There’s no need to get down and dirty when you don’t have to – these vacuums and floor steamers do all the hard work for you.
Love it or hate it, housework takes up an inordinate amount of time in our already busy lives. Thankfully tech advances have made the process so much quicker and efficient – and nowhere is that more evident than with floorcare.
Vacuum cleaners have been around for decades, but now they can sense the thickness of your carpet, adjust to hard floors, have touch screen displays that display battery life, notify you when they need emptying – and some of them even talk to you! They come as cordless, corded, or with their own charging docks. Some convert to handheld for the stairs or car, while some recline almost flat for getting under low furniture.
Then there’s the mops that also dry, the all-in-one cleaners, carpet shampooers for deep-down hygiene, and spot cleaners for targeted stain removal.
Wand to know more? We’ve rounded up a few of our favourites to bring you the best floorcare must-haves available right now.
Vax Lift Out Reach Pet Design, £139.99
For anybody who prefers a corded to a cordless, this new vacuum from Vax is a game changer. The design is similar to cordless models – slim shape, narrower brush head and headlights – but with the power you’d expect from a corded cleaner. The 14.5m cable means you don’t have to swap plugs so often when vacuuming different rooms, and the lift out feature means cleaning the stairs is a doddle. We love the hairwrap resist brushroll which never seems to clog up, even with two dogs and a cat in our tester’s house. There’s also a turbine pet tool for the sofa and car, a two-stage filtration system for allergens and odour, and, most importantly, it’s easy to manoeuvre and lightweight to use.
Electrolux Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with Auto Empty & Charging Station, £349.99
This cordless vacuum empties itself into a sealed bin bag within its docking station, so you only need to empty it every few weeks depending on how often you use the cleaner. This, together with the HEPA filter, is a big plus point if anybody in your household suffers from allergies or asthma. The battery gives up to 60 minutes of cleaning, depending on the speed setting used – low, high or auto (which adjusts the power for carpets or hard floors), and the flexible wand bends to reach under low furniture. There’s an anti-tangle brushroll, which is indispensable if you have pets, LED headlights to highlight dust, and a selection of accessories included. The vacuum also converts easily to hand-held for use on furniture or in the car.
Kärcher FCV 3 Cordless Vacuum Mop, £199
Put away your mop and bucket – Karcher’s FCV 3 vacuums, washes and dries all in one! Then, when it’s done, it self-cleans, saving you even more time and energy. It’s cordless, providing 30 minutes of cleaning time on one charge, and it has separate fresh and dirty water tanks. The LED display shows runtime and the cleaning mode chosen – dry, standard, advance power for stubborn stains, and self-clean. It sucks up both liquid and dry dirt, including pet hair, and after washing, floors are dry enough to walk on within minutes. Karcher says it removes 99% of allergens and bacteria from the floor, and uses 93% less water than a traditional mop – impressive. Suitable for hard floors, while the dry mode can also be used on rugs and low-pile carpet.
Gtech AirRAM 3 Plus, £269.99
This vacuum talks to you, which is either a good thing, or a bad thing depending on your point of view. However you can switch off the voice assist function and just enjoy the lightweight, powerful clean it delivers. Another of our testers had a Gtech vacuum before and loved it; this one is even better. It has anti-hair wrap technology and can pick up debris of all sizes – even cotton wool buds – while the self-cleaning filter is such a bonus. It gets right into the corners, thanks to its edge brushes, its headlights highlight dust, and you hardly have to push it as it propels itself forwards. This, together with the 3.8kg weight, makes it an ideal choice for older people or anybody with mobility problems. It averages 30 minutes cleaning time on a full charge, and is suitable for hard floors and carpets.
