Buying The Best Hardwood Floor Vacuum For Home Use – A Complete Guide & Review

Have you ever tried removing dirt, dust, and grime from your hardwood floor, while at the same time, try to maintain its shine and polish?

Miele Olympus S2121 Canister Vacuum

If you have, then you know how tricky it can be, and why it’s so important to have the right hardwood floor vacuum at your disposal.

Having a good vacuum cleaner can make all the difference in the world. When you have a the right one in your arsenal, turning a dirty hardwood floor into a spotless luster happens almost effortlessly.

Just like having a well-loved car requires attention, hardwood floors also require a similar attention.

There are so many different styles, brands, prices, and even colors to choose from.

How do you pick the perfect one for your home (without wasting valuable time, and money)?

Getting Started

Clean Hardwood Flooring

First of all, it’s important to understand that the “best” hardwood floor vacuum cleaner is not going to be the same for every floor type. That’s because most of them work great on carpets; but, it doesn’t exactly hold true the other way around.

Being able to pick out a great cleaning machine right off the bat isn’t an easy thing for most people, and that’s okay. However, if you have any desire to keep your floors properly maintained and undamaged, then it’s very important you get it right.

After reading this guide, you’re going to learn how to quickly pick the best hardwood vacuum that’s right for you, and get the most bang for your buck.

Features of a Good Hardwood Cleaner

  • No beater brushes – There shouldn’t be any beater brushes at all. Check the vacuum head for any round rotator brushes, often covered with thick bristles. These are designed for digging into carpet fibers, and can cause unsightly scratches when used on wood floors.
  • Padded with rubber and felt stripes – This feature is extremely effective at preventing accidental scratches.
  • Contains sweep and mop functions – A cleaning tool that can both sweep and mop is ideal for wooden floors. The wet function allows you to effortlessly clean the floor after vacuuming, which is essential for hardwood. (Warning: do not leave any puddles of water behind. Leaving water on wood surfaces for long periods can warp, and damage your floor.)
  • Strong suction power – Stubborn objects found on hardwood, like embedded pet hair, require a more powerful suction in order to compensate for the fact that you have chosen a vacuum without rotator brushes (and for good reason).
  • Compact and lightweight – When it comes to this type of flooring, you generally want to look for a cleaner that’s lightweight, and easy to maneuver around. Heavier models can cause unsightly scratches and scuff-marks. (Keep reading…)
Miele Olympus S2121 Canister Vacuum Cleaner

The exceptionally lightweight Miele Olympus S2121

Upright Vs. Canister

Upright vacuum cleaners tend to be heavier than canister models. This extra weight decreases its maneuverability, and can cause accidental scuffing and marring. On top of this, canister vacuums typically come with rubber wheels, which increase it’s mobility, and further prevent scratching.

Although there are usually heated debates over whether a canister or an upright is better for cleaning wood flooring, both types of vacuums have their own advantages and disadvantages. Ultimately, a lot of it has to do with personal preference. Some people even prefer to go a completely different route and choose something like a backpack vacuum cleaner instead.

For newly finished hardwood floors, or homes without much carpeting, canister vacuums do tend to be more appropriate and effective than uprights.

Price

Price is something that you need to consider no matter what you’re looking to buy. Just because a product is more expensive than another, does not mean that it’s better.

Not setting a budget is a mistake a lot of shoppers make when buying a new vacuum for their home.

When you don’t have a strict budget set in place, you’re more likely to overpay for features that are ‘nice to have’, but you don’t actually need. This takes away from the more important aspects that your money should be going towards, like the suction power of the vacuum.

Always stay within your budget, and purchase the product that delivers the most value for its price. By sticking to this principle, you’ll often end up “getting more for less.”

Buy Online or Locally?

This also tends to come down to personal preference. There are advantages and disadvantages to both of these shopping options.

Buying locally means you get to physically see the product you’re purchasing. It also means that you won’t have to pay for any kind of shipping charges.

On the other hand, buying online means better competitive prices, larger discounts, more availability, and the convenience of having the product shipped directly to your doorstep.

Nowadays, a lot of online companies offer free shipping on select products. Not to mention, you actually get to see real customer reviews and read what they had to say about it, rather than take the word of a salesman at a local store pressuring you to buy.

Customer Reviews

This part is pretty straightforward. Read lots of reviews. It’s hard to determine what the best vacuum cleaner for your situation is unless you can learn from past experiences.

By reading unbiased customer reviews on blogs, trusted sites like Amazon, and review websites like Home Floor Experts, you can take advantage of the combined experience of your fellow shoppers.

Recommendation

Finding the best vacuum to buy can take a lot of time, research, and patience.

To help you save some of this valuable time and make your life a bit easier, my team and I have gone ahead and done most of the boring research for you.

Here are the best hardwood floor vacuums currently available:

If you’re still having trouble making up your mind, then I recommend checking out my personal favorite, the Miele Olympus S2121.

The Miele S2121 is a real classic when it comes to cleaning all types of hardwood floor surfaces. It’s powerful and extremely versatile and can even clean hard-to-reach places with it’s telescopic, stainless-steel wand, and advanced filtration system.

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