didn't work for Wirecutter, but I currently have four vacuums and a carpet cleaner.

Speaker 13 Wow.

Speaker 16 So, either you hate vacuuming or you love vacuuming so much because you have four vacuums or each kid has a vacuum that's dedicated.

Speaker 13 That's how I would choose to do it.

Speaker 16 Four floors, four kids, four vacuums.

Speaker 15 So which is it? Do you love it or do you hate it?

Speaker 13 A little bit of both.

Speaker 12 The way that I feel about vacuuming in general is that it is a lot of work, but your floor is one of the largest surfaces in your home.

Speaker 12 And so I think that a good vacuum can have an outsize impact on how your home feels. It also, it's not just the floor that's getting cleaned when you vacuum, it's the air quality in your home.

Speaker 12 And it's generally improving the health and the well-being of your living environment.

Speaker 14 And by improving the air, do you mean that if you've got a lot of dust on surfaces, it can kick up into the air and then you're breathing it?

Speaker 14 So you went by vacuuming, you're kind of capturing that all?

Speaker 12 Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 12 I mean, the more that you suck out of the carpets or off the floor, that's less particulate matter and pollutants and dander and other allergens that are going to be making their way into the air you breathe.

Speaker 16 So you have your setup at home with your vacuums. How do you test them at the office? What does that setup look like?

Speaker 12 At the office,

Speaker 12 we do a lot of our, especially our initial testing when we're evaluating just a ton of different models, cordless stick vacuums or robot vacuums or plug-in vacuums.

Speaker 12 We do a lot of the more quantitative testing to kind of get a baseline measure of how these different machines perform.

Speaker 12 So we have a variety of different rugs and flooring surfaces, shag carpet, medium pile carpet. We have runners, vinyl flooring.
We really want to figure out how these work on a variety of surfaces.

Speaker 12 And we have a lot of different test substances. So things, you know, to represent the kind of dirt and schmutz is the word I tend to use, but debris that people encounter a lot at home.

Speaker 12 So we have some specific ones we like to test with. We always test with glitter.

Speaker 13 That's a good one, yeah.

Speaker 12 And we always test with Cheerios. We focus on the things that really drive people crazy, but also can be strangely challenging for vacuum cleaners to pick up.

Speaker 12 Glitter is tough because it spreads everywhere. It's very lightweight and it also kind of sticks.
And then Cheerios and things like Cheerios bird seed is something else that we use a lot.

Speaker 12 They tend to scatter around if the vacuum doesn't have a good brush roll system. So that's where you can end up spreading the mess further if the vacuum isn't really equipped to handle it.

Speaker 12 We also test with pet fur and hair.

Speaker 12 So we buy like bright rainbow-colored hair extensions because once, you know, the vacuum sucks them up, we can really easily see how tangled they get in the brush roll.

Speaker 12 Does the vacuum actually get it up into the bag or is it just going to wrap around the brush roll, which eventually you're going to have to cut it out or untangle it?

Speaker 16 I find that to be just

Speaker 6 the worst.

Speaker 16 When you have to take the scissors.

Speaker 13 Yeah, it's super annoying.

Speaker 12 Christine, you probably.

Speaker 14 I actually have mostly wood floors. Okay.
I don't use a brush roll.

Speaker 13 A brush roll.

Speaker 14 I actually just use the hardwood thing. I am never going to live in a home with carpet for that reason.

Speaker 13 Where are you gathering the pet hair from?

Speaker 12 We have a connection with a dog groomer

Speaker 12 and we bring in a dog groomer hookup.

Speaker 13 Just get it by the bag.

Speaker 12 Just every so often. And sometimes we just ask people in the office, like, hey, can you bring in a bag of fur next time you go to the groomer?

Speaker 15 So when you guys are testing the office, it looks like you guys are setting up like a makeshift obstacle course with chairs and stuff.

Speaker 12 Yeah, we set up a scenario that would feel like you're vacuuming at home.

Speaker 12 So, what is it like to maneuver this vacuum around a coffee table or around a chair leg or a potted plant or whatever might be getting in your way?

Speaker 12 And we want to see how the vacuum handle transitions from bare floor to a rug. Sometimes they'll jam or it won't have enough purchase on the hardwood floor when you're switching.

