The best handheld vacuums are indispensable tools for keeping your home and car clean and fresh. Admittedly, they won’t have the power of the best vacuums overall. But the latter are often heavy and bulky, while handheld devices, in contrast, are light and compact.
This makes them perfect for quick spills, hard-to-reach areas such as curtains and the tops of wardrobes, and more delicate surfaces such as mattresses, sofas and armchairs.
We’ve put our experts to work to pull together an easy list of the best handheld vacuums on the market today. They’ve used, tested and reviewed each of the devices on our list below, comparing their features, performance and value to help you find the right choice for you. Meanwhile, if you want further options, check out our guide to the best cordless vacuums, as most of these can be transformed into handhelds too, and if you’re looking for something specifically for keeping your car spotless, see our roundup of the best car vacuums.
The quick list
1. Shark Ultracyclone Pet Pro Plus
Best overall
The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus pretty much does it all. It’s lightweight with great suction power and a long battery life, and comes with three brilliant attachments including a motorized pet hair brush.
2. Eufy Clean HomeVac H20
Best compact
Perfect for small clean-ups around the home or in your car, the Eufy Clean HomeVac H20 is ideal for getting into fiddly spaces and comes with three handy attachments. It’ll run for up to 30 minutes, too.
3. Black and Decker 12V Dustbuster Flexi
Best budget
Designed specifically for cleaning cars, this corded handheld vac comes at a low price and plugs into your car’s 12V socket. Its five foot hose makes it versatile, but it struggles with tougher cleaning tasks.
Best hybrid
Don’t want a separate handheld vacuum? Shark’s WandVac System is a stick vac that converts into a lightweight handheld, which makes it an excellent all-in-one option for cleaning smaller homes.
Best tiny
For little clean-ups around the house and in the car, this superlight handheld vacuum is a stylish-looking option that performs well, although it’s limited by only having one quite wide nozzle.
The best handheld vacuum overall
The Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus (also known as the Classic Handheld Pet Vacuum in the UK) is the best handheld vacuum we’ve used to date. It excels for quick cleanups around the home thanks to its strong suction power and good battery life. Plus it comes with three useful attachments: a motorized pet hair brush, a crevice tool and a dusting brush.
Our review found it lightweight to hold, easy to maneuver, and effective at picking up both large and small debris, although it sometimes struggled to shift worked-in dirt. The 0.45 liter bin size is also decent, so you don’t have to empty it too often. And all this, along with its compact design, makes it the best car vacuum we can recommend too.
The Pet Pro Plus promises 10 minutes of battery runtime on a single charge, but in our tests it actually achieved 15 minutes. To charge it up again took around three hours; again, a welcome advance on Shark’s promised four.
There were a few minor drawbacks. It only has one power setting, the bin mechanism can be slightly fiddly, and it’s not the quietest handheld we’ve tested. Overall, though, the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus is effective, versatile and excellent value.
Read our full Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Plus review
The best compact handheld vacuum
Want a really tiny handheld vacuum cleaner, for cleaning your car or specific, hard-to-manage spots in your home? Then we recommend this compact and lightweight device, which is great at getting into small, fiddly spaces.
Weighing just 654g, it offers two power modes, Eco and Max, and a number of car-specific attachments, including a built-in retractable tool, extension hose and brush head. You also get a handy, zip-lock bag to store them in.
Our reviewer tested this vacuum in his car and on his household furniture, and found it easy to use in practice. Its 40W of suction, while modest, did a good job of lifting dust and smaller debris. It did struggle, though, with hair, larger debris and stubborn dirt. Another downside is that the bin is tiny too, so needs emptying very frequently.
The Eufy Clean HomeVac H20 runs for a generous 30 minutes and has a charging time of just 90 minutes. It also comes with car charger, so you could happily keep it in your vehicle the whole time if you choose.
Overall, this is a good choice if you’re seeking a car vacuum cleaner or needing a handy device for quick, small cleanups.
Read our full Eufy Clean HomeVac H20 review
The best budget handheld vacuum
At time of writing, the Black & Decker PD1200AV Dustbuster Flexi Vacuum was the cheapest on our list, but it still has a lot to offer. This lightweight device is a good choice for a car vacuum as its five-meter cord connects to your vehicle’s accessory power outlet, aka cigarette lighter’ socket, and comes with a five foot (1.5m) long hose. You also get a crevice tool and soft brush.
In use, our reviever found performance to be mixed. While it could handle large debris adequately, it struggled with ground-in dirt and pet hair due to its relatively low suction power. In practice, that meant that multiple passes were often required for a thorough clean.
