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A woman cleans a hardwood floor with a vacuum Credit: Reviewed / Getty Images / South_agency

The Best Vacuums for Hardwood Floors of 2024

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A woman cleans a hardwood floor with a vacuum Credit: Reviewed / Getty Images / South_agency

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Reviewed's mission is to help you buy the best stuff and get the most out of what you already own. Our team of product experts thoroughly vet every product we recommend to help you cut through the clutter and find what you need.

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Editor's Choice Product image of Shark Apex AZ1002
Best Overall

Shark Apex AZ1002

4.2
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The Shark Apex is a workhorse of a vacuum. It has powerful suction and plenty of features, but it's loud and heavy. Read More

Pros

  • Powerful suction
  • Many attachments
  • LED lights on the brush head

Cons

  • Heavy
  • Noisy
2
Editor's Choice Product image of iRobot Roomba j7+
Best Robot Vacuum for Hardwood Floors

iRobot Roomba j7+

4.9
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The iRobot Roomba j7+ boasts excellent navigation, forward-thinking smart features, and good cleaning performance. Read More

Pros

  • Excellent navigation
  • Easy storage
  • Good cleaning performance

Cons

  • Loud
3
Editor's Choice Product image of Dyson V11 Torque Drive
Best Cordless Vacuum for Hardwood Floors

Dyson V11 Torque Drive

4.3
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The V11 has powerful cleaning, great battery life, and unique features that set it apart from all other cordless vacuums: an LCD screen and an automatic suction adjustment. Read More

Pros

  • Powerful suction
  • Excellent UI

Cons

  • Expensive
4
Product image of Shark Apex ZS362

Shark Apex ZS362

3.5
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The Shark Apex ZS362 is a lightweight vacuum that's perfect for hardwood floors. Read More

Pros

  • Lightweight
  • Soft brush roll
  • LED lights

Cons

  • Difficult to store
5
Product image of Eufy G30 Edge

Eufy G30 Edge

3.9
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The Eufy G30 Edge is an all-around robot vacuum. It proved to have average cleaning performance and quick cycle times. Read More

Pros

  • Fast cleaning cycles
  • Barrier Included
  • Average dirt pickup

Cons

  • Poor cleaning in tight spaces
  • Best Overall Shark Apex AZ1002
  • Best Robot Vacuum for Hardwood Floors iRobot Roomba j7+
  • Best Cordless Vacuum for Hardwood Floors Dyson V11 Torque Drive
  • Other Vacuums for Hardwood Floors We Tested
  • How We Test Vacuums for Hardwood Floors
  • What You Need to Know About Vacuums for Hardwood Floors
  • More Articles You Might Enjoy

Like granite countertops and stainless steel appliances, hardwood floors are a timeless classic in the home. However, as nice as it looks, hardwood flooring is much more temperamental than carpet when it comes to caring for and cleaning it.

We’re constantly testing new models of all types of vacuums, from cordless vacuums to robotic ones, to find ones that are worth your time and money. Among other things, we specifically test each vacuum for its ability to pick up debris and dirt off hardwood flooring without being too rough on it. If you’re looking for a true all-in-one vacuum, we suggest our winner, the Shark Apex AZ1002 (available at Amazon for $340.30) . It brings power and versatility while also being gentle.

We think most people will fall in love with the Shark Apex AZ1002
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

We think most people will fall in love with the Shark Apex AZ1002

Best Overall
Shark Apex AZ1002

The Shark Apex AZ1002 lives up to its name as a top-of-the-line vacuum. Its unique DuoClean feature works great on carpet and hard floors alike, acing our debris tests and picking up pet hair better than vacuums that cost hundreds more.

At first glance, its spread of attachments seems pretty thin for a Shark vacuum—it comes with a crevice tool, an upholstery tool, and a motorized brush head. However, the versatility of the motorized brush more than makes up for any perceived loss with its incredible power and compact size.

Finally, the Apex picked up 54% of the dirt laid out for it, earning the best score of any Shark upright and landing in the upper third of all vacuums we’ve tested. When vacuuming, you generally run over the same patch of floor more than once, so a score of 54% means that a couple of passes should leave your floors in great shape.

Pros

  • Powerful suction

  • Many attachments

  • LED lights on the brush head

Cons

  • Heavy

  • Noisy

$340.30 from Amazon

$419.99 from Home Depot

$449.98 from Walmart
The forward-facing camera of the iRobot Roomba j7+ with its light on
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

We found the light that helps the j7+ navigate to be intrusive at times.

