Hands On: Next-Generation Specialty Vacs

Dyson

Attention, neat freaks: The latest specialty vacuum cleaners (or specialty vacs) are more powerful and    more versatile than ever before. For the first time, you can get a stick vac that uses lithium-ion batteries, which means that the power won’t fade the way that it does with other battery technologies. Stick vacs that convert to hand-held vacs in new ways also can make it slightly easier to switch from one mode of operation to another. And makers of both stick vacs and hand-held vacs are adding more models that use cyclonic suction technology, which means that you’ll pay less than you would have 4 years ago to get the better performance of these versions compared with models that use conventional suction technology.

But hold on to your dust cloths, because many of these new products aren’t suited necessarily for the types of quick cleaning tasks for which specialty vacs are designed.

POWER PLAY. The most significant change for specialty vacs is that you now can buy cordless stick vacs that are powered by lithium-ion batteries. Hoover introduced the first lithium-ion model in March 2009, then Electrolux and Dyson followed in December 2010 and March 2011, respectively. That’s big news for consumers, because experts consider lithium-ion batteries to be slightly more powerful than are other batteries that are used in cordless stick vacs. And the power that’s in lithium-ion batteries doesn’t fade the way that it will in nickel-metal-hydride (NiMH) and nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries. In other words, if a lithium-ion stick-vac battery runs for 15 minutes on a full charge, you’ll get full power and full suction during that time.

We found when we used these products that the lithium-ion stick vacs allow you to pick up large debris from your floor, such as paper clips, beads and crayon fragments, during the entire life of the battery. Stick vacs that use other types of batteries struggled to pick up the same items after just a few minutes of use. In addition, the models that use lithium-ion batteries recharge much more quickly. All three lithium-ion models recharge fully in 4 hours or less, whereas models that use other batteries typically take about 16 hours to recharge fully.

The biggest problem for consumers, however, is cost. You’ll pay at least twice as much for a lithium-ion stick vac as you would for most other cordless stick vacs. Unless you plan to use your stick vac to clean multiple rooms at a time or use it multiple times in a day, it’s difficult to justify paying so much extra for the kind of lithium-ion battery endurance that some consumers won’t need.

The Dyson DC35 Multi Floor ($300) uses a 22.2-volt lithium-ion battery, which is the most powerful battery that’s available in a cordless specialty vac. The Electrolux Ergorapido Ion EL1030A ($250) and the Hoover LiNX Cordless Stick BH50010 ($180) each uses an 18-volt lithium-ion battery. You won’t find a dramatic difference in the battery power among the three, but in our hands-on evaluations, the DC35 picked up balls of pet hair that the EL1030A and the BH50010 couldn’t.

Editor’s Note: We couldn’t help but wonder whether the emergence of lithium-ion batteries in stick vacs means that vacuum-cleaner manufacturers are that much closer to making a cordless full-size vacuum cleaner. But manufacturer officials whom we interviewed wouldn’t say whether they’re working on such a product, and independent experts whom we interviewed say it’s unlikely that cordless full-size vacuum cleaners are on the horizon, because even the most powerful lithium-ion batteries can’t generate enough continuous run time to power a full-size vacuum cleaner. And nobody knows whether battery-makers ever will create the technology to clear that hurdle.

NEW COMBINATIONS. The DC35 stick vac can be used as a hand-held vac, too, if you detach the wand and brush nozzle. In fact, the DC35 is one of three models that provide a new twist on the 2-in-1 stick/hand-held vac, which also is known as a combination vac. In 2008, only three stick vacs were combination models, but at press time, 15 combination models existed. What’s different is that Dyson, Eureka and Shark created new ways to detach the hand-held vac from the combination stick-vac unit.

For all other combination models, the hand-held vac is built into the main body of the stick vac and is popped out for hand-held use. But with the Dyson, Eureka and Shark models, the hand-held vacs essentially are the bodies of the stick vac. On the Shark 2-in-1 Cordless Stick/Hand Vac SV800 and the Eureka Quick-Up Cordless 96JZ, you detach the handle and brush roll to form the hand-held vac. The power head of the DC35 detaches from the 27-1/2-inch wand and the brushroll head to create a hand-held vac.

