2026 test8 productsHome Appliances
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.
Budget pick
Eureka PowerSpeed
Price shown in test: $78
Check price on Amazon
Affiliate link. We may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
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/efficiency | Air speed/volume, unsealed head | Air speed/volume, sealed to test stand | Suction lift | Sand pickup on carpet (out of 100 g) | Plastic ball pickup | Long hair wrap resistance | Rice pickup on hard floor | Crevice sand pickup | Rice pickup against a wall | Dust removal from sealed air (3 minutes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1Dyson$300 | brush width just under 10 in, head width 11 in, just under 90% efficiency, the best of all 8 vacuums; weighs 17.59 lb; power draw 1,415 W, the highest of any unit; noise 87 dB | 22 mph, 41.5 CFM, second place behind the Shark Power Detect | just over 29 mph, just over 57 CFM, the best of all 8 vacuums | close to 97 in of water column | 95 g, the best of all 8 vacuums | left behind only 4 balls, third place | no hair wrapped around the roller and all hair collected in the canister; tied with the Shark Power Detect for the best possible rating (1) | left behind only 3 grains; rated 1.5, tied with the Shark Navigator | 59 g, the best of all 8 vacuums | collected all but a few grains; tied with both Eureka vacuums for the best possible rating (1) | removed 88.5% of dust particles, second place behind the Shark Power Detect |
| 2Shark Power Detectvery close to $600 as tested; the description separately notes it was 'currently $400' at time of posting | brush width just under 10 in, head width 12 in, 80% efficiency; weighs 17.37 lb; power draw 1,405 W; noise 83.7 dB, second quietest of all 8 vacuums | 23 mph, 45 CFM, the best of all 8 vacuums | 27.5 mph, 53.5 CFM, second place behind the Dyson | 101 in of water column, the best of all 8 vacuums | 92 g, second place behind the Dyson | collected all of the balls, none left behind, the best of all 8 vacuums | no hair wrapped around the roller; tied with the Dyson for the best possible rating (1) | earned a perfect score, the best of all 8 vacuums | 50 g, second place behind the Dyson | performed very well but left behind slightly more rice than the Dyson; rated 1.5 | removed 94.9% of dust particles, the best of all 8 vacuums |
| 3Eureka PowerSpeed$78 | roller width 11.5 in, head width 13.25 in, just under 87% efficiency; weighs 12.15 lb; power draw 1,020 W, the most powerful of the budget-tier units; noise 88 dB | 12.7 mph, 26 CFM, third place overall, best among the sub-$100 vacuums | 23 mph, just over 45 CFM, best among the sub-$100 vacuums at that point in the video | 60 in of water column, slightly more than the Eureka Airspeed | 62 g | left behind only 2 balls, second place overall behind the Shark Power Detect | little hair reached the canister, most wrapped around the roller, a typical result for this video | picked up most of the rice on the forward pass, a good result | 21 g, moved into the lead among the budget-tier vacuums at that point | gathered all but a few grains of rice; tied with the Eureka Airspeed and Dyson for the best possible rating (1) | doubled the amount of dust in the air after 3 minutes (added dust rather than removing it) |
| 4Shark Navigator$130 | roller width 9 in, head width 11.25 in, 80% efficiency; weighs 14.8 lb (heaviest at that point in the video, before the Hoover/Dyson/Shark Power Detect were tested); power draw close to 1,200 W; noise 83.1 dB, the quietest of all 8 vacuums | 10.7 mph, 20.8 CFM, trailing the Bissell, the weakest unsealed reading among the mid/upper tier | 26 mph, just over 50 CFM, third place overall | 62 in of water column | 82 g, moved into the lead over the Dirt Devil at that point in the video | left behind 92 balls, described as pushing rather than lifting them on the forward pass, the worst result of the video for this test | less hair reached the canister than the Hoover but a lot of hair collected on the brush, a middling result | left behind a couple of grains; rated 1.5, tied with the Dyson | only 5 g, tied with the Dirt Devil for the worst result, described as not producing enough air speed for this test | pushed rice against the wall and spread it across the floor rather than collecting it, described as not having much of an appetite for this task | removed 81.3% of dust particles, third place, one of only three vacuums that actually reduced dust rather than adding it |
| 5Hoover$210 | roller width just under 10 in, head width 12.5 in, 82% efficiency; weighs 17.02 lb; power draw close to 1,360 W; noise 84.6 dB, second quietest at that point in the video | just over 13 mph, just over 25 CFM, second place at that point, before the Dyson and Shark Power Detect were tested | 23.4 mph, around 45.3 CFM, second place at that point behind the Shark Navigator | 97 in of water column, by far the most lift of the units tested up to that point, essentially tied with the Dyson | 88 g, third place overall behind the Dyson and Shark Power Detect | missed 22 balls, third place, described as collecting rather than picking up the balls | missed quite a bit of hair on the forward pass but cleaned it up on the return pass, most hair wrapped around the brush with only a small amount reaching the canister | left behind 7 grains, the weakest result among the units besides the Dirt Devil | only 9 g, described as really struggling on this test similar to the Dirt Devil and Shark Navigator | not well designed for this task per the narrator, left about an inch and a half trail of rice behind | the unit became progressively louder within about a minute of starting this test and the narrator had to end the test early; the particle counter went off the charts and the unit began to smell like smoke; a teardown afterward found the motor's stator had been making significant contact with the rotor and the brushes were badly burned |
