Best-Canister-Vacuums

Every year new vacuums are coming out with new designs, benefits, and sometimes, drawbacks.  While there are many types to choose from, let’s take a look a few of the great canister vacs out there.  This unique type of machine is great for getting under tight areas, and deferring all carry weight to a rolling bag holder.  They also make for the best hybrid vac for both home and car interior.  For consumer grade tools, this list might help!

Eureka Might Mite
Low price, lightweight, praised for ease of vacuuming stairs and a bonus… a port for BLOWING air, like leaves and debris, which is awesome for clearing your porch and garage quickly. Suction may be lack-luster compared to modern models.

Smart Clean Canister
This one is all about reach.  With a long extension chord and also a long wand hose, you can get over 40 feet of cleaning done before finding a new outlet to connect to.  Also, this one has a dusting head built into the want handle so you can go from vacuuming to dusting fast.  This one is a bit heavy at 23 pounds  (11 pounds more than the Eureka 3670 coming up next) but, it’s heavy duty and may be worth the weight.

Eureka 3670
This compact, light weight (9 pounds) vac has a lot going for it.  The only drawback is a short cord, however attaching an extension permanently really is no additional problem due to its other flaw – no automatic chord re-tractor.  That’s right, you’ll be hand winding the chord every time.  Some may find this a problem, but adding a long extension would require it anyways and can help you get through ½ a house without re-plugging the machine in!

Miele Compact Canister
Lightweight, variable speed, somewhat quiet, yet POWERFUL!  Look out though, this one may have the best of all stats, but it also costs about 3 to 4 times other vacuums – dialing it at six to nine hundred dollars!

Bissell Zing Canister
This one has a handy switch to slow the roller brush down, making it superior for moving from carpet to hard floors.  Some say this is a great all-around machine, but might not be the strongest suction for the deepest long-fiber carpets

Kenmore 200 series
This one is a high suction model with HEPA filter for those most sensitive.  The attachments are well made, though the total carry weight is 24 pounds which is kind of high!

Conclusion: which one should you choose?  It really can be hard to choose.  If you would like more info, it might be worth checking out the Consumer Reports list here.

Home-use vacs have a different criterion than the machine pro cleaners might use.  We don’t think there is a need for a $900 Miele for single home use.  We do like the idea of the ultra light Eureka3670 for those who want to buzz through cleaning without breaking a sweat – but the Might Mite, with the blower feature might be impossible to resist: having a freshly blown garage and porches is just too crisp-feeling to pass up.  Another factor to consider is how a machine feels in-hand, which can only be sensed in person.  However reading reviews can sometimes reveal how a machine actually feels.  Canister vacs can be a great way to go, and if you have more than one machine in the house, nothing beats having them for cleaning the car.  For that reason, we definitely thing this type is worth keeping on the radar.  Overall, on the of the biggest disqualifies is weight.  If you every injure your wrist, knee, or back, or dread the slow pace of pushing around a heavy hand-held type, a canister is definitely the way to go, as all the weight is deferred to the ground permanently while in use.