The best wet-dry vacuum cleaner is just what you need if your home has a lot of hard floors that you want to keep spotless. Wet-dry vacs make the whole messy business of mopping your floors a lot easier, and many of them can cope with the sort of messy spills you wouldn’t want to tackle with one of the best vacuum cleaners.
Choosing a wet-dry vacuum cleaner can be a little confusing as there are some quite different options out there, from full-on mopping machines that can’t be used on carpet, through to all-rounders that’ll clean most surfaces, and even robot vacuums with mopping capabilities. Don’t worry, though, because we’ll talk you through how to decide which type of wet-dry vacuum is best for you later in this article.
We’ve gathered together a selection of excellent wet-dry vacs, with options for most requirements and budgets, from top brands including Dyson and Shark. Each has been tested rigorously by one of our expert reviewers, and we’ll explain why these models are so good, as well as alerting you to any potential shortcomings you need to know about. Read on to discover the best wet-dry vacuum cleaners available now.
The quick list
1. Tineco Floor One S7 Pro
Best overall
The easiest way to keep hard floors sparkling clean is with this Tineco, which vacuums, mops, deodorizes and disinfects. It self-propels for effortless cleaning and even features a built-in tutorial.
Best stick vac
If you need a lightweight wet-dry vacuum for all floor types, the Samsung Bespoke Jet does it all. It’s best for vacuuming, but it also features a wet brush that’s great for tackling spills and mud on hard floors.
3. Shark HydroVac Cordless
Best budget
The Shark Hydrovac Cordless is a decent wet-dry vacuum cleaner at a reasonable price. It’ll clean low-pile rugs and carpets without leaving them soaked, and it’s great on hard floors.
4. Dyson V15s Detect Submarine
Best premium
If you have the budget for it, this Dyson is an all-rounder with an effective Submarine roller that’ll clean up both wet and dry messes. Watch out for its non-sealed dirty water tank, as it can spill easily.
5. Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni
Best robot
Robot vacuums with mops are becoming pretty common, but this option is one of the best, with dual rotating mop pads that apply downward pressure and retract when the robot encounters carpet.
The best wet-dry vacuum cleaner in 2024: as chosen by experts
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Best wet-dry vacuum for most people
If you want a wet-dry vacuum that just about does it all, the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro is the way to go. It enables you to vacuum and mop hard floors with ease, and it’ll deodorize and disinfect as well, making this one a particularly good choice if you have pets.
Our reviewer was particularly impressed by its self-propulsion system, which took a lot of the effort out of cleaning up after her cats. She also found that the initial setup was made much easier thanks to a built-in interactive tutorial that literally talked her through all the Floor One S7 Pro’s features and cleaning modes.
The Tineco Floor One S7 Pro’s Auto Mode uses sensors to detect the amount of dirt and debris on your floors and adjust the power to provide the right amount of cleaning power, while its Ultra Mode will deep clean and deodorize your floors. It also has a Max Mode for more stubborn stains as well as a Suction Mode just for sucking up spills.
It’s not too noisy; we found that it maxed out at 65dB in Ultra mode. It might struggle to clean everywhere if you have a larger home though – there’s a maximum battery life of 40 minutes. And while the the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro has a self-cleaning system for its brush roller, you’ll have to take care of emptying and rinsing its dirty water tank pretty much after every use.
Read our full Tineco Floor One S7 Pro review
Best wet-dry stick vacuum
The Samsung Bespoke Jet is just at home mopping hard floors as it is vacuuming deep-pile carpets, and because it’s a stick vac it’s versatile enough to be used in just about every situation, however as you’ll learn from our review, just how versatile it is depends on which models, with varying numbers of attachments, are available to buy where you live.
There are up to seven cleaning heads and tools for the Samsung Bespoke Jet, depending on which version you buy, and between them they’ll handle most cleaning tasks. There are two motorized heads for hard floors and carpets as well as a motorized pet tool, while its wet brush is just the thing for keeping hard floors shiny. It uses either multi-use bristly pads or disposable antimicrobial pads in tandem with a small water tank that sprays water onto the areas you want to mop. It’s a simple but effective system for cleaning up spills and muddy footprints, but our reviewer felt that for cleaning a particularly dirty floor you’d be better off rolling up your sleeves and mopping it by hand.
The mopping is a nice little extra, however, on top of a very capable and relatively quiet stick vac. Our reviewer’s only real complaint was that as well as the base station, the Bespoke Jet also comes with a powered accessory cradle, which means that the whole system can take up a bit more space (and one more power outlet) than you might have bargained for.
Read our full Samsung Bespoke Jet review
Best budget wet-dry vacuum
If you don’t have a vast amount of money to spend on the best wet-dry vacuum, the Shark HydroVac Cordless is a more affordable option (and if it’s still too expensive, there’s also a cheaper corded version). The best Shark vacuum cleaners can be depended on to provide great performance and innovative features at attractive prices, and the HydroVac Cordless lives up to brand expectations.
It’s a three-in-one cleaner that vacuums and mops as well as cleaning itself, and while it’s best for hard floors it can also cope with low-pile carpets and rugs. In its default hard floor mode it’ll vacuum when you push forward and wash when you pull back, and it works just as well at freshening up hard floors as it does at picking up more substantial spills. Its freshen mode mops lightly in both directions, and can be used on both hard floors and carpets.
