Skip to main content area Best vacuum cleaner 2017: Cordless, cylinder and upright top picks and buying guideCylinder vacuum cleaners can be light and good for cleaning stairs. But they can also be worse on pet hair than uprights - so should you buy one?Looking for reviews of great vacuum cleaners? Sign up today for a £1 trial and access all our expert reviews and Best Buys.Cylinder vacuum cleaner checklistCylinder vacuum cleaners are pulled along behind you as you clean. Most are supplied with a universal floorhead, which has bristles you can lower when cleaning hard floors and retract when you're vacuuming carpet.You'll find everything you need to know about cylinder vacuum cleaners below. But not all cylinders are born equal - in our tests, cylinder vacuum cleaners have been awarded some of the highest, and lowest, scores that we've ever seen.You won't be able to tell in the shop which cylinder vacuum cleaner sucks up dust and which simply roll over it. So before you buy make sure you head to our .1Cylinder vacuum cleaner size and storageThink about where you'll be storing your vacuum cleaner, as this will often dictate the size of vacuum cleaner you go for.

Cylinder vacuum cleaners may appear to be more compact than upright vacuum cleaners, but unwieldy hose sections can be difficult to store neatly. Look for a cylinder vacuum that comes with a side clip to attach the nozzle to the body and keep the hose upright.2Using your vacuum cleanerConsider how and where you'll be using your vacuum cleaner. best buy hoover vacuum cleanerCylinder vacuum cleaners are usually lighter than uprights, so are easier to get up and down stairs. replace fan in asus laptopThey're also good at tackling hard-to-reach areas such as under furniture, and for getting into corners.3Weight and reach of your vacuum cleanerCylinder vacuum cleaners are, on the whole, lighter than their upright counterparts. vacuum cleaner price spy

This can make them a good option if you'll be using your vacuum cleaner both upstairs and downstairs. 10.1mOur tests have found that a vacuum cleaner's reach can range in length from six to 15 metres - a big difference when tackling a large room. Cylinder vacuum cleaners have an average reach of 10 metres, which is pretty decent and bigger than the average reach of upright vacs - 8.6m. Look for a vacuum cleaner with a long power cord so you don't have to keep stopping to plug it in elsewhere around your home.4Type of flooringWe test vacuum cleaners on carpet, laminate and wooden floors to see how well they cope at cleaning different floor surfaces. And we frequently see that vacuum cleaners prefer one type of floor over another - something you won't be able to tell in the shops.Our reviews reveal just how well suited a vacuum cleaner is to cleaning the floors in your home. But if you're looking for an all-floor pro, have a look at our Best Buy vacuum cleaners - these models are the best and most versatile vacuum cleaners on the market.5FiltersMany of the latest vacuum cleaners are fitted with Hepa (high-efficiency particulate air) or S-class filters, which are designed to prevent allergens escaping and to pick up extra dirt that would otherwise remain on the floor.

But simply having a filter doesn't guarantee the performance of the vacuum cleaner. During our tests, Which? uses specialist machinery to test how much dust and fine particles each model retains.6Picking up pet hair with your vacuumCylinder vacs are generally not as good at picking up pet hair as uprights, which use motorised brush bars, although there are some cylinder vacuum cleaners that are just as good as uprights. Some cylinders come with a full-size turbo brush that's 'recommended for pet hair' but this doesn't always guarantee good pet-hair pick-up.Our tests show that some cylinders do just as good a job with their carpet nozzle as with a turbo brush - but whenever a vacuum is supplied with more than one floorhead we test them both, so we can tell you which is best for each job.If you've got pets, we recommend choosing a cylinder that scores at least four stars in our tests for picking up pet hair.7Vacuum cleaner wattageGood vacuum cleaner performance is about design and suction, and not a high-wattage motor.

Find out more about wattage and energy labels in our guide to choosing your vacuum cleaner.8Noisy vacuum cleanersCylinder vacuum cleaners are usually quieter than upright models - but some models are significantly louder than others. We've registered readings of 80dB during our vacuum cleaner tests - that's equivalent to a busy road. Our give a star rating for each vacuum cleaner model, according to how much noise it makes, so you don't get a nasty surprise the first time you use your new machine.9The cost of cylinder vacuumsCylinder vacuums cost around £170 on average, although you can sometimes get a Best Buy cylinder vacuum cleaner for around £100. Upright vacuum cleaners tend to be a little more expensive, although you can still find some good ones at around the £150 mark. When you are considering spending this type of money it is worth reading our to make sure that you get a model that will do the job for you. The 360 Eye by Dyson is a very good robot vacuum, but competitors offer similar features and better performance for less.

As usual, Dyson produced a competent product that costs too much. At $600, the Absolute isn't worth the upgrade over the Linx or even over other Dyson sticks. Dyson Cinetic Big Ball Animal Allergy Dyson reinvents the wheel with the Cinetic series, and though the filterless approach works, it doesn't add enough practical convenience to justify the price jump over similarly capable competition. Dyson's v6 Motorhead competes well enough as a high-end stick vac, but poor battery life and a tendency to clog with large particles hold the v6 Motorhead back from replacing your full-size upright. The DC41's design disappointed us, and the Ball Allergy's isn't any better. Despite the strong performance scores, this pricey Dyson is still difficult to recommend. The updated $300 price of the newly named v6 makes it stand out as one of the best stick vac buys we've tested. You could do a lot worse than the DC40; however, you could also do better and spend less. Dyson Ball Compact Animal