Speaker 15 So I know that there are tons of different types of vacuums that you can buy, but I'm trying to imagine what these vacuums look like when you're talking about them in your house or at the office.

Speaker 15 Can you tell us what you might expect to find when you're looking at these different types of vacuums?

Speaker 15 Like when you say a canister vacuum, I imagine something from the 1950s and one of those vintage posters or something.

Speaker 12 So vacuums broadly, you can divide them into plug-in vacuums, which have cords, and then battery-powered rechargeable vacuums.

Speaker 12 So with plug-in vacuums, you have an upright vacuum and a canister vacuum. Those are the two main styles.

Speaker 12 An upright vacuum looks probably what most people have in their mind when they picture a classic vacuum.

Speaker 12 It stands up, it has a handle, it has a bag, and it's all kind of one unit and it has a long cord. A canister vacuum is a little different.

Speaker 12 It's sort of more like a pod that's on wheels, usually with a long hose and sometimes a sort of long telescoping wand. So you vacuum with the wand and the canister sort of follows you along on wheels.

Speaker 12 Got it. Plug-in vacuums, vacuums that have a cord, they are across the board more powerful cleaners than a cordless vacuum can be.

Speaker 12 For battery-powered vacuums, you have cordless stick vacuums and robot vacuums.

Speaker 14 Okay, so we're going to get into the differences between those two in a bit. But if you're someone listening to this podcast, how do you decide?

Speaker 14 What kind of thought process should you go through in terms of deciding the type of vacuum to get?

Speaker 12 I think the first question someone should ask is, what do you have in your home? First of all, what's the size of your home? And then what is your carpet to bare floor ratio?

Speaker 12 Because carpets typically need a lot more power to really deep clean effectively than if you have mostly hardwood or otherwise bare floors.

Speaker 12 The other questions to ask is who's making the mess in your home? Do you have kids? Do you have pets? Those are also things that are going to need specific way to attack that.

Speaker 12 And then probably the most important question is who's going to be using the vacuum? Whatever vacuum you get, it has to be something that you can use effectively.

Speaker 12 You know, I don't want to say that you enjoy using because I think that can be a bridge too far, but you have to at least be able to use it.

Speaker 12 You know, that may mean thinking about your physical abilities. You know, how comfortable are you moving the vacuum around?

Speaker 12 It's going to be better to use something that is easier for you to use so that you will actually use it than the most powerful high-tech vacuum that you can buy.

Speaker 14 Right. So you might want to be thinking about the weight if you're going to schlep it upstairs.

Speaker 15 If you're going to have your kids,

Speaker 13 your kids are going to do it.

Speaker 14 Or like if you have maybe like, you know, arthritis, is it easy to turn on and turn off? Kind of like secondary questions.

Speaker 13 Yeah.

Speaker 12 And also just what is your cleaning style? Are you a person who likes to attack a mess right away?

Speaker 12 In which case, you know, something really quick and convenient, like a cordless stick vacuum that you have right at hand that you're going to whiz on for a couple minutes.

Speaker 12 Or are you someone who has, you know, Sunday is vacuuming day and you do it once a week, but you're going to spend, you know, 45 minutes to an hour really deeply vacuuming?

Speaker 12 Or are you someone who wants something that will just kind of run automatically and do maintenance cleaning? That's where robot vacuums can be really effective.

Speaker 16 So if I have a ton of carpet and rugs, I might decide I need a more powerful cleaner versus if I have all hardwood floors. That narrows it down to either an upright or a canister.

Speaker 13 Is that right?

Speaker 12 Yeah. So both upright and canister vacuums are very powerful cleaners.
And which one you choose really comes down more to preference.

Speaker 12 So upright vacuums, they are easy to store because they stand upright. Some of them honestly look really stylish.

Speaker 12 The good ones will include a lot of attachments and a hose that you can use for dusting baseboards or getting into crevices, cleaning your upholstery, so sofas or armchairs.

Speaker 12 They're usually a bit heavier to use on the arm because just the way they're designed, the weight of the machine sort of rests on your arm and you're pushing it forward.