Overall, this is a good choice if you can’t afford anything else on this list, but if you can, we’d recommend you spend the extra money for the better performance you’ll get.
Read our full Black & Decker PD1200AV Dustbuster Flexi Vacuum review
The best handheld/stick hybrid
The WandVac System is handheld vacuum that can be transformed into a floor vacuum by adding a wand and floorhead. It weighs under 1kg in handheld mode, and comes with useful attachments including a crevice tool, multi-surface tool and an anti-hair wrap cleaner head.
Our reviewer found it easy to assemble and empty, and it provided impressive suction for a handheld on both carpets and floors, making this vacuum useful for a wide variety of small clean-up tasks. Plus, because it’s so lightweight, it proved particularly good for tackling tricky areas, such as high-chair trays or blinds and curtains.
However, there were also some limitations. The dust cup is small at just 0.013 qt / 130ml, making this device more suitable for small spills than whole-house cleaning. And the battery life is short, lasting only about 16 minutes in handheld mode and 12.5 minutes with the floor head attached. It was also noticeably loud during operation.
Nonetheless, this remains a good option for those needing a quick, lightweight cleaner for small spills or car cleaning, and the flexibility to convert to stick mode when needed. Note you can also buy it just as a handheld.
Read our full Shark WandVac System WS642 / WV361UK review
The best handheld vacuum for small jobs
If all you want is a tiny handheld vacuum for taking care of little jobs such as crumbs in your keyboard or giving your car seats a quick once-over, the Roidmi Nano P1 Pro could be just the thing. At 620g it’s the lightest vacuum in this roundup, and it has a striking tube-like design with a hinged nozzle that flips out when you need it and lights up the areas you’re cleaning, and tucks away the rest of the time.
The Roidmi Nano P1 Pro packs a surprising amount of power for its size and its battery will run for about 30 minutes, which is plenty of time considering that this one’s best for small clean-ups. And because this one charges via USB-C, you’re never going to be stuck for a charger when it runs out of juice.
It’s not perfect, though. Its shape makes it slightly awkward to use, and the fact that it only comes with the one nozzle makes it a bit limited in its application, particularly because the nozzle’s a little too wide to fit into tighter corners. The tiny bin capacity means it’ll fill up fast if you use it regularly, and in our review we also found that it was tricky to remove the bin without getting cleaned-up crud on your fingers. However if you’re just looking for something that’ll take care of quick cleans and light dusting then stow away tidily when not in use, this one’s worth a look.
Read our full Roidmi Nano P1 Pro review
How to choose the best handheld vacuum cleaner
To choose the best handheld vacuum cleaner for you, there are several things you need to consider. Handhelds tend to offer less suction than uprights, so look for models with high airflow (measured in CFM) and strong suction (measured in AW or kPa). For more on this, see our article on How to tell how much suction a vacuum cleaner has.
Most handhelds are cordless, in which case, battery life is crucial. Unless you only want a vacuum for very quick cleanups, you’ll probably be looking for at least 15-20 minutes of runtime.
The whole point of buying a handheld is that it should be light and compact. So pay attention to weight, tdimensions and the ergonomics of the vacuum’s design. Ideally you should be looking at something weighing under 4 pounds, with a comfortable grip. That said, there’s a balance to be struck, because the smaller the device, the smaller the dust bin will be, which will mean you’ll need to empty it more often.
Attachments are another thing to look at. For maximum flexibility, seek out crevice nozzles, brush attachments, and extension wands. Filtration is another consideration, with HEPA filters being particularly beneficial for allergy sufferers. Overall, you’ll need to balance all these things with your budget to find the right sweet spot between price and performance.
Are handheld vacuums useful?
Handheld vacuums are very useful, because their small size and low weight means they’re easy to store, they’re less tiring to use than normal vacuums, and they’re handy for cleaning in fiddly little spaces such as under furniture, on the top of cupboards, around tight corners, and up the stairs.
While handhelds aren’t great for cleaning huge houses (because the battery runs out quickly), they’re ideal for those living in small spaces, apartments or dorms. While they’re not ideal for very dirty floors (because they’re not all that powerful), these compact cleaners usually excel at tackling small messes, dust on shelves, crumbs on sofas, and pet hair on upholstery.
Car owners find them invaluable for keeping vehicles tidy, and they’re also great for cleaning up after messy kids or pets. And overall, they’re excellent clean-up tools that’ll complement traditional vacuums.
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