The best cylinder vacuum cleaners for deep cleaning your home
We've tested the best cylinder vacuum cleaners for easy and efficient cleaning
The humble cylinder vacuum may not be as high tech as its cordless or robot counterparts, but it cleans just as well, if not better. Cylinder vacuums are typically more powerful and have a larger dust capacity, so need emptying less frequently. They also have a larger cleaning radius — the length of the cord — than upright vacuums. That's why you'll find the professionals use this type of vacuum cleaner in offices and hotels.
Are cylinder vacuums better than upright?
It will depend on personal preference and the type of space you're cleaning. Katerina Petrova from the Happy House Cleaning Company (who has cleaned over 1,500 properties in her time at the company) says: “the pros of cylinder vacuum cleaners are manoeuvrability – you can clean underneath and behind almost everything – powerful suction, and the different accessories and brushes that make it multifunctional.”
How to choose the best cylinder vacuum
Fola George from domestic services company WeCasa agrees that, when it comes to cleaning power, traditional cylinder vacuums beat cordless. "The suction tends to be stronger on bagged vacuums. They’re good on carpet," she says. George says the key things to look for in a vacuum cleaner are suction, the ability to pick up hair (cylinders are particularly good vacuums for pet hair), and weight – a vacuum needs to be light enough for you to carry it around the house comfortably.
This is one area where cylinder vacuums compare less favourably to the cordless variety: their more powerful motors simply weigh more. Since they are housed in the bucket-shaped body and the hose itself weighs next to nothing, this is no problem on a flat surface, but they are less good when climbing up and down stairs.
George also says that if you have a pet you're better offer opting for a light cordless vacuum that you can easily use on cushions and upholstery. Luckily, we've found a couple of pet-specific cylinder vacuums that are up to the job – see below.
For effective cleaning, Petrova suggests opting for a vacuum that has a wattage of over 800 – although wattage shows how much power a vacuum is using, rather than producing, so should be used as a rough guide rather than taken as gospel. A more accurate metric for comparing vacuum cleaners is airflow measured in cubic feet per minute (CFM), but most manufacturers don't have this information available.
Cylinder vacuum cleaners are plugged into the mains, so you don't need to worry about battery life, but it is worth checking the length of the power cord – a longer cord means you won't have to unplug the vacuum to move from room to room. One other thing to take into consideration is whether the vacuum has a motorised brush roll for cleaning carpets, like our top choice, the Shark Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner.
How we tested the best cylinder vacuum cleaners
Our top cylinder vacuum cleaner models were tested by the Telegraph Recommended team on carpet and hard floors. We tested how easily each model was able to pick up hair, large objects like crushed crisps, smaller dirt such as crumbs and fine dust like talcum powder. We also took into account how easy each vacuum was to set up, use and manoeuvre. Some models are recommended based on interviews with professional cleaners.
The best cylinder vacuum cleaners – at a glance
- Best overall – Shark Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
- Best value – Henry HVR 160-11 Bagged Cylinder Vacuum
- Best for pet hair – Dyson Big Ball Animal 2 Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
- Best for storage – VAX Pick Up Pet Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
- Best for power – Miele Complete C3 Pure Red PowerLine
The best cylinder vacuum cleaners
1. Shark Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best overall
We liked: the easy, bagless design and sleek good looks
This Shark vacuum was the easiest to use and empty in our tests (not to mention the fact that it’s the most stylish by a significant margin). It’s bagless, so you simply empty the dust holder over a bin like most cordless vacuums. It was also quieter than the other models tested.
Shark’s DuoClean floorhead means you can easily switch between cleaning both carpets or rugs and hard floors effectively, with variable power and three suction settings you toggle using buttons on the handle. The wand is jointed in the middle and at its foot so that you can reach under furniture, and it also benefits from Shark’s famous anti-hair-wrap brush roll and an LED light in the floorhead for illuminating hidden dust. It has a very long 9m cable which automatically re-winds. My only gripe – and it’s a minor one – is that it’s not the easiest to store.