We tried all three models, and the SV800, which Shark launched 2 years ago, performs best as a stick vac. As a hand-held vac, its rear-position handle and bulky body require two hands to operate. The 96JZ and the DC35 basically are hand-held vacs that are attached to sticks. As a result, both models function better as hand-held vacs than other combination vacs do, because the hand-held suction is applied more directly to the debris that you want to suck up.

How much that you’ll pay for any combination vac has little to do with its versatility and much more to do with what type of battery that it uses. For instance, the DC35 is the most expensive combination model primarily because it uses a lithium-ion battery. But the 96JZ ($60) and the SV800 ($70) use NiCd batteries, and they cost the same as do other combination vacs that use the same battery type.

In addition, it’s worth noting that the number of stick models that are on the market has nearly doubled to 45 since 2008. Similarly, the number of hand-held models has nearly doubled to 63 since 2008. But based on our analysis of all available models, we saw nothing mysterious about the sudden increase. The same manufacturers simply are making more variations of similar products.

WINDS OF CHANGE. Meanwhile, the key performance trend for stick and hand-held vacs is the expansion of cyclonic technology, which is becoming a staple among specialty vacs. In 2008, only one stick vac and four hand-held vacs from three manufacturers used cyclonic technology. At press time, 18 cyclonic hand-held vacs and 12 cyclonic stick vacs were made by seven manufacturers. That’s good news, because it means that you can pay less to get a cyclonic stick vac than you would have 4 years ago. Although the sole cyclonic stick-vac model in 2008 was a $130 model from Electrolux, six cyclonic stick-vac models today cost less than $130 apiece, with the least expensive cyclonic stick-vac model sucking just $40 from your wallet. Unfortunately, cyclonic technology is no less expensive for hand-held vacs than it was in 2008. The least expensive cyclonic hand-held vac still will run you at least $30, and that’s for a corded model. The price of cordless cyclonic hand-held vacs has increased. For instance, the two cordless Black & Decker models that cost $30 3 years ago are at least $10 more expensive today. At the high end, Dyson’s most expensive cyclonic hand-held vac costs $220, which is $70 more than what Dyson charged for its most expensive cyclonic hand-held vac 4 years ago.

Of course, the key advantage of cyclonic technology that’s used in specialty vacs is that it has the ability to spin debris out of the air path to the bottom of the dust cup, so the debris won’t get clogged in the motor’s filter during operation. That’s how cyclonic models maintain suction better than do models that don’t have cyclonic technology, experts say. In conventional models, suctioned air must push through the dust and dirt that can cling to a motor’s filter. As the motor’s filter catches more dust and debris, the vacuum loses suction, because less air circulates through the system.

It’s worth noting that one independent expert whom we interviewed believes that cyclonic technology won’t necessarily deliver the maximum benefits in a hand-held vac if the machine is held upside down to reach into hard-to-get spaces that are in your vehicle or your home. According to Glenn Akhavein of Kevin Kennedy Associates, which is a mechanical-engineering consulting firm, gravity pulls dust and debris down to the bottom of the dust cup in vacuum cleaners, where the air flow is much slower and the material can settle. Theoretically, if the cyclones are turned upside down for an extended period, the debris will remain in the high-speed air flow and it eventually will clog the machine, he says.

Manufacturer officials disagree with that theory and insist that hand-held cyclonic models have more than enough G forces to spin dust out of the air path no matter how the unit is held. But in our hands-on evaluations of cyclonic specialty vacs, we found that only models that use powerful lithium-ion batteries lost no suction when the unit was held upside down. According to Akhavein, the best way to avoid problems with upside-down use is to make sure that the model has a rim inside of the dust cup that’s designed to catch any debris that falls back or to get a model that has a mesh dust-cup cover. This cover is designed to prevent debris from getting into the center of the cyclone’s path. Such dust-cup features are yet another way that manufacturers are making it easier to keep everything clean.

Freelance writer Chris Gigley has written about consumer products for 15 years and has written about vacuum cleaners for Consumers Digest since 2008.