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We tested top options to find the ones that won't damage your floors. rechargeable sweeper
When you have hardwood floors in your home, keeping them looking gorgeous and new without too much hassle can be a task. However, the best cordless vacuums for hardwood floors make upkeep easy, thanks to their portability, ability to get into tough spaces, and dust-suctioning capabilities, all without damaging your floor.
That's why we researched and tested several cordless vacuums on hardwood floors, evaluating their performance on a number of key factors like effectiveness, noise level, portability, maneuverability, and value. We also spoke with Missy Feldman, an organization expert and founder of No Mess with Missy, for insights on what to look for in a vacuum that will keep your floors looking like new time after time.
It’s lightweight, easy to maneuver, and has a relatively low noise level.
The dust container fills up quickly and is hard to empty.
With its highly maneuverable design, light weight, and moderately low noise level, the Dyson Omni-Glide Vacuum is a smart choice for keeping hardwood floors clean without damage or hassle. It swivels easily, thanks to an articulating neck and 360° castors, and it weighs less than 5 pounds, so it’s portable for any area of your home. If you’re looking for an environmentally friendly option, this vacuum also has a washable and reusable filter, dust bin, cleaner head, and roller.
The compact, lightweight nature of this Dyson vacuum comes with both pros and cons. During testing, we noticed that the dust collection canister filled up quite rapidly, and figuring out how to remove and empty it was tricky. Likewise, the battery life only runs for between eight and 20 minutes, depending on which power level you use. Due to these reasons, we found this pick to be an excellent vacuum for smaller spaces or touch-ups, but it’s probably not ideal for when you need a deep clean.
After three months of use, though, this vacuum has completely transformed our cleaning routine. It navigates tight corners with ease, and the handle folds down low enough to reach beneath our couch and around kitchen stools. Overall, we can't imagine a more convenient choice for daily use.
Weight: 4.2 pounds | Battery Life: 21 minutes (low power); 8 minutes (high power) | Dustbin Capacity: 0.05 gallon | Attachments: 1
It provides smooth function and maneuverability, all at an inexpensive price.
It can be tricky to empty and reattach the dust collection canister.
The Black + Decker PowerSeries Extreme Cordless Stick Vacuum has the reliability of the popular household brand at a budget-friendly price tag designed for use on wood floors. With three different suction levels and the ability to turn the brushes on or off, it’s easy to customize the vacuum’s function to best suit your needs. We found it to be highly effective in picking up all types of debris—especially lightweight debris like dust and hair—and easy to maneuver on hardwood floors, though it did struggle a bit on our carpet.
Although the dust canister holds plenty of debris without needing to be emptied, we found the emptying process a bit complicated, as we often had to cut longer hairs out of the brush roll. It also seemed to perform better when pushing the vacuum forward, rather than pulling it back. The battery power lasted for a surprisingly long amount of time, with nearly half an hour on low power and more than 10 minutes on high.
After six months of use, the vacuum's suction and battery life are just as strong as they were on day one. While the suction isn't as powerful as that of corded models we've tested, it's proved sufficient enough to tackle hardwood. With a price below many of the competitors and an easy-to-use design, it’s a great option to keep your house clean without breaking the bank on high-end appliances.
Weight: 9.6 pounds | Battery Life: 28 minutes (low power); 11 minutes (high power) | Dustbin Capacity: 0.65 liters | Attachments: 1
Its lightweight design makes it easy to lift, allowing you to vacuum anywhere in your home.
The dust canister tends to make a mess, and it's very expensive.
For a vacuum light enough to lift and get those hard-to-reach places, the Samsung Jet 90 Cordless Stick Vacuum is a dream on hardwood. The sturdy stick construction gives this pick enough heft to feel durable and strong, but we were able to vacuum multiple areas—including upholstery and high shelves—without feeling strain on the wrists and arms.
