AirRAM 2 K9 Cordless Pet Vacuum

I can tell you to avoid the GTech K9. We thought it was a more reasonably priced equivalent to a Shark. After a year it was about as much use as ducking through a straw, but I'm too stubborn to buy a new one so I just vacuum repeatedly and slowly.

He's red, he's round, he sucks stuff off the ground! I have a Henry for the corners, ceilings and messy jobs and a Gtech K9 for the serious job of dog hair. They both are excellent at what they do but Henry has outlived the many new parts of the Gtech. I actually use Henry to clean the filters and stuff off the Gtech.

I love my Gtechs and have the K9 AirRAM upright, the cordless handheld and the stick. They're brilliant.

I love my Gtechs and have the K9 AirRAM upright, the cordless handheld and the stick. They're brilliant.

We’ve had a Gtech AirRam for years. Most of the parts are replaceable, even the battery packs. They’ve just done a new one Gen3, we have the second generation model which apart from needing to be recharged more often still does the whole house. As the battery and other components are mostly in the head on the floor it’s much lighter on the arms compared to other handheld devices. https://www.gtech.co.uk/cordless-vacuum-cleaners/uprights/airram-3.html

Any cordless vac is going to run out of power quickly if used on the higher power modes, that's unavoidable. And of course the lighter weight cordless vacs are going to tend towards having a smaller bin. The miele triflex hx1 also had a removable battery which you could supplement with spares fyi. Avoid jimmy, that's a no-name fake brand with poor quality products and virtually no after sales support. If you're willing to compromise on having a handheld and attachments built in, the Gtech airram range might be a good choice. They perform well, have about 40 minutes runtime with no power settings, just on/off. And because the motor and battery are located in the base, the weight you feel in the hand is low. And they compress the dirt so the bin holds a lot. Either the mk2 or the latest mk3 should work. And separately you could get a handheld only vac for other areas.

This is going to be an issue with basically every cordless stick style vac at or below $250, depending on the debris it's picking up etc. They aren't really meant to be your main vacuum or for heavy cleaning. I wouldn't recommend tineco really, many of their models need frequent filter cleaning. Same goes for shark etc and they are judt as likely to clog. If you're ok with not having attachments, the Gtech airram is under budget and works pretty well. Has an extremely short air pathway, debris only travels like 4 inches from the floor to the bin. The weight is also down on the floor and not on your wrist. The airram does need filter cleaning periodically but it's way less likely to clog up with coarse debris. It's not going to last forever but you can get a few years out of them. And again no attachments or handheld unit, but it's a decent pick under your budget. Some versions of the airram on amazon are well below $200.

That budget is tough. Cordless vacs at or below the $200 mark are rarely very good, or have a lot of compromises. And to be honest, few cordless options are going to be particularly durable. 2 to 5 years is average (according to dyson themselves anyway). For example, I like the gtech airram models as budget choices. Good for carpet and floors, LED lights, fits most of your criteria. But they are floor-only, and do not convert to a handheld. That would be the compromise. I'd avoid shark, if you weren't happy with the v12 a shark isn't going to be better. Especially not the models in your price range. Similar build quality issues, worse performance, more maintaince required. The LG Q3 is a good choice but it's closer to $300 I think you'd like a miele cordless but those start around 2x your budget.

That is a tight budget for a cordless, I can understand looking at a lot of the no-name brands as they tend to be less expensive. Luckily with wood flooring we aren't worried about thorough carpet cleaning. I'd suggest either a Bissell powerclean stick vac or a shark pet cordless essentials. Neither are particularly good quality or going to be great if your house is full of carpet, but either one will work fine for hard floors and at least have a company with a number to call if something goes wrong. Another alternative is a gtech airram mk2, it's in budget and is awesome if you want to minimize weight in the hand. The battery, motor etc all reside in the base. It's also less likely to clog up than some others since the debris doesn't travel up a long tube. The tradeoff is it doesn't have a handheld mode, it's floor only.

AirRAM3 is good cordless, doesn't block and picks up bigger debris because of their no-tube design. But I'm a Gtech geek. The improvements over previous generations are basically AirRAM2 had easier emptying and was better on hard floors than first model. Later MK2s had anti hair wrap (which was issue on first generation models). Mk2 is a bit harder to push than Mk1. AirRAM3 has self cleaning filters which actually work, game-changer. Edge cleaning is good and they are easier to push than Mk2. I'm not a fan of stick vacs. They block up a lot and have small bins and filters, plus they only run 10mins or less on full power (AirRAM3 runs 30 mins full power). Stick vacs are hard for cleaning up high because you are holding the product up with motor, battery etc so your arm aches. Plus they only have around 10 to 15 litres per sec airflow so don't shift sticky cobwebs. I would recommend AirRAM3 for floors and use your Miele for everything else.

AirRAM3 is good cordless, doesn't block and picks up bigger debris because of their no-tube design. But I'm a Gtech geek. The improvements over previous generations are basically AirRAM2 had easier emptying and was better on hard floors than first model. Later MK2s had anti hair wrap (which was issue on first generation models). Mk2 is a bit harder to push than Mk1. AirRAM3 has self cleaning filters which actually work, game-changer. Edge cleaning is good and they are easier to push than Mk2. I'm not a fan of stick vacs. They block up a lot and have small bins and filters, plus they only run 10mins or less on full power (AirRAM3 runs 30 mins full power). Stick vacs are hard for cleaning up high because you are holding the product up with motor, battery etc so your arm aches. Plus they only have around 10 to 15 litres per sec airflow so don't shift sticky cobwebs. I would recommend AirRAM3 for floors and use your Miele for everything else.

I've got the Gtech AirRAM 2 and it's amazing on carpets/rugs. not sure I would get it if I didn't have carpeted bedrooms though! If I had hard flooring everywhere AirRAM is an overkill.​

I really like the AirRams they are great for light cleaning floors. The weight is all down low for better balance. They’re quite effective. I don’t think the AirRam3 is better than the original or AirRam2. I think the little side spinning brushes get lots of hair wrap so I’d go for the AirRam2 or AirRam Platinum instead. A few notes they don’t have any tools, they don’t have a hepa filter but bagless vacuums aren’t good for allergies in general.