I switched from a cordless vac to corded, and I'll never go back — here are 4 models I recommend buying at Amazon's spring sale

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I've started valuing power over convenience

Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum cleaning a yellow rug
(Image credit: Future)

Years ago, I switched from my old and inconvenient corded vacuum to a cordless one, and I loved it. Just grab and go! No setup, no tangling! I'm a tech journalist after all, and the promise of solving inconveniences using the power of lithium-ion is catnip to me. And it worked great for me for years, making it really easy to stay on top of floor cleaning.

But last year, I found the shine wearing off. When I first got my cordless vacuum, I lived somewhere with all hard floors downstairs, and only carpets upstairs. My Vax vacuum had two levels of suction power, and the lower level was fine for doing the hard floors, with plenty of battery life to get around the whole level, and then some.

Doing the carpeted areas required the higher power level, and this drained the battery way faster, to the point that I could only just do it all in one go (even ignoring the hard floor). Still, no problem — they needed doing less often than the hard floors in general, being in less-used areas of the house.

Since then, I've moved house to somewhere that's almost entirely carpeted, and pretty quickly my cordless vac started feeling in inadequate. Yes, it still had the convenience of being able to just grab it out of the cupboard and instantly start cleaning, but because I now needed to have it on maximum power all the time, I was barely getting through even half the house, with zero chance of doing the whole thing — it felt like it was extending the chore instead of making it more accessible.

Three views of the Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum

(Image credit: Future)

On top of that, even at maximum power, I wasn't happy with the quality of the cleaning, now that all the highest-trafficked parts of my house were carpeted. I was wanting to clean more often, which then made the inability to do it all at once feel more frustrating.

Around that time, we were working on our Shark Stratos Pet Pro Upright Vacuum review, and so I ended up switching to that model — and I've stuck with it ever since.

It's bigger and heavier (we noted in our review that it's particularly bulky), and more of A Thing to get out and use when you combine its size with it being corded, but I feel far more proud of the cleaning results afterwards. I could instantly see the difference in the amount of cat hair in particular being picked up, too.

This model has Shark's 'Lift-Away' design, meaning I can separate the vacuum part from the main head and tube, connect a smaller attachment to the nozzle, and just use that for doing the stairs, which is essential, in my experience — the main unit itself is just too bulky to move around well on steps, and doesn't get into the corners at all.

Between the size, sorting out the cord and using the Lift-Away system, it does feel like the vacuuming job takes a long time in some ways — but I'd say it's been more economical with my time overall, because I'm doing the whole house in one go and it's cleaner afterwards, with each room taking less time to feel like it's been done well.

I also want to note something that isn't a cordless versus corded thing, but because I live with someone who has a lot of long, thick hair, the Anti Hair Wrap design of the rollers in the Shark cleaner is also miracle in its own right.

There are lots of reasons why you might still prefer to go with one of the best cordless vacs over a corded one, and it's true that many will be able to offer stronger suction or swappable battery packs that would've helped solve my issues — but on balance, I'm happier with the reliability and power I've had from the Shark corded vac.

(And just to prove that I learned my lesson from this change, when I got a new car recently, I chose the ThisWorx Corded Car Vacuum for cleaning it, because as my colleague Cesci said in her review, 'I can just clean as deeply as I want, at my leisure, with no worries about running out of battery before I'm done'.)

If you're thinking of grabbing a new vacuum cleaner for your spring cleaning, and want to join me in going old-school and corded, I've worked with our resident vacuum testing expert Ruth Hamilton and Homes Editor Cat Ellis to pick out four top deals from the Amazon Spring Sale.

Today's best corded vacuum deals at Amazon

Vax Mach Air Corded Upright Bagless Vacuum
Vax Mach Air Corded Upright Bagless Vacuum: was £89.99 now £68 at Amazon

A great price for a simple, powerful and easy-to-use vac. It's previously fallen as low as £63 before, but this price is as low as it's been in 2026, and is a fair price for what you get. The 1.5l bin will mean it gets plenty use before you need to empty it, and at under 5kg it's reasonably lightweight to move around.

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Shark Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner 1.1L with Lift-Away Technology
Shark Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner 1.1L with Lift-Away Technology: was £199 now £149 at Amazon

This is like a cheaper version of the model I use: the design and overall usability is very similar, and you still get the Lift-Away system for flexibility in how you clean, but there's no Anti Hair Wrap design for the rollers. It's got conveniences like lighting on the front so you can see clearly what you're cleaning. This is often available for around £130, so this isn't the biggest deal we've ever seen on it or anything, but again it's a fair price for something I'd happily recommend given my own experience with this kind of design.

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Shark PowerDetect Corded Stick Vacuum Cleaner
Shark PowerDetect Corded Stick Vacuum Cleaner: was £299.99 now £199 at Amazon

This has the stick-like design of a cordess vac, but is lighter since it doesn't have batteries to weigh it down. And it has Shark's Anti Hair Wrap design, plus PowerDetect tech so it's as effective when you're pulling it backwards as when you're pushing forwards, making it all much more efficient. This is the cheapest this model has been since sales season. It fell under £180 at that time, but this is a really good price for it in general.

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Shark PowerDetect Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner
Shark PowerDetect Corded Upright Vacuum Cleaner: was £399.99 now £299.60 at Amazon

Super-powerful and super-versatile — this model includes the Lift-Away Design, Anti Hair Wrap, PowerDetect for efficient sucking forward and backwards, Dirt Detect to boost the power if it senses a major mess near the head, Edge Detect to increase suction with its near a wall to help clean the corners better, and auto detection of floor type to adjust its roller speed. This model often fell to about £280 last year, so again it's not a record-low price, but is good for something so feature-packed.

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More of today's best Amazon Spring Deal Days deals

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Matt Bolton
Matt Bolton
Managing Editor, Entertainment

Matt is TechRadar's Managing Editor for Entertainment, meaning he's in charge of persuading our team of writers and reviewers to watch the latest TV shows and movies on gorgeous TVs and listen to fantastic speakers and headphones. It's a tough task, as you can imagine. Matt has over a decade of experience in tech publishing, and previously ran the TV & audio coverage for our colleagues at T3.com, and before that he edited T3 magazine. During his career, he's also contributed to places as varied as Creative Bloq, PC Gamer, PetsRadar, MacLife, and Edge. TV and movie nerdism is his speciality, and he goes to the cinema three times a week. He's always happy to explain the virtues of Dolby Vision over a drink, but he might need to use props, like he's explaining the offside rule.

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