Best Budget Stick Vacuums, Lab-Tested and Reviewed
We tested options from Shark, Tineco, and more. These models perform decently and won't break the bank.
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Purchasing a vacuum cleaner can sometimes feel like a tug-of-war. On the one hand, you’d prefer to spend as little as possible. On the other hand, it’s natural to worry that an inexpensive model might come with shabby performance, and nobody wants to be on the receiving end of the saying “you get what you pay for.”
The choice is especially tricky when you’re buying a stick vac. Money isn’t necessarily a guarantee of quality. Neither the least expensive cordless stick vacuum in our ratings (the Black+Decker PowerSeries+ BHFEA420J, which costs less than $100) nor one of the most expensive models (the Dyson Gen5outsize, priced at more than $900) earns a CR recommendation in our ratings.
But rest assured, there are budget-friendly stick vacs that can do their job well. Some models in our ratings are fairly inexpensive while still offering solid cleaning performance. “Just be aware that a lower price comes with trade-offs, such as the vacuum may be smaller, have weaker suction, come with fewer features that aid cleaning efficiently, or require recharging more frequently,” says Matt Schimmenti, who oversees Consumer Reports’ vacuum tests.
Here are the best stick vacuums, both corded and cordless, from our tests that cost about $200 or less, listed in alphabetical order. For more on vacuums—stick vacuums, canisters, uprights, handhelds, and robotics—see our vacuum buying guide and complete vacuum ratings.
Best Budget Corded Stick Vacuum
Corded stick vacuums aren’t as popular or as expensive as cordless models, but the few models in our ratings show they can offer the best bang for your buck in terms of cleaning performance.
While it’s not as powerful at suctioning sand off carpets as some other models, the CR Recommended Shark Rocket HV301 garners top-notch scores in our bare floor and pet hair tests. It also performs respectably in our clean-emissions test. In our member surveys, the Shark brand is rated highly for its predicted reliability, and its owner satisfaction rating is average.
Best Budget Cordless Stick Vacuums
On average, cordless stick vacuums are more expensive than corded models. That said, you can still find models with fairly good performance for under $200, and they can be more convenient due to their portability.
The Tineco GO203 VA170200US is designed for straightforward functionality without extra displays or digital features. It earns middling scores for carpet and bare floor cleaning in our tests, but it’s quiet and earns the highest rating for vacuuming dirt from wall edges and cleaning pet hair. The battery is replaceable, making it easy to swap out or replace it as needed for extended use. Emptying the dustbin is simple and quick, requiring just one step for hassle-free maintenance. In CR tests, one replaceable battery ran for about 46 minutes per charge on low and 8 minutes on the high setting. You can convert the vacuum to handheld mode and use it with the included crevice tool or a contoured nozzle combo tool.
The Tineco A10-D Plus does many things well. It’s quiet, has clean emissions, and earns high scores in our pet hair and edge cleaning tests. It’s also fairly good at cleaning up debris from bare floors. On the other hand, its carpet-cleaning performance is mediocre. And in CR’s tests, the battery life was relatively short, with an average run time of just 15 minutes. The upshot? This vacuum may be best suited for smaller areas with little carpeting.
How CR Tests Stick Vacuums
In our lab tests, we don’t go easy on our stick vacs. We evaluate how well they pick up sand, rice, and cereal from our test carpet. In our bare floor cleaning test, we scatter debris on a tiled floor with grout grooves, which increases the difficulty.
We also conduct a pet hair removal test on medium-pile carpet, as well as a clean-emissions test to see whether a vacuum is releasing dust back into the just-cleaned room.
CR’s Overall Score for each model incorporates the results of each of these performance tests along with ratings for brand reliability and owner satisfaction, based on CR’s exclusive member surveys. Until recently, we didn’t recommend any cordless stick vacuums because of their disappointing reliability, but last year the median reliability rating for them improved enough to let us recommend certain models.
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