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The 5 Best Multi-Surface Vacuums of 2025

Updated Jan 27, 2025 at 01:32 pm
Best Multi-Surface Vacuums

The current vacuum cleaner landscape has yielded many models that can deal with clearing debris on linoleum floors and dense shag carpeting, not to mention almost everything in between. That said, cleaning performance isn't the only factor in being considered a good multi-surface vacuum. To cope with a variety of different surface types, having an adjustable floor and power setting is helpful, not to mention a reconfigurable design for cleaning large areas and tight spaces like the inside of a car.

We've tested over 100 vacuum cleaners, and below are our recommendations for the best vacuum cleaners for carpet and hardwood. These picks are selected based not only on their performance across a variety of surfaces but also on their design and price. For more buying recommendations, look at our list of the best vacuums for apartments, the best vacuums with good suction, the best vacuums for high-pile carpet, and the best vacuums for stairs.


  1. Best Multi-Surface Vacuum

    The best vacuum for hardwood and carpet we've tested is the SEBO Airbelt D4 Premium. Available from the manufacturer's website or specialized vacuum retailers, this high-end canister vacuum has a powerful 1250W motor, allowing it to easily clear debris on bare floors as well as low- and high-pile carpets with a basic straight-suction floorhead. Opting for the pricier Premium variant gets you SEBO's ET-1 powerhead, one of the most effective attachments for cleaning carpets on the market. It boasts four levels of height adjustment, an automatic brushroll cutoff switch, and an indicator light to let you know when the bristles wear out or aren't making contact with the ground.

    The rocker switch on the vacuum handle gives you precise control over suction power, so you can adapt to different surface types on the fly. Recurring costs are low, especially for a bagged vacuum, as it uses high-capacity dirtbags and long-lasting filters. It feels remarkably well-built, with a cushion surrounding its canister body to prevent it from marking up your walls or furniture should you bump into something.

    While its four caster-mounted wheels make it somewhat maneuverable for a vacuum of this weight and size, consider the Miele Complete C3 if you need something smaller, lighter, and easier to use in cluttered environments. However, the Miele has a shorter range and incurs higher ownership costs due to its smaller dirtbags and shorter-lasting filters. Conversely, if you want to go completely cordless, the Dyson V15 Detect is one of the most powerful cordless vacuums we've tested. It delivers a correspondingly strong cleaning performance, though it's prone to get stuck on thicker rugs and carpets, as you can't change its brushroll height.

    See our review

  2. Best Upper Mid-Range Multi-Surface Vacuum

    If you're looking for a more inexpensive multi-surface vacuum, the Miele Classic C1 Cat&Dog PowerLine is also one of the best vacuums for hardwood and carpet we've tested. Packed with tons of features, the Cat&Dog PowerLine is the top-tier variant of the C1 product lineup. It comes with a height-adjustable powerhead suitable for a wide variety of carpet types, as well as a lightweight straight suction parquet tool that's easy to maneuver on hard floors. Its 1200W suction motor yields fantastic debris-pickup performance on a wide range of surface types. There's a mini turbo brush attachment to deal with pet hair or other messes on fabric-lined furniture, not to mention a crevice tool, dusting brush, and upholstery nozzle. This variant of the C1 comes with a post-motor filter containing active charcoal to trap unpleasant odors as you clean.

    There are a couple of downsides with this vacuum. For example, it doesn't feel quite as robust build-wise compared to the pricier SEBO Airbelt D4 Premium. It also doesn't have handle-mounted power adjustment controls, and you'll need to bend over to twist its suction control dial. Its overall range is roughly half that of the SEBO, so you'll need to swap outlets when cleaning faraway areas. Finally, it uses smaller dirtbags and less durable filters, so you'll be replacing worn components more often, driving up the cost of ownership. You can get this vacuum directly from Miele if you can't find it elsewhere.

