I test dozens of vacuums as part of my role as Homes editor at TechRadar, and I’ll be honest with you: they’re all starting to look very similar. Plenty of brands are copying one another, and once a feature has been introduced somewhere, the next minute it’s everywhere – whether we wanted it or not.
Scan the feature lists of most of the best vacuums on the market, and many of them will be startlingly similar.
A case in point is the use of headlights on vacuum floorheads. You can’t move for LED-fitted vacuums these days, but are they even that useful? Often they’re so dim that they can’t be seen if you’re vacuuming by daylight or with a light on. Which surely is the way that everyone is doing it.
I’m getting slightly off topic. The thing that has made me question the homogeneity of the modern stick vacuum market is the fact that, for the first time in a long time, I’ve been sent something that bucks the trends: the Henry Quick Corded.
This is a stick vacuum, but it’s not like all the other stick vacuums. It’s corded, for one thing. It’s bagged for another. It also has a button that enables you to switch off rotation on the beater bar (the spinning roller inside the floorhead). I haven’t seen any of those things in any of the other stick vacuums I’ve been sent to test.
I’m not saying the Henry Quick Corded is perfect – a full review is in the works and will follow – but I do think there are clear benefits to each of those features I listed above. It’s baffling that they’ve been almost universally discarded in the wider market.
A case for cables
I’m a particular fan of corded vacuum cleaners. Sure, I love the freedom of not being plugged into a wall, but even the best cordless vacuums on the market have their downsides. Corded cleaners almost always deliver more powerful suction than their cordless counterparts, and they tend to last far longer overall, too (here’s how long a vacuum cleaner should last, if you’re interested).
Oh, and you’ll never run out of juice mid-clean. If you’re looking for a budget-friendly vacuum, going corded can be a great way to save money.
Despite all this, the vacuum market is dominated by cordless models, and corded stick vacuums in particular are seriously rare.
Better bags
Bags, too, have their place. I go into it in more detail in my article exploring bagged vs bagless vacuums, but bags make the emptying process far less messy, and the fact that there’s little chance for particles to escape back into the atmosphere is great news for allergy sufferers. One of my regular vacuum reviewers swears by bagged vacuums, saying they can handle fine particles that often spell doom for bagless models.
I’m not saying we need bags in every vacuum – the extra waste created isn’t ideal (especially if the bags aren’t biodegradable), and having to remember to buy new ones can be annoying – but they do have their place. The Halo Capsule X has a particularly strong setup, with bags made from compostable cardboard and brown paper. As with cords, though, bagged stick vacuums are very rare.
Keep on rolling
The case for being able to switch off the beater bar is interesting, too. Presumably, it’s designed for cases where the floor is delicate, and/or doesn’t need agitating to get the dust up. You’d switch the roller on for a thick carpet, but switch it off on a wooden floor, for example.
Modern stick vacuums tend to have more complex solutions. Some can sense floor type and adjust suction to suit. Many of my best vacuum for hardwood floor picks have a separate floorhead altogether for hard floors – one that’s entirely covered in soft fibers, designed to buff and clean the floor without risking any scratches. The new Dyson V16 Piston Animal can adjust roller speed depending on the kind of floor it’s on. Maybe Numatic’s solution is a simpler way to achieve the same thing.
I’m not arguing that all stick vacuums going forward should have bags, cords, and so on, but I do wonder if the market as a whole has become a little too copy-catty for its own good. Maybe what we need is a little more variety back.
