Backpack Vacuum Cleaners – Purpose & The Best Ones To Buy

Tired of constantly hunting for outlets and emptying your vacuum mid-clean? Enter the superhero of home cleaning: the backpack vacuum cleaner.

These nifty gadgets are all about speed and efficiency. Picture this: plug in your vacuum once, and zoom through your entire space without breaking a sweat. No more lugging heavy uprights or feeling exhausted before the job’s done.

But here’s the real magic – throw on that backpack, pop in your headphones, and become the vacuuming maestro, from floors to cobwebs on the ceiling. With a backpack vacuum cleaner, this dream can become your reality!

Say goodbye to the hassle and hello to a whole new level of cleaning convenience. It’s time to join the backpack vacuum revolution!

Where Can You Use It?

Backpack vacuum cleaners were used in commercial cleaning. I often seem them at the gym or even hotels cleaning the long hallways.

Just looking at the employee cleaning with ease made me envious because to clean a large house would require me to plug into many outlets and even empty the canister often. I’m such a clean freak that I’ll clean not only the floors but the cobwebs and even the couch and other places of the home. To have that freedom that the employees had at that business it only made sense to look into a backpack vacuum cleaner.

Many people like to say that they’re like shop vacuums, while they can have the power of them most are not meant to clean liquids. Other then that these vacuums are durable, they got to be as most are used for commercial settings.

But you don’t need to be a commercial cleaner to buy one, you can buy them anywhere, and we’ll show you which ones we like below! I find the backpack vacuum cleaner to be the best vacuum if you have a big house or a large area that needs to be vacuumed.

What Makes Them Speical

Placing the vacuum on your back allows you to have greater mobility for cleaning. All you have in your hand is the cleaning wand and not something like the entire vacuum like you would with an upright. This allows you to clean under furniture and other tight spaces.

You can even swap out accessories to clean curtains, corners, and other odd places you might miss with a regular vacuum cleaner.

You see that is the thing about the backpack vacuum – it allows you to clean more then you would have had with an upright vacuum.

An upright would make you fumble when it comes to cleaning stairs, but not the case with a backpack model. Go from the carpet to the hardwood floor then make your way to the stairs. Since the vacuum is on your back, you don’t have to lift it up the stairs with your hands. Plus, it’s a little bit safer as you don’t have an upright or canister vacuum resting on the edge of the stairs while you clean, so you don’t have to worry about it falling.

My favorite feature has got to be the cord length. Most backpack models will have a long cord, something like 50 feet, which is twice the length of other regular vacuum cleaners. But the killer feature I look for in most backpack vacuums is the ability to remove the cord. Most backpack models will have a pigtail cord which is short, but this allows you to plug in your own extension cords of any length.

This ability to pick your own cord length is perfect for when you just want to plug in once and clean the entire home in one go. Sometimes when you’re in the mood to clean you don’t want to stop to plug in!

Weight

No, not really. Heavy is an upright vacuum that you have to use your arm strength to get up the stairs, those uprights are just plain heavy.

When the vacuum is on your back, it is your back and legs doing all the lifting which is far better as those muscles are stronger than your forearms.

Then you got to factor in that backpack vacuums have less “things” on them. By this I mean you don’t have the weight of the wheels that you must have for moving an upright across the floor. Or the mechanisms for lowering the vacuum from upright to vacuuming. You also don’t have all the things that are not needed for a backpack vacuum cleaner.

What I find the most interesting is that most of the full size “lightweight” upright vacuums are heavier than a backpack model, some as much as twice as heavy.

To give you an example here is the info and specs on a Backpack Vacuum (Amazon Link Ad).

Here are the info and specs on an upright vacuum cleaner (Amazon Link Ad).

Pet Hair

When it comes to hardwood floors and other non-carpeted floors the backpack vacuums work very well. They’re one of the best vacuums you can use for hardwood floors because most lack a beater brush.

The beater brush is the rotating brush under the vacuum that is mostly used on high pile carpets. Low pile or hardwood floors its best not to have one to keep the debris from slinging away from the vacuum before it’s sucked up.

The honest truth is that most vacuum cleaners are not perfect at dealing with pet hair. The best thing to do is use a Carpet Rake like this one here (Amazon Link Ad) to comb the hair out of the carpet and use the vacuum to suck it up. This is why I love using a backpack vacuum as most don’t have a rotating brush that can get clogged with hair. Once you have combed the hair out just turn the backpack vacuum on and suck up the hair clumps and you’re done. It’s quite easy to use the carpet rake with the backpack vacuum since it’s on your back.

What I Like To Use

When it comes to backpack vacuums, I like to use the Hoover Commercial C2401 Shoulder Vac Pro Backpack.  (Amazon Link Ad)

It’s lightweight and easy to carry around then most others like it. Has plenty of storage and a long enough hose for me which is important if you’re tall. Has the HEPA filtration which is a must for any home.

I noticed that some people have some common questions about this vacuum so let’s answer them below.

How long is the cord? – The cord is about 48 feet long. It’s the pigtail design, so it has a short cord that you can attach the long 48-foot cord to or use an even longer extension cord if you need to. This is probably the best thing in the world if you have to clean a large area.

Can I clean my sofa with it? – Yes, you have accessories that can vacuum up crumbs and such on the couch.

Carpets? – It works best for commercial-style low profile carpets and is amazing on the hardwood – tile – type floors. You can do just fine with higher pile carpets, but I would recommend the carpet rake beforehand as we mention above in the pet section.

Can it handle sand? – Yes, I know this is a big problem for beach, farms, garage, and lake homes. This thing can handle sand and many other items you throw at it.

Water? – I would not vacuum up water with this vacuum. You should use a shop vacuum for that stuff.

Can you clean stairs? – Oh yes! This is the best vacuum for cleaning stairs if you ask me. No need to drag an upright vacuum up the stairs or use an underpowered hand vacuum – this backpack vacuum cleaner is great for the stairs.

Cleaning Business – This would be a great vacuum if you have a cleaning business, this is what it does best.

Is it loud? – Well, it is a vacuum, and most can get loud. I would say it’s not as loud as many upright vacuum cleaners, but when I have it on, I’m in the zone with my headphones on so it doesn’t really matter at that point.

Ceilings? – Why yes it will clean the ceilings very well.

Under furniture? – Can get under furniture quite easily. I like to use it for cleaning under the bed.

Author

LEE

Hello, I'm Lee from "ThemVacuums.com"! Launched in 2016, my site addresses the online information gap about "robot vacuums" and "vacuum cleaners," areas where I have hands-on experience. Got questions about a post or topic? Feel free to comment or contact me (contact)!

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