| 6Bissell$90 | roller width close to 8 in, head width just over 10.5 in, about 75% efficiency, the lowest of all 8 vacuums; weighs 9.03 lb; power draw around 775 W; noise 89.9 dB | 11 mph, just over 21 CFM | just over 19 mph, just over 38 CFM, third place at that point behind the Dirt Devil | around 58 in of water column, trailing the Eureka PowerSpeed and Dirt Devil | 66 g, better than the Eureka PowerSpeed's 62 g | left behind 16 balls, second place at that point in the video, before the Hoover/Dyson/Shark Power Detect were tested | little hair reached the canister, most collected on the roller, a typical result | missed quite a bit of rice on the forward pass, left behind more rice than the Eureka PowerSpeed on the return pass | 21 g, about the same as the Eureka PowerSpeed | performed better than the Dirt Devil but not as well as the Eureka vacuums, described as lacking sufficient air speed and lift for this task | more than doubled the amount of dust in the air, over 101,000 total particles after starting around 47,000, the largest absolute dust increase of any vacuum in the video |
| 7Eureka Airspeed$60, same price as the Dirt Devil | roller width 8 in, head width 11.25 in; weighs 8.43 lb, the lightest of all 8 vacuums; power draw close to 800 W; noise 92.4 dB, the loudest of all 8 vacuums | just over 10 mph, around 20 CFM, weaker than the Dirt Devil | just over 18 mph, just over 34 CFM, continuing to trail the Dirt Devil | just over 57.5 in of water column, trailing the Dirt Devil | 73 g, second place behind the Dirt Devil in this specific test | tied with the Dirt Devil, 25 balls left behind | performed about the same as the Dirt Devil, most hair wrapped around the roller | performed much better than the Dirt Devil, collected most of the rice on the return pass | 16 g, three times the Dirt Devil's result | much better designed for this task than the Dirt Devil, collected nearly all the rice; tied with the Eureka PowerSpeed and Dyson for the best possible rating (1) | added even more dust to the air than the Dirt Devil, about 31,000 extra particles after starting around 47,760 |
| 8Dirt Devil$60, the least expensive vacuum tested | roller width 8.75 in, head width 11 in, about 80% efficiency; weighs 9.27 lb; power draw around 910 W (versus a 700 W claim); noise 89.3 dB | 11.4 mph, just over 23 CFM, a good result for a budget vacuum | 19.8 mph, just over 39 CFM | 60 in of water column, described as pretty good for a budget vacuum | 79 g, the best result in this specific test at the time it was run (before the more expensive units were tested) | tied with the Eureka Airspeed, 25 balls left behind | picked up hair well on the forward pass but, like most vacuums, most hair wrapped around the brush rather than reaching the canister | the worst performer of the video on this test, tossing rice all over the place including in front of the neighboring Eureka | only 5 g, tied with the Shark Navigator for the worst result | picked up some rice but most collected up against the wall rather than being gathered, a weak result | added a total of 16,700 dust particles to the air rather than removing any |
How it was tested
- spec measurements: roller/head width ratio, weight, power draw, and noise level
- air speed (mph) and air volume (CFM) with the vacuum head unsealed and then sealed to a test stand
- suction lift measured in inches of water column
- sand pickup on carpet (grams collected out of 100 g applied)
- plastic ball pickup on carpet (count left behind)
- long hair pickup and roller-brush wrap resistance
- rice pickup on a hard floor without scattering
- sand pickup from a crevice (grams collected)
- rice pickup against a wall (edge cleaning)
- removing dust particles from a sealed air chamber over 3 minutes
“The Dyson and the Shark Power Detect tied for first place with the best average finish of 1.6. These are both very good vacuum cleaners and performed very well in every category of testing.”
Data notes and caveats
The video explicitly declares a tie for first place between the Dyson and the Shark Power Detect (average finish of 1.6 each), so winner is left null per the tie-handling convention, with both units' individual standing preserved in their own product notes; the narrator says he would buy either one if within budget, noting the Shark Power Detect is quieter but costs almost twice as much as the Dyson. The Eureka PowerSpeed is a clearly declared separate budget pick, not part of the tie. This video also contains a genuine equipment-failure event rather than a caption or data-quality issue: the Hoover's motor overheated and began smelling of smoke partway through the final dust-removal test, forcing an early stop, with a teardown confirming stator-rotor contact and burned motor brushes; this is flagged in the Hoover's own notes as a real reliability finding, not a testing artifact. Brand names in this video are clean and unambiguous throughout (no caption mangling requiring resolution), a contrast to several other Project Farm videos in this corpus.