By Daisy Coles
Writer | Kaituhi
When you think “handheld vacuum”, it might be the good old Dustbuster that pops into your mind. But these days, the handheld options are much more numerous. It’s a brave new dust-free world out there!
Whatever happened to Dustbusters?
Black & Decker’s original cordless little sucker launched in 1979. It was so successful that the brand name became shorthand for an entire category of vacuum. An interesting side note to that story is that the humble Dustbuster was actually a product of the space race. Black & Decker built the power head for the drill used by Apollo astronauts to take lunar core samples. That expertise eventually fed into its cordless consumer products, including the Dustbuster.
These days, Dustbusters are still with us, as are similar hand vacuums from competing brands like Ryobi and Shark. But they all have competition from a much more versatile descendant: the cordless stick vacuum.
Is a Dustbuster the best handheld vac?
These days, you don’t have to search to the moon and back for a good handheld vac – and you’re certainly not confined to a Dustbuster.
At Consumer, we independently test a wide selection of vacuums currently available in New Zealand, including stick vacuums. Every stick vacuum in our current reviews can be converted into a handheld, by removing the wand and attaching a cleaning tool directly to the vacuum unit.
Among our various tests, we specifically look at how well stick vacuums clean as a handheld. We also look at how well they clean hard floors and carpets, how well they handle pet hair and how easy they are to use.
Long ago, we tested handheld vacuums too. But consumers lost interest in the category once stick vacuums started getting popular, so we wound up the test in 2013 in favour of testing more stick vacs.
How we test stick vacuums
The very best products we test earn our Consumer Recommended tick. In addition, we’ve asked owners how satisfied they are with their vacuum cleaners, and whether they’ve experienced any faults. Brands that perform particularly well in this survey can earn our People’s Choice award.
Our testing has definitively shown us that being capable of handheld cleaning and being good at it are two quite different things. Not all stick vacs are equally good as handheld vacs. It’s definitely worth your while to have a look at our test results, to sort the moondust from the dust bunnies.
If you want some more information about choosing a stick vacuum in general, check out our buying guide.
We’ve tested 40 potential Dustbuster replacements, ranging in price from $99 to a whopping $2,299. Our testing tells us that you absolutely can’t assume that spending more will buy you better handheld performance.
The best handheld vacuums
Best cordless vacuum with handheld mode
Best affordable handheld vacuum
Best premium handheld vacuum
Find the best stick vacuum
We’ve independently tested 40 current models from 18 brands to help you avoid an expensive mistake.
