Vacuums that are easy to empty

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum has the best record for emptying, but the score is modest and comes from a small group: 11 of 14 shoppers said the bin was easy and clean to empty. Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum comes next at 8 of 11, and the other four each have more reports of a messy bin than of an easy one. Handheld, stick and upright vacuums are ranked together here, so you are comparing different kinds of machines.

  • 230 store reviews counted
  • Target shoppers
  • Oct 2020 to Oct 2026

Updated . How we count

Was it easy to empty? What shoppers said
  1. Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum 14 said either way
  2. Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum 11 said either way
  3. Shark Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum 16 said either way
  4. Dirt Devil Endura Express Upright Vacuum 11 said either way
  5. Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV360 22 said either way
  6. Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Handheld Vacuum 12 said either way

Share of shoppers who stated an outcome for emptying. Ranked by the lower bound of a 90% confidence interval, so a product needs both a good share and enough reports to rank high.

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum Best record Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum 11 of 14 say it was easy and clean to empty See price & reviews on Amazon
What stands out

Messy emptying drags down the weaker records: 38% of Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV360 reviews and 53% of Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Handheld Vacuum reviews mention it, against 8% for Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum. People also tend to write about emptying when it goes wrong, so read these shares as a rough guide.

The ranking, product by product

Praise and complaints are the points shoppers repeat most, shown as a share of each product's counted store reviews.

1 Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum

Bissell

Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum

Best for picking up pet hair

11/14 say it was easy and clean to empty

A small group weighed in, and 11 of 14 said it was easy and clean to empty. Shoppers praise how it handles pet hair (36%) and its suction (31%). The main complaint is clogging, at 23%, and 13% say the battery runs out fast.

What shoppers praise

  • Picks up pet hair 36%
  • Strong suction 31%
  • Long battery life 15%
  • Lightweight 13%
  • Good value 8%

What shoppers complain about

  • Clogs 23%
  • Battery runs out fast 13%
  • Leaves pet hair 8%
  • Stopped working 5%
  • Hair wraps the roller 5%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 11 of 14
  • Brand site 5 of 5 shown, not counted
2 Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum

Bissell

Featherweight Stick Vacuum

Best for light weight, good value

8/11 say it was easy and clean to empty

Shoppers like the weight and the price: 51% call it lightweight and 35% call it good value. 8 of 11 said emptying was easy and clean, again from a small group. Weak suction comes up in 16% of its reviews.

What shoppers praise

  • Lightweight 51%
  • Good value 35%
  • Strong suction 27%
  • Picks up pet hair 16%

What shoppers complain about

  • Weak suction 16%
  • Clogs 5%
  • Leaves pet hair 5%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 8 of 11
  • Brand site 2 of 2 shown, not counted
3

Shark

Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum

7/16 say it was easy and clean to empty

Suction divides shoppers: 30% praise it and 25% call it weak. On emptying, 7 of 16 said it was easy and clean while 9 said it was messy or hard. 10% say it stopped working, and 12% call it heavy.

What shoppers praise

  • Strong suction 30%
  • Lightweight 25%
  • Picks up pet hair 13%
  • Good value 13%

What shoppers complain about

  • Weak suction 25%
  • Heavy 13%
  • Clogs 13%
  • Stopped working 10%
  • Too expensive 5%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 7 of 16
  • Brand site 2 of 3 shown, not counted

Share of 40 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

4

Dirt Devil

Endura Express Upright Vacuum

5/11 say it was easy and clean to empty

Shoppers are close to evenly split on emptying at 5 of 11. Weak suction is the bigger complaint, in 32% of its reviews, ahead of clogs (25%) and 20% who say it stopped working. Praise goes to light weight (18%) and good value (15%).

What shoppers praise

  • Lightweight 18%
  • Good value 15%
  • Strong suction 15%
  • Picks up pet hair 5%

What shoppers complain about

  • Weak suction 33%
  • Clogs 25%
  • Stopped working 20%
  • Hair wraps the roller 5%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 5 of 11
  • Brand site 1 of 1 shown, not counted

Share of 40 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

5

Shark

Navigator Lift-Away NV360

7/22 say it was easy and clean to empty

At 7 of 22 it has the weakest record here, even though more reviewers weighed in on it than on any other vacuum. Messy emptying is the problem, mentioned in 38% of its reviews. Praise goes to suction (32%) and pet hair pickup (20%).