Key features: 1.6 litre bagless capacity, 800W, 9m cable, weight 8.4kg
2. Henry HVR 160-11 Bagged Cylinder Vacuum
Best value
We liked: the iconic design and large capacity, but it's not the easiest to manoeuvre
An iconic design and value for money are the two biggest selling points for this Henry vacuum. It performs reliably well, picking up the crisp crumbs and talcum powder I placed in its path in one sweep, but the suction isn’t outstanding. It packs 620W of power (as opposed to our top choice, the Shark, which is 800W). The 10 metre cord is handy for moving from room to room, but you do have to roll it back in manually. The 2.2m hose is longer than average, which is great for getting behind and under furniture.
Where it does excel is in capacity, as it has a large 6 litre dust bag that’s significantly larger than any bagless vacuum cleaner. However, on testing I found the bag was a little tricky to empty. However, as it's markedly cheaper than other leading cylinder vacuums, it wins our 'best value' award – good quality, good (if not outstanding) performance, and a fair price tag. Henrys have a reputation for being remarkably robust, too — we know of one cleaner who's had the same one for fifteen years.
A wet-and-dry version of the Henry, known as the George, features in our roundup of the best carpet cleaners.
Key features: 6 litre capacity, 620W, 2.2m hose, 10m cable, weight 7.5 kg
3. Dyson Big Ball Animal 2 Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for pet hair
We liked: the powerful suction and smart design
Both our experts (Petrova of Happy House Cleaning Company and Fola George from domestic services company WeCasa) recommend Dyson vacuum cleaners – and the incredibly high-tech Dyson V15 came top in my test of the best cordless vacuum cleaners. Sadly Dyson will no longer be selling cylinder vacuums in the UK as the focus is on their upright and cordless models, but you can still buy the most recent Dyson Big Ball Animal 2 Bagless Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner, and it has a lot to recommend it.
It's designed with incredibly strong suction to tackle embedded pet hair on every floor type. The clever 'big ball' body picks itself up if it's knocked over, and it's certainly better-looking than most cylinder vacuum cleaners, with Dyson's signature sleekness. It doesn't offer the capacity of bagged vacuums, but the 1.8 litre caddy is very easy to empty (and I prefer that to faffing around with dust bags, even if it does have to be emptied more frequently).
Key features: 1.8 litre capacity, 600W, 6.5m cable, weight 7.96kg
4. VAX Pick Up Pet Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for storage
We liked: the compact, lightweight design (and budget-friendly price)
At just 4.7kg, this VAX cylinder vacuum is the best choice if you need a vacuum to lug up and down stairs or have reduced mobility. It has a small, compact body that's easy to carry around the house, but still has a decent 2.5 litre capacity and 800W power. It's a good choice for small houses and flats, as it can be stored easily.
It has a HEPA filter, which Petrova says provides "the best level of filtration" for sucking up dust, grime and even the most stubborn embedded pet hair. The VAX ONEPWR Blade 4 was my top-rated budget cordless vacuum cleaner, and the Pick Up Pet performs similarly well, and costs just £80 – a bargain by anyone's standards.
Key features: 2.5 litre capacity, 800W, 1.5m hose, 6m cable, weight 4.7kg
5. Miele Complete C3 Pure Red PowerLine Cylinder Vacuum Cleaner
Best for power
We liked: the advanced filtration and suction power
Petrova recommends this Miele vacuum for its superior "AirClean" filtration which traps even the smallest particles of dust and dirt and claims to remove 99 per cent of allergens from the air. (It's not a HEPA filter, as above, but it cleans just as efficiently.)
It has 890W of power delivered through a 'power efficiency motor' for superior suction. It's a good choice for those with reduced mobility, too, as it has foot controls that prevent you having to bend down to the floor to adjust the suction power or roll back the 10m cord.
Overall, it has an impressive 12m 'operating radius' and an integrated floorhead that cleans both carpets and hard floors in one. It comes with three additional cleaning tools which are handily stored in the body of the vacuum cleaner. All in all, an exceptionally powerful and easy-to-use machine that's well worth the investment.
Key features: 4.5 litre capacity, 890W, 1.8m hose, 10m cord, weight 7.3kg