The 4 Best Cordless Stick Vacuums - Fall 2020
Reviews

The Shark Rocket Pet Pro is the best cordless stick vacuum for bare floors that we've tested. It has a self-cleaning brushroll, which helps to remove hair wraps as you clean. It can also pick up pet hair as well as small and large debris from hardwood, tile, or linoleum floors without a problem.

It has excellent maneuverability and is quite portable. It comes with two floor settings: one for bare floors and one for carpets. Even though it's best suited for bare floors, it has a great performance on carpet. It can pick up most large debris, and quite a bit of small debris without compromising performance as its dirt compartment fills up. It comes with a flexible wand that you can fold in half to make it easier to store or if you need to reach under couches and tables. It can even be used in a handheld configuration, which is useful.

Unfortunately, it has a few parts, like its small dirt compartment, that need regular maintenance. Luckily, accessing each part is fairly easy, and as long as you clean each part when needed, there are virtually no recurring costs. While some may find its minimum battery life to be a bit short at only 12 minutes, it can last up to 42 minutes when used as a handheld. Still, it has outstanding performance on bare floors, making it one of the best cordless stick vacuums for bare floors that we've tested.

The Dyson V8 Animal is the best cordless stick vacuum for carpet that we've tested. It delivers great performance on low-pile carpet. It sucks up pet hair without an issue and doesn't struggle too much with either coarse or fine debris, though it may take a couple of passes to fully clean some messes on shaggy high-pile carpet.

It employs a bagless design and has washable, reusable pre-motor and HEPA filters, so recurring costs are practically nonexistent. It's quite lightweight and can be quickly switched into a handheld configuration to help you clean furniture or on top of shelves. While you can drain its battery in under 10 minutes if you run it continuously in its highest power mode, you can extend its runtime to over 40 minutes if you use it more conservatively.

Unfortunately, it takes over four hours to completely recharge, which is quite long. Some may be put off by its plasticky build quality, which feels like it could be damaged if it's dropped. There are also quite a few parts that need to be regularly maintained, though the vacuum itself has a fairly simple design that's easy to take apart and reassemble.

The JASHEN V16 is the best budget cordless stick vacuum that we've tested. It offers a fair cleaning experience on several surface types and can be reconfigured into a handheld for cleaning narrow areas. While it doesn't clean as well as others on this list, it has a better overall battery life, which may matter more to those who have larger rooms or spaces to clean.

This lightweight model comes with several tools and brushes, including two interchangeable brushrolls that are each specialized for different floor types. It's best suited for low or high-pile carpet as it does a fair job picking up pet hair and large debris from these surfaces. It struggles with smaller debris like baking soda, especially on shaggier carpets. That said, it has virtually no recurring costs as long as you properly maintain it.

Unfortunately, it has trouble picking up large debris on any surface type, and this type of debris can get easily stuck in several parts of the vacuum. It also has plasticky build quality, which is to be expected at this price point, and it has a few parts that need ongoing maintenance, which can be a bit time-consuming. However, if you're on a tight budget but don't want to sacrifice too much for a cordless stick design, it offers a reasonable compromise between performance and price.