# Handheld Vacuum Cleaner Recommendations



## Tenacious Sloth (27 Feb 2022)

Do you own a handheld vacuum that’s the dog’s danglies? If so, what do you like about it?

Will be used for in between sofa cushions, errant cat litter and occasional car cleaning.


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## gbb (27 Feb 2022)

As I have a Makita drill, I brought a bare vacuum so i could use the battery, simple solution for small clearing up jobs.
Downsides., small container, only has a rigid removable extention pipe making it a bit inflexible in the car. upsides only cost me less than £30 iirc.


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## KnittyNorah (27 Feb 2022)

Tenacious Sloth said:


> Do you own a handheld vacuum that’s the dog’s danglies? If so, what do you like about it?
> 
> Will be used for in between sofa cushions, errant cat litter and occasional car cleaning.


I have a handheld but it's mains plug-in not battery ... it also has a long handle and couple of accessories that turn it into a (very basic) upright but good lord it's powerful for such a cheap little thing - made by Beldray. I've had it over a year, it has a washable filter thingummijob and it cost the grand sum of £20 from Wilkos. I usually use it as an upright but pull it apart to do the windowledges where I have houseplants (nice narrow nozzle used for that) and to vaccum the dust and fluff out of my knitting machines (brush attachment for that). Brilliant thing!
I wouldn't try to vaccuum through anything more than a tiny home with it but it'd be perfect alongside a 'proper' vac for the tasks you mention - as long as the mains cable isn't an issue.


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## Brandane (28 Feb 2022)

Tenacious Sloth said:


> Do you own a handheld vacuum that’s the dog’s danglies? If so, what do you like about it?
> 
> Will be used for in between sofa cushions, errant cat litter and occasional car cleaning.


I have one of these Bosch hand held vacuums, which should be good for your needs.
Good quality and works well, as with most things Bosch!

Edit..... Bear in mind if you don't already own something that uses the Bosch battery and charger system, then you're going to have to buy that in addition. Which doubles the price! I bought mine for £50, but already have the battery and charger for a cordless drill.


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## AuroraSaab (28 Feb 2022)

We've had a few that you plug into the car socket but they never seem to have enough suction. 

Unless you are prepared to buy into one of the expensive cordless systems from Ryobi, Bosch etc, I think you're better just using your household vac. We have a few Ryobi cordless tools. If you need a few tools I recommend the system, but just buying the battery and the vacuum is a costly way to clean - around £60 + for a battery and vacuum cleaner.

We do have a cordless Gtech ram that's really good, but obviously no good for cleaning under sofa cushions. Don't know if their hand held is any good, but it's £100 plus, which is a lot for occasional use.

On the other hand, if you really want one better to spend £60 and up on one that has decent suction than £20 on one you never use.


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## MontyVeda (28 Feb 2022)

I've got a couple of cheap Aldi ones (£15). The battery lasts a measly 20 minutes and takes about 5 hours to recharge, but i only use them for sucking up sawdust so that 20 minutes is well over a hundred uses. Perfect for what i use them for but if I was trying to clean out a car with them, I'd probably look for something better.


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## Electric_Andy (28 Feb 2022)

AuroraSaab said:


> Unless you are prepared to buy into one of the expensive cordless systems....you're better just using your household vac


I fully agree. My partner had a gtech air ram and used the hand held part for doing the stairs, but it was not even very good for that. The only reason I'd shell out for a hand-held was if there was absolutely no way to park the car near an extension cord. I vacuumed both mine and partner's cars at the weekend using my trusty Henry. You can take the long section of pipe off and still use the attachments on the short pipe, it got everywhere I needed it to. The cord is long enough to go from my lounge socket to outside on the road (or I have a 30m extensino lead if I need it). I've just seen a used one on FB for £25. Above all else, they are ultra strong and have great suction power


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## numbnuts (28 Feb 2022)

https://www.vax.co.uk/vacuum-cleaners/cordless-vacuum-cleaners/onepwr-blade-4-pet-vacuum-cleaner
Handheld or with extention


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## AuroraSaab (3 Mar 2022)

If I had space I'd buy a Henry Hoover just for the car and garage. They often come round for £99 at Amazon, Curry's etc.

This company do refurbished vacuum cleaners. Not used them myself but some decent discounts on rrp on the big name brands. I wouldn't bother with the little hand held ones personally, I just don't think they have the suction. 

https://www.directvacuums.co.uk/vacuums-floorcare/cordless-vacuums.html


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## Tenacious Sloth (3 Mar 2022)

Hmmmm… think I may have to stick with the main household vacuum as per @AuroraSaab ’s suggestion.

Nobody so far seems particularly enamoured with their handheld.


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## AuroraSaab (3 Mar 2022)

Well I love cleaning my car but even I find getting the extension reel out of the garage and lugging the hoover down the drive is a real pain. And of course the tube is long and unwieldy and gets in the way. But .... at least the carpets are thoroughly cleaned, whereas the handheld ones are really only good for picking up surface stuff like crumbs in my experience. 

Henry's are currently £99 at Argos, Curry's, and My Henry. The £40 cylinder vacs at Screwfix are quite well thought of on some of the building/car type forums I visit too. If I had garage room I'd also consider one of those just for the car.


