Diagnose it before you replace it.
Most vacuums that get thrown away are working machines with a blocked filter, a stretched belt, a worn brush roll or a tired battery. These are checks you run on your own machine, in the order a service technician uses, ending at a specific part rather than at a new vacuum.
- It has stopped picking up 6 things to check, cheapest first
- Suction has faded gradually 5 things to check, cheapest first
- The brush roll has stopped turning 4 things to check, cheapest first
- It smells when running 4 things to check, cheapest first
- The battery runs out quickly 4 things to check, cheapest first
- It leaves a line of dust behind 4 things to check, cheapest first
Shark Pet Cordless Stick Vacuum, Grey, IX141
A mid range cordless stick is the machine most homes reach for daily, which is why it is the one worth getting right. If yours has stopped performing, the diagnostics below are free and usually end at a part that costs less than lunch.
The five diagnostics
- Run it on your machine
Suction loss triage
When a vacuum stops picking up, check in this order: empty the bin or bag, then hold every filter up to a light, then drop a coin ...
- Run it on your machine
Filter replacement schedule
A foam pre-filter wants rinsing about monthly and replacing yearly; a sealed HEPA cartridge is replaced about every six to twelve ...
- Run it on your machine
Battery runtime fade
A lithium vacuum pack that delivers about 80 percent of its rated runtime after two to three years has aged normally, not failed. ...
- Run it on your machine
Repair or replace
The usual service rule is to repair when the cost is under half the price of the replacement and the machine still has more than a...
- Run it on your machine
Brush roll and belt wear check
Lay a straight edge across the sole plate: healthy bristles touch it, and bristles that have worn more than about a quarter of the...
If it really is time to replace it
An even spread from the bottom to the top of the range, not the six cheapest.
- Bissell
Bissell CleanView Compact, Powerful Suction & Extension Wand, 3508
$59.01 Check pricePrices change often - Eureka
Eureka Canister Vacuum Cleaner, Household Vacuum for Home, Carpet, Pet
$219.00 Check pricePrices change often - roborock
roborock Qrevo Edge 2 Robot Vacuum and Mop, 25,000Pa, 3.14'' Ultra-Slim
$1,099.99 Check pricePrices change often
Parts finder
The recurring half of the job. Which filter, bag, belt, brush roll, hose or battery a machine takes, what each costs, and how often it genuinely wants changing.
- Filters, the most common cause of lost suction
- Belts, the cheapest part and the most skipped
- Brush rolls, where carpet cleaning actually happens
- Batteries, a consumable rather than a permanent part
- Everything else
Complete kits
Whole home floor care at three budgets, on two separate ladders. A carpeted home and a hard floor home need different kit, not the same kit at different prices.
What this site is, and what it is not
It is a set of tools you run against your own vacuum, plus 302 reference tables and gear research built on published manufacturer specifications. We have read the figures off 209 machines' own listings and labelled every number as either a published standard or a service convention.
What it is not is a testing lab. No vacuum on this site has been tested by us, and no page claims otherwise. That also means nothing here can tell you what is wrong with one particular machine: the tools give you the order to check things in and what each result would mean, and your own manual has the final word.
Scope is household floor care: robot, cordless stick, upright, canister and home wet dry floor washers. Shop vacuums and workshop dust collection are a different tool for a different job and are deliberately out of scope here.