Six machines that give you a stick vacuum's shape with none of a stick vacuum's battery. The trade is a cord, and the figures that decide it are cup size and cord length.
Everyone in this category says they tested twenty vacuums. We have not tested any, and we say so. What we do instead is read the manuals, compile the published specifications, and work out what each machine costs to run for three years — the method is written out in full.
We earn a commission if you buy through the links on this page, at no extra cost to you. It never changes what we recommend or the order we recommend it in. Full disclosure.
The short answer: the Shark Rocket Pet Plus HV322. It publishes 500 watts, a 0.68-quart cup, a low-profile LED head and a five-year warranty, and it scores highest here on our rubric. If allergies are the reason you are shopping, the Bissell PowerClean 4214K is the only corded stick here that publishes sealed HEPA at 99.97% with a tangle-free brush roll and a 27-foot cord. And if the job is crumbs rather than cleaning, the 3.6 lb Bissell Featherweight is lighter than most hand vacuums and quieter than anything else on this site.
Why this shape exists at all
A corded stick is a cordless stick with the expensive, perishable part taken out. You get the same tall, light, swivel-headed body that stores in a closet and converts to a handheld — and instead of a lithium cell with an unpublished cycle life, you get a plug. The full cordless-versus-corded arithmetic is here, and the short version is that the battery is the most expensive component of a cordless vacuum and the one that decides when the machine gets thrown away.
What you give up is obvious and worth saying plainly: you are tethered. On a single floor with a 25-foot cord that is barely a limitation. Across three rooms and a hallway it is an irritation you will feel every time. That is the whole trade, and no specification resolves it for you.
What we looked at
Dust cup capacity, in whatever unit the maker published. The spread here is more than threefold — 0.31 quarts to 1 liter — and on a small machine emptying is the interruption people actually complain about.
Cord length. This is the figure that decides how much of the house you clean before unplugging. Three of the six do not publish it at all, which on a corded vacuum is a strange omission.
Weight. 2.8 lb to about 10 lb across this group, and one listing gives two different answers. A corded stick that is heavy has given up the one thing the shape is for.
Filtration, and whether the claim has a number. One machine here publishes a sealed HEPA figure with a percentage. The rest publish washable foam and no claim at all.
Warranty. Shark publishes five years across all three of its corded sticks here. The other three listings publish no term whatsoever.
Published power, read carefully. Two machines publish 500 watts. One publishes an amperage with its own model number sitting in the wattage field. One publishes nothing at all.
The published figures side by side
Every figure is from the manufacturer's own listing. "Not published" means the listing gives no figure.
Machine
Power
Cup
Cord
Weight
Filtration
Warranty
Shark Rocket Pet Plus HV322
500 W
0.68 qt
Not published
8.6 lb
Foam, no HEPA figure
5 years
Shark Rocket Pro DLX HV371
500 W, 4.2 A
0.68 qt
Not published
8.6 lb
Washable foam, no claim
5 years
Shark Rocket Pet HV302
500 W
0.31 qt
25 ft
8.2 lb
Washable foam, no claim
5 years
Bissell Featherweight 2033M
1.4 A
0.67 L
15 ft
3.6 lb
Foam, no claim
Not published
Bissell PowerClean 4214K
Not published
1 L
27 ft
8.5 lb claimed / 10.1 lb listed
Sealed HEPA, 99.97%
Not published
Eureka Blaze 3-in-1
240 W
0.7 L
Not published
2.8 lb
Washable foam, no claim
Not published
Retrieved from each retail listing on September 21, 2026, except the HV322 and Blaze figures, read on September 1 and unchanged. We have not weighed, timed or measured any of these machines.
Two things fall out of that table. The machine with the best filtration claim publishes no power figure at all, and the machine with the longest cord is the same one. The Bissell 4214K is the outlier in both directions: the most useful outcome claims on the page, and the least disclosure about what is producing them.
Cup size is the figure that decides how this feels
On a full-size upright, a dust cup is measured in liters and you empty it every few cleans. On a corded stick it is measured in fractions of a quart and you empty it during the clean. The Rocket Pet HV302 publishes 0.31 quarts. The HV322 and the Rocket Pro DLX both publish 0.68 — more than double, for a modest step up, in otherwise near-identical machines. The Bissell 4214K publishes a full liter, which is roughly three and a half times the HV302.