Best Robot Vacuum for Hardwood Floors
iRobot Roomba j7+

The iRobot Roomba j7+ is the gold standard for robot vacuum navigation and design, and works especially well as a vacuum for hardwood floors. In lab testing, its forward-facing cameras and machine learning helped it steer around everything from furniture legs to dog feces with ease. If you’ve had a robot vacuum before, you may know what a relief it is to be sure this one won’t cause more messes than it cleans.

The Roomba j7+’s navigation helps it cover the floor almost completely. It averages 9.35 grams of dirt per run, which means that after a week of daily use it’ll be roughly on par with a full-size vacuum. The iRobot Genius app can help you program specific courses of action, like cleaning the entrance after your kids come home from school, or cleaning under the dinner table after your meals.

When it’s done, the j7+ empties itself into a self-sealing bag so you don’t have to handle the dirt and grime it picks up.

Beyond being incredibly programmable, flexible, and thorough, the Roomba j7+ also looks great. The redesigned dock is far more likely to blend in with the average home decor, and the robot’s brushed metal top feels durable and looks slick.

The iRobot j7+ is a huge leap forward for robot vacuums in general, but its high-powered suction and advanced wayfinding make it particularly suited to keeping your hardwood floors kept up between deep cleanings.

Read our full review of the iRobot Roomba j7+ robot vacuum

Pros

  • Excellent navigation

  • Easy storage

  • Good cleaning performance

Cons

  • Loud

$749.00 from Amazon

$749.00 from Home Depot

$709.99 from Walmart
The Dyson V11 Torque Drive is a good buy for those who demand excellence.
Credit: Reviewed / Jackson Ruckar

The Dyson V11 Torque Drive is a good buy for those who demand excellence.

Best Cordless Vacuum for Hardwood Floors
Dyson V11 Torque Drive

The Dyson V11 Torque Drive is a no-compromise cordless stick vacuum. It has powerful cleaning, great battery life, and features you won’t find anywhere else, including an LCD screen on its back and automatic suction adjustment that makes it a fantastic choice as a hardwood floor vacuum.

The LCD screen lets you know how much battery life you have left down to the second. This feature ensures you’ll never be caught short while vacuuming between cushions.

The V11’s self-adjusting suction feature is a little more subtle. When you’re cleaning, it lowers or increases the amount of suction based on the type of surface you’re cleaning. This increases battery life and helps keep this Dyson from scratching your hardwood. You can also manually select suction power.

Shiny new toys aside, the V11 Torque Drive is a stick vac that aces the basics. In testing, this Dyson picked up 95% of the dirt we laid out for it. The large debris tests also impressed us: A lot of vacuums just plow crumbs from one side of the room to the other, but the V11 has specialized gaps in its brush head to ensure pickup.

Finally, the Dyson V11 Torque Drive has specially-designed bristles for hardwood. Made of carbon fiber, these bristles disrupt static that causes dust to adhere to wood floors.

The Dyson V11 Torque Drive is as expensive as the top-tier full-size models in this guide, but price is the only downside, especially if you want a custom feature set tailored to maximizing cleaning performance and protection on your hardwood floors.

Read our full review of the Dyson V11 Torque Drive cordless vacuum

Pros

  • Powerful suction

  • Excellent UI

Cons

  • Expensive

Buy now at Amazon

Other Vacuums for Hardwood Floors We Tested

Product image of Shark Apex ZS362
Shark Apex ZS362

The DuoClean in Shark DuoClean is a second brush roll that goes in front of the head. It’s super soft, so there’s little chance that they’ll scratch your hardwood. The brush head also has bright LED lights to help you spot dirt and debris.

The ZS362 has the compact design of a cordless and the unlimited power of a corded model. So it can handle everything from upholstery to your car floors, and still get your hardwood floors shining.

Pet owners will also like the fact that the brush behind the DuoClean is designed to never get tangled with hair. If you have a furry friend, hardwood floors, and a small home, check out the Shark ZS362 Apex DuoClean.

Pros

  • Lightweight

  • Soft brush roll

  • LED lights

Cons

  • Difficult to store

Buy now at Amazon

$206.89 from Walmart
Product image of Eufy G30 Edge
Eufy G30 Edge

Eufy is known for its affordable, high-value robot vacuum cleaners, and the G30 Edge is a prime example. It’s a workhorse with no-frills. The “Edge” refers to the two magnetic boundary strips you can place down to keep the Edge from wandering into sensitive areas.

