The best stick vacuums to buy in 2022, including Black Friday deals
These expert-tested cordless vacuum cleaners laugh in the face of dust.
Stick vacuums are cordless vacuum cleaners that, err, look like sticks. They're designed to be lightweight, easily manoeuvrable and gentle on your back, with no tiresome cord to keep plugging in.
They all run on rechargeable batteries, but some are more powerful than others, with a longer battery life and a more generous range of included tools.
A number of these models are on sale in time for Black Friday – but we still recommend you consider your personal needs before you buy. Tech features can be tempting, sure, but a simpler, more affordable model may suffice if your home is smaller and you don't have pets. You can check out our picks below– 0r perhaps you'd like to try a robot vacuum instead?
What is the best stick vacuum?
There are many stick vacs vying for your cash, so our expert testers put 52 to the test to find the best. Scroll down for our ten best cordless vacuum cleaners for carpet, hard floors, pet hair, cars and more.
If it's a sneak peek that you're after, our experts crowned the Shark Anti Hair Wrap IZ320UKT the best stick vacuum you can buy.
Are stick vacuums worth it?
Stick vacuums are the modern, convenient choice, and that's what we favour here at Digital Spy. Traditional uprights or cylinders (we're looking at you, Henry) feel heavy and bulky to lug about in comparison, and many sticks can convert into handhelds for use in cars and awkward spaces.
Slim sticks are compact for easy storage – some fold down and others can be wall-mounted – with small dust canisters that are simple and mess-free to empty. Their batteries usually recharge within a few hours, and their suction power is getting stronger by the day, in line with exciting new tech developments.
Not quite sold? Sticks also tend to come with an array of useful tools for versatility – think an upholstery tool for ridding your sofa of biscuit crumbs, or a crevice tool for cleaning every nook and cranny.
How to choose a stick vacuum
Stick vacuums vary in price quite dramatically, with the models on our round-up costing between £99 and £849. Before you splash out on a top-of-the-range vac, consider how important the following features are to you:
Weight: Unless you're particularly strong, prolonged use of sticks over 3kg will make your arms ache, especially after carrying them up stairs. Bottom-heavy vacs will feel most gentle on your muscles.
Battery level indicator: OK, so this may be standard for most tech, but not all sticks offer it yet. Look for a vac that will count down your remaining juice in minutes and seconds, meaning it shouldn't die on you suddenly, moments before guests arrive. There are a handful on our list, including the Samsung and Dyson models.
Sensory tech: This is pretty cool – the floorhead senses whether you're vacuuming carpet or hard flooring, before auto-adjusting the power for efficient battery usage.
Smart tech: Some sticks can connect to your phone, allowing you to monitor its battery life and usage that way.
Headlights: Perfectionists, listen up – LED lights built into the floorhead illuminate dark spaces, such as underneath furniture, to help you banish every speck of dust.
How we test
Our expert testers tried 52 stick vacuums on carpet, laminate and floorboards. Firstly, they laid down a set volume of dust, before weighing how much each model had collected after a set number of sweeps.
Next, they ground pet hair collected from Battersea Dogs and Cats Home (oh yes, they're committed) into carpet and noted how well each stick lifted it without tangling. They ran the same test with small residue, such as crumbs.
Our team then tried each stick inside a car and noted how well it tackled crevices. They put it to work on stairs to gauge how easily it manoeuvred and also considered its ease of use, the clarity of its instructions, any innovative features and its overall design.
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