Best Vacuum For Long Hair in 2019 | Comparison & Review

There are 100,000 to 150,000 strands of hair on an average human head. Out of these, 90 percent are in a growing phase and the other 10 percent are in the resting phase which means they are likely to fall out in the near future and give room for brand new hairs to grow. You can shed up to 150 strands of hair per day, which is visible all over the house.

You wake up in the morning, there is hair on your pillow. Walking around the house, you notice hair all over the place. And if you have pet dogs or cats, especially ones with long furry coats, they will shed hair too. According to the Vacuum Cleaner Manufacturers Association, approximately 95% of American households have vacuums.

But unfortunately, the average vacuum cleaner isn’t designed to deal with long strands of hair. And it doesn’t matter if your brand- new vacuum boasts amazing suction power. Its brushes will still get tangled and stuck while trying to clean up long strands of hair, whether it be from the head of your wife or your Husky pup.

We shall review 15 of the finest vacuum cleaners that have proved to be extremely effective at removing long hair from your floors and carpets. These products were selected based on their feature sets, build quality, and design.

We also took into account reviews from verified customers to make sure that our vacuums perform in real life, not just in the advertisements. Remember- there is no perfect vacuum. Just like one shoe size doesn’t fit all, every individual will need a different type and model of vacuum based on his/ her unique needs.

Maybe you want a small and light vacuum to do spot cleaning on upholstery and underneath furniture, or maybe you live in an apartment and need something that isn’t too noisy. If you have kids and pets in the home, you will need a vacuum with HEPA filtration to keep your family free from allergens and disease-causing pathogens.

Furthermore, you have to consider the size of your home and the type of flooring- carpets and rugs, or hardwood floor? We are going to answer all these questions in this article, so stick around.

Overview

A big highlight of this upright vacuum from Bissell is its unique “tangle- free” brush roll. Unlike conventional vacuums whose brush rolls get wrapped in hair, you don’t have to use blades or scissors to untangle the motorized brush roll on the 1650A.

It is very good at deep cleaning carpets, all the way from low pile to shag rugs. The floor head can be adjusted for height in 5 different settings- the first one is for hard floors, and the next 4 are for carpets and rugs of varying thicknesses.

We love the fact that you can manually adjust the floor head because a lot of modern upright vacuums come with automatically adjusting floor heads which don’t do the best job of transitioning between various surfaces.

And the 1650A even has a built-in safety system which will detect and warn you if a large piece of debris gets stuck in the suction opening. There is a light next to the height adjustment dial which will turn from blue to red if something is blocking the passage, and the motor will stop working until you remove that large debris.

The detachable handle doubles as an extension wand, and an 8- foot long hose helps you clean stairs and upholstery without having to drag the main body around. The biggest weakness of this Bissell is its cleaning performance on hard flooring, which is unimpressive, to say the least.

Especially if you are trying to mop up heavy objects like cat litter. It has no trouble sucking sand and pet hair out of carpets and upholstery but fails to match other vacuums like the Shark Navigator NV803 on hard surfaces.

And we don’t know if this is a part of the tangle- free brush design, but there is a significant blind spot in the middle of the brush roll where the pulley connects to it. This means you have to make more passes over the same area to get every last bit of dirt.

Overview

Ideal for cleaning spilled cereal, grain, and kitty litter from your tiled or hardwood floors. It can also mop up low pile carpets and thin rugs pretty well, although we wouldn’t recommend the Mighty Mite for thicker carpets around the 0.75 to 1-inch range.

This is one of the most basic canister vacuums on the market, and despite its name, this isn’t equipped with any advanced filtration to trap dust mites and allergens.

In fact, it is a basic bagged vacuum with a simple foam pre-motor filter that needs to be changed out once every 6 months or so. Portability is a huge advantage of owning the Mighty Mite, for it weighs just about 8.6 pounds and is fairly easy to drag around thanks to the large rear wheels.

Unlike the significantly more expensive Bissell Pet Hair Eraser which we just reviewed, the Mighty Mite lacks a motorized brush roll, so it isn’t very good at picking up pet hair from carpets. And while it handles most types of debris pretty well on hard floors, it tends to push larger stuff around because of how close the head travels along the floor.