That single number is the difference between finishing a floor and stopping twice to walk to the bin. It is also the number most buyers skip, because it sits below the suction claim on every listing. If you take one figure off this page, take that one.
Cord length, and the three listings that will not tell you
Published cords here run from 15 feet (Featherweight) to 27 feet (Bissell 4214K). A 15-foot cord plus your own arm reach covers a kitchen. Twenty-seven feet covers most of a floor from one socket. Neither the HV322 nor the HV371 listing publishes a cord length, the Eureka Blaze listing does not either, and the HV302 25 feet is the only Shark figure we could find stated plainly — so if reach is the thing you care about, the Bissell is the only machine here that both publishes the number and makes it a selling point.
#
Product
Best for
Score
Price
01
Shark Rocket Pet Plus Corded Stick (HV322)Under 10 lb, 500 W, corded, with a low-profile head that actually fits under furniture — the hardwood answer that never needs charging.
Shark Rocket Pro DLX Corded Stick (HV371)A 0.68-quart cup — more than double the Rocket Pet's — on the same 500-watt corded platform, with a five-year warranty and a foot pedal that drops the wand off the nozzle.
Shark Rocket Pet Corded Stick (HV302)Eight pounds, swivel steering, a 25-foot cord and a five-year warranty. The cup is small and the filter is foam, and neither is a surprise at this price.
Bissell Featherweight Stick (2033M)Three and a half pounds and the quietest rating on this site, for the price of a filter pack. It is an electric broom, and it is honest about being one.
Bissell PowerClean Corded Stick (4214K)The only corded stick here that publishes sealed HEPA filtration at 99.97%, a tangle-free brush roll and a 27-foot cord — and the only one whose listing cannot agree with itself about what it weighs.
Ranked by our published rubric. Runtime scores 10 on every machine here because all six are corded — read the cup and cord figures instead, because those are what actually vary.
01 · Best for hardwood
Shark Rocket Pet Plus Corded Stick (HV322)
Under 10 lb, 500 W, corded, with a low-profile head that actually fits under furniture — the hardwood answer that never needs charging.
Every figure above is the manufacturer's own published number. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says "Not published" rather than an estimate.
What the numbers say
+500 W of constant power on hard floors, with none of the fade a battery gives you at minute 30
+Converts to a handheld and clips into freestanding storage
+Low-profile head reaches under couches that a full upright cannot
Where it stops
−Foam filter, not HEPA
−0.68-quart cup
−The cord is the whole compromise and there is no getting around it
Who it is for
Hardwood, tile and LVP homes with rugs, where constant suction matters more than cordless freedom.
Skip it if
Deep pile carpet is your main surface. A 500 W stick is not a substitute for a proper upright on thick pile.
Our score: 8.1 out of 10
Published power8.0
Runtime10.0
Bin and filtration5.5
Weight and handling7.5
Running cost9.5
Scored against the published rubric on How We Pick. These are judgments about spec sheets, not measurements.
02 · Biggest cup on a corded stick
Shark Rocket Pro DLX Corded Stick (HV371)
A 0.68-quart cup — more than double the Rocket Pet's — on the same 500-watt corded platform, with a five-year warranty and a foot pedal that drops the wand off the nozzle.
Every figure above is the manufacturer's own published number. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says "Not published" rather than an estimate.
What the numbers say
+0.68 quarts is double the Rocket Pet HV302 cup in an otherwise near-identical machine, and emptying is the interruption people actually complain about
+A five-year warranty, which is two to five times what most floor-care brands publish
+Converts to a hand vacuum with a foot pedal rather than a two-handed twist
Where it stops
−Washable foam filters and no HEPA claim, on a machine sold for pet households
−No cord length published anywhere on the listing, which is the one figure a corded machine should always state
−500 watts is half what a full-size corded upright draws, and on deep pile that gap shows
Who it is for
A mostly hard-floor home with a shedding pet, where the vacuum gets used in short bursts and a bigger cup means fewer trips to the bin.
