User Rating:
Good: The Shark Rotator Pro Lift-Away is a veritable master of versatility. It comes with so many attachments and accessories that you are pretty much guaranteed to have the right brush for the job at hand.
Bad: It didn't lead during performance testing. Then again, it costs $450 less than some of its competition -- and in many cases the results were only marginally worse.
Bottom Line: The Shark is a very good vacuum with solid construction and intuitive design. Other models may have performed better, but none of them can match this sweeper's value for the price. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The Dyson DC50 Animal performs well on carpeted surfaces with most types of debris. The canister is easy to empty and the vacuum itself is simple to use.
Bad: The DC50 didn't outperform other vacuums the way you'd expect it to for its price.
Bottom Line: You can buy a better-performing vacuum for far less money, making the Dyson DC50 a poor value. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The Dyson DC41 Animal Complete cleans like you'd expect it to given the high price tag. The clever Tangle-free Turbine and its many other brush attachments give it an added layer of functionality for more flexible housecleaning.
Bad: Dyson is renowned for their design, but maybe they shouldn't be -- this vacuum suffers from several baffling build oversights.
Bottom Line: You don't need to pay $649 to own a vacuum that cleans at this level, and if you are paying that much, you deserve a machine with a better design than this. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: The Panasonic BDT230 offers excellent Blu-ray and DVD image quality. Its selection of streaming services is good and it's a relatively inexpensive player.
Bad: Advertising is built into several of the menus, including undefeatable video ads in the app marketplace. The menu system can be a little perplexing at first and it's easy to hit the Netflix button on the remote by accident. The YouTube app lags.
Bottom Line: The Panasonic DMP-BDT230 is a mostly solid Blu-ray player, except it serves up obnoxious ads in its onscreen interface. [Read more]

User Rating:
Good: Features abound in the durably-built and efficiently-designed Electrolux Precision Brushroll Clean. The brush-roll clean technology is a particular favorite -- it pulls jammed items from the brush and into the bin with the press of a lever.
Bad: It is the heaviest and least maneuverable of the vacuums tested in this group. Don't take that to mean that it's unwieldy, though.
Bottom Line: This vacuum cleaner is entirely worth its $300 price tag. The search for vacuum perfection is ongoing, but the Electrolux Precision Brushroll Clean gets pretty darn close. [Read more]