But then I discovered the mop vac: a magical device that can suck up dirt and dog hair and mop the floor with clean water. All at the same time. It was love at first use.
After zipping around the main floor of my house for 20 minutes, my floors were cleaner than they’d ever been—and they stayed that way. And until there’s a robot vacuum mop that works as well as the upright mop vacs, I’m quite happy to push mine around the house for a few minutes a few times a week.
How I tested mop vacs
After obsessively researching popular and highly-rated mop vacs at various price points, over the years, I’ve tried 12 models at home. I assembled each according to the manual (or quick start guide if included) and fully charged the batteries as instructed.
Because I have small kids and the aforementioned big, hairy rescue mutt—and because my house is 116 years old and seems to manufacture dust—it’s a wonderfully messy canvas on which to test. I used each mop vac multiple times to clean various floor types: my textured black kitchen floor, my old hardwood floors, and my tiled bathroom floor. And even though only a few of the devices were indicated for use on area rugs, I passed over my rugs with each model, too (no mop vac impressed me in the rug-cleaning department).
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Factors I evaluated
Mopping and suction power
Does the mop vac clean everyday kitchen messes on the first pass? Does it leave water on the floor? Does it clean to the edge of the floor? While I wasn’t expecting the powerful suction of a Dyson vacuum, I still looked for enough suction power to pick up dirt, debris, and dog hair from the floor.
Runtime and efficiency
Mop vac runtime varies from 20 minutes to about 40, and I wanted one that could clean all of the exposed hard flooring on the main level of my (admittedly small) house. More efficient mop vacs could clean my floors on a single pass and with those machines, battery life was less of an issue.
Ease of use
Is the mop vac easy to put together and use out of the box? Is it easy to fill the clean water tank and add a solution? Is it easy to switch between modes and identify errors like a misaligned water tank or clogs? Is there a cord that makes quick cleaning not-so-quick? (I found cordless models to be much easier to use than corded models since the draw of these machines is the ability to vacuum and mop the whole house in a matter of minutes.) Does the mop vac automatically charge when I put it on the dock or do I need to plug it in?
Maneuverability
Is the mop vac easy to push? Can it handle tight spaces and corners? Does the handle recline enough to get under furniture and raised appliances? (Both of my top picks have motorheads that are about 2.5 inches tall and the handles on both recline to about a 30º angle.)
Size and storage
Do the water tanks hold enough water to last an entire cleaning session? Does the motorhead fit under cabinets and raised appliances? Is it easy to carry up and down stairs? Does it come with a docking station for easy upright storage?
Cleaning and maintenance
No mop vac is fun to clean, and unlike robovacs, there isn’t a pricey model that has an auto-empty feature… yet. But many have a self-cleaning cycle that you can engage after cleaning once the mop vac is back on its charging dock. You still have to empty the dirty water tank and deal with the debris, and some are easier to clean than others. So I looked at how easy/hard/gross it was to clean the dirty water tanks, debris traps, dust bins, and washable filters. I also noted which machines came with cleaning tools, like long handled brushes.
Cleaning solution
If the mop vac requires a cleaning solution, is a sample included with the purchase of the machine? Is it expensive to refill? Is it easy to find and order online?
Other mop vacs I tested
Tineco Floor One S5 Smart Wet Dry Cordless Vacuum Cleaner
Until this year, the Tineco Floor One S5 Smart Wet Dry Cordless Vacuum Cleaner was my top pick. It’s a smart, compact, cordless wet-dry vacuum cleaner that converts to a handheld vacuum (the hand vac can’t be used for wet messes). It impressively cleaned my floors in a single pass without leaving any wet spots, and it was one of the quietest models I tried. The battery has a shorter run time than many other mop vacs (20-ish minutes, compared to about 30–35 minutes for other brands), but thanks to Tineco’s iLoop technology, it was efficient enough to clean the areas of bare floor in my modestly-sized kitchen, living room, dining room, bathroom, and hallway on a single charge. The S5 Combo offers edge cleaning, but only on one end of the motorhead.
Shark Hydrovac Pro XL Cordless
As a fan of Shark vacuum cleaners (especially their stick vacuums), I was really looking forward to trying the cordless Shark Hydrovac Pro XL. Overall, it’s a nice, lightweight floor cleaner and it’s really easy to use; I was able to start cleaning without consulting the manual. The headlights on the motorhead are a nice touch to help see dirty spots on darker floors (or dust on lighter floors), as are the washable foam filters. I appreciated the LED “headlights” and the fact that the brush roll is treated with “antimicrobial substance to preserve roller and resist bacterial odors.” I can’t say it made a difference in my testing, but it could be a benefit with longer-term use. While the Shark is mostly comparable to the Tineco iFloor 3, it’s pricier (at most retailers) yet it felt a little less sturdy, it was a little louder, and it left my floor a little wetter.
Bissell Crosswave Hydrosteam Corded Wet Dry Vac
In 2023, I tested a triple-threat Bissell Crosswave: It’s a vacuum, it’s a wet mop, and it’s a steam mop. Over the last two years, I’ve tested three Crosswaves, and their big selling point is versatility—you can use the Crosswave as just a vacuum cleaner (though not a super powerful one), or a mop vac (though you have to keep your finger on a trigger to make the clean water solution flow). The Bissell Crosswave Hydrosteam is the most versatile Crosswave yet because you can push a button on the handle to turn it into a steam mop. I find the steam especially beneficial in the kitchen and with the steam feature engaged, this model cleaned gunky, greasy messes off of my textured kitchen floor as well or better than the Tineco Floor One S7 Pro. That said, it doesn’t have edge cleaning, the steam function will not be good for older wood floors, and the brush roller got stuck when I tried to transition from tile to a flat weave rug in my bathroom. This is also one of the bulkiest mop vacs I’ve tested and it has a cord, so it’s not necessarily something I’d whip out for a quick clean. But if you want the option to steam and you don’t mind the cord, it’s a good floor cleaner at a good price.
