Canister vs Upright: Choosing the Right Vacuum for Your Home

Are you looking for a new vacuum cleaner for your home, but are so overwhelmed with choices that you don’t know what to choose? When it comes to the right type of cleaner for your home, there is nothing better on the market than upright or canister vacuums. But you’ll need to know about both of these vacuum types if you’re going to choose between them, so here’s a little buying guide. Let’s begin with the unique features that define canister vs upright vacuum cleaners.

First of all, both types of vacuum cleaner models may come bagged or bagless, corded or cordless, have a HEPA filter and an air purifier and come with accessories that enable them to do a total cleaning job.

Canister Vacuum

A canister vacuum has a canister body unit that is attached to a powerhead via plastic tubes and hose. The body unit, where the motor and the dirt/bag container is kept, wheels around and can be carried with ease. The vacuum head has powerful suction, can be extended with attachment tubes, and can vacuum places that regular vacuums can’t reach. Its unique design offers a great range of flexibility and maneuverability for cleaning more than just floors, but also upholstery and beneath furniture. Its shape makes it a lightweight carry. However, this design also makes it awkward to store, as it can be quite bulky. It’s ideal for hard floors, rugs, staircases, small and furniture-heavy rooms.

Upright Vacuum

Upright vacuums are the most popular type of home vacuum cleaner on the market, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. With an upright vacuum, the dirt/bag container and motor are directly attached to the power cleaning head, as one whole unit. While many upright vacuums have self-propelling features for an easy glide over your floor surface, the unit may feel heavier than a traditional canister vacuum due to the fact that all the components of an upright vacuum cleaner are bulked into one unit. However, the lean and vertical design of uprights make them easy to store, especially when you have limited storage space. Also, it’s linear design is ideal for people who have health problems that stop them from bending over, like they would with a canister vacuum. Upright vacuums are best for carpets, large rooms and open spaces. They come with various accessories that turn the canister vac into a cleaning tool for the entire house.

How to Choose Between a Canister and an Upright Vacuum Cleaner?

Choosing between the two vacuum cleaner types doesn’t have to be a difficult ordeal. It all comes down to the type of home you have, the type of floor you have, and your preference for weight, shape and your house cleaning routine.

When to Choose a Canister Vacuum Cleaner

If you have a house with stairs, nothing will get the job done like a canister vacuum. The power suction head can be extended away from the vacuum body unit to get to places that uprights can’t reach., i.e. tightly around furniture, beneath furniture, above furniture and upholstery. Most are lightweight and easier to carry, which is ideal for moving around a house that doesn’t have a lot of open space. They also tend to be less noisy than upright vacuums, since the canister body insulates the motor well enough to reduce the sound. A canister vacuum cleaner is ideal if you have a house with mostly hard floors and the right amount of storage space to store them afterward.

When to Choose an Upright Vacuum Cleaner

If you have a large house with open spaces and a lot of carpets, nothing glides across your home floors as great as an upright vacuum. They are better than canisters for doing quick clean-up jobs since they take less work to set up and begin using. Uprights are perfect for easy maneuvering over wide floor spaces and are easy to push around due to its single-unit, upright design. This type of vacuum is better than a canister for people who have back or other health problems that prevent them from bending over, which is often required with canister vacuums. An upright vacuum is ideal if you have a one-story house, with more open space and a lot of carpets. It’s also best for people who prefer to clean while standing.

Canister vs Upright Vacuum Cleaner: The Best on the 2019 Market

Best Canister Vacuum Cleaner: Dyson Big Ball Cinetic Animal Bagless Canister Vacuum (bagless)

This top-of-the-line canister vacuum uses Dyson Cinetic™ Science technology to give you mega suction power and dirt separation, so there is no need for a filter. It also features a Triggerhead™ Tool – an air-driven rotating brush bar for rugs and hard floors, making it a great all-around cleaning tool for many floor types. This Dyson appliance has a handle that features controls so you never have to bend low to operate the vacuum. This canister is especially useful for removing pet hair and has low noise levels. Great for well-furnished spaces, this canister vacuum cleaner is easy to carry around, thanks to Dyson’s lightweight canister design. Plus, its “Big Ball” technology lets this canister vacuum sit on a ball to let it twist and turn easily around furniture and other obstacles. The vacuum has powerful suction without being a heavy, floor-cleaning machine.

Best Upright Vacuum Cleaner: Dyson Ball Animal 2 Upright Vacuum Cleaner

Another top-quality vacuum cleaner for the market, Dyson makes the top of the list again, due to its signature Dyson Ball technology. This upright sits on a ball that allows it to twist and turn easily around your furniture and obstacles to give your home a total floor cleaning. More than that, however, this upright vacuum is special because it is currently the most powerful full-size animal upright vacuum cleaner by Dyson, featuring their latest “Radial Root Cyclone™” technology. This gives this Dyson model increased suction power and it traps more dirt and dust than their later models. This upright vacuum is ideal for cleaning pet hair, especially from carpets – but its brush bar can be switched off to clean hard floor and rugs, too. Currently, this bagless upright vacuum cleaner is the most powerful of the Dyson models on the market, making it the number one vacuum to buy this year.