Our reviewer was pleased with its performance in both modes and relieved that freshen mode didn’t leave her carpet soaked. She was also impressed by the HydroVac’s self-cleaning, although it’s not perfect; the brush roll has to be taken out to dry for 24 hours after cleaning, and the HydroVac doesn’t always clean it perfectly, which means you’ll have to take it out and wash it yourself. The dirty water tank also has to be emptied after every use, so don’t expect the HydroVac to be low-maintenance.
Read our full Shark HydroVac Cordless WD201 / WD210 review
Best premium wet-dry vacuum
It’s not easy to find a wet-dry vacuum that’s equally good at vacuuming and mopping, but if you want the best of both worlds and have the budget for it, the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine is one to check out. It’s distinct from the regular Dyson V15 Detect because it’s designed for keeping both hard floors and carpets clean, thanks to an additional Submarine wet roller head that can tackle both wet and dry spills. That’s alongside the regular Fluffy Optic and Digital Motorbar floorheads for vacuuming all floor types.
If you’re after the best Dyson vacuum for wet-dry performance, this is your only option. Fortunately it lives up to the hype. Our reviewer praised the ability of the Submarine roller to clean up everything from muddy footprints to wet spills, and also found that it was great at picking up fine dust that the Fluffy Optic floorhead hadn’t spotted, as well as quickly mopping spilled water dry. However she was less impressed by its dirty water tank, which isn’t sealed; despite the presence of a drip tray she found that it was all too easy to spill dirty water on the floor when she removed the Submarine cleaning head to give it a wash.
That’s quite a shortcoming that might be enough to put some people off, particularly considering the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine’s premium price point. However if you can work around this (which is achievable once you figure out how to minimize spillage), there’s no denying the Submarine’s all-round performance. If you have a mix of carpets and hard floors and want an all-in-one to keep them all spotless, this one’s well up to the job.
If you just need something to deal with hard floor cleaning, check out the Dyson WashG1. It’s the brand’s dedicated wet cleaner, and fixes some of the issues with the Submarine.
Read our full Dyson V15s Detect Submarine review
Best wet-dry robot vacuum
Robot vacs that’ll mop as well as vacuuming are becoming increasingly common, to the extent that you’ll find mopping capabilities on even cheap robot vacuums. However if you want a robovac that’ll do a good job of both vacuuming and mopping, you’ll need to spend a bit more, and for our money the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni is the best robot vacuum and mop.
As our reviewer noted, most robot vacuums that can mop work by dragging a single pad along the floor, which isn’t the most effective way of cleaning. The T20 Omni, however, has a pair of circular pads that not only rotate but also apply downward pressure to scrub your floor; they can also lift up off the floor when the bot is going over carpeting or in vacuum-only mode. Another plus is that the T20 Omni’s base station uses hot water to clean the mop pads, saving you the job of washing them (but also creating another job for you, because the process quickly creates plenty of dirty water that you’ll then have to empty).
The big takeaway from our review of the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni is that it manages to both vacuum and mop well, which makes it something of a rarity. It’s also great at mapping your living space and has good battery life. As with most robot vacs, however, it’s not so great at dealing with edges and corners, which means that sooner or later you’ll have to roll up your sleeves and do a bit of cleaning yourself.
Read our full Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni review
How to choose the best wet-dry vacuum
Before you rush out and buy one of the best wet-dry vacuums, you really need to think about the kind of flooring you have in your home; specifically, how much of it is hard floor and how much is carpets and rugs.
If your home is entirely (or mostly) hard floors, a dedicated floor cleaner like our top choice, the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro, will be your best options. These models are built to mop and to dry up after themselves, and the leading models feature self-propulsion so you won’t wear yourself out pushing them around. But because their emphasis is on the wet, you can’t really use them on carpets, although some models such as the Shark HydroVac Cordless can be used on low-pile carpets without completely soaking them.
If you have a mix of carpets and hard floors, look for a combination option such as the Samsung Bespoke Jet or the Dyson V15s Detect Submarine. These cleaners can do it all and tend to feature swappable floorheads so that you can choose the right one for your floor type: a standard vacuum floorhead for dealing with carpets and rugs, and a mop head, usually with a built-in water tank, for mopping hard floors. These can be good all-rounders, but they’ll often lack water capacity compared with more mopping-focused machines, and their mopping performance isn’t always as effective.
Finally, if you want clean floors with the least effort, it’s worth looking for a robot vacuum and mop like the Ecovacs DEEBOT T20 Omni. Many of the latest robovacs provide a mopping function and a few can be had for a surprisingly low price, although the cheaper options tend to only offer basic functionality, with only a clean water tank and static mopping pads that you have to switch in by hand. More advanced options feature clean and dirty water tanks, and rotating pads that automatically lift up when the robot encounters carpets. However, mopping on robovacs tends to me relatively gentle – don’t expect them to really scrub your floors.
How does a wet-dry vacuum cleaner work?
The best wet-dry vacuum cleaners tend to feed clean water (with added detergent in some cases) onto a brush roll, which then picks up muck from your floor, and then everything gets sucked up into the vacuum’s dirty water tank. It’s an effective system, but one that requires maintenance: you’ll need to empty the dirty water tank regularly (ideally after every use), and while some wet-dry vacs will clean the brush roll for you, you’ll still need to give it the occasional clean yourself.
Some wet-dry vacuums aren’t quite as sophisticated, and are primarily vacuums that feature a mopping attachment with a single clean water tank to spray water onto the floor, and simple pads for cleaning. They’re a good choice if you have a lot of carpet and some hard floor that you want to keep shiny, but for mopping your entire kitchen you’d get better results by rolling up your sleeves and getting out an old-fashioned mop and bucket.
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jim.mccauley@futurenet.com (Jim McCauley)