Suction power is above average since this vacuum is powered by a 12 amp motor. But the large motor also makes it very noisy at nearly 80 decibels during operation, so you might want to reconsider purchasing this if you live in a crowded apartment or have babies in the home. The attachments are very simplistic- you get a crevice tool, a combination dusting/ upholstery tool, and an extension wand.

Overview

At first glance, it seems very similar to popular robotic vacuums such as the iRobot Roomba and Neato Botvac. You have the familiar hockey puck shape, with plastic bumpers on the outskirts for collision detection. There are two little side brushes that spin all the time to suck in debris from edges of walls and tight spaces around furniture legs.

And at just 2.99 inches tall, this robot will easily fit underneath sofas and cupboards unlike some of the taller robotic vacuums (a cough, cough, Dyson 360 Eye). With a diameter of just 11.42 inches, the KK290AU is able to weave around and between chair legs without any trouble.

Do you own hyperactive pets who run around all over the place and shed hair in spots that your vacuum cannot reach? No issue, with 800 Pa of suction the BEAUDENS KK290AU will pull in everything from tiny budgie feathers to the extra long hair of a Maine coon cat.

And while the HEPA filter in this robot vac isn’t classified as a “true HEPA filter”, it does a fine job of snatching up most of the dust particles that would otherwise float around in the room and enter the noses of your kids causing sneezing fits.

Overview

When Shark, a leading manufacturer of upright vacuums and stick vacuums made its entry into the fledgling robot vacuum market, people were doubtful. But their Shark RV720 vacuum turned out to be very popular among users because of its aggressive pricing and good cleaning performance.

Shark robot vacuums have improved a fair bit since then, they still don’t have the smart AI and sensor technology of a Neato or iRobot vac but possess great cleaning power on both carpets as well as hard floors. For example, we found that the RV750 does an excellent job of transitioning between carpets and wooden flooring.

It is equipped with a fairly large bin compared to most other robotic vacuums. And combined with the long run time of 70 minutes, this vacuum can easily clean a large area such as a living room in a medium sized house.

If the 2600 mAh battery gets low on charge, this little robot will promptly return to the charging dock and refill itself. Even though it uses infrared sensors to navigate around the room just like a Roomba, the RV750 isn’t very smart with its cleaning patterns when compared to more expensive robotic vacs.

It doesn’t follow a specific pattern and can often get stuck in a single room for an hour. It also lacks a function that allows it to scout the room and locate the positions of furniture before it begins cleaning. Often you will find it stuck on the base of a fan or trying to climb up the leg of a table.

Unlike some other uprights and canister vacuums which use air driven pet brushes, the Pet Multi-Tool from Shark is equipped with its own little electric motor. There is a tangle- free brush bar with hard nylon bristles arranged on it in a helical pattern, it is connected to the motor through a belt drive.

Why is the motor so important? You see, traditional air driven pet attachments tend to bog down when you are sweeping over loose fabric such as what you find on most sofas and couches. When the spinning rate of the brush decreases, its ability to pick up hair also goes down significantly.

This is not the case with a motorized brush since it always spins at the same speed regardless of the surface you’re cleaning.Another reason the Rocket True Pet is amazing would have to be its Hard Floor Hero attachment which combines raw suction power with the gentle yet thorough cleaning of a microfiber dust pad. 

The microfiber dust pad is machine washable, so just pop it into the washing machine after a good day of vacuuming. The suction will take in large particles such as cereal, kitty litter, hair, etc. while the microfiber cloth will trap the smaller debris. It even catches objects that are too small for the naked eye to see, such as sand particles and talcum powder.

Overview

Black & Decker have incorporated what they call the “Air Swivel” system into this upright vacuum. Basically, it’s meant to rival Dyson’s Ball technology which is the market leader in terms of maneuverability.

Black + Decker got pretty close according to our opinion, the 170° of swivel lets you insert the floor head into tight spaces without having to move your wrists too much. This makes vacuuming a lot more pleasant and easier on your body, especially because the vacuum itself weighs so little.

We were surprised to find that this Black & Decker weighs less than some of the stick vacuums out there, which is a testament to the engineering put behind this product.

Despite its lightweight, you can collect plenty of pet hair and dust from across the entire house thanks to its 2-liter dust cup. A 25’ power cord means that you can start at the bottom of the stairs and work your way up without having to search for a new socket halfway through.

The handle also doubles up as a quick- release wand, and there is a flexible hose that extends up to 6.5’ so you can reach underneath tables and couches without having to drag the vacuum along with you.

