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 Shark vacuums. Our testing process is identical to our testing for cordless vacuums. Here's how we measure cordless stick vacuum performance.
How we test robot vacuums
Each robot vacuum gets tested in our lab in Louisville, Kentucky. In addition to test floors where we run a cleaning session on different surfaces, we monitor each robot vacuum in a special test room filled with mock furniture to gauge how well it navigates around common obstacles. We also test check each robot vacuum's ability to suction up pet hair without getting clogged or leaving loose strands behind. We also consider mopping capabilities, and we check to see how well it navigates fake dog messes. Finally, we evaluate any special features, such as the ability to fit under furniture, the ability to cross thresholds and sort items (as with the Roborock Saros Z70). For a more comprehensive overview of our robot vacuum testing, you can check our main list.
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Performance testing for cordless vacuums: Hard flooring, carpet and pet hair
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. You can take a more comprehensive look at our testing in our main overview of the best cordless vacuums.
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.
Battery life and runtime
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