Speaker 12 Canister vacuums, there's a lot of different accessories that tend to be available for canister vacuums. Some of them you can even get like dog grooming tools to attach to them.

Speaker 14 Oh, just to like suction up your dog,

Speaker 13 like really

Speaker 13 wow.

Speaker 12 brushes that

Speaker 13 dogs who would love that.

Speaker 12 Suction the bird.

Speaker 13 I think their owners would love that.

Speaker 12 So the reason why people tend to like canister vacuums is most of the weight is not in your hand. It's in this pod that is on wheels that sort of follows you around as you go through the house.

Speaker 12 They usually have really, really long cords, so you can cover a lot of distance without having to re-plug it in somewhere else.

Speaker 12 But they can take some getting used to if it's not something that you're used to using. It can sometimes feel like a a lot of vacuum to handle.

Speaker 12 Even the one that I have, I sometimes kind of feel like I'm like wrestling an octopus.

Speaker 12 Things can get a little tangled and twisted, but once you get a rhythm going, it can be a really efficient, effective way to deep clean carpet.

Speaker 12 Probably the biggest con to both a good upright and a good canister vacuum is that they are expensive. The ones that we've tested and recommend, they are $700, $800.

Speaker 12 Now, along with that, these models usually have very good good warranties and very good customer service track records. And these types of vacuums tend to be easily repairable.

Speaker 12 You can get replacement parts for them. They're designed to be maintained and repaired over the long term.

Speaker 14 And by long term, what do you mean by that? Like, how long should one of these last?

Speaker 12 At least 10 years for a good quality canister upright vacuum. We have experience with them lasting that long or longer as long as they're maintained well.

Speaker 14 I have a Miela. It is like the basic model, and I've used it for 10 years, been very happy with it.
I think it might be reaching its last year and it might need to be replaced.

Speaker 13 But it's done its job.

Speaker 14 But it's done a great job for the last 10 years. And, you know, the reason I got this vacuum actually is because I got it around the time I first had a kid.

Speaker 14 And one thing I was concerned about were allergies, like allergens in the air. Should you also be considering whether you have allergies?

Speaker 14 Does that kind of play into the type of vacuum you're going to get?

Speaker 12 Yeah. So in your case, I think there's two things that probably made that an effective choice if you were worried worried about allergies in your kids.

Speaker 12 One is that a plug-in vacuum, it is more powerful. It's going to capture and collect more dust and all the things that we can't necessarily see, but that may cause irritation or asthma or allergies.

Speaker 12 And also it seals it. So you have bagless vacuums and you also have bagged vacuums.
The plug-in vacuums that we recommend are bagged models.

Speaker 12 And effectively, it's just sealing all the debris that it sucks into a bag so that when you are then emptying the vacuum, you're not reintroducing some of that back into into the air.

Speaker 12 You're not going to encounter it yourself. You know, that's an important feature to consider is a bag.

Speaker 14 Okay, yeah. So if you've got allergies, think about getting a bagged model.

Speaker 13 A bagged model. Okay.

Speaker 12 Yeah. Okay.
And then the other part is how well sealed the vacuum is and the filtration that it offers.

Speaker 12 There's two types of filters that you are likely to see on a plug-in canister or a bright vacuum. One is a HEPA filter and the other is called an S-Class filter.

Speaker 15 And that's the European version of a HEPA filter, right?

Speaker 13 Yes.

Speaker 14 And we talked about HEPA filters in one of our episodes on air purification. And basically, it's this filter that can filter out really, really, really tiny particles out of the air.

Speaker 12 Correct.

Speaker 12 It also has to do with overall how well the vacuum is made because a vacuum that has a HEPA filter, but the gaskets aren't well sealed, there's still then places that, you know, those particles could leak back out of the vacuum.

Speaker 14 And for what it's worth, my vacuum I don't think has HEPA, but it is really, really well sealed. And so it's taken care of a lot of the issues in my home.

Speaker 14 So I think, like you're saying, it's just a high-quality vacuum.

Speaker 16 Let's just say someone's listening. None of these scenarios sound quite right for their situation.
They want something lighter and maybe less intense than a canister or an upright Vac.