Overview

You are visiting a friend’s house for a birthday party celebration, it is time to pack up and get your kids into the car. But suddenly you notice giant lumps of dog hair on the back seats, left behind since that day you took your furry friend to the vet. Clearly, you can’t allow your kids to sit on these hairy seats, especially if one of them suffers from breathing problems or allergies.

Would be nice if you had a little handheld vacuum, so you didn’t have to lug out that giant 20- pound canister every day just to clean the seats of your car. 

Well, how about the Black & Decker FHV1200? Forgive us for the cheesy introduction, but we hope our example helps you see the use of a compact vacuum such as this one.

It is different from most other handhelds because of a 4’ long extendable hose that you can use to reach into crevices and tiny spots. You simply put the vacuum down on the couch and clean up candies, cereals, pet hair, etc. from the spaces between the cushions which are otherwise hard to reach with larger vacuums.

With a regular handheld, you still have to hold it in your hand and that can get tiring after 10 or 15 minutes even though the average handheld vac weighs under 6 pounds.

Overview

Who would we recommend the Shark Navigator Freestyle to? There are two situations in which this product really shines.

The first one is if you plan to do cleanup work inside a small apartment with lots of furniture, electronics, etc. scattered around all over the place. With a big corded vacuum, you can’t weave through all these obstacles, the cord is bound to get stuck somewhere.

And on top of that, you have this cat who keeps shedding fur that you have to clean up daily. The Navigator Freestyle is perfect for this scenario, it packs plenty of suction power and can transition between carpets and hard floors easily thanks to the dual speed brush roll.

The second situation in which we think this vacuum would be perfect is in a house with kids and pets running around, you don’t want them to trip over a long power cord. So, it is best to buy a cordless vacuum. You will love the XL capacity dust cup which lets you clean multiple rooms before you have to empty it.

For example, you could sweep up pet hair from the carpet on your living room and make your way up the stairs to the bedroom and still have enough dust capacity left over for another room. The battery will last a fairly long time, you can conveniently get through an entire day of work with just one recharge.

Overview

Remember the Black & Decker FHV1200? We praised it for being one of the very handhelds that come with a built-in extension hose that helps you reach into tight nooks and crannies. Well, the Eureka 71B also features a hose which is 3’ in length and can stretch out to let you access spaces in between sofa cushions or underneath pillows.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t perform as well as we expected when cleaning car interiors. Cleaning performance on flat surfaces like carpets and floors is exceptional, but it struggles to suck debris on a contoured surface. You will have issues getting pet hair and dirt out of uneven areas like the floor of a car or the spaces around a car door.

Despite that, we still think this is one of the best-corded handheld vacuums. It has excellent suction power, thanks to the best in class 5.5 amp motor. There is an air driven brush roll on the front which beats up carpet fibers and dislodges even the most stubborn hair strands to be sucked up into the detachable dustbin.

And that is where the second problem with this vacuum cleaner lies- its dustbin. You can easily remove it but emptying the debris from it is a different story. You have to take the filter out of the dustbin, only to find that all of the hair and dust is stuck onto the filter and you have to get it unstuck with a brush. Definitely not recommended if you have allergies or small kids nearby.

You can even clean up the water spilled by your pets as they drink out of their feeding bowls. And that’s not all, the Crosswave Pet Pro 2306A can also be used to fix stains on the kitchen floor.

Accidentally dropped an egg on your marble tiled floor? Maybe spilled some chocolate syrup? Sticky jelly? No problem because the 2306A will take care of it all, and the best part about it is that you can do it much quicker than you normally would with a mop and bucket. There will even be a nice fragrance left behind after this vacuum is done the cleaning.

How does the Crosswave Pet Pro 2306A do all of this? Well, it’s secret is that it washes and vacuums at the same time. Before you start cleaning, you have to fill up a tank with a mixture of water and special Bissell cleaning liquid. There is a second tank located at the base of the vacuum where all the dirty water is sucked up. Dirty water and clean water never mix together.

The brush roll has been designed in such a way that it can sweep up hair as long as 8 inches! You will never find hair wrapped around the spinning brush, thanks to its unique design. In fact, the brush looks more like a cylindrical towel than a traditional brush with bristles. It is made from a mix of nylon and microfiber that allows it to clean wooden floors and area rugs with equal ease.

