It sucked up litter, fur and stray kibble easily from my wood floors. For all my flat fabric surfaces, I used the motorized brush, and wow. It eliminated the hair from all of Big Red’s favorite hangout spots—the couch, my faux suede bar stools and the velvet chair in my office. I also tested it on the carpet near my bedroom window, where Red suns himself every day, and it dislodged all the hair stuck in the fibers there.
Though they look snazzy and have decent suction for such light, little machines, we found their tiny bins frustrating. Adding to that frustration was the positioning of each model’s power button right below the bin-emptying button, which led to more bissell handheld vacuum than one instance of our testers accidentally emptying the bin. In our tests, the extended crevice tool sometimes slid back when we were vacuuming tight, deep spaces; you may need to hold it in place when you’re slipping it between couch cushions.
The tangle-free brush roll helps prevent hair from wrapping around it while cleaning, and the full-width suction means you’ll find an easier time getting those tight corners clean. We also appreciate that it includes a crevice and dusting brush tool so you can remove dirt from even the smallest spaces. An upgrade from the previous cordless model (the 1782), this Bissell pet-hair eraser has an impressive run time of 17 minutes thanks to its 14.4V lithium battery. The same weight of three pounds, the Lithium Ion from Bissell comes with triple level filtration, motorized brush tool, upholstery tool, and crevice tool—trimming nothing from the previous model. The brush attachment ensures a deeper clean than more standard vacuums and makes owning a pet that much easier. We didn’t find corded models to be better cleaners than our picks in our tests, there’s no guarantee they’ll last longer, and they’re much less convenient.
We have not tested them, but they appear to be well suited for cleaning up the type of metal debris that you’d find near a workbench and that wrecks some regular hand vacs. In our guide to shop vacs, we do recommend two full-size models, which are a better fit for more heavy-duty jobs. As for the hand vacuums that plug into the AC port in a car, note that a car battery supplies only 12 volts, and such vacs are much, much weaker than any of the models we recommend in this guide. Whereas a Black+Decker spokesperson told us that the vacuum has a decibel level of 81 dB, we recorded it at 86 dB. Finally, because this model has no hose or pivoting nozzle, using it to clean at odd angles—the kinds that our main picks excel at—is a hassle. To test pet-hair pickup, we spread a handful of fur (from a local groomer) into a rug and then try to pick it up with each vacuum.
To empty the dustbin, you simply remove the dustbin from the unit, open the latch on the bottom over your trash can, and let everything drop out. To clean the filter, you gently wash it under warm water and let it dry out completely before replacing it. Her work has previously been published by The New York Times, The Guardian, Psychology Today, and many other bissell handheld vacuum publications. When she is not following her dream of an immaculate home and a flood-proof basement, she is taking care of her menagerie and creating magical animal quilts. This vacuum weighs about average, weighing 3 pounds with its heaviest tool attached and 2.6 pounds without tools. It is also quieter, though it has a slight whine that can be annoying.