10 Outstanding Vacuums for Stairs – Reviews & Buying Guide

The Shark Rocket is a premium corded handheld vacuum cleaner, which will appeal to those looking for an all-in-one tool and don’t mind paying a little extra.

Quite simply, this vacuum comes with everything you need from a handheld. You get a hose, a crevice tool, a wide mouth brush, and a fully motorized roller brush. This will allow you to clean soft and hard floors, as well as tight spaces, upholstery and more. All of these tools attach to a bagless body, which comes in at less than 4 pounds, which is particularly useful when it comes to tackling the stairs.

We also like the fact that the dust cup is nice and easy to empty. You just hold the cup over a bin, press a button, and it drops out. The filter is also fully washable.

To conclude, the Shark Rocket is a very, very good handheld vacuum. It’ll have no problem cleaning both hard and carpeted stairs, and anything else you might need to vacuum. If it’s within your budget, then it should be the top of your list.

An alternative choice is the Shark Navigator Lift-Away. At first glance, this is a standard upright vacuum cleaner, which would be far too cumbersome to easily clean the stairs. However, this isn’t a normal upright. Shark have designed this model to be very versatile, which means that the canister actually detaches from the rest of the vacuum to be used as a handheld.

In use, this means that you can clean your floors as normal, and then very quickly turn the upright into a handheld canister that can be easily carried up and down stairs. The hose is of a good length and can be attached to a wide brush head for carpets, or a crevice tool. The whole thing is heavier than other alternatives, but it’s a good go-between.

The suction on this Shark model is excellent too, and the dust cup is easy enough to empty. Shark have also gone to great lengths to ensure that the unit is fully sealed, and includes a HEPA filter, so there’s no concern about allergens escaping while you’re vacuuming.

All in all, this is an excellent vacuum cleaner. It’s not the very best for cleaning stairs, but if you want an all-in-one solution, it’s hard to argue against this as one of the top choices. You can clean the entire house with it, and it’ll do a good job in most situations.

The Bissell Cleanview is a similar vacuum to the Pet Hair Eraser that goes below, but this is the Deluxe model, which is designed to be a little more effective. It costs more than other alternatives, but don’t let this put you off – this is a great little handheld.

The very best thing about this unit is the suction power. It’s rated at 4 amp but feels much stronger than a lot of its competitors. You should have no problem sucking up just about anything you need to with the Cleanview Deluxe, and the attachments that are provided will make this even easier.

You get the same rubber nozzle as with the Pet Hair Eraser, but there’s also a crevice tool and wide mouth suction head, which is ideal for staircases. What’s more is that there’s a hose included too, so that you can get in and around those more awkward spaces.

All-in-all, this is one of the best all-around vacuums that we’ve reviewed on this list. It’s well priced, is lightweight enough to use for extended periods, and it has excellent suction power. The only downside is the lack of brush roll to really get into the carpet pile.

The first thing you’re going to notice about this handheld vacuum cleaner is the way it looks. Most people probably aren’t going to care what their vacuum cleaner looks like, but we do have to give a special mention to the design of this model, with its black and red color scheme and funky vents.

Looks aside, this is a very low price vacuum from a well-known and reputable brand. The price does mean that this is a one-function vacuum – there are no special functions or additional nozzles, but the HandVac makes up for that with generally excellent cleaning ability.

Few other vacuums on our list are quite as good as this one at simply being able to suck up whatever you need from carpeted staircases. Run this across your stairs, and it’s going to be able to give it a deep clean quickly and effectively. It’s great for upholstery and cars too.

In short, if you just need something to clean your stairs, then this could well be the vacuum to choose. It’s not particularly versatile, but it’s very good at what it sets out to do, and given the price, it’s very hard to ignore.

This Eureka handheld not only intends for cleaning stairs. It’s a great little unit at a very attractive price, with several excellent features.

It’s a handheld with a brush function at the front, and a hose wrapped around the outside, which can be extended and used with the supplied crevice tool. The best thing about it is the ‘riser visor’ function, which means that the visor that covers the roller can actually rotate to allow the suction to go horizontal. This lets you clean vertical surfaces such as the front of a step very easily.

You can clean both carpeted and hard floors with ease, and the suction is reasonably powerful. The unit is a little heavy, but the roller on this model is smaller, so it’s actually slightly better at cleaning stairs.

Overall, this unit is probably a little better for versatility, though it’s not quite as good on carpets. Either way, it’s definitely worth considering, especially given the price, which is extremely good for the functionality.

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser is a well-priced handheld and bagless vacuum, that, as the name suggests, is designed to be really good at picking up those difficult pet hairs that tend to work themselves into carpeted stairs.

