A vacuum is not the sexiest product you purchase for your apartment, but it might be the most useful.
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it → purchase → apartment
We all know that a tiny NYC apartment can get dirty easily, especially without the right vacuum.
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apartment → know → vacuum
Crumbs from the slice of pizza you picked up on your walk home somehow migrate from the kitchen to the living room.
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you → pick → room
Hair collects in corners overnight, and if you have a pet, fur can become a permanent design feature.
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fur → collect → pet
Did you forget to kick your shoes off when coming inside?
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you → forget → shoes
A vacuum can clean incredibly well, but if its dock takes up half your hallway or you need three separate machines to vacuum, mop and clean your couch, it’s probably not the smartest option for a 500-square-foot apartment.
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it → clean → apartment
That’s why we wanted to find the best vacuums — the ones that could suck up subway smootz, dirt and the glass of red wine you accidentally spilled while doomscrolling.
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you → ’ → wine
We needed to find the vacuums that met New Yorkers’ standards.
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that → need → standards
I’ve tested home appliances for nearly a decade, so it was a natural fit for me to spearhead New York Post’s Made It Here awards vacuum category.
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me → test → category
After designing an extensive criteria list of what makes a vacuum the best, I, along with select members of our shopping team, tested the machines in our own apartments, scattered around the city.
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I → design → city
Instead of comparing nine nearly identical machines, we divided our best vacuum contenders into three categories: cordless stick vacuums, wet/dry floor cleaners and robot vacuum-and-mop combos.
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we → compare → categories
We wanted to know not only which cleaned best, but which made the most sense for city living.
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which → want → living
The most versatile vacuum we tested, with excellent hard-floor pickup, multiple attachments and a wall-mountable design that saves space where it’s most precious.
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it → test → space
Our tester called its performance “extremely impressive” after using it in a small Brooklyn apartment, where it handled crumbs, spills, pet fur and multiple flooring types with little intervention.
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it → call → intervention
If there’s one type of vacuum your New York City studio apartment needs, it’s a cordless stick vacuum.
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it → ’ → vacuum
You can use it on various types of flooring, including rugs, and unlike most other vacuums, which require space or a large dock, these are much smaller and more versatile.
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these → use → space
Dyson’s V16 Animal most closely answered our question: If you lived in an NYC-sized apartment, which vacuum would you choose for everyday messes?
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you → answer → messes
The V16 is designed for whole-home cleaning, particularly spaces with mixed flooring and plenty of hair to pick up.
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V16 → design → hair
Dyson’s Fluffy Optic head is a soft roller that works on hardwood floors and uses an angled beam of light to illuminate fine dust and debris you might otherwise miss.
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you → work → dust
There’s also the All Floor Cones Sense head, which detects changes in flooring and automatically adjusts suction power and brush-bar speed, slowing down on hard floors and ramping up on carpet.
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which → ’ → carpet
Our tester, Commerce Senior Editorial Director Barret Wertz, used the V16 on ceramic tile, hardwood, a jute/sisal rug and upholstery.
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tester → use → tile
It was impressive on almost everything, including tile, where it exceeded expectations.
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it → include → expectations
In fact, it picked up a moderate mix of whole cereal and fine crumbs in a single pass without visibly scattering the mess across the floor.
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it → pick → floor
Where Dyson pulled ahead of the other stick vacuums was versatility.
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versatility → pull → vacuums
The Fluffy Optic head (mentioned above) was useful for hard floors, the Hair Screw Tool 2.0 removed hair from upholstery and the crevice tool reached into narrow seams.
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tool → mention → seams
The only place this vacuum had an issue was on the jute rug Wertz tested it on, where the vacuum needed a second pass to completely clean the rug.
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vacuum → have → rug
That said, there were no other faults.
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That → say → ?
It was easy to empty and transitioned automatically across different floor types, which was a big plus.
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which → empty → types
Its form factor was slim, and the fact that it had a wall dock that didn’t take up floor space meant it was made for small spaces.
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it → take → spaces
HEPA filter: Yes | Warranty: 2 years
Automatically adjusts cleaning power based on your floor’s needs
MultiFLEX wand reaches under furniture
Auto-empty dock
Cons:
Felt heavy during testing
Suction could be overly aggressive on lightweight fabrics
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Suction → adjust → fabrics
Fewer attachments than the Dyson
Dock requires dedicated storage space
I tested the Shark myself and found that it did well on hardwood floors.
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it → require → floors
It got most dust and crumbs in one pass and cut my cleaning time compared by about 15 minutes compared to other vacuums I’ve used.
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I → get → vacuums
What sets it apart is that it cleans on both the forward and reverse pass, while the MultiFLEX wand bends to reach under furniture.
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wand → set → furniture
The vacuum is built around its PowerDetect Intelligence, which senses dirt, floor type and cleaning direction, then automatically adjusts power and brush-roll speed as needed.
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which → build → power
Carpet suction was certainly not lacking either.
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suction → lack → ?
In fact, that became part of the problem.
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that → become → problem
While I was vacuuming carpet, the Shark pulled a lightweight blanket completely into its cleaner head on two separate occasions, resulting in the vacuum having to be stopped for the fabric to be rescued.
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fabric → vacuum → occasions
I also found the Shark heavy in practice and would’ve liked it if it came with more attachments like the Dyson.
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it → find → Dyson
That said, I loved that the dock firmly locks away dust until I need to empty it.
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I → say → it
The wand reaches seamlessly below furniture too, which is nice, especially if you’re trying to avoid having to get on your hands and knees or don’t want to move furniture — in my experience, the neighbors below never appreciate the latter.
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neighbors → reach → latter
…and 102 more, not listed.
The Aporia