Bissell Crosswave X7 Cordless Pet Pro Multi-Surface Wet Dry Vac
As I mentioned above, in order to engage the wet mopping function on a Crosswave, you need to keep your finger on a trigger. And if you just want a decent vacuum that can suck up wet and dry messes and also occasionally work as a mop, or if you prefer to do a vacuum-only pass before mopping, this might not be an issue. But if you want something that will continuously mop and vacuum, you may find the trigger annoying. Another selling point of the Crosswave is that unlike the other devices, which are marketed as “hard floor cleaners,” the Crosswave’s mop vac function is indicated for area rugs, too. But it’s not a true carpet cleaner and I wasn’t impressed with the rug-cleaning power of any of the Crosswaves I tried. In fact, I tested all 12 mop vacs on my rugs and they were all underwhelming. (For big spills or pet accidents on area rugs and high-pile carpets, you’ll still need a true carpet cleaner, like Bissell’s Little Green.) All of that said, if the Bissell Crosswave X7 Cordless Pet Pro Multi-Surface Wet Dry Vac had been my first and only mop vac, I likely would have fallen in love with it. But for the price, it just doesn’t compare to the Tinecos. It’s heavier, didn’t pick up as much on the first pass, left more water on the floor, and didn’t alert me when the clean water tank was empty.
Bissell Crosswave Pet Pro Multi-Surface Bagless Wet Dry Vac
The Bissell Crosswave Pet Pro Multi-Surface Bagless Wet Dry Vac is a less-expensive Pet Pro model, but it’s corded. It was lightweight compared to the X7 and I appreciated that the clean water tank had indicators for small areas (up to 350 square feet) or or large areas (up to 700 square feet). But this is a corded device that simply doesn’t compare to the similarly-priced (and cordless) Tineco iFloor 3.
Eureka All in One Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner
The Eureka All in One Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner is another corded mop vac and it’s very similar to the corded Crosswave Pet Pro. It’s a little louder and slightly less smooth to maneuver than the Crosswave, but it does have a more attractive black and white body and comes with a couple of handy tools for cleaning the machine. Considering the quieter, cordless Tineco iFloor 3 is only about $50 more than the Eureka (at the time of publication, anyway), it’s easy to pass on this one.
INSE Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner
The INSE Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum Cleaner is similar to my budget pick, the Tineco iFloor 3, in both form and function, but it’s the only mop vac I tested that had the clean water tank built into the motorhead. It’s also the only one that came with dissolvable solution strips instead of liquid. It felt aggressively motorized, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, and if the exceptionally dark water that I dumped out of the dirty water tank multiple times was any indication, it did a very good job of cleaning my floors. After multiple rounds of testing, I decided I liked it just as much as the iFloor 3, but I didn’t like it $100 more.
Roborock Dyad Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum
I was very excited to try the Roborock Dyad Cordless Wet Dry Vacuum and not just because this promo video makes it look like a real party starter. This was the only mop vac I tested that’s supposed to clean sufficiently with just water (the product description indicates that a cleaning solution is only needed for deep cleaning) and in 2022, it was the only one that offered true-edge-to-edge cleaning on both sides of the motorhead. Unfortunately, it took me about 40 minutes to get it working for the first time because the sensor couldn’t recognize that the clean water tank actually had water in it. I eventually figured out it’s a known issue that only happens out of the box, and I eventually got it going by adding salt and cleaning solution from a different machine. Once operational, it did a great job of cleaning but because the motorhead is so bulky, it wouldn’t fit in the area where my lower cabinets jut out—which is where I needed the edge cleaning the most. It was also very loud on my textured kitchen floor and emptying the debris filter seemed more complicated than it should have been. NOTE: The model I tested in 2022 has been discontinued and replaced with the Dyad Pro, which appears to have the same bulky motorhead.
Hizero Bionic Hard Floor Cleaner
There’s a lot to love about Hizero Bionic Hard Floor Cleaner, starting with the fact that it was, by far, the easiest mop vac to clean. It’s also super quiet, even on max cleaning mode, because it doesn’t use suction to collect debris. Instead of a brush roll, the Hizero has a soft polymer roller that’s supposed to mimic the way a dog licks things off the floor. It’s pretty cool technology but it wasn’t great at cleaning my textured kitchen floor (to be fair, the product description does state that it performs best on “leveled” floors). If you have the benefit of perfectly flat floors this could work—especially if you’re in an apartment and worry about noise. But if your floors have seen smoother days or you have an old house with kids and pets, you’re probably better off with something that actually sucks (in the good way).
Hoover FloorMate Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner
When I was testing the corded Hoover FloorMate Deluxe Hard Floor Cleaner, I called it “The Street Sweeper.” Not only is it much larger than all of the other mop vacs I tried, it also has flat spinning brushes instead of a soft, cylindrical roller. Unfortunately, the size and unique design didn’t quite translate to more cleaning power and the FloorMate Deluxe somehow felt like too much and not enough for my cleaning up everyday messes in my house. It struggled to collect small debris from the textured kitchen floor and couldn’t get into corners at all.
Looking for the best robot vacuum cleaner for the kitchen? We tested models from iRobot Roomba, Eufy, Roborock, Shark, and other brands. Read our full review to find our top picks.