The art of vacuuming is a dichotomous one, being at once a sweat-breaking, somewhat innervating through-house job and a highly satisfying undertaking.
You can feel both attracted and repelled vacuuming thanks to the variables – including the number of stairs to navigate – but the biggest is inarguably the vacuum cleaner you use.
Vacuum cleaners come in a wide variety of forms, each with their own practical applications and ideal working environments. From handheld machines to big industrial tanks, there’s one for everyone. But for the regular reader, where to start? Here, we’re making a case for the corded vacuum cleaner.
In a world of wirelessness, the idea of portable appliances with hardwired power connections feels ridiculous.
Indeed, many may see the corded vacuum cleaner as an ancestral appliance, long rendered obsolete by its modern, cordless vacuum successors. However, while cordless things at one point felt like the future, they are by no means a holistic step in a ‘better’ direction.
Battery technology is continually improving, but there’s still a convenience trade-off in using a cordless vacuum; at some point, it will lose power, and it will probably do so in the middle of a crucial vacuuming task or when time is tight. Corded vacuums will never let you down in this regard.
More crucially, having a direct connection to household mains enables corded vacuums to offer much more suction power than their portable brethren. This means that even smaller corded units can provide incredible power for really getting to the bottom of your household carpets.
Best corded vacuum cleaners to buy at a glance
Naturally, there are a few things to bear in mind when picking the right vacuum for you.
Van-lifers and those living in studio flats will likely prefer a compact cordless affair, but corded vacuum cleaners are the choice for those with more square footage to cover or need that much more power.
If you’re in the market for something that truly, and in the best possible sense, sucks, then you won’t do better than these ten incredible dust-eaters.
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Numatic HVT 160 Henry Turbo Vacuum Cleaner
Best: overall
Is there a household appliance more iconic, more recognisable, more homely than the not-so-humble Henry Hoover? This primary-red, placid-faced vacuum cleaner is downright legendary, a common aspect of small households and large institutions’ cleaning cupboards alike. It is also one of the better corded vacuum cleaners around, being a dependable, easily-maintained and powerful-enough unit for the everyday.
There are those that remain unconvinced as to the viability of the Henry to life’s bigger messes – and to those, Henry manufacturer Numatic has the definitive answer. This is the Henry Turbo, a supercharged iteration of the anthropomorphised dust-defeater.
The Henry Turbo benefits from an AiroBrush Turbo attachment, which uses the Henry Turbo’s own suction power to rotate a bristle bar which actively takes up hair from your carpet. This is quintessential Numatic reliability, with an active spin – quite literally.
Buy now £189.00, Amazon
Russell Hobbs TITAN2 Pet Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner – 3 Litre
Best for: pets
There are other pet-friendly corded vacuum cleaners on this list, each with merits of their own aplenty – but Russell Hobbs’ TITAN2 vacuum cleaner sets itself apart in a crucial way. This vacuum cleaner is a bagless affair with powerful suction too; what sets it apart is that it’s simultaneously lighter than most, and more capacious than many other similar pet vacuums.
The TITAN2 has a three-litre capacity, which makes it the ideal appliance for attacking the fur shed by your shaggiest little friends.
Pekingese with a fringe to rival Claudia Winkleman’s? Maine coon capable of shedding enough hair to clone itself every week? No drama; the TITAN2 will free your home from the tyranny of their sheddings.
It’s also astonishingly well-priced, which makes it a hard deal to pass up.
Buy now £62.00, Amazon
Numatic HVA 160-11 Henry Allergy Bagged Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: the allergy-prone amongst us
Numatic’s range of hoovers-with-faces is much larger than the Henry and its Turbo counterpart. There’s a wide variety of models, each poised to solve a different problem. No prizes for guessing what problem the Henry Allergy is designed to solve.
The Henry Allergy builds on the flagship red Henry, but adds some robust filtration features designed to assuage the easily-tickled airways of the histamine-sensitive. The Henry Allergy benefits from three levels of filtration, including a HEPA filter which prevents allergens from escaping back out from the vacuum.
This triple-filtering iteration of a stone-cold classic is every bit the anti-allergenic powerhouse you’d want for eliminating hay fever from your living room. It also comes in a fetching pastel blue, which won’t affect performance but does make it something of a unique looker.
Buy now £199.00, Amazon
Vax Air Stretch Pet Corded Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: pet owners
Vax is a household name when it comes to floor cleaning and has been one since the late 70s. That history is well-entrenched in its modern models, including this bagless number that professes to be the ideal tool for households with pets.
The Vax Air Stretch Pet is a corded vacuum cleaner that dispenses with the dispensable. There are no bags to replace; only a drum to tap into your wheely bin. It’s a lightweight machine with some clever air-control designs that make it pull a fair bit more than its weight.
The ‘Pet’ designation comes from its ‘Turbo Tool’, which lifts dirt and pet hair with concerning strength from your various textile surfaces – sofa, carpet, curtains, and all. When your cat climbs the drapery next, this is the vacuum you want in the cupboard.
Buy now £100.00, Argos
Shark Corded Stick Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: boxy apartments
Cordless vacuums are often seen as some kind of advanced successor to the corded vacuum cleaner; smaller, sharper, more manoeuvrable, and generally that bit more futuristic-feeling. Shark’s Corded Stick vacuum cleaner is a hybrid machine, that represents the best of two worlds: the power of the corded vacuum; and the litheness of a cordless.