    See our review

  3. Best Mid-Range Multi-Surface Vacuum

    The best vacuum for hardwood and carpet we've tested in the mid-range price bracket is the Shark Stratos Cordless. It's cheaper than premium options like the Miele; however, it still delivers fantastic performance on bare floors, and it clears away an impressive amount of debris on low- and high-pile carpeting. Unlike the Miele, it can automatically increase its suction power on carpeted floors thanks to its Clean Sense IQ system. Plus, its cordless design makes it easier to clean far-away areas than the Miele, especially considering the latter's short range.

    There are, of course, some tradeoffs for its lower price. It has a more rudimentary powerhead than the Miele Classic C1 Cat&Dog PowerLine; there's no way to adjust its height, and it lacks a brushroll off switch, so it isn't as well-suited to cleaning super-thick carpeting. Additionally, its bagless design makes it less suitable for people with serious allergies, as the lack of a dirtbag eliminates an additional layer of filtration media, and shaking out the dustbin can release a plume of fine dust and debris.

    The battery lasts around an hour in most energy-efficient configurations, but you can expect a much shorter runtime if your home has a lot of carpeted floors, as the vacuum will likely increase its suction power. If you want to avoid running out of charge and want a comparably priced corded vacuum, the entry-level Pure Suction variant of the Miele Classic C1 is a great choice. It has little in common with the Shark, being a bagged canister vacuum, but its performance is strong, and the vacuum feels much sturdier build-wise. That said, unlike the Shark, it doesn't have a power socket, so it's incompatible with powered floorheads for cleaning thick carpeting.

    See our review

  4. Best Lower Mid-Range Multi-Surface Vacuum

    The Kenmore Intuition Bagged is the best lower mid-range multi-surface vacuum we've tested. This model offers a pretty wide set of features at a relatively affordable price. It performs well on various surfaces—not as well as the Shark Stratos Cordless above, but close—and it has a large 0.92-gallon dirtbag, so you don't need to replace it often. In addition to its HEPA-rated bag, it has a HEPA exhaust filter, resulting in great air filtration performance. You can also release its dirtbag from the compartment with the press of a single latch, so you don't need to dirty your hands or worry about generating a plume of dust when taking it out.

    Its 'Lift-Up' design lets you carry its canister body separately from the floorhead, making it easier to clean hard-to-reach areas. However, there's no surface height adjustment, so you might sometimes have trouble going over electrical cords or rugs. Recurring costs aren't too bad, as you only need to replace the dirtbag. As for the pre-motor and HEPA filters, they're washable and reusable, though you can get new ones if you notice a drop in performance. The power cord is 30 feet long, so you won't have to frequently swap outlets when cleaning larger areas.

    See our review

  5. Best Budget Multi-Surface Vacuum

    If you want to save money on a multi-surface vacuum, consider the Eureka Mighty Mite. This compact bagged canister vacuum isn't much to look at, with a practical design that looks more like a compact shop vac than something designed for home use. However, don't be fooled by its cheap, industrial looks, as it offers plenty of power for the price. It has a relatively potent 12-amp suction motor that yields strong overall debris-pickup performance on bare floors. While it doesn't come bundled with a powerhead or an air-driven turbo head for cleaning carpeted floors, you can retract the bristles on its straight-suction head to improve suction on low or even medium-pile carpeting.

    Unfortunately, its range is considerably shorter than that of more expensive canister vacuums, like the Miele Classic C1. It also feels cheaply built and rough in places, though it's still far from the flimsiest-feeling vacuum we've tested. Newer versions of the Mighty Mite also lack the requisite mounting clips to attach aftermarket HEPA filters, which is a nuisance if you're especially sensitive to allergens and want a cheap way of upgrading the vacuum's filtration performance.