Speaker 16 What are you going to recommend to that person?

Speaker 12 So for that case, could look at a cordless stick vacuum or a robot vacuum. A cordless stick vacuum, they are lightweight.
They're rechargeable.

Speaker 12 They usually run for anywhere from, you know, 20 minutes to 45 minutes, depending on the size of the battery. And they are great for like quick pickups.

Speaker 12 And then a robot vacuum, of course, that's where it's going to clean for you.

Speaker 15 So I still kind of think of robo vacuums as these dumb little machines that bump into corners and run over your toes.

Speaker 17 Are they actually good now?

Speaker 12 Robot vacuums have come a long way in the last, you know, 10 years.

Speaker 12 You know, the ones that I remember from five to 10 years ago, and I was, you know, somewhat of an early adopter, I bought a Roomba maybe close to 10 years ago at this point.

Speaker 12 They would bump into things, knock things over, you know, suck up cords, get tangled, you know, sometimes fall down staircases.

Speaker 12 There was a famous story about a guy whose robot vacuum rolled over dog poop and spread it over every, you know, sort of square foot of his carpet

Speaker 12 very, very methodically because

Speaker 12 he painted the floor.

Speaker 13 Yeah.

Speaker 12 Because that's the thing is that in their earlier incarnations, they were very diligent, but very stupid.

Speaker 12 But robot vacuums nowadays, they've really come a long way, and especially in terms of the navigation and the obstacle avoidance, and also in just how user-friendly they are.

Speaker 12 They can be very easy to use and very, very convenient and very effective.

Speaker 16 We're going to take a quick break in just a minute, but I want to recap what I've learned here. So you've got some options when you're looking at vacuums.

Speaker 16 You've got upright, you've got a canister, you've got a cordless stick vacuum, and you've got a robot vacuum. And those are kind of the options that are out on the market right now.

Speaker 16 The main question that you're going to want to ask yourself before you make this purchase is really, how are you going to use the vac?

Speaker 16 And at the end of the day, really, what is actually going to to be conducive to your lifestyle? What are your needs? What will you actually use?

Speaker 16 I think also thinking about things like filtration, bags, especially if you have allergies, if you have asthma, not every upright vacuum is going to have a bag.

Speaker 16 Almost all, if not all, canister vacuums are. Getting dust and particles in those bags is going to be really, really important, as is a really tight seal on your vacuum.

Speaker 16 So those are going to be really, really important things for people with allergies and asthma.

Speaker 16 Those are the types of things that you want to start thinking about when you're thinking about making this purchase.

Speaker 14 We're going to take a quick break, and when we come back, we're going to talk about when you might want to get more than one vacuum, how to fix your current vacuum if it's not working that well, and then my favorite, the wacky underworld of vacuum culture.

Speaker 13 We'll be right back.

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Speaker 14 Welcome back. Courtney, before we get...
into more nitty-gritty about vacuums. I want to step back a little.
There's a really intense subculture around vacuums, both online and in person.

Speaker 14 You know, there are conventions of vintage vacuum collectors. The first time I saw this was on How To with John Wilson on HBO.

Speaker 14 There's just this great episode in, I think it's season three, where he goes to one of these conventions and it's hilarious and amazing and just kind of wild.

Speaker 14 And then there's also kind of like these subreddits dedicated to vacuums. How has that sort of subculture really impacted your reporters' pieces?

Speaker 12 Yes. So there is definitely a subculture of people who are very enthusiastic about and interested in and really, really knowledgeable about vacuum cleaners.

Speaker 12 We did send one of our reporters to a yearly vacuum convention. It was at a vacuum museum in Missouri.
They have a collection of vacuums.

Speaker 12 I think going back to the 19th century, which is interesting because vacuums, they are a pretty early labor-saving invention. You You know, I've thought about it.

Speaker 12 Like, I don't know if there's any other home cleaning device that has such a sort of devoted following.

Speaker 14 I'm like imagining like a Christopher Guest movie that's based off of a vacuum.

Speaker 13 Oh, that would be very cool. I want to see that.
Yeah.

Speaker 12 I love that people love vacuums and they're cool machines. Like they have motors and, you know, suction and hoses and spinning things.

