I switched from a cordless vac to corded, and I’ll never go back — here are 4 models I recommend buying at Amazon’s spring sale

Years ago, I switched from my old and inconvenient corded vacuum to a cordless one, and I loved it. Just grab and go! No setup, no tangling! I’m a tech journalist after all, and the promise of solving inconveniences using the power of lithium-ion is catnip to me. And it worked great for me for years, making it really easy to stay on top of floor cleaning.

But last year, I found the shine wearing off. When I first got my cordless vacuum, I lived somewhere with all hard floors downstairs, and only carpets upstairs. My Vax vacuum had two levels of suction power, and the lower level was fine for doing the hard floors, with plenty of battery life to get around the whole level, and then some.

Doing the carpeted areas required the higher power level, and this drained the battery way faster, to the point that I could only just do it all in one go (even ignoring the hard floor). Still, no problem — they needed doing less often than the hard floors in general, being in less-used areas of the house.

Since then, I’ve moved house to somewhere that’s almost entirely carpeted, and pretty quickly my cordless vac started feeling in inadequate. Yes, it still had the convenience of being able to just grab it out of the cupboard and instantly start cleaning, but because I now needed to have it on maximum power all the time, I was barely getting through even half the house, with zero chance of doing the whole thing — it felt like it was extending the chore instead of making it more accessible.

On top of that, even at maximum power, I wasn’t happy with the quality of the cleaning, now that all the highest-trafficked parts of my house were carpeted. I was wanting to clean more often, which then made the inability to do it all at once feel more frustrating.

Around that time, we were working on our Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum review, and so I ended up switching to that model — and I’ve stuck with it ever since.

It’s bigger and heavier (we noted in our review that it’s particularly bulky), and more of A Thing to get out and use when you combine its size with it being corded, but I feel far more proud of the cleaning results afterwards. I could instantly see the difference in the amount of cat hair in particular being picked up, too.

This model has Shark‘s ‘Lift-Away’ design, meaning I can separate the vacuum part from the main head and tube, connect a smaller attachment to the nozzle, and just use that for doing the stairs, which is essential, in my experience — the main unit itself is just too bulky to move around well on steps, and doesn’t get into the corners at all.

Between the size, sorting out the cord and using the Lift-Away system, it does feel like the vacuuming job takes a long time in some ways — but I’d say it’s been more economical with my time overall, because I’m doing the whole house in one go and it’s cleaner afterwards, with each room taking less time to feel like it’s been done well.

I also want to note something that isn’t a cordless versus corded thing, but because I live with someone who has a lot of long, thick hair, the Anti Hair Wrap design of the rollers in the Shark cleaner is also miracle in its own right.

There are lots of reasons why you might still prefer to go with one of the best cordless vacs over a corded one, and it’s true that many will be able to offer stronger suction or swappable battery packs that would’ve helped solve my issues — but on balance, I’m happier with the reliability and power I’ve had from the Shark corded vac.

(And just to prove that I learned my lesson from this change, when I got a new car recently, I chose the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum for cleaning it, because as my colleague Cesci said in her review, ‘I can just clean as deeply as I want, at my leisure, with no worries about running out of battery before I’m done’.)

If you’re thinking of grabbing a new vacuum cleaner for your spring cleaning, and want to join me in going old-school and corded, I’ve worked with our resident vacuum testing expert Ruth Hamilton and Homes Editor Cat Ellis to pick out four top deals from the Amazon Spring Sale.