First, we used it to remove hair from a blanket that the cat loves to sleep on—he actually sheds more than the dog! It took just a few quick passes with the motorized tool to remove all traces of hair from the fabric. What I like most about the Bissell Cordless Hand Vacuum is that my 5-year-old, Bucky, can use it. He isn’t able to empty the dust bin on his own, but that’s the easy part. Unfortunately, there aren’t any models on the market yet that can go up and down stairs or go out to my car and clean it up. Without attachments, the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser is still a dependable vacuum.
And unlike earlier models, these babies pack a serious punch when it comes to sucking up debris—plus they have better battery power than their clunky older cousins. You can also count on standard features like ergonomic grips, a variety of speeds speeds and dust cups that are easy to dump out and reattach. The Pet Hair Eraser is the best handheld vacuum if your pet sheds like a woolly mammoth. However, it’s really only good for deleting pet hair, which is why we gave the Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro+ the second-place trophy. An odd flap in the nozzle makes it hard to suck up food messes, and it failed to pick up any Cheerios.
It nearly made our best overall spot, but it requires two hands to operate, so we docked it for that inconvenience. If you don’t mind holding the motor with one hand while you vacuum with the other, though, this is an excellent pick. Plus, its cordless design means you don’t need to be close to an outlet when vacuuming, adding to the overall versatility.
If you’re looking for a handheld vacuum that won’t leave you guessing, this pick from Nicebay, with its expansive display, will do the trick. It offers more information than most, with details like battery status, power level, and even dust bin capacity easily visible, so you’re not caught by surprise in the middle of your chores. Other smart design choices, like the angled nozzle that fit well into crevices, and the sleek shape that’s easy to maneuver, add to its overall efficiency and usability. The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Cordless Vacuum retails for around $50, which is average for a mid-range hand vacuum.
The brush pivots 360 degrees, which makes it perfect for awkward angles, such as when you’re getting into car cup holders and other interior storage compartments. At 2.3 pounds, this Ryobi model is one of the lightest high-performing vacuums we’ve tested. And it charges in under an hour, whereas other handheld models commonly take three to four hours. This versatile vacuum cleaner is ideal for quickly spot-cleaning debris. It will provide up to 12 minutes of battery life per charge and it comes with both a standard wall charger and a USB charger, making it easy to charge from your car, computer or any place with a USB port.
Even better, at 31.8 ounces, the vac has a sizable dust bin compared to some other compact picks, so you don’t have to pause your cleaning session to empty it out multiple times. The battery life may limit you; it took exactly 12 minutes for the vac to die in our tests, which isn’t ideal for deeper cleans. There is no battery life indicator on the vacuum itself, so it can be difficult to gauge how much power you have left when using the vacuum. Our editors are constantly swapping in and out of cars they’re evaluating, and sometimes, like most car owners, they leave messes behind. We’re on the hunt for the best way to clean up those messes, so we gathered up seven cordless handheld vacuums from popular brands to see which one we’re signing up for duty to get the job done. The Ryobi 18V One+ Performance Hand Vacuum Kit comes with a crevice tool and a brush tool; both do a decent job of picking up fur on rugs and home upholstery.
Although you can buy accessories to turn it into a stick vacuum, in that case we think you’re better off buying one of our cordless stick vacuum recommendations. But if you have hand or wrist issues, or if you’re planning to spend a lot of time cleaning your car, you may prefer a hand vacuum with an extendable hose and useful attachments. The Worx 20V Power Share Cordless Cube Vac WX030L and the Black+Decker 20V Max Lithium Flex BDH2020FL are the best examples of this type, with slightly different strengths and weaknesses. They are similarly priced and have long, flexible hoses that you can use with one hand while setting the vacuum’s body on the ground. In our testing, the CHV1410L had no trouble sucking up crumbs and dirt off bare surfaces like countertops and windowsills.
The Worx WX030L is beautifully designed and compact, with onboard tool storage. (The battery is replaceable and can work in other Worx tools, as well.) Though it excelled in picking up dust in eco mode, it struggled with larger debris and was ineffective on pet fur. The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser is compact enough to store under your kitchen sink or on the bissell handheld vacuum top shelf of a closet, but we were surprised to find that it’s a bit heavier than many other hand vacuums. It weighs in at around 4 pounds, so we think it’s the back-heavy design that makes it seem harder to wield. To see if the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Cordless Vacuum is really the pet mess cleanup machine, we tested it out in a variety of ways.