Overview

If you don’t mind spending a little extra money on stuff that is guaranteed to work as advertised, check out the Shark APEX AZ1002. There are three things which make this the best upright vacuum on the market if you want to clean up giant heaps of debris.

Firstly, it packs tremendous suction power. With 101 inches of water lift and 90 CFM of airflow at the hose, it beats out several big names such as the Dyson Ball Animal 2 and Miele U1 Dynamic. Secondly, you have the genius brush bar design called DuoClean which combines a soft roller with a hard nylon brush to pick up all sizes of debris from talcum powder to breakfast cereal.

Last but not least, this vacuum is equipped with something that Shark calls “Zero- M”, we assume it stands for zero maintenance. Because no matter how much vacuuming you do, you will never find a single strand of hair stuck on the brush roll.

In fact, it cleans itself with every single rotation that it makes since there is a little plastic comb located right above the spinning brush bar which removes any hair that gets entangled within the bristles.

Combine amazing suction, versatility, zero maintenance, and you get the perfect upright pet vacuum. It also has LED lights on the floor head and quick- release wand, so you will have no trouble cleaning underneath couches and inside closets.

Now you may be thinking “but why would I want a smaller dustbin and less suction?” Nice question, there are plenty of situations in which you need a vacuum that is light and easy to operate, yet packs just enough power to suck in long hair and pick up heavy debris like cat litter.

If you go all the way down, you get handhelds. They are even lighter than the Pet Hair Eraser Turbo Plus, but most of them lack the suction power for even basic tasks like cleaning spilled cereal or pet food from the floor.

And if you go full size, you can’t just spring it into action every time your pet knocks something over. Larger vacuums are for thorough seasonal cleanings, once or twice a week when you want to get rid of all the accumulated dust and hair from floors and carpets.

Mid-sized vacuums like the Turbo Plus can be used daily, to clean the spaces underneath your couch or for sweeping up the mess your dog makes whenever he runs across the room with his dirty paws. Imagine sitting on the sofa, watching some TV when all of a sudden you notice pet hair lying in front of you.

You won’t go upstairs and break out the Shark APEX or Miele CX1, instead, you will try something more compact such as this vacuum.

Overview

For starters, this vacuum has some of the most user-oriented design choices we have seen on any canister so far.

From the one tap self-rewinding power cord to the onboard attachment storage this vacuum is designed such that you only focus on the activity of vacuuming and nothing else. You don’t have to worry about cleaning the fine particle filter, just press the Easy Clean button and the vacuum will do it for you. Worried that you will damage the drapes with the extreme suction power?

Just turn down the motor speed using the 4- stage power control on the back of this Miele. And when it is time to empty the transparent dustbin, just press one button to remove it and pull on the yellow latch to open the bottom and eject all of the debris.

The nice thing about the way it collects dust is that it bunches up all the heavy particles alongside the lighter ones. For example, the hair is mixed in with the cat litter and dust. When you go and empty the bin, the wind doesn’t blow all the dust into your face.

This is a very hygienic way of releasing the dust, and we recommend this vacuum if you have a sensitive nose or suffer from allergies. Even better, you can get the Blizzard CX1 Cat & Dog model which is designed specifically for pet owners and has enhanced filtration along with the Miele Comfort Handle.

Another thing we love about this vacuum is its metal telescoping wand which lets you get two wands in the space of one. You can extend your reach and clean ceilings with the push of a button.

Things to consider when selecting a vacuum cleaner

Before you purchase a vacuum, there are several aspects you need to consider. How large is your home, what are the types of surfaces in your home, how many people step on the carpet each day, what type of hair are you looking to clean, how much time do you spend daily on vacuuming, etc?

And once you have decided on all of this stuff, you need to check the vacuum cleaner itself for important features. Is it a canister or upright vacuum? What kinds of attachments does it come with? Do you want a corded or cordless model? If it is a corded vacuum, does it have the automatic cord rewind function? Are the air filters easy to remove and clean? How much dust can it hold before you have to empty the bag/ bin?

Here is some vacuum cleaner terminology that will help you make sense of all those numbers that manufacturers and salesmen say all the time-

Air Flow

Usually measured in Cubic Feet per minute, it is the volume of air passing through a cross-section of area per unit time. Very few manufacturers publish the CFM ratings of their vacuums on official sites, so you have to dig around a bit to get these numbers.

