Upright vacuums are also freestanding, so if you want to pause your floor cleaning session, perhaps you need to answer the door, or the telephone rings, then you can leave the vacuum in the middle of the floor, without worrying about leaning it somewhere. However, as they're larger they are harder to store. From crevice tools to dusting brushes, today's vacs come with a generous collection of vacuum cleaner attachments that are designed to make light work of common household cleaning tasks.

The benefit of this system is that you don't need to touch the dust and dirt to remove it from the canister, which can be the case with a bagless vacuum cleaner. As its name suggests, the crevice tool is designed to get into tight gaps that other attachments would struggle with. With its long, slender shape, it's ideal for cleaning right into corners, along the edge of the flooring, around radiators and even between sofa cushions. It also comes with a full complement of Shark’s innovations, including the DuoClean floor head that’s brilliant on both carpet and hard floor, and Anti Hair Wrap rollers that don’t get clogged up with long strands of hair. Those looking for a full suite of attachments should consider the Dyson Ball Animal. This comes with a great selection of tools, a larger collection bin and a longer cord. It’s heavier, though, and costs more. During testing, the vacuum made light work of collecting fine dust and larger debris, including cereal from carpets and hard floors. It also converts into a portable vacuum simply by lifting out the main body to ensure you can easily clean stairs, upholstery, and up-high. We also found it glided well on both short-pile carpet and hard floors.Is once a week really enough to keep your floors as clean as possible, or should you be vacuuming every couple of days? For those without one of the best robot vacuums on hand to help out, it's a hard question to answer. Like uprights and cylinders, most come with attachments including crevice and upholstery tools. Many even have motorised brushes to lift pet hair effectively. With long, soft bristles, the dusting brush is a whizz at whisking away debris from window sills, lampshades, blinds, skirting boards and other awkward surfaces. It's also ideal for more delicate cleaning tasks, such as dusting furniture, the top of books or easily scratched objects. This means you can use the handle and hose for handheld jobs, add the wand if you need a little extra reach, and detach the vacuum unit from the floor head to more easily carry it around when cleaning the stairs. Hoover HL5 review: What’s it like to use?

This is useful if you need more power for deep pile carpets. It’s also good to have if you’re conscious of energy usage. Be wary of the weight of your vacuum; pushing anything over 3kg can feel heavy after prolonged use. If you struggle with this, go for a cordless design where the weight is centred around the floor head rather than the handle, which makes it easier on the arms. The Hoover Upright Pet Vacuum Cleaner with Anti-Twist & Push&Lift HL5 is an impressive upright vacuum but it isn’t perfect. It isn’t particularly good at collecting large particles from hard floor. One other thing to note is that the turbine-drive doesn’t have the same anti-tangle system as the floor head. As a result, I found it started collecting hair almost immediately. And it’s a bit fiddly to clean out, too, because removing the brush bar involves freeing it from its belt drive. In the early days of vacuums, if you wanted a new vacuum cleaner you would have found that your choice was Hoover, Hoover or Hoover –and many people still call vacuums "hoovers". But while Hoover still makes some of the best vacuum cleaners, rival firms have also really pushed forward with clever technology to make their cleaners faster, more powerful and more efficient. That means there's more choice than ever, with excellent models from big brands such as Dyson, Miele, Shark, Beko, and more. Whether you want to splurge or get something more affordable, there's something out there that's perfect for you.The collection bin can hold 1.4L of dust and debris. That’s slightly less than the 1.8L of the Dyson Ball Animal but still beats the capacity of most cordless models, including the Shark ICZ300UKT cordless upright, which only holds 0.6 litres. What’s more, everyone's cleaning needs vary, and whether you’re dealing with carpets, hard floors, stairs, pet hair (or all of the above!), there’s a lot to consider when shopping for your next cleaning companion. But if you’re looking to invest in a new handheld, as well as battery life and dust capacity, you should also consider the weight. It may feel light at first, but it can get heavy and tiresome after a short while. The weight should be around 1-1.5kg on average.

Generally, the bigger the capacity, the less often you’ll need to empty it. Vacuum capacities are measured in litres, whether bagged or bagless. If you’re in the market for an upright or cylinder, and don’t want to be taking constant trips to the bin, look for no less than two litres. Meanwhile, Upright vacuums are bulkier and heavier, making them harder to push around your floors. As you'd expect given the name, the floor cleaning head is attached to a tall unit that holds the motor and dust canister or bag, with a handle usually at waist height or slightly above - so you can clean your floors without having to hunch over. As a general rule, look for at least 20 minutes of battery life (this will give you ample time to get around a car) and a dust capacity of at least 0.3 litres if you don’t want to empty it often. It’s also worth noting that many cordless upright vacuums can also function as handhelds, so you may already have one in the home. We recommend vacuuming most floors once a week while increasing this to twice a week in high-traffic areas such as hallways and doorways. Especially if you have carpet, as the longer dust is left, the more it becomes embedded in the fibers making it hard to thoroughly clean. Another area where uprights have been modernising in recent years is weight. Where once lugging the vacuum cleaner up the stairs was a real struggle, modern upright vacuums are now much lighter and more manoeuvrable than they used to be.

Connect your vacuum to your phone to monitor its usage, battery life and even surprising statistics such as how many calories you burn in use. However, our reviewer was disappointed there was only one power level, as she’d like to have been able to adjust the suction force, particularly on deep pile carpets, as you may find the vacuum hard to manoeuvre. It’s also a bulky appliance, which may cause storage issues for some. We also measure battery life for cordless models, suction (in kilopascals) where possible and also assess if the vacuum cleaner is easy to manoeuvre, straightforward to empty, and how convenient it is to access the washable filters. That's why the Good Housekeeping Institute made it their mission to find the top vacuums on the market. In fact, we’ve tried and tested over 100 models to find the best money can buy.

This isn’t exactly groundbreaking but can be a very useful feature to have on a cordless appliance. Some vacuums, including the Dyson V15 Detect, will handily count down your remaining battery time in minutes and seconds. Where it can’t compete is against the battery power of the Shark cordless upright. This has much stronger suction in its most powerful setting. For a further in-depth look at how the two vacuum styles differ, read our comparison of canister vs upright vacuums. How often should you vacuum?

An upright vacuum cleaner, for the purposes of this article, is a machine that can stand up on its own two legs; so to speak. These cleaners usually have powered roller brush heads and dust collection boxes or bags attached to the handle and most are mains powered. In recent times, we’ve seen an increase in the number of cordless upright vacuums, which blur the lines between the two types somewhat, but these tend to be more expensive. Are upright vacuum cleaners heavy?