That light weight is also a plus for maneuverability, making it a breeze to navigate tight corners and awkward spaces compared to a traditional upright vacuum. Just keep in mind that you'll need to lean it against a wall if you want a break mid-session.
Despite its lightweight design, this vacuum is a powerhouse. In fact, it proved too powerful for our flat weave rugs; when we set it above medium, the rug tended to get stuck to the vacuum head. Its battery life was impressive during testing, as was the dust collection canister. After three months of use, the vacuum has maintained its quality.
The biggest drawback is its emptying process. Detaching the canister and opening it up was quite messy, and we did get our hands a bit dirty. We also encountered some hair tangling around the roller brush, but surprisingly, these clogs didn’t have a noticeable impact on the suction power. While the price is above average for a cordless stick vacuum, you definitely get a lot of functionality for the cost.
Weight: 6.17 pounds | Battery Life: 39 minutes (low power); 9 minutes (high power) | Dustbin Capacity: 0.8 liters | Attachments: 4
It’s highly effective at picking up all types of debris thanks to its large capacity and solid battery life.
It’s higher-than-average both in terms of weight and price.
With a larger capacity and the potential for up to an hour of runtime before recharging, the Dyson Outsize Plus Vacuum is ideal for cordless cleaning in large spaces. It’s gentle enough to avoid scratching your hardwood floors but powerful enough to suck up every last bit of dust, dirt, hair, and other debris, with an assist from a digital display.
An extra-wide cleaner head picks up more with each pass, and the dust collection bin is half a gallon, both of which allowed for much longer periods between empties during testing. After six months of use, the vacuum is still working great.
This pick also comes with multiple attachments, including a hair screw tool, dust brush, combination tool, and crevice tool. Three power levels allow you to conserve power or supercharge your cleaning, depending on your needs.
All this extra power and its large size, though, means that this is one of the heaviest vacuums we tested, and it’s on the expensive side. If you need to clean larger spaces, those drawbacks might pale in comparison to its heavy-duty power.
Weight: 17.5 pounds | Battery Life: 60 minutes | Dustbin Capacity: 0.5 gallons | Attachments: 4
It maneuvers effectively, and its self-empty feature minimizes mess.
It’s fairly loud and has an unusually small dust collection bin.
With a high-quality HEPA filter and a self-emptying option, the Shark Wandvac Cordless Self-Empty System + HEPA is a vacuum designed to minimize mess in every way. The vacuum has a unique self-empty feature which allows you to empty it at the touch of a button when it’s connected to its base.
When this function was used, it held about six weeks’ worth of debris from testing before needing to be emptied. The same rule didn’t apply to the vacuum’s main dustbin, however, as this component was extremely small and filled up fairly quickly.
The vacuum’s battery life also performed well during testing, and we found that it recharged more quickly than its competitors. It’s effective at picking up all types of debris, and it separates into a super lightweight hand vacuum to reach those higher shelves or curtains.
After six months of use, this device continues to be our go-to vacuum. The battery life hasn't diminished, and the suction on the base and the vacuum itself are still great. The biggest issue we found during testing was the noise level, which was loud enough to drown out a conversation, music, or doorbell. Aside from that, it’s a very easy-to-use vacuum that is best suited for small spaces.
Weight: 13.9 pounds | Battery Life: 20 minutes | Dustbin Capacity: 0.13 quarts | Attachments: 2
Thanks to its ease of movement, efficiency, and relatively low noise level, the Dyson Omni-Glide Vacuum emerges as our overall top pick. It’s lightweight and highly maneuverable with a cleaning head that picks up all your debris while still being gentle on hardwood floors. If you’re on a budget, the Black + DeckerPowerSeries Extreme Cordless Stick Vacuum gives you solid cleaning power without breaking the bank.
We tested a wide range of cordless vacuums to assess their performance on several key metrics relevant to cleaning and function on hardwood floors. First, we followed the instructions to gauge the ease of setup, then measured the noise level output using both a decibel reader and our own observations.
