Best Cordless Vacuums 2023 Dyson, Shark Stratos

Which vacuum is best for your home let's find out now.

Overview

When it comes to choosing the vacuums we'd recommend we look at a number of factors that impact usability and performance including excellent debris removal in the cleaning test features or accessories that improve usability dustbin capacity effective dustbin sealing and run time. 

To assess vacuums we've put them through a battery of objective and data-driven tests. 

Dyson V15

Let's look at our number one pick for 2023 the Dyson V15. 

After being released in 2022 the Dyson V15 is still the most powerful cordless vacuum on the market. 

It's capable of 230 air watts of suction power and showed its prowess by removing 99.4% of all debris. 

During our cleaning tests the V15 only minorly struggled with sugar on the high-pile carpet removing 96.0% of the debris. That score being its worst across three different floor types and four different debris types is an incredibly impressive performance. 

In addition, the V15 handled both hair types with ease avoiding most tangles and removing the pet fur from high pile carpet. 

The real success of the Dyson V15 is the included accessories and features that greatly improve usability. 

The high torque head has an adjustable gate for larger debris, the laser fluffy head is great for hard surfaces and has a laser to make seeing debris easier and it has a particle sensor for automatic suction adjustment. 

Furthermore, it has a click and battery with a 68 runtime and a point-and-shoot dustbin with a capacity of 0.76 liters.

Dyson V11 Outsize

For those who like the maneuverability of a stick vacuum but want a longer runtime adjustment capacity the Dyson V11 Outsize has you covered it comes with a massive 1.89-liter dustbin and a 1 hour and 17 minutes run time on a single battery and 220 air watts of suction.

Furthermore, the Outsize had fantastic cleaning performance removing 99 percent of all debris in our initial cleaning test on high about carpet. 

The V11 Outsize struggled to remove larger debris, however, that test was only run moving the vacuum forward and backward we ran the test a second time trying to be more cognizant of how we moved the vacuum and it removed the remainder with ease long hair and pet hair performance was also excellent. 

It comes with an:

• XL version of Dyson's high torque cleaning head
• mini brush roll
• a standard set of accessories

If you want something different you could consider the Outsize or Outsize Plus which have the same XL size but different sets of accessories.

Dyson V12

It's hard to complain about any stick vacuum Dyson makes and the same goes for the more lightweight Dyson V12 Detect Slim. 

It packs all the performance that V15 does but in a more maneuverable package. 

It has less suction at 150 air watts but still had excellent cleaning performance removing 98.6 of all debris. 

On both carpets, V12 struggled slightly with sugar only removing 95 percent of it from the fibers. That said 95 percent is still the vast majority of the debris. 

The included laser fluffy cleaning head and motor bar were more than capable of handling the job. In addition, it easily avoided tangles thanks to the thick brush roll and hair removal veins. 

The V12 was able to remove the vast majority of pet hair from the carpet. 

It has a shorter run time than most stick vacuums on this list with 51 minutes and 22 seconds of life on eco mode. It also has a smaller dustbin of 0.38 liters. 

But it makes up for those shortcomings with a leaner lighter weight design and fantastic usability. 

Dyson removed their normal trigger control which you had to hold down for a button that you can press once to turn on the vacuum.

In addition to the cleaning heads mentioned above it has a hair screw tool click-in batteries and automatic suction adjustment.

Shark Stratos

While Shark has made other stick vacuums in the past the Stratos cordless is a significant improvement in many ways. 

It comes equipped with Clean Sense IQ which automatically adjusts suction power based on floor and debris types. 

The Stratos had a solid performance in our cleaning cast removing 96.7 percent of all debris across all floor types. While it struggled with smaller debris types on carpets we would still consider this performance good enough for most homes.

In addition, it managed hair with ease avoiding tangles and completely cleaning the fur from the carpet.

It has an extremely long run time on eco mode at 78 minutes and 50 seconds being the longest on any single battery of the vacuums on this list. 

It has a fairly average-sized dustbin at 0.72 liters. 

The Stratos also has many features that enhance usability namely an extension that can bend for ease of use an odor neutralizer and easy-to-use buttons and controls.

Next up we're going to move on to our side-by-side performance comparisons. 

Cleaning comparison

The most important factor when deciding which vacuums to make on the list was cleaning performance. 