Vonhaus Spot Cleaner, £69.99
For stains and deep-down dirt, this spot cleaner is an essential. It comes into its own for spills, such as wine or tea, or dirty paw prints from pets. It’s for small areas on carpet and upholstery, rather than total cleans, and is much lighter to use than a full-size shampooer. Simply spray water onto the stain, pull the brush through it and watch the dirt being sucked up into the machine. There’s two tanks – one for clean and one for dirty water – and the powerful suction ensures your carpet or furniture isn’t left soaking wet afterwards. It comes with three brush attachments – large, small and pet – which are easily interchangeable, depending on the task at hand. There’s even a self-clean function that flushes out the machine when you’ve finished using it.
Henry Quick, £199.99
Loved by one in four UK homes, there’s just something about Henry. With this in mind it’s time to meet (and we say buy!) Henry Quick. It’s a cordless vacuum that compacts dust inside a clever pod system, giving a bigger capacity than most leading vacuums, and one-click, dust-free emptying. Then there’s up to 60 minutes of powerful cleaning, just as you would expect from a Henry. What’s more, its powerful, motorised brush head easily tackles stubborn dust, dirt and pet hair on carpets and hard floors, leaving your home spotless.
PS Want to be in with the chance to win a Henry Quick? Just click here!
Daewoo 12-in-1 Steam Mop & Handheld Steam Cleaner, £33.99
This mop heats up in 30 seconds and uses steam to hygienically clean floors without the need for detergent. It’s lightweight – under 2kg – and converts to hand-held easily and quickly. It’s suitable for upholstery, windows, wall tiles and refreshing carpets, as well as cleaning hard floors, and it comes with a variety of attachments. Out tester loved the triangular head, which gets right into corners and fits flush against the skirting for a close clean, while the 12 minutes of continuous steam – which kills up to 99.9% of bacteria – is enough to clean the kitchen floor with some left over. It’s corded, with a generous 5m cable, and the water tank holds up to 280ml so you don’t have to repeatedly refill it.
Beldray All-In-One Floor Cleaner, £127.99
Beldray’s all-in-one cleaner takes the effort out of keeping floors spotless. Use it to vacuum, then mop and dry hard floors including tiles, laminate, vinyl, and wood with ease. The design incorporates separate fresh and dirty water tanks so you’re always working with clean water, while powerful suction leaves surfaces dry within minutes. It’s perfect for dry and wet food spills, pet hair, muddy paw prints and general dust, while the cordless design is easy to manoeuvre. The cleaner delivers 25 minutes of run time on a full charge, has a self-clean mode, and it comes with a handy storage base.
Philips OneUp 5000 Electric Mop, £149.99
The slim design of this hard floor cleaner is ideal if space is at a premium and storage is limited. Quicker and more efficient than a traditional mop and bucket, it combines wash and dry functions to leave your floors spotless. It’s cordless and weighs less than 2kg, so it’s easy to take everywhere within the home, and there’s separate water tanks for fresh and dirty water. Battery life is an impressive 70 minutes, and you can use it on all hard floors. The mop head swivels through 360° and reclines almost flat for optimum reach – and the reusable mop pads can be machine washed on a delicate cycle.
Morphy Richards DualClean Carpet Washer, £179.99
Sometimes floors need more than regular vacuuming or spot cleaning, and that’s where this carpet washer comes in. It features large clean and dirty water tanks, so you can go over an entire carpet without needing to refill. The wide head covers more areas at one time, and the generous 7.5m cable means you don’t have the hassle of constantly unplugging and replugging into the mains. It’s not just for carpets and rugs, either – you can also use it on hard floors, and there’s an upholstery hose and nozzle for furniture. Especially useful if you have kids and pets.
Ultenic U20 Cordless Vacuum Cleaner, £159.99
This cordless vacuum has three suction levels, and can be used on both hard floors and carpets. The battery delivers up to 60 minutes run time on a full charge, and you can keep an eye on power remaining on the easy-to-read display. There’s an anti-tangle brush that makes short work of long hair and pet hair, and the flexible wand bends to reach right under low furniture. The 1.5L dust canister features one-touch release for easy emptying, and the seven-stage filtration system captures 99.9% of dust and allergens. Plus it easily converts to a hand-held vacuum.
Prices are correct at the time of writing but may be subject to change.