This model is also compatible with the Eufy Home app that allows you to start, stop, and schedule your robot.

As far as hardwood floors go, the Edge is a solid choice. It’s lightweight, just 5.8 pounds, and has good navigation. During testing, we found that it seamlessly climbed atop our 2/3-inch threshold with no issues, which is important if you have a textured floor.

Overall, the Edge gave adequate results for every one of our tests. It isn't the best robot vacuum we've ever seen in our labs, but it will get the job done, especially on a hardwood floor.

Pros

  • Fast cleaning cycles

  • Barrier Included

  • Average dirt pickup

Cons

  • Poor cleaning in tight spaces

Buy now at Amazon

$299.99 from Home Depot

$145.00 from Walmart
Product image of Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind UH71250
Hoover WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind UH71250

Hoover is a brand synonymous with vacuuming, and their WindTunnel 2 Whole House Rewind is a great example of why. At a whopping 18 pounds, it’s one of the heaviest vacuums we’ve ever tested.

In exchange for all the weight, you get a competent vacuum. Our test results show that the Rewind is powerful, picking up 50% of our dirt mixture of our testing carpet in a single pass. When you switch to hardwood, you can deactivate the brush to prevent it from scratching, but still get powerful suction.

Its namesake rewind function is super useful. At a tap of a foot lever, the 25-foot cord automatically retracts into the unit, making storage a cinch.

Because the Whole House Rewind is heavy, can’t really turn on a dime, and has stiff bristles, we can only recommend it for tougher hardwood floors. There are other, more delicate vacuums for hardwood out there.

Pros

  • Retractable cord

  • Powerful

Cons

  • Heavy

  • Noisy

$169.99 from Amazon

$169.99 from Walmart
Product image of Black & Decker HFS115J10
Black & Decker HFS115J10

The Black & Decker HFS115J10 is an electric floor sweeper rather than a vacuum. However, we decided to include it in this guide after testing it because it’s such a good value.

This Black & Decker will serve you best as a spot cleaner. It’s super light at just 2 pounds, and it has a 50-minute battery life. During testing, we found the four-inch profile and 360-degree swivel head lets it clean under most furniture. It’s perfect for getting that runaway Cheerio under the table.

We’ve read a fair number of online reviews of users dealing with their sweepers breaking down. We did not experience this during testing, but the number of one-star reviews we found does give us pause. If you do have concerns, take comfort in the fact that the HFS115J10 comes with a two-year warranty.

Pros

  • Swivel head

  • Lightweight

Cons

  • Can scratch wood

$34.81 from Amazon

$47.42 from Home Depot

$49.00 from Walmart
Product image of Oreck XL2100RHS
Oreck XL2100RHS

The Oreck XL2100RHS is a basic, solid floor cleaner. Its hyper-focused design includes no attachments or hoses to clean countertops or curtains. At just over 10 pounds, it’s light enough to easily lift onto and up the stairs, and it’s easier on your hardwood. Its five-inch profile is low enough to fit under most beds and even some couches.

During our cleaning tests, the Oreck picked up 30.25% of the testing dirt per pass on our carpet tests. Normally, this would be lower than what we like to see, but considering its weight, it’s powerful for its size.

Pros

  • Lightweight

  • Powerful for size

Cons

  • No attachments

$151.65 from Amazon

$221.14 from Home Depot

$151.65 from Walmart
Product image of Bissell Hard Floor Expert 1547
Bissell Hard Floor Expert 1547

The Bissell Hard Floor Expert has a few really interesting features going for it. First, it has a hard floor turbine that can switch between carpet-cleaning mode and hardwood-floor mode at the tap of a foot. It’s lightweight, tipping the scales at just 13 pounds. Also, it has quiet operation.

However, during testing, we found the canister to be a little tipsy. Oftentimes, when we were cleaning and gave it a good tug to reposition, it would fall over.

Pros

  • Lightweight

  • Quiet

Cons

  • Weak suction

$195.00 from Amazon

$249.95 from Walmart
Product image of Miele Compact C1 SCAE0
Miele C1

The Miele isn’t a bad vacuum. In fact, it's a pretty good vacuum, outperforming Bissell and Hoover in multiple categories. Unfortunately, it’s tough to justify the price.

