Best handheld vacuums: six from 1.4 to 3.5 pounds, for crumbs, the car and pet hair

The shape everyone pictures when they say dustbuster: 2.6 lb, a 16 V battery, 11 minutes of run time, a four-hour charge, a 605 ml bowl, a rotating nozzle with a flip-up brush and an extendable crevice tool, 17.2 inches long, washable filter, two-year limited warranty — all from BLACK+DECKER’s page. The long nozzle reaches under car seats and the bowl is the second biggest here.

Eleven minutes is a counter and a car seat, not a car; the charge is four hours; and at 17.2 inches it wants a shelf or a wall mount, not a drawer.

For cereal, cat litter and dry spills, kept on charge in the kitchen, it is the default.

The 20 V version: 15 minutes of run time, a 589 ml bowl, a four-hour charge, a washable VF110 filter, 14.2 inches long, 3.5 lb, and a charging base rather than a plug-in cord, by BLACK+DECKER’s page. Within the brand the 20 V battery pulls harder than the 16 V one, and the 15 minutes is the longest of the three dustbusters.

The price of that is weight: 3.5 lb is tiring held out at arm’s length under a seat, and it is the heaviest handheld here.

For a garage bench, cars and stairs, where it sits on its base between jobs, it is the stronger dustbuster.

A 20 V dustbuster built around a motorized pet brush: 2.6 lb, 10 minutes, a four-hour charge, the biggest bowl here at 680 ml, an extendable crevice tool, 15.8 inches long and a two-year limited warranty. The brush is what lifts hair out of a sofa cushion or a car seat, which plain suction does not.

Ten minutes is the shortest run time in the group and the body is 8 inches wide, so it is bulky in a drawer.

For a household with a dog that sheds on the furniture, it is the one; without pets, buy the AdvancedClean instead.

At 1.4 lb the WANDVAC is a wand with a motor: 10.8 V, 115 W, a 0.1-quart cup, 17.9 inches long, a 2.5-hour charge — the quickest here — a dock that holds it upright and stores the duster-crevice tool and a multi-surface pet tool, one-touch emptying, and a one-year limited warranty, all from Shark’s page. Shark does not publish a run time.

The cup is the limit: 0.1 quart is a table’s worth of crumbs, and it is full after one job. The warranty is a year, half the BLACK+DECKERs’.

For a kitchen counter where it stands on show and gets used daily, the weight wins. For pet hair in bulk, no.

Bissell’s page gives 17 minutes — the longest here — a 14.4 V battery, a 0.7-liter tank that is also the largest, three-stage filtration and 3 lb. The listing adds a motorized brush, an upholstery tool and a crevice tool, which Bissell’s page does not itemize, so the tools are pending. It charges from a cord, and Bissell publishes no charge time.

Three pounds is the second heaviest here and there is no dock, so it lives in a drawer or a closet.

For stairs, sofas and a car with a dog in it — the longer handheld jobs — the run time and the tank make it the one.

The listing describes a 1.6 lb handheld with a 0.52-quart cup — five times the WANDVAC’s — 65 W, 11 minutes of run time, a six-hour charge, a pet tool and an 8-inch crevice tool, and a two-year limited warranty. Shark’s site no longer has a spec page for it, so every figure is the listing’s and marked as pending.

Six hours is the slowest charge in the group, and we cannot stand behind the numbers the way we can for the others.

For someone who liked the WANDVAC’s weight and not its cup, it is the alternative — bought knowing the specs are the retailer’s.