    See our review

Notable Mentions

  • Samsung Jet 90 Complete: The Samsung Jet 90 Complete is a cordless stick vacuum compatible with a unique Spinning Sweeper tool for mopping stains on hard floors. However, it lacks suction power and feels considerably less robust compared to a similarly priced corded alternative like the Miele Classic C1 Cat&Dog PowerLine. See our review
  • LG CordZero A9 Ultimate: The LG CordZero A9 Ultimate is a cordless stick vacuum that comes bundled with a wide variety of attachments and is fully compatible with a dedicated mopping floorhead. However, it has a smaller dustbin than the Shark Stratos Cordless and doesn't do quite as well on carpets. See our review
  • Miele Triflex HX1: The Miele Triflex HX1 is a cordless vacuum that delivers very good performance across all surface types, but it has a shorter battery life and a smaller dustbin than the Shark Stratos Cordless. See our review
  • Miele Triflex HX2 Pro/Cat & Dog:

    The Miele Triflex HX2 Pro/Cat & Dog is a newer and improved version of the Miele Triflex HX1. Compared to the similarly priced Dyson V15 Detect, it feels better built and offers a unique three-in-one design, but its dustbin is still considerably smaller than that of the Dyson. Like most cordless vacuums, it gets stuck on thick carpeting far more easily than a corded vacuum with a high-end powerhead, like the SEBO Airbelt D4 Premium.

    See our review
  • Shark Stratos Upright [AZ3000, AZ3002]: The Shark Stratos Upright is a bagless upright that performs similarly to the Shark Stratos Cordless on most surfaces. However, it's substantially bulkier and more of a hassle to maneuver. Still, it's worth a look if you want a corded alternative. See our review
  • Shark Performance Plus Lift-Away: The Shark Performance Plus Lift-Away is a bagless upright vacuum that delivers good overall debris-pickup performance on a variety of surface types. It's bulkier and less maneuverable than cordless alternatives like the Shark Stratos Cordless, and its floorhead isn't height-adjustable. See our review

Recent Updates

  1. Jan 27, 2025

    Small text changes for conciseness and clarity. No change in recommendations.

  2. Oct 08, 2024 :  Verified that all picks are valid and available. No change in recommendations.

  3. Jun 21, 2024 :  Replaced the Wyze Cordless Vacuum with the Kenmore Intuition Bagged because the Kenmore has better debris pickup performance on bare floors and carpets.

  4. Mar 13, 2024 :  Added the Miele Triflex HX2 and Shark Performance Plus Lift-Away to the Notable Mentions.

  5. Jan 15, 2024 :  Removed Shark APEX UpLight from the Notable Mentions due to current availability.

All Reviews

Our recommendations are based on what we think are currently the best vacuums for multiple surfaces. We don't just base our results on overall performance but also factors like availability, price, and reader feedback.

If you would like to do the work of choosing yourself, here is the list of our vacuum reviews, with considerations made for high performances across different surface types. Be careful not to get too caught up in the details. While there's no single best vacuum for multiple surfaces, most are good enough to please almost everyone, and the differences are often not noticeable unless you really look for them.

Comments

  1. Recommendation

Best Multi-Surface Vacuums: Main Discussion

What do you think of our picks? Let us know below.


Looking for a personalized buying recommendation from the RTINGS.com experts? Insiders have direct access to buying advice on our insider forum.

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  1. 2
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    I am a bit disappointed (although not entirely surprised) that there are no Evoluent mice on the mice table. Evoluent has been producing vertical mice since the mid 90’s. They offer 3 sizes , left & right hand configurations, and wired & wireless options. I feel that any discussion of ergonomic/vertical mice is incomplete without including Evoluent, the Vertical D series specifically.

    I read all the reviews and considered all the options when I bought a vertical mouse in late 2020. After reading reviews and handling a few vertical mice in person, I felt that the more expensive Evoluent was worth the cost.

    Evoluent’s experience and goal of building the best vertical mouse can be seen in the evolution that has resulted in the Vertical D. They have had 30 years to iterate on the design and as such, the Vertical D suffers from almost none of the complaints people have of other brands.

    One criticism I have (other than the price) is the scroll wheel is not my favorite. I would prefer a scroll wheel that rolls more smoothly. The scroll wheel is durable, has no issue registering while scrolling, and functions as a button but the scrolling action is a bit “chunky”. I prefer the action on inexpensive Logitech scroll wheels much better. Additionally, the Evoluent scroll wheel lack side to side options or the ability to spin freely.