We liked the Combination Rug and Floor Tool and the Parquet head, both of which feel sturdy and well designed. The Parquet head, in particular, is interesting because it’s designed to clean a textured and patterned surface.

As a canister, we found it to be heavy and hard to maneuver. We understand you don’t usually drag your canister vacuum around haphazardly. However, it only takes one accidental skid to create a costly floor scratch.

Buy now at Amazon

How We Test Vacuums for Hardwood Floors

The Tester

I’m Jon Chan, the Senior Lab Technician at Reviewed. It’s my job to test and write about products ranging from coolers to laundry detergents. Along with my colleague Kyle Hamilton, we tested all the vacuums in this guide.

The tests

Even though vacuum cleaners aren’t the big metal boxes that we usually test in our appliance lab—such as refrigerators, washers, dryers, dishwashers, or ranges—we still test them in such a way so that we can have both reproducible performance data and information that will be useful to our readers. We assess on the performance, features, and usability of each vacuum cleaner.

Performance

A vacuum tries to suck up macaroni spilled on hardwood floors
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

Our testing focused on debris when testing on hardwood floors

We start by evaluating how well each vacuum cleans different types of dirt from different types of floors. We clean four types of mess: our homemade “dirt” made from sieved sand and baby powder, piles of pet hair, rice grains, and raw macaroni. To evaluate across different floors, we test on high pile carpet, low pile carpet, and a linoleum floor surface.

We also think it’s important to see how a vacuum cleaner performs in difficult circumstances. For instance, we create a fake border by laying a 2x4 board down on the carpet, then sprinkle baby powder. We then test to see whether the vacuum can pick up all of the baby powder without leaving a strip of white dust next to the wood.

Additionally, we also test how easy it is for the vacuum cleaner to clean dirt or dust bunnies that have collected under furniture. We have a wooden dowel that we suspend at different heights, and we push the vacuum under it until it stops to simulate how far it can reach under a piece of furniture.

These tests help us determine how easy to maneuver a vacuum is and how well it will perform on all of the surfaces, nooks, and crannies in your home.

Hardwood Test

Laminate wood flooring
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

We chose laminate wood for our testing platform.

General vacuum tests serve us well, but for this buying guide, we also built a special platform in our lab to simulate hardwood flooring. We built our test floor out of laminate wood flooring, because of its ubiquity in American homes and because it was easy to replace any boards that became scuffed or scratched.

We focused our tests on finding and cleaning debris on this surface.

Features and Usability

A vacuum with LED lights cleans the floor in a dark room
Credit: Reviewed / Jonathan Chan

Features like LED lights are more important on vacuums you plan on using mostly on hardwood.

Of course, there’s more to the vacuuming experience than just removing dirt. That’s why we also consider each vacuum’s noise level, attachments, cord length, weight, dirt capacity, warranty, mobility, battery life (if it’s a cordless, robot, or handheld vacuum), and overall user experience. Vacuums that succeed at cleaning up a lot of dirt/debris and at ease of use wind up at the top of our ranking system.

What You Need to Know About Vacuums for Hardwood Floors

What is Different About Cleaning Hardwood Floors Vs. Carpet?

Unlike carpet, hardwood floors typically have a finish on their surface that protects them—but it can also get damaged over time. There are additional unique flooring materials like teak and bamboo (technically a grass) that are much more fragile than other wood floors.

When vacuuming hardwood flooring, you want an easy-to-move model that has variable suction and soft bristles.

Bare floors can also be much more textured than carpet. For example, wood floors can have cracks, odd spaces, or be patterned like parquet floors. In these cases, a good vacuum for a hardwood floor needs to have mini brushes and crevice tools to clean out the gaps.


Meet the tester

Jonathan Chan

Jonathan Chan

Senior Manager of Lab Operations

@Jonfromthelab1

Jonathan Chan currently serves as the Lab Manager at Reviewed. If you clean with it, it's likely that Jon oversees its testing. Since joining the Reviewed in 2012, Jon has helped launch the company's efforts in reviewing laptops, vacuums, and outdoor gear. He thinks he's a pretty big deal. In the pursuit of data, he's plunged his hands into freezing cold water, consented to be literally dragged through the mud, and watched paint dry. Jon demands you have a nice day.

See all of Jonathan Chan's reviews

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