The top barrel and upright vacuum performers
Most reliable brand
Miele
Highest owner satisfaction
Miele
Common problems: Poor suction / not picking up dirt, blocked filters, problems fixing attachments or attachments loose or broken and the brush not spinning/working.
Many respondents had more than one type of vacuum cleaner, 57% said they had a barrel, 48% had a stick vacuum, 10% had a upright and 6% had a robot vacuum. We narrowed this down to just looking at the 637 people who used a barrel or upright as their main vacuum.
For reliability and satisfaction we looked at an 8-year purchase period, 2012-2019. Miele had the highest scores for both reliability and satisfaction.
Of those who purchased their barrel or upright vacuum in the last eight years, 68% have never experienced problems. Only 7% complained about poor suction, 5% had blocked filters, 4% had problems fixing attachments or the attachments being loose/broken, 4% had the brush not spinning/working.
Only 12% of respondents had contacted the brand for service support, but nearly half (44%) of them did so due to a major failure.
Barrel and upright vacuum performance
Barrel and upright vacuum cleaner brand performance
| Brand |
Reliability (%)* |
Satisfaction (%) |
| Miele (544) |
93 |
90 |
| Bosch (54) |
88 |
83 |
| Average (1637) |
85 |
85 |
| Hoover (119) |
81 |
78 |
| Dyson (428) |
79 |
83 |
| Electrolux (173) |
78 |
81 |
Sample size in brackets. * Differences of 4% or more for reliability are significantly different.
The top stick vacuum performers
Most reliable brand
All brand performed similarly
Highest owner satisfaction
Dyson and Bosch
Common problems: Short battery life
This year, 6009 members answered our reliability survey. Of this, 87% said they have bought a vacuum cleaner brand new, and of this, 48% owned a stick vacuum. All the brands performed similarly for reliability while Dyson and Bosch top the list for owner satisfaction.
Dyson dominates the stick vac market so it's not surprising that 76% of stick vac owners owned a Dyson stick vac. The other brands had minor proportions in comparison.
For reliability and satisfaction, we looked at an 8-year purchase period, 2012-2019. Of those who bought their stick vac in the last eight years, 47% have never experienced problems. The one stand out issue for stick vacuums was short battery life with 26% of respondents complaining about it. Also, 11% mentioned poor suction, 8% thought the dirt container was small and 8% had blocked filters.
Twenty one percent of consumers had contacted the brand for service support, but more than half (66%) of them did so due to a major failure.
Many Dyson owners said their stick vacuum was easy to use and worked well, and, those who had service experience generally found it satisfactory. Electrolux owners said it was handy for a quick clean, however, commented that it's not great with edges and better suction would be desirable. Vax owners said it's a lightweight machine but cleaning the filter can be difficult.
Stick vacuum performance
Stick vacuum cleaner brand performance
| Brand |
Reliability (%)* |
Satisfaction (%) |
| Electrolux (104) |
78 |
75 |
| Bosch (83) |
76 |
83 |
| Vax (69) |
75 |
75 |
| Average (2121) |
69 |
82 |
| Dyson (1616) |
68 |
83 |
| Hoover (59) |
68 |
71 |
Sample sizes in brackets. * Differences of 9% or more for reliability are significantly different.
Robot vacuum cleaners (2016 survey)
We asked members about their robot vacuums in our 2016 survey. We received 392 responses from robot vac owners. We only received enough responses to be able to robustly report on iRobot/Roomba and LG vacuums.
What we found
- While a robot vacuum is handy to use when you're not at home, 39% of respondents who bought a robot vac in the last five years faced issues with performance or reliability.
- Common problems with robot vacs: Not fully covering the room, poor suction/not picking up dirt, battery issues, the brush not working properly.
Turd detection?
Robot vacuums can have their quirks. A couple of iRobot/Roomba owners described some unfortunate incidents involving pets. One owner's dog relieved itself on the floor and the robot vacuum proceeded to spread it all over. Another owner's robot vac spread dog poo everywhere and stunk up the machine. "It needs in-built turd detection to avoid these sort of mishaps."
Robot vacuum cleaner brand performance
| Brand |
Reliability (%)* |
Satisfaction (%) |
| iRobot / Roomba (175) |
68 |
77 |
| LG (58) |
61 |
72 |
| Other (159) |
54 |
65 |
Number of survey respondents in brackets. Total sample size 392.
* Differences of 9% or more are significant. Average reliability is 61%, average satisfaction score is 71%.
Looking for something else?
See the most reliable brands in other categories.
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