Speaker 12 And I get why people find them appealing and interesting and want to take them apart and fix them and figure out how they work. And so, you know, we definitely are wire cutter.

Speaker 12 I mean, when we're looking for new models to test, we do look really deeply into some of these subreddits.

Speaker 12 And we also recognize that we are testing and writing both for the person who is really into vacuums and really wants to know all the ins and outs of them and also the person that hates vacuuming and just wants to know what's going to help them get it over with quickest and painlessly.

Speaker 15 I love using Reddit when I'm doing mattress research because because I feel like a lot of people in the subreddits take a wire cutter approach.

Speaker 15 Like they'll build spreadsheets and then they will give you their long-term testing data and it's really valuable.

Speaker 15 But I do remember at one point, I was kind of just like breezing through Reddit and I saw that we had changed our main canister pick from the Miele to a SIBO and the vacuum subreddit was rioting.

Speaker 15 I thought it was kind of funny, but really interesting that like people are watching what your reporters are doing and like they're having reactions to it.

Speaker 12 Yeah, that was a big moment when we started recommending canister, an upright vacuum made by SIBO, which is another German company like Mila.

Speaker 12 There was definitely a contingency of very loyal vacuum lovers who felt like Wirecutter had been sleeping on SIBO for a long time. And I agree.
They are incredible vacuums. I have two of them.

Speaker 12 in my home today. They're really, really well-made, really powerful, really great to use machines.

Speaker 16 Courtney, what about Dyson? Can we talk about Dyson? Because I personally have been obsessed with their products from afar, to be clear. I can't afford most Dyson things.

Speaker 16 But I do love the design and how intuitive at least they seem. Are they worth the giant price tag? Because they're very expensive.

Speaker 12 Dyson makes really excellent cordless stick vacuums. They really set the standard.
And we have tested dozens and dozens of other cordless stick vacuums. There are other good ones.

Speaker 12 We recommend several cordless stick vacuums, depending on what someone's priority is and what their budget is.

Speaker 12 But nothing that we've tested is lighter, zippier, more fun to use, better designed than Dyson's cordless stick vacs are.

Speaker 14 So to your earlier point, when you said you couldn't say that vacuuming is fun, it does sound like maybe Dyson could make it fun.

Speaker 12 Dyson can make it fun.

Speaker 12 They have these features that almost gamify the vacuuming experience. They have this cool green laser that illuminates illuminates all the dust that's on your floor and floating in the air.

Speaker 12 And they have this particle counter built into the display screen that supposedly tells you how many particles you're sucking up.

Speaker 13 I got a new high score.

Speaker 16 I feel very validated by your answer because I kind of thought I was a millennial sucker for buying into the Dyson hype, but it sounds like at least with the cordless stick vac, it lives up to it.

Speaker 13 It does.

Speaker 12 We were not as impressed by their, one of their plug-in models. They came out last year with a robot vacuum.
We didn't love it.

Speaker 12 We tested it thoroughly and it we would not recommend it over other brands that we recommend. But in terms of cordless stick vacuums, it's not wrong to covet a Dyson.

Speaker 14 Courtney, there's a theme on this show, and it's the theme that to get something good, you often have to pay for it.

Speaker 12 Boo.

Speaker 14 So we've already talked about how some of these vacuums can be pretty expensive, right? Like the canisters, the uprights, the ones we recommend currently are between $700 and $800.

Speaker 14 You talked about the very expensive Dysons.

Speaker 13 So you can look for these things on sale.

Speaker 14 But, you know, if somebody doesn't have $800 to spend on a vacuum right now, what do you tell them? Like, can you spend less without basically just buying something?

Speaker 13 Yeah, buying junk.

Speaker 12 We spend a lot of time testing and really looking for that sweet spot, especially the under $200 vacuum, whether it's a robot vacuum or a cordless vacuum or a plug-in vacuum.

Speaker 12 There is a lot out there that I would not advise buying, but there are some gems. In terms of plug-in vacuums, we have recommended the Shark Navigator.

Speaker 12 It's this purple vacuum a lot of people recognize. And that's $200, $180.
Sometimes it's on sale for $150. And in terms of a good, reliable, cheap vacuum, that's what we've recommended.