    Two other criticism of the mouse are cursor sensitivity and how the programable buttons work. The sensor isn’t top class and it isn’t great for people who require a lot of precision, let competitive gamers and probably heavy CAD users). It works fine for me (e-mail, report writing, Excel, light CAD use) but may be insufficient for some users. Also, the programable feature of the mouse isn’t stored in the mouse itself. This means you may not be able to use programable buttons on an employer’s computer (also probably a big hit for CAD users).

    Keep up the good work.

    Edited 1 year ago: Added criticism of the mouse.
  2. 2
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    This is so unfair. Vertical mice is a separate category. A lot of people, myself included, can’t use any ergonomic mice due to wrist pain, but can and use vertical just fine. And you don’t even include “Body Type” as a product parameter to make it possible to filter product table on Vertical! Complete fail :( And integrated wrist pad should be a parameter too.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts! We’ll update this article’s table to include the type of mouse (standard, trackball, and vertical). In the meantime, I’ve made this table that includes a column indicating body type so you can filter out all non-vertical mice we’ve tested.

    Let us know if there’s a mouse you want us to review, and vote in the poll for what mouse you’d like to see us review next!

  3. 2
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    This is so unfair. Vertical mice is a separate category. A lot of people, myself included, can’t use any ergonomic mice due to wrist pain, but can and use vertical just fine. And you don’t even include “Body Type” as a product parameter to make it possible to filter product table on Vertical! Complete fail :( And integrated wrist pad should be a parameter too.

    Edited 1 year ago: additional parameter
  4. Update: We’ve reviewed our article and confirmed the price, stock availability, and relevance of all picks. We haven’t made any changes to our lineup with this update.

    What do you think of these changes? Let us know

    Show More Updates
  5. 3
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    I recommend the DXT Mouse 2 (vertical mouse). You have not checked it, but in my experience it should top the list. I’ve tried several ergonomic mice and this one is both different and best. I’m not affiliated in any way with the makers - I do own the wireless version of it.

    1. when I say “best” I mean in terms of ergonomics, the fact that it allows to use fingers instead of forcing movement of the whole arm, both solves the wrist issues (which is why I need ergonomic mouse and keyboard) and is much more comftapble to use.
    2. The whole principle is so easy, I really don’t understand why other manufacturers don’t copy off their mouse. The only thing that is special about it is the shape (granted they have a neat right/left handed swirch, but you could eliminated that and make 2 versions of a tech-wise simpler mouse, and being right-handed I don’t really have use for it) P.S. For a keyboard I’m using Microsoft’s “sculpt”. Their mouse is pretty good, too, but owning that DXT mouse, I just don’t use the MS one at all.

    There are several brands offering similar products. The problem is they can’t be used with both hands, they are not symetrical.

  6. 2
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    I have had a Logitech Master MX 2 and two MX 3, all purchased by my university. They are accurate but break down too easily.

    Two of them had the left button break down in just one year, and on the third one the center wheel gets completely stuck since they bought it, and it is impossible to clean it properly from the inside.

    This is unacceptable for such an expensive mouse.

    On the other hand if you want to change hands it does not work because they are not symmetrical.

  7. 2
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    Can you review the ergonomic mice from Kinesis?

    No immediate plans to do so at this time, but we’ll consider it if there’s enough interest. You can always add products to our review pipeline page and show your interest on products as well!

  8. 2
    1
    0
    1
    0

    I am a bit disappointed (although not entirely surprised) that there are no Evoluent mice on the mice table. Evoluent has been producing vertical mice since the mid 90’s. They offer 3 sizes , left & right hand configurations, and wired & wireless options. I feel that any discussion of ergonomic/vertical mice is incomplete without including Evoluent, the Vertical D series specifically.

    I read all the reviews and considered all the options when I bought a vertical mouse in late 2020. After reading reviews and handling a few vertical mice in person, I felt that the more expensive Evoluent was worth the cost.

