Our review of the best cordless vacuums for hard floors in the UK

Hard floors require a lot of cleaning and care.

The cleaner our homes are, the more comfortable we feel.

However, when cleaning hard floors, you have to take the material of the flooring into account.

Many floor types are sensitive and can only tolerate a little moisture. This makes it even more important that you have a decent appliance for regular cleaning.

It’s also important to use suitable accessories for your floor type.

Cordless vs. corded

Recent test and reviews (for example, from Which? have shown that the best cordless hoovers can certainly keep up with traditional cylinder vacuums or corded upright vacuum cleaners, and even beat them in many areas.

This is not only because they have powerful suction, but also because of their clever accessories and very high versatility. 💪

The lack of a cable makes your hoover much more manoeuvrable.

So why continue to use corded vacuums when using a cordless device is so much more convenient?

The advantages of cordless vacuum cleaners are obvious.

Homely, warm wooden floors look so beautiful and immediately makes any home feel much cosier.

Those of you with hardwood floors are well aware of the difficulties they bring:

As beautiful as they are, they also scratch quite easily.

Parquet flooring is particularly prone to scratches, but wide plank solid hardwood can also pick up some scrapes from time to time. 😫

Many scratches can't be avoided, but you can definitely avoid causing scratches with your hoover by choosing the best stick vacuum for hardwood floors and the right attachments.

Why use a hardwood floor attachment?

An important requirement for keeping your hardwood floors in perfect condition is that your cordless vacuum cleaner comes with a high-performing hard floor attachment.

These attachments are particularly gentle on expensive, delicate hardwood flooring. Read more in the "Hard floor cleaning accessories" chapter.

Engineered wood floors offer more resistance to water and wear and tear, meaning you don’t have to be quite as careful with them as with solid hardwood floors. However, it will still suffer from scratches, so make sure you use a gentle vacuum with appropriate attachments.

These are the most gentle models we’ve tested, and so combined with their high quality, we consider them to be the best cordless vacuums for hardwood floors:

Vinyl flooring, or lino, is not a wooden floor, but it often looks like it.

It is much more durable than wooden flooring, but still not completely scratch-proof.

Therefore, the same applies here: better safe than sorry!

Basically, you can vacuum and mop this flooring as often as you like, it will not lose much of its beauty over time, apart from normal wear and tear.

When buying a cordless vacuum cleaner, you don't necessarily have to make sure that you have the latest developments for sensitive floors.

Our recommendations 👇

Cork floors have a beautiful natural look and are even an environmentally-friendly choice, as cork oak trees are renewable. 🌍

However, this floor type requires special care. Similar to a sensitive wooden floor, you should not mop cork floors too often.

It makes more sense to use a cordless hoover or a broom regularly.

If you choose a cordless hoover, make sure it doesn't scratch the floor.

Here are some of our favourites for cork floors: 👇

Cleaning performance is of course the most important factor!

Many cordless vacuums do not deliver what brands claim.

A common problem when vacuuming hard floors, for example, is that cordless devices push the dirt away instead of cleaning it up.

Check out our recommendations and reviews - we'll sort out the bad apples for you!

Good cordless hoovers come with a range of accessories. 🤩

Most devices come with attachments such as a crevice tool or a multi-surface dusting brush and at least one standard floor head.

Brands are always trying to set themselves apart from the competition with new, useful gadgets.

Let’s go through which ones are actually useful.

Which brush head should you use on hard floors?

First of all, there is the special attachment for hard floors, called the soft floor head.

And this is how it works:

Inside the floor head is a motorised brush bar that is coated with soft material.

When the dirt gets between the hard bottom and the soft roller, it is pressed into the brush roll and picked up.

The rotational movement then pushes the dirt towards the vacuum wand, where it is sucked up with the help of the suction power.

Can standard floor nozzles also be used on hard floors?

If you have both carpets and hard floors at home, you don't necessarily have to change the attachment every time. The standard cleaner heads on the best cordless vacuums usually do a decent job too.

The special hard floor attachments just do an even better job!

Do cordless vacuums damage hardwood floors?

If you have a delicate floor, such as hardwood, then you should definitely use a special hard floor attachment. Otherwise, you run the risk of leaving scratches on your floor.

Floor nozzle with LED lights

An illuminated floor nozzle is definitely great to have, especially on hard floors.

The lights make hard-to-see dirt much easier to spot.

That’s why many cordless hoovers feature useful LED lights that illuminate the floor in front of the nozzle. 💡

Another great invention is the green laser featured on the "Dyson Slim Fluffy Laser" floor head.

This laser is located on the hard floor attachment and also illuminates the floor in front of the cordless hoover.

We were surprised:

It makes the dirt so much easier to see!

This attachment has been available to buy since the release of the Dyson V15 Detect and is of course included in the box. It is also now included with the Dyson V11 Outsize.

Crevice tool and multi-surface dusting brush

You can also find some handy attachments for cleaning skirting boards and window sills.

Crevice tool

This nozzle is great for vacuuming skirting boards.

And the best thing is:

You don't even have to bend down!

The crevice nozzle can simply be attached to the suction tube as an extension.

Of course, you can also connect it directly to the motor unit if necessary.

Multi-surface dusting brush

A multi-surface tool can also be a useful alternative here.

This is because the soft bristles are gentler on delicate wooden skirting.

These tools are also great for cleaning mattresses and sofa upholstery.

Battery life plays an important role when buying a cordless vacuum cleaner - which is why it also plays an important role in our review.

We can reassure you in this respect! There are some excellent devices that have a very good runtime.

Battery life can easily last up to one hour. 🔋

Eco-mode will generally last longer, especially if you don’t use motorised tools, while turbo power mode will drain the battery much faster.

Overall, plenty of time to clean an average-size home. If that's not enough for you, make sure your device features a removable battery before you buy.

With some devices, a click-in-battery (lithium-ion battery) is included in the delivery. With others, you can buy a replacement battery.

Charging a cordless vacuum

A good cordless hoover will usually take between 3.5 and 4.5 hours to charge.

They are usually charged with a wall mount. Mounted on the wall, you can keep the device upright and charge it at the same time.

If you don't want to do this, you can simply use the charger without the wall mount.

Some cordless hoovers are freestanding, and so don’t need a wall mount.

A clever solution that Dyson has come up with is the Floor Dok.

This is a dock that you can place anywhere you like (preferably near a power socket).

You can use it to store your Dyson vacuum upright and charge it at the same time without having to drill holes in your wall.

Using a robot vacuum cleaner is a real relief for the cleaning process (check out our review of the best vacuum robots in the UK).

The small, autonomous devices are very powerful, especially on hard floors, and can take a lot of work off your hands.

For weekly deep cleaning, reaching corners and other hard-to-reach areas, you can use your cordless hoover.

These are the best cordless hard floor hoovers the UK market has to offer. Real premium models!

Of course, they are also set at the top in terms of price… 💲

But - you get what you pay for!

Our premium cordless vacuum choices for hard-floor cleaning:

Very good news:

The right cordless vacuums are great for cleaning your hard floor. 💃

We've tested a number of cordless hoovers on hard floors and have picked out the best for you.

Now it's your turn to decide which cordless vacuum cleaner works for your needs!