Speaker 12 You know, you're definitely compromising in terms of the performance and the durability, but that's going to be the case across the board at that price point.

Speaker 12 But the Navigator is one that we have stood behind. And many, many people who work at Wirecutter have bought the Shark Navigator over the years.

Speaker 15 What about a good robot vacuum? Can you get one that's relatively cheap? That's good.

Speaker 12 Yeah, we for several years have recommended a kind of entry-level robot vacuum made by Euffy, and it's maybe $150 and it can sometimes be less depending on sales. And it's a great robot vacuum.

Speaker 12 It's reliable. It's consistent.
It cleans well. It can fit under your couch.
You know, if somebody just wants to try out a robot vacuum, that's the one I would recommend that they get.

Speaker 15 So, Courtney, what if your vacuum just doesn't seem to be doing its job well? Does that mean that it's at the end of its life or is there something you can do before you throw it out?

Speaker 12 So it's not necessarily at the end of its life. You know, sometimes they just need to be cleaned themselves.

Speaker 12 So the first step, if your vacuum isn't performing the way that you expect it to, is take it apart. Get all the hair that's tangled out of the brush roll.

Speaker 12 You might need to get in there with like a razor blade or some scissors and like really get all that hair out. You may need to change or wash the filters.
The filters get all clogged with dust.

Speaker 12 It may impact the suction.

Speaker 12 You may need to empty out the canister or change the bag. All of that can impact how well it works.
If you have a high quality vacuum, you can often replace parts if they wear out or break.

Speaker 12 And you can also still find old school vacuum repair shops where you can take your machine in and get it serviced.

Speaker 16 All right, Courtney, let's do a quick lightning round. What vacuum do you recommend for the following tasks?

Speaker 16 Okay, first scenario, I have an enormous shedding dog and a tiny apartment, no carpet, no rugs.

Speaker 12 So my first question is, how do you have an enormous dog in a tiny apartment?

Speaker 13 But

Speaker 12 I mean, I think a lot of people will probably do best with two of the three types of vacuums that we've talked about today.

Speaker 12 In this case, I would say a robot vacuum because that's what's going to just pick up the hair before it even spreads everywhere and gets into everything.

Speaker 12 And then you're probably going to want a good handheld vacuum with a pet for attachment for the upholstery.

Speaker 15 Okay, what if I live in a medium-sized house with a normal-sized dog that sheds a cat and some carpeting?

Speaker 12 So this is where you're definitely going to want to plug in vacuum for that carpet.

Speaker 12 You could go with a cheaper bagless model if you're not super, you know, dealing with allergies, worried about allergies, and you don't have a lot of dust, but ideally a bagged plug-in vacuum.

Speaker 12 That's what's going to clean your carpets.

Speaker 16 Okay, so how about a partner who works in construction won't take their shoes off when they come in the house?

Speaker 13 I also have wall-to-wall carpet.

Speaker 12 Yeah, this you're going to want a high-quality plug-in powerful vacuum with sealed bags and with filters. You want to get all that dust sealed away.
Yeah.

Speaker 15 And why aren't they taking their shoes off?

Speaker 16 That's for a different program.

Speaker 15 Okay, what if my house is super dusty? Think the beginning of Interstellar. My blinds, my lampshades, my shelves are always collecting so much dust.

Speaker 12 If you have a pretty small house, you could get away with something like the Dyson V12, a good cordless dick vacuum.

Speaker 12 They can typically kind of transform into a handheld vacuum, and that's what's going to help you clean things like lampshades or bookshelves or, you know, other surfaces.

Speaker 16 Okay, another scenario. I have children and there's always glitter and Cheerios and Legos everywhere.
I'm not describing my house, but maybe I am.

Speaker 12 So I don't know what's going to help you with the Legos. And I have been known to.

Speaker 16 Drop them.

Speaker 13 Yeah,

Speaker 13 drop them.

Speaker 16 That's on you. Yeah.

Speaker 12 This is, again, whatever is going to help you contain the chaos, whether it's a robot vacuum and a plug-in vacuum or a cordless stick vacuum. You just have to know what are you going to actually use.