    Evoluent’s experience and goal of building the best vertical mouse can be seen in the evolution that has resulted in the Vertical D. They have had 30 years to iterate on the design and as such, the Vertical D suffers from almost none of the complaints people have of other brands.

    One criticism I have (other than the price) is the scroll wheel is not my favorite. I would prefer a scroll wheel that rolls more smoothly. The scroll wheel is durable, has no issue registering while scrolling, and functions as a button but the scrolling action is a bit “chunky”. I prefer the action on inexpensive Logitech scroll wheels much better. Additionally, the Evoluent scroll wheel lack side to side options or the ability to spin freely.

    Two other criticism of the mouse are cursor sensitivity and how the programable buttons work. The sensor isn’t top class and it isn’t great for people who require a lot of precision, let competitive gamers and probably heavy CAD users). It works fine for me (e-mail, report writing, Excel, light CAD use) but may be insufficient for some users. Also, the programable feature of the mouse isn’t stored in the mouse itself. This means you may not be able to use programable buttons on an employer’s computer (also probably a big hit for CAD users).

    Keep up the good work.

    Edited 1 year ago: Added criticism of the mouse.
  9. 2
    1
    0
    1
    0

    This is so unfair. Vertical mice is a separate category. A lot of people, myself included, can’t use any ergonomic mice due to wrist pain, but can and use vertical just fine. And you don’t even include “Body Type” as a product parameter to make it possible to filter product table on Vertical! Complete fail :( And integrated wrist pad should be a parameter too.

    Thank you for sharing your thoughts! We’ll update this article’s table to include the type of mouse (standard, trackball, and vertical). In the meantime, I’ve made this table that includes a column indicating body type so you can filter out all non-vertical mice we’ve tested.

    Let us know if there’s a mouse you want us to review, and vote in the poll for what mouse you’d like to see us review next!

  10. 2
    1
    0
    1
    0

    This is so unfair. Vertical mice is a separate category. A lot of people, myself included, can’t use any ergonomic mice due to wrist pain, but can and use vertical just fine. And you don’t even include “Body Type” as a product parameter to make it possible to filter product table on Vertical! Complete fail :( And integrated wrist pad should be a parameter too.

    Edited 1 year ago: additional parameter
  11. Update: We’ve reviewed our article and confirmed the price, stock availability, and relevance of all picks. We haven’t made any changes to our lineup with this update.

    What do you think of these changes? Let us know

    Show More Updates
  12. 3
    2
    1
    2
    0

    I recommend the DXT Mouse 2 (vertical mouse). You have not checked it, but in my experience it should top the list. I’ve tried several ergonomic mice and this one is both different and best. I’m not affiliated in any way with the makers - I do own the wireless version of it.

    1. when I say “best” I mean in terms of ergonomics, the fact that it allows to use fingers instead of forcing movement of the whole arm, both solves the wrist issues (which is why I need ergonomic mouse and keyboard) and is much more comftapble to use.
    2. The whole principle is so easy, I really don’t understand why other manufacturers don’t copy off their mouse. The only thing that is special about it is the shape (granted they have a neat right/left handed swirch, but you could eliminated that and make 2 versions of a tech-wise simpler mouse, and being right-handed I don’t really have use for it) P.S. For a keyboard I’m using Microsoft’s “sculpt”. Their mouse is pretty good, too, but owning that DXT mouse, I just don’t use the MS one at all.

    There are several brands offering similar products. The problem is they can’t be used with both hands, they are not symetrical.

  13. 2
    1
    0
    1
    0

    I have had a Logitech Master MX 2 and two MX 3, all purchased by my university. They are accurate but break down too easily.

    Two of them had the left button break down in just one year, and on the third one the center wheel gets completely stuck since they bought it, and it is impossible to clean it properly from the inside.

    This is unacceptable for such an expensive mouse.

    On the other hand if you want to change hands it does not work because they are not symmetrical.

  14. 2
    1
    0
    1
    0

    Can you review the ergonomic mice from Kinesis?

    No immediate plans to do so at this time, but we’ll consider it if there’s enough interest. You can always add products to our review pipeline page and show your interest on products as well!

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