How we test

Carpet cleaning

We rub a precisely measured quantity of dirt into a test swatch of carpet. The vacuum’s cleaning head (we use the turbo or power head, if there is one) goes over the test swatch a set number of times and the dirt it picks up is weighed.

Corners-and-edges cleaning

This test is done along the same lines as the carpet-cleaning test … but to test how well each model gets into corners and edges, we put the dirtied carpet swatch in a corner.

Pet-hair removal

Again, this is done on carpet. The lab distributes a precisely measured quantity of cat hair on a carpet swatch. The vacuum’s cleaning head (we use the turbo or power head, if there is one) goes over the test swatch a set number of times and the hair it picks up is measured. We also inspect the cleaning head to see how much hair became tangled in the brush.

Ease of use

Here we assess the movement of the cleaning head, the vacuum’s ability to clean under low furniture, the on-board tools and their versatility, mobility, the ease of emptying the dust bin or bag, and how easy the controls are to use.

Hard floors

Because all modern vacuum cleaners do a good job on hard floors, we no longer test for this. But we do test to make sure the cleaning head doesn’t scratch hard floors.

For details of how each of the models performed, see the Test results.