Next, we performed tests of effectiveness, spreading a mixture of debris on the floors and observing how easy it was to suction up all the debris and how many passes it took. We performed a similar test on upholstery using crevice attachments.
We also looked closely at maneuverability, noting how the vacuum moved through tight corners, edges, turns, and underneath furniture. To assess portability, we used the vacuum on handheld mode with the crevice attachment and evaluated how easy it was to clean up debris placed on an elevated shelf.
After vacuuming, we noted the ease of emptying the dust collection bin and looked at the battery usage. Finally, we compared these results to the price and assessed our impressions of each vacuum’s overall value. For long-term insights, we evaluated each vacuum's performance and battery life after six months of use.
The brush roll is the part of the vacuum that “scrapes” against the wood floors, so it’s important to have a roll that is both effective and gentle. Feldman recommends looking for a vacuum with soft bristles or brush rolls to protect the surface, like our overall best pick.
Pushing a vacuum around can get tiring quickly, especially if it’s a heavier model. “A lightweight and compact design can provide easier handling and storage, especially if you have multiple areas to clean or stairs to navigate,” Feldman says. Just note though that smaller vacuums may also have a smaller bin capacity, which means more frequent trips to the trash can to empty it out. If you’re planning on using the vacuum and its attachments to clean high-up spaces, like bookshelves or curtains, a lighter vacuum—or a lightweight, detachable add-on—is even more important.
Cordless vacuums have the advantage of running without having to wrangle a cord or be restrained to a certain radius, but that also means you’re on a time crunch to get all your cleaning completed before the battery dies.
When browsing cordless vacuums, consider how long the battery will last, as well as the difference between battery usage on different power levels. Feldman says that adjustable suction power is a great feature that allows you to customize the intensity while vacuuming, which in turn can impact how long the battery lasts.
Most cordless vacuums will come with at least a couple of accessories or attachments, including “standard” attachments like a crevice device or an upholstery brush. Feldman also recommends HEPA filtration accessories or add-ons, which trap allergens and fine particles to maintain indoor air quality, like our best self-emptying pick.
Bissell 1984 Air Ram Cordless Vacuum: This vacuum provides plenty of cleaning power and is easy to maneuver around tight or low spaces. However, its lack of a detachable hand vacuum or crevice attachments make it impractical for cleaning tight or elevated areas.
Dyson Gen5detect Vacuum: The long-lasting battery of this vacuum allows for nearly an hour of cleaning (on low power) without having to recharge, and its special “dust detection” technology uses a digital screen to show invisible dust and debris. However, it's somewhat heavy and very expensive.
You can certainly sweep up your floors for a quick clean, but vacuums are able to really get in deep, especially if you have a hardwood floor. “It is generally better to vacuum hardwood floors because it effectively removes dust, dirt, and debris from cracks and crevices that a broom might miss,” Feldman says. “However, for larger debris like crumbs or pet hair, sweeping may be a quicker initial step before vacuuming.”
While most vacuums are sold as being safe for wood floors, Feldman recommends keeping a few wood-friendly features in mind. “It's best to choose [a vacuum] with features designed for hardwood floor care, such as a setting to adjust suction power or height to prevent scratching, as well as soft bristles or brush rolls,” she says.
Vacuums come with a variety of features, and generally, more attachments correlate with a higher price. That said, it's important to prioritize which features matter most to you. When purchasing a vacuum for hardwood floors, a low-profile lightweight design is beneficial, making it easy to reach beneath sofas and other tight surfaces, while LED lights can help illuminate hard-to-see dust.
warehouse floor washer This article was written by Amanda Prahl, a contributing writer for Real Simple with over five years of experience writing lifestyle content. To find the best cordless vacuums for hardwood floors, we tested several options, assessing them on their effectiveness, noise level, portability, maneuverability, and overall value. Amanda also spoke with Missy Feldman, founder of No Mess with Missy, to get insight on what factors customers should prioritize when shopping for cordless vacuums that are safe to use on hardwood floors.