Subrating category Weight What we looked for Performance 30% Performance score extrapolated from the average sand score on hard flooring, low-pile carpets and mid-pile carpets. Value/price 25% Retail price rating considering all other features. i.e., Does this price seem fair for the value offered? Runtime 20% How long does the battery last when cleaning at medium setting? (No ECO, turbo, MAX, etc.) Features 15% Overall comfort and handling of the product (e.g., weight, comfortable grip handle). UX (Comfort. ease of use) 10% UX - All aspects of comfort. Did it have a good grip/handle? Was it heavy to operate/lift? How easy was the setup? Did it come with smart home functionality? Smartphone app? Voice assist?
All the vacuums on CNET's best lists are tested and evaluated in our Louisville vacuum testing lab. Over the years, our experts have tested 50 cordless vacuums and counting. We don't use a special testing procedure for Dyson vacuums. Our testing process is identical to our testing for cordless vacuums. Here's how we measure cordless stick vacuum performance.
Performance: Hard flooring, carpet and pet hair
Ry Crist/CNET
Our testing procedure consists of a series of suction tests on different surfaces, including hard flooring and mid-pile and low-pile carpet, and an anecdotal test for pet hair. These tests evaluate how well the vacuum works at picking up sand and pet hair on different surfaces. We also control for variables by making sure each vacuum is set to the same nozzle width.
We run the test on each surface three times at a minimum, weighing the dustbin before and after every run. This allows us to calculate the percentage of sand that's picked up for every cleaning run and the average sand pickup a vacuum manages to remove.
For pet hair, our testing is more anecdotal. We conduct the same set of cleaning tests on each surface type, then we photograph a before and after image to allow us to visually evaluate how much pet hair is left after running the vacuum. Many of our best performers successfully remove all the pet hair.
We run tests in a straight line across all three floor types. Brian Bennett/CNET
Battery life and runtime
We fully charge each cordless vacuum, then set it to medium power (no Max or Eco modes here!) and let it run until it dies. We repeat this three times and average the results. A longer run-time equals a better score.
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