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The best cylinder vacuum cleaners
The humble cylinder vacuum may not be as high tech as its cordless or robot counterparts, but it cleans better. Cylinder vacuums from big brands like Miele and Henry are typically more powerful and have a larger dust capacity and cleaning radius (the length of the cord). That’s why you’ll find that professionals use this type of vacuum cleaner in offices and hotels.
When it comes to choosing between a cylinder and upright vacuum, however, it depends on personal preference and the space you’re cleaning. Katerina Petrova, a professional cleaner from the Happy House Cleaning Company (who has cleaned over 1,500 properties in her time at the company), says: “The pros of cylinder vacuum cleaners are manoeuvrability – you can clean underneath and behind almost everything – as well as powerful suction and the different accessories and brushes that make them multifunctional.”
We’ve tried all the best cylinder vacuums currently on the market, with prices ranging from under £100 to just shy of £400. You can read the full reviews below, but first, here’s a quick look at the top five:
The best cylinder vacuum cleaners: At a glance
How to choose the best cylinder vacuum
Fola George from domestic services company WeCasa says that when it comes to cleaning power, traditional cylinder vacuums beat cordless. “The suction tends to be stronger on bagged vacuums. They’re good on carpet,” she says. George says the key things to look for in a vacuum cleaner are suction, the ability to pick up hair (cylinders are particularly good vacuums for pet hair), and weight – a vacuum needs to be light enough for you to carry it around the house comfortably.
This is one area where cylinder vacuums compare less favourably to the cordless variety: their more powerful motors simply weigh more. Since they are housed in the bucket-shaped body and the hose itself weighs next to nothing, this is no problem on a flat surface, but they are less good when climbing up and down stairs.
George also says that if you have a pet you’re better off opting for a light cordless vacuum that you can easily use on cushions and upholstery. Luckily, we’ve found a couple of pet-specific cylinder vacuums that are up to the job – see below.
Petrova suggests opting for a vacuum that has a wattage of over 800 – although wattage shows how much power a vacuum is using, rather than producing, so should be used as a rough guide rather than taken as gospel. A more accurate metric for comparing vacuum cleaners is airflow measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM), but most manufacturers don’t have this information available. We cover more about what to look for in the FAQ section at the bottom of the page.
Cylinder vacuum cleaners are plugged into the mains, so you don’t need to worry about battery life, but it is worth checking the length of the power cord – a longer cord means you won’t have to unplug the vacuum to move from room to room. One other thing to take into consideration is whether the vacuum has a motorised brush roll for cleaning carpets.
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