Skip it if
Your floors are wall-to-wall deep pile. This is a 500-watt stick with a small head, and a 1,200-watt upright with a full-width brushroll is a different class of machine for the same money.
Our score: 8.0 out of 10
Published power7.0
Runtime10.0
Bin and filtration6.5
Weight and handling7.5
Running cost9.0
Scored against the published rubric on How We Pick. These are judgments about spec sheets, not measurements.
03 · Best swivel corded stick
Shark Rocket Pet Corded Stick (HV302)
Eight pounds, swivel steering, a 25-foot cord and a five-year warranty. The cup is small and the filter is foam, and neither is a surprise at this price.
Swivel, with a low-profile head for under-furniture reach
Conversion
Converts to a hand vacuum at the touch of a button; the handheld hangs on a hook on the wand
Filtration
Washable foam filters. No HEPA claim published
Rated noise
80 dB
Tools
Crevice tool, pet multi-tool, precision duster
Warranty
5-year limited
Every figure above is the manufacturer's own published number. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says "Not published" rather than an estimate.
What the numbers say
+A 25-foot cord published plainly, which two other corded sticks on this page do not manage
+Three tools in the box including a pet multi-tool, on the cheaper of the two Shark sticks here
+Five-year warranty and washable filters, so the running cost is close to zero
Where it stops
−0.31 quarts is the smallest cup on this page — less than half what the HV322 and the Rocket Pro DLX hold
−Foam filtration with no HEPA claim and no named standard
−The listing's voltage field prints "100120 volts", which is two figures run together rather than one specification
Who it is for
An apartment or a single floor of hard surfaces and low-pile rugs, where light weight and swivel steering matter more than capacity.
Skip it if
Emptying annoys you. At 0.31 quarts this is a machine you will empty two or three times during one clean of a normal floor, and the DLX above doubles the cup for a small step up.
Our score: 7.9 out of 10
Published power7.0
Runtime10.0
Bin and filtration5.5
Weight and handling8.0
Running cost9.0
Scored against the published rubric on How We Pick. These are judgments about spec sheets, not measurements.
04 · Lightest corded stick
Bissell Featherweight Stick (2033M)
Three and a half pounds and the quietest rating on this site, for the price of a filter pack. It is an electric broom, and it is honest about being one.
1.4 amps. The listing's wattage field prints "2033 watts", which is the model number in the wrong field
Dirt cup
0.67 liters, transparent
Cord
15 feet
Rated noise
67 dB — the lowest rating published by any vacuum on this site
Runtime
Unlimited — corded
Conversion
Three-in-one: stick, hand vacuum and stair vacuum
Filtration
Foam filter. No HEPA claim published
Tools
Crevice tool and a floor nozzle for stairs
Surfaces
Sealed hard floors, area rugs and low-pile carpet. Bissell does not claim deep pile
Warranty
Not published on the listing
Every figure above is the manufacturer's own published number. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says "Not published" rather than an estimate.
What the numbers say
+3.6 lb is lighter than several hand vacuums on this site, which is the entire point of an electric broom
+67 dB is quiet enough to use in a room where somebody is asleep, and nothing else here comes close
+0.67 liters is marginally more than either Shark corded stick holds, on much the cheapest machine here
Where it stops
−1.4 amps is a fraction of what the Sharks draw, and the listing's only wattage figure is its own model number
−No HEPA claim, no warranty term published, and no brushroll specification at all
−Bissell's own surface list stops at low-pile carpet, so deep pile is explicitly not its job
Who it is for
A dorm, a small apartment, a kitchen that needs sweeping twice a day, or a second machine kept downstairs so the real vacuum stays put.
Skip it if
It is going to be your only vacuum. This is a broom replacement for crumbs and surface dust; a house with carpet needs something with a driven brushroll behind it.
Our score: 7.9 out of 10
Published power5.0
Runtime10.0
Bin and filtration6.0
Weight and handling9.5
Running cost9.0
Scored against the published rubric on How We Pick. These are judgments about spec sheets, not measurements.
05 · Only sealed HEPA corded stick
Bissell PowerClean Corded Stick (4214K)
The only corded stick here that publishes sealed HEPA filtration at 99.97%, a tangle-free brush roll and a 27-foot cord — and the only one whose listing cannot agree with itself about what it weighs.