To test the stick vacuum's ability to pick up debris we test each vacuum against four debris types and three different floor types. 

We place half an ounce of each debris in separate lines on each floor type. We then run the vacuum on the highest suction power running it over each piece of debris. After doing a singular forward and backward pass over of each debris we measure the amount of remaining debris by weight as a comparison. 

Our cleaning tests show how the Dyson V15 narrowly won by 0.3 percent over the Dyson V11 Outsize which had 99.0 percent debris removal. 

Most importantly all the vacuums listed have over 95 debris removal by weight.

With any of these vacuums, you can rest assured that it will complete the job.

Long hair tests

To further test the cleaning capabilities of stick vacuum cleaners, they were tested on long hair that can get tangled in the brush roll.

To do this, lay 1.0 grams of long hair on a straight path for cleaning the parquet. Then the vacuum cleaner starts at maximum suction power after checking how much hair is left on the floor and whether it is tangled in the brush roller.

The table shows our full set of long hair performance data. 

All of the vacuums had a very good performance or better. 

In all cases, the vacuums were able to completely remove the hair from the floor. 

However, only one single case is the Shark Startos cordless which completely avoids hair tangles. 

The Dyson V15, V12, and Outsize were not far behind only having a small amount of hair tangle. 

Pet hair tests

For this test, the vacuum cleaners were tested on pet hair rubbed into a high pile carpet. 1 gram of pet hair, laid in the fibers of the carpet to test the power of the vacuum.

Now is a table of the data we've collected from our pet hair tests. 

Across the board pet hair performance was exceptional for these stick vacuums. In all cases, the vast majority of the pet hair was removed with only a few strands remaining.

Wind speed tests

To measure wind speed we use a nanometer against the opening of the tube connect to the body of the vacuum. 

We run the vacuums on each mode and measure the amount of inward wind speed. 

However, most of the vacuums fell around 20 miles per hour area except the Dyson V12. Its smaller size and less suction power are most likely the cause of a slower wind speed.

Sealant tests

Having a probably sealed vacuum ensures that dustbin debris that is cleaned up stays in the vacuum. If it's not properly sealed this could then be distributed around your home. 

To test this we set up a fog machine with the output facing directly toward the vacuum's extension wand. Once the machine is ready to go we turn the vacuum onto its highest suction power and release short streams of smoke into the vacuum. To test this we set up a fog machine with the output facing directly toward the vacuum's extension wand. Once the machine is ready to go we turn the vacuum onto its highest suction power and release short streams of smoke into the vacuum.

The table shows all of the data for the smoke sealant test. 

To our surprise, not all vacuums we tested were completely sealed the Dyson V15, V12, V11 Outsize, and Shark Stratos have completely sealed no issues there. 

The lack of sealant warrants concerns as most vacuum cleaners should be just tightly sealed as possible.

Run time tests

Another key factor we consider is how long the battery lasts while cleaning with the vacuum. 

To test this we fully charged the battery of the vacuum and ran it on each mode measuring the amount of time it took before the battery ran out. 

The table shows the run time for one battery on each power mode. The winner for runtime. 

On a single battery was the Shark Stratos coming in at 78 minutes 50 seconds on a single battery while in eco mode. It means you have a lot of time to work with just behind it was the Dyson V11 Outsize with 77 minutes and 52 seconds. 

In addition, the V11 Outsize comes with an extra battery effectively doubling its runtime. For most of these vacuums, a separate battery can be purchased but both of those models come with them in the initial purchase. 

In addition both the Shark Stratos had long run times while on its maximum sometimes doubling other models.

Noise tests

High-performance vacuums are allowed to measure exactly how loud we run the vacuum on each mode while cleaning and measuring the level of noise. 

Essentially all the vacuums had noise levels in the same area on both of the lowest and highest suction powers. 

The Dyson V11 Outsize with the lowest maximum power while the Samsung Bespoke Jet was the softest. 

That said most of these vacuums fall within five to six decibels of each other in each mode. 

Accessory comparison

All vacuums come with various accessories that help improve cleaning. 

Most cordless vacuums come with a basic set including their standard cleaning head a crevice tool and a combination tool.

However, some vacuums come with more unique accessories that help in specific cleaning situations. 

Keep in mind that some of these vacuums have multiple models and variants that come with a different set of accessories than the ones we've listed here.

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