Handheld Vacuums Reviews

Perhaps because most experts say handheld vacuums are an option rather than a necessity, there are fewer professional reviews for these smaller light-duty vacuums than for their more powerful full-size cousins (we cover upright vacuums and canister vacs in separate reports). Consumer Reports and its U.K. and Australian counterparts, Which? and Choice, all post comparative vacuum cleaner ratings based on the results of independent testing, but Consumer Reports includes only three handheld models and Which? and Choice cover only one hand vacuum each.

Popular Mechanics is almost as useful as Consumer Reports in this category. Its short video review compares three popular handheld vacuums based on how well they perform at sucking up 32 ounces of pre-sifted flour and 12 ounces of wet kitty litter. A pre-Christmas review from The Wall Street Journal does a less formal test of five hand vacs using a "holiday dirt mix" of wrapping paper bits, potato chip crumbs and other debris.

Owner-written reviews at Amazon.com, Epinions and Target.com fill in the sparse coverage by professional reviewers in this category. Amazon.com has a good range of corded and cordless hand vacs, some of which get dozens or even hundreds of reviews. Epinions and Target's websites both have considerably fewer reviews, but they are helpful for filling in details and providing an alternate perspective on some handheld vacuums.

The vase-shaped Dirt Devil KURV (*est. $50) is a newer sculptural hand vac by the KONE's designer, Karim Rashid. Like the KONE, the KURV handheld vacuum comes in a range of metallic colors and does fairly well in owner-written reviews. Here again, praise is mostly for its design and the fact that it's presentable enough to keep out of the broom closet; downsides include what some users say is mediocre power. At least one reviewer, though, says the KURV's design prevents it from blowing dust around rather than sucking it up, making it a significant improvement over its predecessor.  ... Continued

Our Consensus Report shows how many times products are top-ranked by reviewers included in our
All The Reviews Reviewed chart.

Black & Decker's cordless hand vacs get the best ratings, especially among professional reviewers who say they perform well in comparative testing and have decent battery runtimes. The Black & Decker PHV1800 is the real standout, but the CHV1500 also gets top billing in one high-quality comparative review. At just over half the price of the top-rated PHV1800, the Shark Cordless Hand Vac SV736 beats its higher-priced competitor in The Wall Street Journal's testing and gets excellent marks from users as well. Eureka's 71A is the clear winner among corded hand vacs with near-perfect scores at Amazon.com.