Speaker 15 Before we wrap, we usually ask our guests one final question. What's the last thing you bought that you've really loved?

Speaker 12 A Cuisinert toaster oven.

Speaker 13 You had that on lock. Whoa.

Speaker 16 Okay, say more.

Speaker 12 The way that I get my kids up on Monday mornings is Trader Joe's frozen chocolate croissants.

Speaker 13 Oh my God, that's a hack. They're looking good.

Speaker 12 You put them out frozen on like a piece of parchment paper on a pan the night before. They rise overnight.
In the morning, you pop them into your oven, or in my case, the toaster oven.

Speaker 12 Maybe 10, 12 minutes, they're brown and melty and crispy. And that is how I rouse my children out of bed on Mondays.
I tell them they're at chocolate croissants downstairs.

Speaker 16 Absolutely amazing.

Speaker 15 That would work on me now.

Speaker 16 That's awesome. Thank you so much for joining us, Courtney.

Speaker 16 Thank you for breaking down everything that we need to know about VAX. Appreciate it.

Speaker 12 My pleasure.

Speaker 16 Gosh, Courtney Schley really knows her way around a vacuum.

Speaker 13 Like, wow.

Speaker 15 She has so many.

Speaker 16 A lot of kids to be trying out all these vacuums.

Speaker 14 I feel like that's my aspiration. If I had one, more than one floor, I would want a vacuum per floor.
I think that's the winning combo.

Speaker 15 Per kid, yeah, per kid.

Speaker 13 Yeah.

Speaker 16 What are your takeaways from this after everything we've kind of just learned about vacuums?

Speaker 14 So I am very tempted now to go Team Robot. I love my melee canister vac.
I will not be giving that up.

Speaker 14 I do a lot of deep cleaning with it, but I really love this idea of having a machine go around and pick up the dust and the cat dander and the kid stuff during the week because I do end up vacuuming a couple times a week.

Speaker 14 And if I could lower that frequency for myself, I think that would be pretty awesome.

Speaker 16 Time is precious and time is money.

Speaker 16 I think my takeaway is that when I'm ready to invest in a new vacuum, I'm going to look for something that is a really good quality upright or canister vac.

Speaker 12 with a bag.

Speaker 16 I really am looking to something that is going to help seal in a a lot of those dust mites, a lot of those particles, a lot of those allergens so that I'm not absorbing them or breathing them in.

Speaker 13 Yeah, I like that.

Speaker 15 I think I'm going to piggyback off of your takeaway, Christine, because I also like the idea of a robot vacuum. I like that it can be your little sidekick helping you pick up stuff.

Speaker 15 I'm kind of tempted by a cordless stick to pair with it, but I know myself, I'm not going to remember to charge it. So maybe I just stick with a broom and a Robovac and call it a day.

Speaker 13 There's nothing wrong with a broom.

Speaker 14 I use a broom every day.

Speaker 13 Yeah.

Speaker 16 Well, if you want to find out more about Wirecutters coverage or if you want to check out the products Courtney recommended today, check out our show notes or our website.

Speaker 16 This month, we've got lots of tips about spring cleaning coming your way, both on the podcast and on our website. Next week on the show, we're going to be talking about cleaning up your digital life.

Speaker 16 Ooh,

Speaker 13 yes.

Speaker 16 Stay tuned. Thanks so much for listening.
Peace. Bye.

Speaker 15 The Wirecutter Show is executive produced by Rosie Guerin and produced by Abigail Keel. Engineering support from Maddie Mazziello and Nick Pittman.

Speaker 6 Today's episode was mixed by Katherine Anderson.

Speaker 15 Original music by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, Alicia BaeTube, and Diane Wong. Wirecutter's deputy publisher and general manager is Cliff Levy.
Ben Fruman is Wirecutter's editor-in-chief.

Speaker 15 I'm Kyra Blackwell.

Speaker 14 I'm Christine Sear-Clissette.

Speaker 16 And I'm Rosie Guerin.

Speaker 15 Thanks for listening.

Speaker 12 You don't know how hard they rode that vacuum.

Speaker 12 I don't know if that's the right way to say it, but you don't know what they put that vacuum through.

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