More CFM means that the air being sucked into the vacuum will exert more force on the debris. There is a direct correlation between cleaning power and CFM.

Amperage

A term used by marketing teams to trick you into thinking that a vacuum is more powerful than its rivals. The maximum allowed amperage by UL is 12 amps, but the number displayed in the advertisements only tells you the MAXIMUM current that this vacuum can draw at any given point in time.

It tells you nothing about the average current consumption, or the power being generated in different speed settings. For instance, you have one vacuum rated at 5 amps and the other rated at 10 amps. But there is a caveat- the 5 amp vacuum has an only one-speed setting which means it is running on full power from the moment you turn it on, to the moment you turn it off.

The 10 amp vacuum can only draw that much current for a short burst of time, otherwise, it functions at 4 amps normally. If you believe the marketing material and purchase the latter, you are in for a big disappointment.

Air Watts

Most vacuums are judged against each other based on the “watt” rating of their motors- 1200W, 1500W, etc. But did you know that most of the time these wattages are only the amount of power that the motor draws from the wall? It doesn’t give you any indication of how much output power it produces, or the amount of suction that this motor generates.

Every motor has built-in resistance, so the power it takes it doesn’t translate 100 percent into suction power. So, we made a new standard called “air watts” which factors in the power output of the motor as well as the suction generated by airflow within the unit. This is a much more accurate way of measuring a vacuum cleaner’s performance.

Brush Roll

The cylindrically shaped piece located within the floor head that picks up debris from the carpet and floor. Suction alone won’t be enough to dislodge hair and dirt from carpets, so rotating brushes slap these particles out of the carpet fiber with force. Then they can be sucked into the dustbin/ bag through the air stream.

Brush rolls are either powered by air suction, or through a dedicated electric motor. Dyson uses their special design in certain models which eliminates blind spots completely since there are no pulleys. Instead, the motor is located within the cylindrical structure of the brush itself.

Traditional brush rolls are driven by pulleys connected to gears on either end of the roll. This is why you will see most vacuums aren’t very good at cleaning the edges of walls unless you drive the floor head face- first into the wall.

Cleaning Effectiveness

No standard definition for this term, nor a universally agreed upon method to measure it. Broadly defined as the ability of a vacuum cleaner to collect various types of dirt and debris from a specific surface. The vacuum cleaner is more effective if it can suck in all the debris without recirculating it within the room.

HEPA filtration

The United States was working on nuclear weapons during World War 2. Scientists wanted a new filter specification, so they could remove all radioactive dust from the manufacturing sites. And so, we got HEPA filters- High-Efficiency Particulate Air filters.

Many vacuum cleaners claim to have HEPA filtration, but very few of them comply with the strict standards that it takes to be called a true HEPA filter. A HEPA certified filter MUST be capable of filtering 99.97% of all particles that are 0.3 microns or larger.

For reference, the human hair is between 70 to 100 microns in thickness. Some vacuum cleaners even offer full body HEPA filtration. What this means is that once air enters into the vacuum, it doesn’t leak from a single joint or opening until the point it comes out of the exhaust.

This way you ensure that all allergens and germs are captured by the filters before the air recirculates into the room. Full body HEPA filtration is a must- have if there are asthma sufferers or allergic people in the house. Vacuums with full body HEPA filtration will also cost more.

The Different Types of Vacuum Cleaners

Upright Vacuums

This is the most popular style of the vacuum cleaner and is hence the one you will find in most homes. In this design, the entire body of the vacuum is located in front of the user and you are pushing it around. Upright vacuums tend to have higher dust collection capacities compared to canisters and are better on carpets.

If you have a lot of area rugs and wall to wall carpeting in your house, you might want to buy an upright vacuum. Upright vacuums almost always have a motorized floor head which helps them dislodge hair and dirt from deep within carpets. Keep in mind that they are not the best choice for cleaning stairs and ceilings.

Canister Vacuums

Canisters cover more area and are harder to store because you have to fit in the super long hose alongside the main body of the vacuum. But they are extremely good for cleaning hard floors, be it tiles or wood. Canisters also offer you more attachment options.

They are easier to maneuver since you are only operating the wand and hose instead of the whole vacuum like you would with an upright. So, for long vacuuming sessions, canisters are actually much more comfortable on your hands. And when you need to clean some pet hair from the stairs, canisters allow you to walk up several steps before you have to pull the vacuum along with you.

