Micro-Fresh filters are filters that have been treated with non-hazardous chemicals that act to sterilise the air and remove bacteria and fungi spores.

ULPA Filters

ULPA stands for Ultra Low Penetration Air and these filters are commonly found in vacuum cleaners used in the healthcare industry.

They are a disposable, extended-medium, dry-type filter in a rigid frame, having a minimum particle-collection efficiency of 99.999% for particles in the size range of 0.1 to 0.2 microns.

Regular domestic vacuum cleaners do not usually contain these filters but as this is the Ultimate Vacuum Buying Guide we have included them for completeness! Moving on....

Weight, Comfort and Maneuverability

The main type of cleaning tool on the cleaner needs to be selected based on your needs, which relates to the type of flooring to be cleaned and whether the home has pets. If you have pets then this should be a key factor in your choice of vacuum cleaner - check out our Best Vacuum Cleaner for Pet Hair Reviews for some good choices.

For homes with a lot of carpet and particularly deeper pile carpet, you really need a special carpet vacuum cleaner with a brush roll as they do a better job of dislodging soils from carpets than suction alone.

Brush Rolls

All uprights have brush rolls, however if you are looking at canisters for cleaning deep pile carpets and have pets, consider a “powerhead” or “power nozzle”. These brush rolls are driven by an additional motor, which gives it extra power to reach deep into the carpet pile to remove the dirt.

“Turbo heads” on canisters are not as powerful as a “power head” as they are purely air driven; that is the brush roll is powered by the airflow created by the canister's suction motor.

This type of canister is a good choice when there is not a large percentage of carpet in the home or its is lower pile with only moderate (no pet hair).

When looking at brush rolls, one thing to consider is the specific type of carpet that you have as this can influence the type of brush roll to choose. Some brush rolls contain beater bars, some brushes are extra stiff and some are softer.

Deep pile, low density carpets such as shags and friezes for instance can require a softer brush roll. In addition, a vacuum with a manually adjustable cleaning height is a good choice if you have extensive deep pile carpets.

Brush Roll Height Adjustment

Many vacuums advertised with "auto adjusting pile height" do not actually adjust in height and simply slide across the carpet via a skid plate. This relies on the density of the carpet itself to determine the lift setting, which is not a good solution.

These vacuums do not know the actual length of the carpet yarns and vacuum the carpet at a "one size fits all" height. This can lead to excessive brushing of longer yarns and your carpet fuzzes out on the tips as a result. This relates to the height setting of the roller/brush.

One of the functions of the beater bar element of a brush roll is to fluff loose any trapped yarns that are down in the carpet under other yarns. A beater bar will vibrate these yarns loose and allow the vacuum to pull them back up.

Brush Roll On/ Off Function

Some vacuum cleaners also have the ability to turn off the brush roll and go into suction only mode, which can be useful if you have very delicate carpets that you don't want to agitate with a brush.

Some really high pile length carpets are special cases and can only be cleaned properly if you just use air suction only and no roller/brush or beater bar action at all.

If you're relying on suction alone though for high pile carpets then you may need to rake for trapped yarns every so often! If this is you, look for a manually adjustable height brush roll with an on/off switch to turn it off so you have a choice of how best to clean and protect your high pile carpets.

For vacuum cleaners with brush rolls that are specifically designed to care for your carpets we have taken advice from the Carpet & Rug Institute for advice. They actually certify vacuum cleaners that take the best care of carpets and we used this to select our favourite vacuums for different carpet types.

Flexible Hoses & Telescopic Wands

The length of the flexible hose on canisters is an important specification, but this is also worth checking on uprights as well. Also consider the telescopic wand that comes with the unit as together with the hose these tools are key to determining the ease in which you can reach high places, furniture and floors. 

Look for overall cleaning radius in the vacuum specification, which will confirm how far you can reach with the hose and wand with the power cable fully extended. A good reach for a vacuum cleaner’s cable, hose and wand would be at least 30ft (9m).

Wand Attachment Tools

Aside from the main cleaning head on a vacuum, it is useful to have other secondary cleaning tools for cleaning furniture, ceiling corners and other hard to reach places. Options for these vary depending on the type of vacuum cleaner that you have decided on. There will be a set of tools that come with any vacuum cleaner as standard and some models sell additional tool attachments separately if required.

Canisters generally have a better selection of tools than other types of cleaner, although the best modern uprights will also offer a good selection of tools to attach to their hoses.

Some on-board tool caddies are better than others as well so look for feedback about attachments falling off easily as this could be a frustration you want to avoid. If a good selection of tool attachments are important to you, a canister or upright is the way to go as cordless unit will not provide as many (or often any).

It is possible to get very quiet powerful vacuum cleaners, which can make the cleaning process much nicer and if this the case you will be likely to pull it out more often. To reduce noise to a minimum vacuum cleaners need special insulating materials and better made motors and fans. The quietest mains powered cleaners are usually bagged canisters and the loudest are bagless uprights.

