The 4 Best Handheld Vacuums - Fall 2024

The best cordless handheld vacuum we've tested is the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+. This compact model excels at clearing away solid debris on bare surfaces like countertops, shelves, tile, and hardwood floors. It's also powerful enough to draw out debris from rugs and carpets. While it's on the larger side for a handheld, it's still small enough to stow away in most cupboards and closets. Its dirt compartment is quite large, so you won't need to empty it after every spot-cleaning job. The CH951 variant of this vacuum comes with a crevice tool, a hard-bristle brush, and a miniature turbo brush with a self-cleaning brushroll for cleaning upholstered surfaces. The mini turbo brush tool isn't all that practical: it's pretty bulky and does a poor job of dealing with pet hair, so you're better off using the hard bristle brush to deal with strands of hair on furniture.

It's not a perfect product, though. The vacuum's 10-minute battery life is poor, even by the low standards of other handheld vacuums, so you'll need to work fast when cleaning larger messes. Even worse, the battery isn't user-replaceable, so you can't swap in a new pack if the old one doesn't hold a charge as well as it used to. It also does a terrible job of sealing in particles like pet dander or dust, with fine particles easily escaping from its exhaust.

The Black+Decker 16V MAX dustbuster Cordless Hand Vacuum is the best cordless handheld vacuum we've tested at a wallet-friendly price point. While it's not as sturdy as the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ build-wise and is a little bulkier, it has a few advantages aside from its lower price tag. For example, its dustbin is bigger, and its replacement filters are less expensive. It excels when it comes to sucking up debris on hard surfaces like countertops or hardwood floors, and it does a good job of dealing with debris in cracks and crevices, thanks to a built-in crevice tool.

Unfortunately, the selection of attachments is very limited, with only the aforementioned slide-out crevice tool and a flip-out hard-bristle brush; there's no upholstery tool or miniature turbo brush to make cleaning fabric furniture easier. It can only run for a little over 10 minutes on a single charge, which is short, even by the standards of other handheld models. Worse yet, it takes over three hours to recharge. Like the Shark, the manufacturer didn't design its battery for removal and replacement either. If the original battery's performance degrades over time, you can't easily swap in a new pack.

If you prioritize portability above all else, the BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim is the best portable vacuum we've tested. With a very compact body, just a little smaller than a two-liter bottle of soda, it's a different type of handheld vacuum compared to something like the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ or the Black+Decker 16V MAX dustbuster Cordless Hand Vacuum. Its small form factor makes it easy to carry around or stow away when not in use, but its design has downsides. It has a small, weak suction motor that struggles to lift heavier debris away. It also has a tiny dirt compartment that fills quickly. Bulky debris can also clog its suction nozzle, and debris can fall out of the dustbin and back out the suction inlet if you overfill it.

It's ideal for quick cleanups of small, lightweight debris on hard surfaces like countertops, shelves, or even tile and hardwood floors. It can run for about 15 minutes on a single charge, which is normal for a vacuum of this size and intended use. While there's no wide-aperture upholstery nozzle or miniature turbo brush tool for cleaning larger fabric surfaces, this vacuum has a crevice tool to extend your reach in tight spots. It also comes with a slide-on soft-bristle brush for cleaning dust off delicate surfaces. Unfortunately, recharging via its included USB adapter takes over three hours, so you'll be waiting for a while if you need to clean up more than one large mess. Also, its battery isn't replaceable, limiting the overall lifespan of the device.

If you suffer from allergies and want a more effective vacuum for sealing fine particles like dust or pet dander, check out the Shark WANDVAC. Compared to the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ and most other handheld vacuums, it has a pretty tiny dirt compartment, so you'll be emptying its dustbin at the end of almost every cleaning session. However, it does a much better job sealing in allergens with the standard filter, which isn't even HEPA-rated. If you want to increase its filtration performance even further, several third-party manufacturers sell compatible HEPA-rated filters. It's also only slightly larger than the highly compact BISSELL AeroSlim/TurboSlim, making it a cinch to stow away in a drawer or cupboard when not in use.

It's best to go for the pricier WV201 variant over the WV200 variant; the former comes bundled with a low-profile charging dock with room for its included attachments, so you won't have to find another place to tuck them away when they're not in use. While there's no miniature turbo brush for cleaning carpeted or fabric surfaces, the included straight suction upholstery tool is still effective in dealing with messes on furniture. Unfortunately, the Shark's battery performance is poor, even for a handheld vacuum, as it can only run for about 10 minutes on a full charge. Like many other handheld vacuums, the battery isn't removable, so you can't swap in a freshly charged pack when it runs out of power or buy a replacement battery if the original can no longer hold a charge.