Most of them give you a reach of 6 to 7 feet just with the primary hose, and when you put an extension wand on that it will easily reach 12 to 15-foot tall ceilings. And you can also reach underneath low furniture more easily with a canister compared to upright vacuums.

Stick Vacuums

They are basically uprights, but much skinnier. Some can even transform into handhelds if you remove the extension wand. Available in both corded as well as cordless models. Stick vacuums are best used for spot cleaning, such as mopping up some spilled breakfast cereal or cleaning pet fur from your car seats before a trip.

They lack the suction power and storage capacity of an upright but perform a step above true handhelds such as the Black & Decker FHV1200 or the Eureka 71B.

Handheld Vacuums

Some of these like the Dyson V10 series can be used interchangeably in stick or handheld mode simply by removing or attaching a wand. Stick vacuums are perfect for carrying around in the trunk of your car, or along with you on the RV during a camping trip.

When you don’t want to pull out the giant 20- pound canister for cleaning up some M&M’s that are stuck between the sofa cushions, use your handheld vacuum.

What is the difference between a pet vacuum and standard vacuum?

Pet specific vacuums aren’t fundamentally different from a regular vacuum because they both operate on the same principles. In fact, many pet vacuums are just standard high power vacuums with an added pet hair attachment. And that is where the distinction lies- a pet vacuum will ALWAYS come with special attachments designed to mop up pet hair from upholstery and carpets.

Tangle-free brushes are a must unless you want to manually clear rolls of dog hair wrapped around the brush bar of your vacuum. Serious pet vacuums go one step further with fully body HEPA filtration and Febreze filters.

There are plenty of dust mites and allergens on the skin of your dog or cat. If you don’t want these to be floating all over the house, invest in something like a Miele CX1 Cat and Dog PowerLine. Or maybe a Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal + Allergy.

Why are there different attachments for carpets and hard floors?

Carpets and hard floors pose different challenges to a vacuum when it tries to clean them. A carpet has thousands of fibers intertwined among one another, these fibers act like harnesses and grab onto any hair or dust that drops on the carpet. Suction alone isn’t enough to clean a carpet, you have to agitate it.

By agitation, we mean the process of vibrating it such that the hair and dust loosen up just enough for the suction to take them in. On a hard floor, you have plenty of suction as long as the floor head is in contact with the floor. Once you lift it up even half an inch, suction is reduced drastically.

But how will your vacuum suck in large particles like breakfast cereal, grass, candy, etc. if you keep the floor head flat against the floor at all times? Another challenge with wooden floors is that you don’t want to scratch them with hard nylon brushes. And thus, vacuum manufacturers have to create special brush rolls for carpets and hard floors.

How much does suction power matter?

Suction power alone doesn’t make a vacuum cleaner good. You can have all the suction power in the world, but if you can’t harness it properly there is no point of having all that power. Think of a high-end sports car with a 600hp V8 engine, you don’t want to handicap it with wheels from a Honda Civic right?

All that power can’t get to the road if the wheels are terrible. Similarly, a vacuum cleaner is a combination of several elements- the cleaning head, the suction hose, the filtration system, etc. If one component is bad, it will drag all the others down with it, acting like a weak link.

There are plenty of vacuum cleaners out there with mediocre suction power, but really great attachments. A fine example would be the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser 1650A that we reviewed.

It has average suction, but a great tangle- free brush tool for removing pet hair from carpets. And the truly excellent vacuums such as the Shark APEX Zero- M combine amazing suction power with good attachments to create a vacuum that is perfect from almost every angle.

Conclusion

In summary, all we would like to say is that you should research comprehensively before making a purchase. Vacuum cleaners from reputable brands will last a long time if you use them in the correct way and maintain them as suggested in the owner’s manual.

Don’t use carpet attachments on hard floors and vice versa. If you buy a cordless stick vacuum such as the Dyson V10 and then complain about it not being able to clean every room in your 3BHK house on a single charge, that is your fault as a buyer.

Take into consideration the weight of a vacuum, just because you feel comfortable lifting it on the stairs doesn’t mean that your 5’7” wife who weighs 100 pounds will also feel the same way. And finally, if you live in an apartment with others- don’t get a noisy vacuum. Try searching for something that makes less than 75 dB of noise.