What shoppers praise

  • Strong suction 33%
  • Picks up pet hair 20%
  • Lightweight 18%
  • Good value 5%

What shoppers complain about

  • Weak suction 15%
  • Stopped working 13%
  • Heavy 10%
  • Clogs 8%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 7 of 22
  • Brand site 2 of 3 shown, not counted

Share of 40 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

6

Shark

UltraCyclone Pet Pro Handheld Vacuum

4/12 say it was easy and clean to empty

Messy emptying drives this record: 8 of 12 shoppers said it was messy or hard to empty, and 53% of its reviews mention it. The few who liked it praise the easy emptying (27%) and the suction (27%). It is a small group, so treat the record as thin.

What shoppers praise

  • Strong suction 27%

What shoppers complain about

  • Weak suction 13%
Where shoppers said it
  • Target 4 of 12
  • Brand site 5 of 7 shown, not counted

Share of 15 store reviews that mention each point. A full bar is 50%.

Where these numbers come from

The 6 products ranked here carry 11,124 reviews at Target. We read the newest reviews of each product (up to a thousand per listing), kept the ones that talk about emptying, and counted up to 40 per product, posted between Oct 2020 and Oct 2026.

A review counts only when the reviewer used the product themselves. We drop reviews written in exchange for a free product or a sweepstakes entry (1 on this page), and products that are no longer sold.

Target also shows reviews first posted on brands' own websites. We show them on product cards but never count them, because brand-site reviews run more positive than store reviews of the same products.

Because we searched for the problem, people who had it are overrepresented. Compare products with each other rather than reading a share as your own odds.

We count what shoppers report. Nothing here is safety advice: use heaters, fans and other appliances as the maker's manual says.

Amazon buttons appear only on products that most shoppers here say fix the problem (at least 60%, with enough reviews to trust it). Everything else gets no buy link.

An AI model labels each review against a fixed list of points, and we spot-check the labels before publishing. We publish counts, never the reviews themselves.

Read the full method

Product pages we read

  1. Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum Target (39 reviews counted)
  2. Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum Target (37 reviews counted)
  3. Shark Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum Target (40 reviews counted)
  4. Dirt Devil Endura Express Upright Vacuum Target (40 reviews counted)
  5. Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV360 Target (40 reviews counted)
  6. Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Handheld Vacuum Target (15 reviews counted)

Questions buyers ask

Which vacuum is easy to empty?

Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum has the best record (11 of 14), followed by Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum (8 of 11). Both rest on small groups and the scores are modest, so check the complaints before you buy.

Can I compare a handheld, a stick and an upright?

This page ranks them together, with two of each kind on the list. A handheld bin and an upright bin are different jobs, so look at the type as well as the record. Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum and Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Handheld Vacuum are the handhelds, Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum and Shark Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum are sticks, and Dirt Devil Endura Express Upright Vacuum and Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV360 are uprights.

Which of these vacuums are messy to empty?

38% of Shark Navigator Lift-Away NV360 reviews and 53% of Shark UltraCyclone Pet Pro Handheld Vacuum reviews mention a messy empty. Shark Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum follows at 22%, while both Bissell vacuums sit near 8%.

Does an easy-to-empty vacuum also clean well?

Not always. Our counts are about emptying, not overall cleaning power. Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum gets praise for suction (31%), but 23% of its reviews mention clogs, and 32% of Dirt Devil Endura Express Upright Vacuum reviews call its suction weak.

Related problems

Vacuum Vacuum for pet hair Top pick: Bissell Pet Hair Eraser Hand Vacuum 220 shopper reports Vacuum Lightweight vacuum that's easy to carry Top pick: Bissell Featherweight Stick Vacuum 291 shopper reports Vacuum Vacuum with strong suction Top pick: Shark Rocket Corded Stick Vacuum 308 shopper reports Steam mop Steam mops that clean floors Top pick: BISSELL PowerFresh Deluxe 192 shopper reports

HiveTried earns a commission when you buy through the "See price & reviews on Amazon" buttons. It never changes the ranking: the order comes from buyer reports only, and a product gets an Amazon button only when buyers here say it works.