WIRED has updated its best vacuum cleaners 2026 guide, with Shark and Dyson taking the most prominent stick-vacuum slots and Shark also leading the robot-vacuum category. The July 2026 refresh names the Shark PowerDetect Speed as the top cordless stick vacuum and the Dyson Gen5Detect as the best Dyson stick vacuum, based on WIRED’s in-home testing by Nena Farrell and other staffers.
WIRED says its editors select featured products independently, while disclosing that it may receive compensation from retailers or purchases made through its links. That disclosure matters here because several picks are tied to retailer pricing, and vacuum shopping has become the usual mess of list prices, discounts, bundles, docks, and model suffixes that look designed to make comparison annoying.
What are the best vacuum cleaners for 2026?
- Best cordless stick vacuum: Shark PowerDetect Speed, listed by WIRED at $430 for the vacuum-only model from Shark.
- Best Dyson stick vacuum: Dyson Gen5Detect, listed at $949 on Amazon at the time of WIRED’s guide.
- Best affordable cordless vacuum: Bissell PowerClean Cordless Stick Vacuum, listed at $160 on Amazon and Bissell.
- Best robot vacuum: Shark PowerDetect UV Reveal, listed at $850 on Amazon and SharkNinja.
- Best affordable robot vacuum: Eufy Omni C28, listed at $520 on Amazon in WIRED’s guide.
Farrell writes that Shark’s PowerDetect Speed replaces her previous cordless favorite. The model is described as a lighter, cheaper version of Shark’s earlier PowerDetect, with 350 watts of power, three cleaning modes, automatic floor-type detection, a bendable wand for reaching under furniture, a 0.47-liter dust cup, HEPA filtration, and up to 60 minutes of runtime. WIRED says buyers give up 10 minutes of battery life, edge detection, some power, and some dust-bin capacity compared with the earlier PowerDetect.
Shark also sells Clean & Empty versions of the PowerDetect and PowerDetect Speed that add a self-emptying base. WIRED notes that the Clean & Empty version includes a dust-illumination light and is easier to find at major retailers. A Luxe line adds different colors, which is less a technical feature than an admission that some appliances spend their lives parked in public view.
Dyson’s Gen5Detect remains WIRED’s preferred Dyson stick vacuum even though Farrell notes it is older than Dyson’s newest stick models. In WIRED’s comparative testing, it scored near perfectly across five rounds. The vacuum is rated at 262 air watts and includes a Digital Motorbar cleaner head for carpet and a Fluffy Optic head for hard floors. Farrell says it faltered with sand on a thin rug but performed well on a thicker rug and beat other Dyson models in tests involving Cheerios on carpet, cat litter on hard flooring, and cat hair on stairs.
For lower-cost cordless cleaning, WIRED’s pick is Bissell’s PowerClean Cordless Stick Vacuum. Reviewer Kat Merck found its headlight useful for spotting litter and dust, and WIRED says its 40-minute low-power runtime was enough for rugs, bare floors, and upholstery in a 3,000-square-foot house. The tradeoff: Merck found it heavier than expected.
On the robot side, WIRED’s top pick is Shark’s PowerDetect UV Reveal. Its stain routine is oddly deliberate: the robot vacuums and mops first, returns to its base, analyzes camera footage from a UV-light pass, then goes back out to scrub detected stains on hard floors. Farrell also credits it with strong corner cleaning through an extendable arm and an air-blowing feature, though she notes it cannot learn multiple floors and that Shark does not state its suction power.
This story draws on original reporting from WIRED.