This Shark vacuum is a thin design, meaning it’s good for storing in small homes. The handle-mounted dust chamber makes it highly manoeuvrable, and especially easy to store upright in a cramped corner (or behind your coats). For even smaller spaces, you can fold the thing in half for neat stowage in just about any thigh-height space.
Crucially, its physical tether to mains power means it can deliver strong, stable suction without the threat of a battery dying in the middle of your quick tidy-up. And to top it all off, the Corded Stick vacuum comes with a handful of handy accessories that make cleaning different surfaces and materials all the easier.
Buy now £159.99, Amazon
Dyson Big Ball Corded Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: comprehensive carpet cleanery
At the turn of the millennium, Dyson successfully sequestered paired itself with the word ‘invention’ in TV adverts and PR campaigns – cementing itself as the forward-thinking brand with the space-age products that all households should covet. And it wasn’t altogether wrong, founder James Dyson having effectively brought bagless technology to the vacuum cleaner market. As far as powerful bagless vacuum cleaners go, the Big Ball is something of a Rolls Royce.
The Dyson Big Ball is a corded vacuum cleaner with an instantly recognisable form. The key selling point for this unit is its manoeuvrability; the Big Ball of its name means it can turn with ease, and as a bonus it can right itself after being tipped (a nuisance event which all of us have had some experience navigating).
This turn-on-a-dime corded cleaner is a little on the small side, but delivers exactly the kind of powerful suction you’d hope from a brand predicated on innovation.
An ergonomic delight, albeit a somewhat costly one.
Buy now £250.00, Argos
AEG Clean 5000 Bagged Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: ergonomic touch-and-go cleaning (in the good way)
AEG’s Clean 5000 is a conventional bagged and corded vacuum cleaner, and one which will tackle dirty floors well. It has a pleasing matte finish that makes it that bit less conspicuous in your home. The real winner here is another quiet element, often overlooked when it comes to evaluating which is the right vacuum cleaner for you: tactility.
Many vacuums will have you bending all over them, hunting for switches and toggling things in an uncomfortable hunch; the AEG is smarter, with two massive foot-friendly switches for engaging the vacuum and auto-returning its power cord. It even has an oversized knob for vacuum power, though we all know that it’ll be staying firmly on maximum for the entirety of its life.
Put short, the AEG Clean 5000 is an ergonomically excellent investment, with more than power to boot.
Buy now £119.00, AO
Karcher WD 2 Plus Wet and Dry Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: heavy-duty wet-and-dry tasks
Karcher’s reputation for heavy-duty machines is sound, and remains so with thanks to this hugely bulky, hugely affordable and hugely useful dust-bucket of a corded vacuum cleaner. The WD is a wet and dry vacuum cleaner, with a strong constitution that makes it very friendly to sites and spills that would have other vacuums faint.
This thing works hard in all the ways you’d want. It has 12 litres of capacity, and an incredible 1000W motor to generate some truly impressive cleaning force. It might be a bit garish for leaving out in your midcentury living room, but it’s just the ticket for pulling out of the garage when you’ve dropped your wine decanter on the patio, your bath won’t drain, or when your gutters are in desperate need of clearing.
Buy now £63.00, Argos
VonHaus UV Handheld Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: beds and mattresses
This specialist little sucker is the smallest corded vacuum cleaner we reviewed, but its size shouldn’t fool you; though mini, the VonHaus UV Handheld Vacuum Cleaner packs a mighty punch.
Let’s start with its 500W motor, made possible by its corded connection and priming this vacuum for incomparable localised suction. Despite being a nifty little thing, it has a fairly hefty 1.2 litre capacity for dust and dirt, too!
This portable vacuum is designed with beds and mattresses firmly in mind, though it also lends itself uniquely well to hoovering up anything creviced or sequestered by your other furnishings. A fun vibrating function is included for drumming up well-ensconced motes of crud, and an 8W UV lamp is installed for unique organism-killing purposes – allowing you to feel much, much better about hoovering your textiles. From bacteria to dust mites, you’ll sleep easier after tackling your mattress with this nifty VonHaus implement.
Buy now £69.99, B&Q
Sebo Automatic X7 ePower Upright Vacuum Cleaner
Best for: classic cleaning action
Sebo is, understatedly, the top of the food chain as far as domestic vacuum cleaners go. Its designs remain true to that quintessential form of the hand-operated vacuum cleaner, and its German engineering is exactly as you’d think: practically peerless, and with a view to lasting.
This is the Sebo Automatic X7 ePower, an upright corded vacuum cleaner with a whopping 890W of suction power. It also has over 5 litres of capacity for dust and debris, making it an absolute powerhouse for larger homes or regular cleans.
Its empty weight of 7.4kg might be heavy for some, but is an excellent sign of quality manufacturing and longevity – besides all of which, just look at it. It’s a classic design, and, though not as gainly as the pull-and-drag vacuums of today, a joy to ride around the house.
Buy now £359.99, John Lewis
Verdict
The Numatic HVT 160 Henry Turbo Vacuum Cleaner tops our list. It’s a powerful icon of a corded vacuum cleaner which has earned every bit of its reputation – and which offers some additional power for beating the crud out of your floors.