The dust bags in bagged units can be designed to contain sounds by making use of innovative technologies that provide acoustic insulation, usually as well as better filtration!

The more powerful the motors in a vacuum the more noise that will be produced and it is the design of the vacuum that determines how well this noise is dampened. A cheap vacuum cleaner will have much less attention to detail in this regard and will be much noisier as a result.

When checking vacuum cleaner specifications if you see a noise rating less than 70dB this would be a fairly quiet cleaner and anything 65dB or less could be considered about as quiet as you can get without compromising on power.

Battery operated cordless vacuums are generally quieter than mains powered units due to their lower power and lighter construction. As a result they could be a good option if you want a really light, quiet handy cleaner. 

Capacity

By Capacity we mean dust bag or dirt bin capacity.

Capacity can be an important consideration for some people and particularly for those with large homes.

Uprights generally have a greater capacity of their dust bags or bins than other cleaners. However Miele canisters also have very large capacities.

If you don't want to be emptying the dust bin every time you vacuum then you need to factor in capacity to your decision making.

One of the benefits offered by Miele canisters for instance is a dust bag of around 1.2 gallons (C1 & C3 canisters), which is double the size of most normal canisters and even a lot of uprights.

Cordless vacuums usually have the smallest capacity. However, the exception to the rule is the Dyson Outsize cordless vacuum, which has a dirt bin capacity more than double most of the other cordless models on the market.

The capacity of your vacuum cleaner also has a role in terms of maintaining suction performance. Cleaners with larger dust bags will have better airflow, and therefore, cleaning ability. This is especially true as the dust bag fills and smaller bags can quickly become clogged and lose suction.

Checking out the warranty details for a vacuum cleaner can give you an insight into it’s durability and reliability.

Many manufacturers offer a long warranty period just for the motor and a shorter period for all other parts so it's important to check what exactly is covered.

Standard warranty period for a vacuum cleaner is 12 months, however the higher end vacuum cleaner manufacturers generally offer much longer.

• Miele offer up to 7-year warranty and their cleaners are built to last 20+years; 
• Dyson offers 5-years on the majority of their models.

When thinking about or researching warranty it's also good to know or get feedback on the manufacturers customer service support. This will alert you to how easy or difficult it may be to source a replacement or repair if things go wrong and you ever need to call on the warranty.

Also watch out for vacuum cleaners that have the Good Housekeeping Seal of Approval, since this provides for 2 years warranty direct from the Good Housekeeping Institute, which may be better than that offered by the manufacturer themselves!

Last but not least in our vacuum buying guide is a brief run-down on the additional features that are offered on different models of cleaner. Some are standard and you should be getting without paying anymore whilst others sit more toward the luxury category and not available on cheaper cleaners as well as entry models of higher end cleaners.

Bag full indicator - fairly standard on bagged machines, although not all have them so worth checking for. Not usually found on bagless machines as you can just look through the clear dirt bin!

Auto rewind cable - standard on canisters, not so on uprights, although many do have this excellent time saving feature.

Air Volume Adjustment – standard on most canisters but not all uprights, this is a really necessary feature if you intend to use your accessory tools without sucking up the curtains.

Manual Height Adjustment – as mentioned above, this is a useful and perhaps essential function if you have very deep pile carpets. This is different from automatic height adjustment, which aids in the transition between different floor types, which is useful but doesn't allow any form of control.

Headlight - this festure is standard on all upright vacuum cleaners, positioned right on the front of the cleaning head and allows you to see and catch that dirt in those dark corners of the room.

Edge Cleaner - This is a common feature found on a lot of cleaners and is really useful so it's worth checking for. It helps you to pick up all dirt from the area surrounding the cleaning head and so can save you the time for having to go back down the sides of walls with a different accessory tool.

Hard Floor Options - Multi-floor cleaners usually have some sort of feature to allow for the different operation required between cleaning carpets and hard floors. This might be an on/off switch for the brush roll or a hard floor setting switch.

Well if you are reading this far then I commend you! You have successfully completed The Ultimate Vacuum Buying Guide and are now fully qualified to make a well informed decision and get the best vacuum your money can buy. It really is a case of weighing up and ordering your priorities and then finding a vacuum within your budget that meets those priorities.

Buying a vacuum cleaner can be a long term purchase if you spend wisely and it really is worth doing your research carefully before making the commitment to part with cash! So congratulations on completing our vacuum buying guide and good luck with your search!

We hope you've enjoyed this vacuum buying guide and it's been informative and helpful. If you have any comments or suggestions on how we may improve the article then please feel free to get in touch.

Home Vacuum Zone will update this page from time to time to ensure it is up to date with the very latest information and technology so it continues to be the Ultimate Vacuum Buying Guide on the internet!