Sealed HEPA allergen system, published as capturing and holding 99.97% of dust, dander and pet allergens. No test standard named
Brushroll
Tangle-free, published as handling hair up to 8 inches long without clogging
Cord
27 feet
Dirt cup
1 liter
Weight
The bullets say 8.5 lb; the same listing's weight field says 10.1 lb
Runtime
Unlimited — corded
Conversion
Three-in-one: stick to handheld for stairs and upholstery
Design
Self-standing, swivel head, LED headlights
Motor
Not published. No wattage and no amperage appear anywhere on the listing
Tools
Dusting brush
Warranty
Not published on the listing
Every figure above is the manufacturer's own published number. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says "Not published" rather than an estimate.
What the numbers say
+Sealed HEPA at 99.97% with a particle claim, which no other corded stick on this site publishes at all
+A 1-liter cup and a 27-foot cord — the biggest and the longest on this page
+Self-standing, so it parks without leaning against a wall, and a tangle-free roll for long hair
Where it stops
−No motor figure of any kind, so it cannot be compared with the 500-watt Sharks on anything but outcome claims
−Its own listing publishes two different weights, 8.5 lb and 10.1 lb
−No warranty term published, against five years from Shark
Who it is for
An allergy household that wants a light corded machine, and a long-haired one — the sealed HEPA claim and the tangle-free roll are the two things this model has that the Sharks do not.
Skip it if
You want to know what the motor draws before you buy. Bissell publishes no wattage or amperage for this model, and on a corded machine that is the one number that is genuinely comparable.
Our score: 7.8 out of 10
Published power6.0
Runtime10.0
Bin and filtration8.5
Weight and handling7.0
Running cost7.5
Scored against the published rubric on How We Pick. These are judgments about spec sheets, not measurements.
06 · Cheapest hard-floor stick
Eureka Blaze 3-in-1 Stick Vacuum
2.8 lb, corded, 240 W, and it costs less than a set of replacement filters for a premium machine.
Every figure above is the manufacturer's own published number. Where a manufacturer publishes nothing, the row says "Not published" rather than an estimate.
What the numbers say
+2.8 lb — you will actually pick it up for a two-minute job
+No battery, no charge time, no fade
+Stands upright on its own
Where it stops
−240 W is a crumbs-and-dust machine, not a carpet machine
−No driven brushroll
−Corded at this size means the cord is most of the weight
Who it is for
Kitchens, stairs, cars, and as the grab-it vacuum that saves the big one for weekends.
Skip it if
You expect it to replace a full-size vacuum. It will not, and it is not sold as one.
Our score: 7.4 out of 10
Published power4.5
Runtime10.0
Bin and filtration6.0
Weight and handling9.5
Running cost9.5
Scored against the published rubric on How We Pick. These are judgments about spec sheets, not measurements.
The ones to skip
Skip any corded stick as your only vacuum if you have wall-to-wall carpet. Five hundred watts and a narrow head will keep a low-pile rug tidy; it will not pull grit out of a deep pile, and no machine on this page publishes a figure suggesting otherwise. A corded upright costs about the same and is a different class of machine on that surface.
Skip the Featherweight if you expect it to replace a vacuum. Bissell's own surface list stops at low-pile carpet and area rugs, and its published amperage is a fraction of everything else here. It is superb at what it is — a 3.6 lb electric broom that lives in a kitchen cupboard — and disappointing the moment you ask it to be more.
And skip the wattage field on a corded-stick listing generally. The Featherweight's reads "2033 watts", which is its model number. The Bissell 4214K's does not exist. Two Sharks publish 500 W, which is a genuine consumption figure and still tells you nothing about airflow at the head. We set out why in full here.
What a corded stick costs to run
Almost nothing, and that is the point. At the U.S. average residential price of 18.34 cents per kWh, a 500-watt machine used 45 minutes a week for three years — 117 hours — costs about $10.73 in electricity. There is no battery to replace, and four of the six publish washable filters, so the consumable bill is a rinse and a dry. Compare that with a cordless stick whose cell has no published cycle rating and cannot be replaced on most models, and the five-year cost of ownership is not close.
