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Which Upright Vacuum Brand Wins?
A head-to-head test of 8 upright vacuum options with the measured results for each. See how they ranked and watch the full test video.
Ranked first
Bissell Compact/CleanView
Price shown in test: $60 (least expensive)
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The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Scroll sideways to see all measurements. Products are listed in the order they finished.
| Product | Spec baseline | Air speed unsealed | Air speed sealed | Suction/water column | Sand pickup on carpet (out of 100 g) | Plastic ball pickup | Hair pickup (5 g per lane) | Rice pickup on bare floor (out of 50 g) | Sand lifted from crevice | Rice pickup against a wall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Bissell Compact/CleanView$60 (least expensive) | 7.77 lb, 92.6 dB (loudest at that point), about 800 W, 7.5 in roller in a 10.5 in head (71 percent head efficiency), washable filter, no HEPA filter, made in Vietnam | 9.9 mph, 19.2 CFM | 22.5 mph, 43.7 CFM | 58 in of water | 82 g | left behind most of the plastic balls, performed poorly | collected about 99 percent of the hair; some hair wrap around the brush roll | 52 g (partly inflated by rice scattered into its lane from the neighboring Amazon Basics test) | 25 g | picked up most of the rice, missed some within 1/4 in of the wall; performed about the same as the Bissell 2252 |
| 2Amazon Basics$70 | 8.4 lb, 92 dB, 776 W (a little less than the Bissell), 8 in roller in an 11.25 in head (71 percent head efficiency), washable filter, made in Vietnam, about 10,000 sales in 30 days | 8.7 mph, 17.2 CFM, trails the Bissell | almost 19 mph, 36.7 CFM, trails the Bissell | 50 in of water, about 16 percent less suction than the Bissell | 85 g | left behind most of the plastic balls, performed poorly, similar to the Bissell Compact | collected about 99 percent of the hair; similar hair wrap to the Bissell Compact | 24 g; threw rice all over the shop and required a full sweep-up before the next test | 5 g, barely made progress | struggled badly, missed a lot of rice within 1 in of the wall, described as too much brush roll speed relative to airflow/lift; finished 4th of the first four brands tested on this specific test |
| 3Eureka Power Speed multi-surface$90 | 12.38 lb, 88.7 dB, 960 W (most power recorded up to that point), roller about 9.2 in in a 13 in head (about 71 percent head efficiency), washable filter, 2.6 L dust container, 5 height adjustments, 4 attachments, made in Vietnam | 12.1 mph, 24.2 CFM, most air recorded up to that point | 27.2 mph, 52.87 CFM, moved into the lead at that point | 61 in of water, moved into the lead at that point | 86 g, barely outperformed the Bissell Compact | performed slightly better than the Bissell 2252 | picked up just about all the hair on the forward pass; slightly more hair wrap than the Bissell 2252 | no exact gram figure given; described as picking up almost all the rice on both passes, though it tossed a small amount to the side | 20 g, 5 g less than the Bissell Compact | better than Amazon Basics but not as good as the Bissell Compact; finished 3rd of the first four brands tested on this specific test |
| 4Bissell 2252$120 | just over 14 lb, 85.5 dB (least noisy recorded up to that point), about 855 W, 12 in roller (the widest roller of all 8 vacuums) in a 13.5 in head, 88.9 percent head efficiency (tied for best of all 8 with the Dyson), 5 attachments, triple action brush roll, swivel steering, filter replacement every 6 months, made in China | 16.5 mph, 31.47 CFM (transcript reads "3147"), most air movement recorded up to that point | 23.1 mph, 45.4 CFM, trails the Eureka | 63.5 in of water, barely edges out the Eureka | 68 g, described as really struggling on this test | struggled on the forward pass, spit a couple of balls back out; the Eureka is described as performing slightly better | missed some hair on the forward pass, good on the return pass; slightly less hair wrap than the Eureka | no exact gram figure given; described as picking up almost all the rice on both passes | 30 g, took the lead from the Bissell Compact at that point | performed about the same as the Bissell Compact, near the top of the first four brands tested |
| 5Kenmore Featherlite$130 | about 12.2 lb (transcript reads "122 lb," read as a garbled decimal), 81.2 dB (least noise recorded up to that point), claims 850 W but transcript states it "did better than advertised" at what reads as "$995" in the transcript, almost certainly meaning 995 W rather than a dollar figure since the surrounding sentence is about power output, not price; roller about 8.5 in in a 10 in head, 85 percent head efficiency (second best recorded up to that point), 2 motor system, HEPA claims to trap 99.97 percent of dust, 3 attachments, LED headlight, swivel, made in China | 14.27 mph, 27.6 CFM; 30 percent shorter brush roll than the Bissell 2252 but only 12 percent less air | transcript reads "2.28 mph" and 41.72 CFM; the mph figure is implausibly low next to every other brand's 19 to 32 mph range on this same test and is flagged as a likely misplaced decimal (plausibly 22.8 mph), while the CFM figure is in line with its neighbors and not flagged | 82 in of water (peak figure cited in the final suction recap, 3rd best peak behind Dyson and Shark Stratos) | 92 g, moved into the lead over the Eureka at that point | picked up all of the plastic balls after 3 passes (missed 3 on the forward pass, cleared them on the reverse pass); tied with the Shark Stratos for the best possible rating of 1 on this test | missed a few strands on the forward pass, good on the return pass; experienced quite a bit of hair wrap, worse than the Shark 360 | 50 g, a perfect score | 19 g | picked up just about all the rice after three attempts, described as by far the best job of any of the 8 vacuums and given the best possible rating of 1 |