It achieves this with the use of a clever rubber nozzle, which helps to brush and pull the hair out of the carpet before it gets sucked in by the cyclonic cleaning system. It’s an effective combination, and if getting pet hair out of stairs is a priority for you, this might just be the best product on the market.

There’s a hard nozzle as well as the soft rubber one, which is more effective on hard surfaces such as in the kitchen, making this a fairly versatile little cleaning tool. It’s not a one-trick-pony. The cord is 16 feet long, and the weight of the whole unit is just over 4 pounds, so you should have no concerns about being able to easily take on the stairs with this little unit.

All-around, this is a great little handheld. It’s nice and flexible and should meet most people’s needs, even if you don’t have pets.

Next up we have another product from Dirt Devil, but the difference is that this one is designed to be a bit more versatile. It’s the handheld Ultra model, and we can tell you right away that it’s an excellent choice.

Unlike a lot of handhelds, this one uses a bag, which does help to make the unit quite light, despite the hose and tools being stored onboard. Replacement bags are inexpensive and can be purchased on Amazon. There’s also no filter, which means no loss of suction as you use the vacuum.

The motorized brush roll is very powerful, making this a very effective vacuum for carpeted stairs – it’s also good at picking up pet hair. The hose isn’t quite as good, but it does the job at getting into the crevices on staircases where the brush can’t reach.

There have been some reports on older Ultra models of suction decline after a month or two of use, but this should now be resolved. It’s also good to note that the powerful motor and brush mean that this is a fairly noisy little handheld.

The Dirt Devil Handheld Ultra is a great choice. It’s relatively inexpensive, has good functionality, and the brush works really well on carpeted stairs.

Black+Decker are best known for their power tools, so you’d expect one of their vacuum cleaners to pack a punch. Fortunately, the 20V MAX does just that. It’s a cordless, rechargeable handheld that is just as powerful, if not more so, than its corded competitors.

The design of this model is quite unlike most other handhelds, with a big, flat suction nozzle on the front that can pivot to reach harder-to-access spaces. It’s pretty good at working with flat surfaces and will make short work of staircases. You can also choose to use the included brush with this nozzle in order to really work dirt and debris out of carpets.

There’s a simple side door for emptying the cup, which can also be washed in the sink. We also really like the charging stand that the 20V MAX comes with. It’s neat and tidy, and won’t take up much space.

The biggest downside is that the body of the vacuum is wider than the nozzle, which will make getting into the corners of a staircase a little bit tricky. Despite this, we still think that this is a great vacuum. It’s very powerful, and being cordless it’s very convenient, especially if you want your vacuum for other jobs such as cleaning the car.

The Eureka RapidClean Step has been designed in every way to be an excellent stair cleaner, and we’re pleased to say that it does a really good job of this. It has a variety of smart little touches that make it truly effective but with a couple of minor drawbacks.

This is a well-priced, bagless, versatile unit. You’ve got an adjustable on/off brush roll that means you can tackle both carpeted and hard surfaces, but then there’s also a 3-foot hose with crevice tool that means you can clean every bit of the staircase. All in all, it means there’s pretty much no set of stairs that you aren’t going to be able to clean well. A washable filter is also standard, which is easy to take out and rinse.

There are a couple of small criticisms we have for this unit. The first is that the weight of the vacuum isn’t completely balanced – it’s biased towards the back which makes it a little awkward to use sometimes. The second is that the protruding brush roll means that you will need to use the crevice tool to clean the inner edge of every step.

Overall, a couple of drawbacks don’t take away from the fact that this is a really good handheld and well worth consideration.

Next up is something a little different. The BESTEK 2-in-1 Stick & Handheld is, as the name suggests, a fusion of the traditional little handheld vacuum, and the increasingly popular stick style. The aim is that you have the versatility of a handheld, while also being able to push the vacuum around on floors.

You get a standard wide roller, but it’s not a motorized brush, so carpet cleaning functionality is fairly limited. Alternatively, you can replace this with the included crevice tool. Using both combined, cleaning stairs should be straightforward. The fact that the whole thing weighs less than 4 pounds is another big bonus. It’s also very easy to empty without getting dust everywhere.

One criticism is that the wheels are made of hard plastic. This means that the unit could mark hard and polished floors if used as a roller vacuum. Bear this in mind.

Ultimately, this is a good choice if you want something that’s nice and flexible, and you’d like to be able to clean your floors as well as do things like the stairs and the car. There are a few small downsides, but they don’t take away from the fact that this is a good little vacuum.