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## icowden (3 Mar 2022)

I use a Dyson V8 which I think is great. As with all hand-helds it depends what you want to clean. It cleans admirably well on the "normal" setting, but the high setting will suck up difficult stuff (but greatly shortens the charge). There is definitely enough charge for me to hoover 3 bedrooms, two bathrooms, the landing, stairs, hallway, living room, dining room and kitchen (none of these are huge rooms though).

Battery isn't removable, and the charging unit is mains powered. I mounted mine under the stairs and it works nicely.

Only downside is the things are expensive. On the upside, although after 3 years of use, the trigger stopped working. Dyson repaired it for free (well just sent out a new handset really after looking at the old one), so very happy with customer service.

The filter does need cleaning regularly and it needs emptying before it is stuffed full. I did buy a couple of extra filters so that if one is drying, I can still use the vacuum.


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## Time Waster (4 Mar 2022)

We've got a Dyson v6 or 7 I think. It's good if you want to replace the battery regularly. They don't last long which is possibly Dyson business model. Duff consumables so you have to buy batteries at extortionate prices.

Tip 1 if the battery runs out mid use. Always let the handheld cool down fully before plugging in to charge. That advice is very much in the Dyson small print but who reads that anyway! It will shorten the life of the battery of you charge it when warm. Trust me Dyson handhelds can get quite warm in use. 

I assume this advice is the same for all cordless handhelds.


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## Electric_Andy (4 Mar 2022)

Tenacious Sloth said:


> Hmmmm… think I may have to stick with the main household vacuum as per @AuroraSaab ’s suggestion.
> 
> Nobody so far seems particularly enamoured with their handheld.


My partner is trying to get rid of her Gtech handheld which is pretty rubbish, but no-one on FB wants it for £20. I think if you hoover the car regularly, a handheld might be ok for loose stuff. But who does that? IME it's a once or twice a year job, so you end up with embedded dirt and grit in the carpets. So only a powerful household vacuum will cut it for me. Of course you can use a carpet cleaning solution and some old fasioned elbow grease with a soft brush, that works well.

I might also say that any attachment you use on the end (like a brush) will often decrease the amount of vacumm you get, not least because it lengthens the distance between the end of the hose and the surface. Again, only my experience, but if you're already using a medicre hand-held, it's made even worse through using a brush head. At least with something like a Henry you are still getting 50% of "suck your eyes out" rather than 50% of "struggling with the skin off a rice pudding".


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## T4tomo (4 Mar 2022)

numbnuts said:


> https://www.vax.co.uk/vacuum-cleaners/cordless-vacuum-cleaners/onepwr-blade-4-pet-vacuum-cleaner
> Handheld or with extention


I have that one too - its good. No need for separate handheld


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## CanucksTraveller (4 Mar 2022)

I'd just replace whatever house vac you have with a Shark Lift Away model, I got one last year to replace a Dyson and it's the best and most useable / versatile hoover I've had. 
It's perfect for that sort of "handheld" / mini vac job, the cylinder just lifts off the base and you carry the cylinder with you (it's really light). You detach the long wand from the tube and put whatever attachment you want on it, and it's been converted from an upright to a mega powerful "handheld" in about 6 seconds. 

I use it for the car, the guinea pig cages, cat litter spills, stair carpets, allsorts.





Currently £179 on Amazon.


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## Rusty Nails (4 Mar 2022)

My dealer vacuums the inside of the car once a year when I have it serviced.

I do it once half way between services so doesn’t warrant a special cleaner.

How often does a car need vacuuming?


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## vickster (4 Mar 2022)

Rusty Nails said:


> My dealer vacuums the inside of the car once a year when I have it serviced.
> 
> I do it once half way between services so doesn’t warrant a special cleaner.
> 
> How often does a car need vacuuming?


Probably more often if have dogs, kids, transport a lot of garden and other rubbish around, use for a job that involves waste or dirty equipment, take a muddy bike in the vehicle


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## Rusty Nails (4 Mar 2022)

vickster said:


> Probably more often if have dogs, kids, transport a lot of garden and other rubbish around, use for a job that involves waste or dirty equipment, take a muddy bike in the vehicle


None of the above, except occasional rubbish or bike in the back of the hatchback and I put a tarp down for that.


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## vickster (4 Mar 2022)

Rusty Nails said:


> None of the above, except occasional rubbish or bike in the back of the hatchback and I put a tarp down for that.


You asked how often does a car need vacuuming and I said...


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## icowden (4 Mar 2022)

Electric_Andy said:


> So only a powerful household vacuum will cut it for me. Of course you can use a carpet cleaning solution and some old fasioned elbow grease with a soft brush, that works well.


Personally, for the car I use one at the garage or more usually - pay someone else to use it for me...


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## CanucksTraveller (4 Mar 2022)

Rusty Nails said:


> My dealer vacuums the inside of the car once a year when I have it serviced.
> 
> I do it once half way between services so doesn’t warrant a special cleaner.
> 
> How often does a car need vacuuming?


He did say he wanted it for cleaning between sofa cushions and to deal with cat litter, as well as occasional car cleans... it's clearly wanted for general handheld duties.


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## MrGrumpy (6 Mar 2022)

Handheld battery jobs are just pants . We have Dysons ( sh…T ) had some cheap ones as well. Stick with a Henry type thing for general hoovering . The only thing we did buy was the Shark brand with upholstery add on as we have a doggy with hair everywhere !!


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