| 6Shark NV360$160 | 14.37 lb, 80.9 dB (quietest of all 8 vacuums in the final recap), 1,165 W (best of all brands recorded up to that point in the narration), roller close to 9 in in an 11.4375 in head, 0.9 gallon dust bin with a dual buckle release (unlike the push button release on every other brand), HEPA plus washable filters, made in Vietnam, about 20,000 sales in 30 days (most popular of all 8) | 13.9 mph, 26.3 CFM, a little slower than the Kenmore | 28.6 mph; the recap gives a final sealed CFM of 55.6 (third behind Shark Stratos and Dyson) | surged to 79 in before settling back to 63 in of water | 84 g, trails the Kenmore | pushed quite a few plastic balls off the end of the carpet, described as not seeming as hungry as the Kenmore; performed poorly on this test | missed a few strands on the forward pass, good on the return pass; less hair wrap than the Kenmore | 50 g, a perfect score | 12 g, described as really struggling because it did not seal to the floor well | really struggled even after five attempts, scattering rice it could not pick up |
| 7Shark Stratos$490 | 16.82 lb, 85.8 dB (a little louder than the Shark 360), 1,434 W (most powerful recorded up to that point, almost identical to the Dyson), roller almost 10 in in a 12 in head, 3 attachments, odor neutralizer technology, HEPA filter claims to trap 99.9 percent of dust and allergens, push button dust bin release, made in Vietnam, 29 ft power cord | not tested | mph figure is unrecoverable in the transcript (reads as the corrupted string "17.09.2011"); final recap CFM is 63.4, the best of all 8 vacuums | 100 in of water, most powerful recorded up to that point, 2nd best peak behind the Dyson's 109 in | 96 g, second best of all 8 vacuums behind the Dyson | missed only 1 ball on the forward pass, tied with the Kenmore for the best possible rating of 1 | picked up most of the hair, missed a few strands on the return pass; tied with the Dyson for a perfect job avoiding hair wrap, the best possible rating of 1 on that sub-metric | no exact gram figure given; described as performing very well, capturing just about everything with lanes free of rice after the return pass | 60 g, moved into the lead at that point before the Dyson edged it out | performed just about as well as the Kenmore |
| 8Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra$500 (most expensive) | just over 17.5 lb (heaviest of all 8 vacuums), 87.9 dB (louder than both Shark models), 1,413 W (almost identical to the Shark Stratos), roller close to 10 in in an 11 in head, 88.9 percent head efficiency (tied for best of all 8 with the Bissell 2252), 5 attachments, automatic detangling technology, 3 cleaning modes, made in Malaysia, longest power cord of all brands tested at 35 ft | 46 CFM, the best of all 8 vacuums on this specific measurement; mph figure not given | 32.2 mph, 62.9 CFM, almost as fast as the Shark Stratos | surged to 109 in before settling back to 84 in of water; the narrator states this is the highest peak suction of all 8 vacuums | 98 g, the best of all 8 vacuums | did not miss any balls on the forward pass but pushed several dozen off the end of the carpet and struggled to drive over them; some balls became trapped in the hair removal vanes, requiring the head to be disassembled before the next test | picked up most of the hair, tied with the Shark Stratos for a perfect job avoiding hair wrap, the best possible rating of 1 on that sub-metric | no exact gram figure given; described as performing very well, capturing just about everything with lanes free of rice after the return pass | 62 g, the best of all 8 vacuums, barely edging out the Shark Stratos | missed a lot of rice in the very center of the head; adjusting the vacuum's path helped it pick up most of the rice |
How it was tested
- specs and baseline measurements (weight, noise in dB, rated wattage, roller width vs head width efficiency percentage)
- air speed and flow, unsealed (mph and CFM)
- air speed and flow, sealed to the test box with tape (mph and CFM)
- suction/water column lift (inches of water, steady-state and peak)
- sand pickup from carpet, 100 g standard (grams recovered)
- airsoft plastic ball pickup off carpet (subjective 1 to worse rating)
- hair pickup and hair-wrap-around-brush-roll, 5 g per lane (subjective 1 to worse rating)
- rice pickup on a bare floor, 50 g standard (grams recovered)
- sand lifted out of a roughly 1/2 in deep crevice, 3 passes (grams recovered)
- rice pickup close against a wall (subjective 1 to worse rating)
- power cord length (feet, only stated for Dyson and Shark Stratos)
Data notes and caveats
This is a per-price-tier verdict video, not a single-winner showdown, so winner/runnerUp/budgetPick are left null per the standing rule for this video type. The narrator's explicit closing structure: no vacuum under $100 is recommended (Bissell Compact $60, Amazon Basics $70, and by price band Eureka $90 all fall in this unrecommended group); in the $100 to $200 tier the Kenmore ($130) is the clear pick with the Shark 360 ($160) as a solid but slightly weaker secondary choice; in the $200 plus flagship tier both the Shark Stratos ($490) and Dyson Ball Animal 3 Extra ($500) are praised equally with no single winner declared, even though the Dyson wins outright on more individual sub-tests (sand from carpet 98 g vs 96 g, sand from crevice 62 g vs 60 g, peak suction 109 in vs 100 in, unsealed CFM 46 vs an unrecoverable Stratos figure). Products in this file are listed in the same least-expensive-to-most-expensive order the narrator uses for the closing recap, not a performance rank. No meta chapters exist for this video. Several individual numbers are corrupted by caption artifacts beyond simple decimal drift (Kenmore's power output reads as a dollar figure "$995" instead of 995 watts; Kenmore's sealed air speed reads as an implausible 2.28 mph next to a normal 41.72 CFM; the Shark Stratos's sealed air speed in mph is unrecoverable, rendered as the corrupted string "17.09.2011"); each is flagged in place rather than silently corrected.