The one real caveat: a washable filter must be completely dry before it goes back in. Refitting a damp filter is the most common way a bagless machine is quietly ruined, and every brand here publishes the rinse-and-dry instruction that almost nobody follows.
What these machines cannot do
They cannot clean deep pile properly. They cannot reach past the cord. They cannot be carried to a car — that is a hand vacuum's job, and three of these convert to one, which is not the same as being good at it. And they cannot wash a floor: for sticky spills on hard floors, a wet/dry vacuum mop picks the water back up and a corded stick does not.
We have not used any of these machines and we will not imply otherwise. A spec sheet cannot tell you how a swivel head behaves on a rug edge, whether a 0.31-quart cup empties cleanly or puffs dust back at you, or how a five-year warranty is honored in practice. Our method page states exactly where our evidence stops.
How to choose in one paragraph
For most homes, the Shark Rocket Pet Plus HV322 — the largest cup in Shark's corded line, five years of warranty, and the machine the others are compared with. If you want the same 0.68-quart cup with a foot-pedal wand release and an anti-allergen dust brush in the box, the Rocket Pro DLX HV371. If you want the cheapest Shark with a published cord length, the Rocket Pet HV302 is 25 feet and 8.2 lb. If somebody in the house reacts to dust, the Bissell PowerClean 4214K is the only sealed-HEPA machine here and has the longest cord by a distance. If you want a broom rather than a vacuum, the Bissell Featherweight 2033M is 3.6 lb and 67 decibels. And if the budget is genuinely tiny, the Eureka Blaze is 2.8 lb and costs less than a set of replacement filters for anything else on this page.
Common questions
What is the best corded stick vacuum?+−
On published specifications, the Shark Rocket Pet Plus HV322: 500 watts, the largest cup in Shark's corded stick line, a five-year limited warranty and a conversion to handheld. If sealed filtration matters more to you than brand history, the Bissell PowerClean 4214K is the only machine here publishing HEPA at 99.97% along with a 27-foot cord and a 1-liter cup.
Is a corded stick vacuum better than a cordless one?+−
On cost of ownership, yes, and it is not close: there is no battery to fade, no cycle rating nobody publishes, and no machine thrown away because a sealed cell died. On convenience, no — you are tethered, and a cordless stick gets grabbed for two-minute jobs a corded one does not. The honest answer is that they fail differently, and the cord is the price of never replacing a battery.
How many watts does a corded stick vacuum need?+−
Watts describe electricity drawn rather than dirt lifted, so the figure is only useful within one class of machine. For reference, the two Shark corded sticks here publish 500 watts, the Bissell Featherweight publishes 1.4 amps, and a full-size corded upright publishes 1,200 watts. That last gap is the real one, and it is why these machines suit hard floors and rugs rather than deep pile.
Can a corded stick vacuum clean carpet?+−
Low-pile carpet and area rugs, yes — every machine here names them. Deep or high pile, no. Five hundred watts through a narrow head is not the same as 1,200 watts through a full-width driven brushroll, and Bissell's Featherweight listing stops at low pile explicitly rather than leaving you to find out.
How long should the cord be on a stick vacuum?+−
Long enough to cover the floor you clean most from one socket. Published cords on this page run from 15 feet to 27 feet. Two Shark listings publish no cord length at all, which is worth knowing before you buy if reach is the deciding factor for you.
Do corded stick vacuums have HEPA filters?+−
Mostly not. Of the six machines here, one publishes a sealed HEPA claim with a figure — the Bissell PowerClean 4214K, at 99.97% — and the rest publish washable foam filters with no filtration claim at all. None of them names a test standard, so the one numbered claim is checkable in principle and the others are simply absent.
Sources
Manufacturer-published specifications — Every runtime, wattage, capacity, weight, filtration and warranty figure quoted on this page is the manufacturer's own published number for that model, retrieved September 1, 2026. Where a manufacturer publishes no figure, the page says 'Not published' rather than estimating one.
Sweep & Suction — How We Pick — Our published method, including the scoring rubric, the three-year running-cost formula and an explicit statement of what published specifications cannot tell you.
