I spent a month with Levoit's self-emptying vacuum cleaner: here's my honest verdict

Self-emptying cordless vacuums are the latest craze in the cleaning world, and there’s a newcomer to the market: the Levoit Aero Cordless Vacuum Cleaner. While the brand is predominantly known for its air purifiers, Levoit recently expanded into the vacuum space, and it claims that the new Aero can compete with some of the best cordless vacuums out there today.

At first glance, the Levoit Aero does look impressive: It has a self-emptying design for maximum convenience, a 70-minute max runtime, and 180 air watts of suction power — comparable to the popular Dyson V12 Slim. So when I was given the chance to try the vacuum out, I was intrigued! I tested the new cordless vacuum in my multi-pet home for several weeks, and here’s what I thought about its performance.

Levoit Aero: Price & availability

The Levoit Aero Cordless Vacuum Cleaner is a new release from the brand. It’s currently available to purchase at Amazon and direct at Levoit, and retails for $49.99 at full price.

Levoit Aero: Design

The Levoit Aero cordless vacuum comes with a lot of pieces, and I had to refer to its instruction manual to figure out how everything fit together. In addition to the vacuum itself, you also get the self-emptying base, as well as several different tools and attachments. The base arrives in two pieces, and you do have to screw them together before you can dock the vacuum on it.

The vacuum itself is fairly standard for a cordless model. It weighs around 5 pounds, and its metal wand can be removed if you want to use it as a handheld vacuum. Even though it’s not necessarily heavy, I did find the vacuum to be a bit unbalanced because of where the wand connects to the vacuum head. It made it less comfortable to wield for longer periods, especially when using it as a handheld, and my arm often got tired. I do like that the main floorhead has a non-tangle brushroll, though — a must-have feature in my busy multi-pet household — and that the vacuum can stand up on its own when you need to pause cleaning.

One thing I don’t love about the design of this vacuum is that there’s nowhere to store the attachments on the base. The vacuum comes with a motorized pet tool, crevice tool, dusting brush, and flexible hose, and there’s a clip that can hold two of these attachments that attaches to the wand of the vacuum itself. However, this makes the vacuum itself heavier, and I found it got in the way when cleaning. I would much prefer to have storage spots on the base of the vacuum, like you get with the Shark Cordless PowerDetect Clean & Empty Vacuum.

Levoit Aero: Performance

I used the Levoit Aero for everyday cleaning around my home for several weeks, and overall, I’d describe its performance as solid — but not exceptional. It performs best on hard flooring, easily picking up dirt, dust, pet hair, and other pieces of debris that get tracked inside, and I often found myself reaching for it to quickly tidy up on a daily basis. While the vacuum does have three suction levels — minimum, medium, and max — I generally only needed the medium setting to clean up everyday debris.

This cordless vacuum also does a decent job on carpeting, picking up visible debris from the surface of the rug, but it’s not powerful enough to dig deep and pull out worked-in dirt or pet hairs. For best results on carpeting, I found I needed to boost up the suction to its highest level, which shortens the battery life significantly.

However, I wasn’t as impressed when it came to the vacuum’s attachments. For some reason, its suction power seemed significantly less strong with the dusting or crevice tools, and I always had to put it on max suction power. The powered mini tool did work well for cleaning pet hair off furniture and didn’t get tangled up with fur, but as mentioned above, it often caused arm fatigue due to the vacuum’s bulky form.

Levoit Aero: Battery life

To charge this vacuum, all you have to do is place it back on its dock, and it will charge back up in around 3.5 hours. The brand lists the vacuum’s maximum battery life as 70 minutes, but this is solely on the lowest suction setting with a non-motorized tool attached. With the vacuum’s floorhead on the default suction level (medium), you’ll get around 30 minutes of battery life, and if you boost up to max suction, the runtime drops down to 15 minutes.

The good news is that there are no surprises when it comes to this vacuum’s battery life. The digital screen on the control panel has a count-down timer that lets you know just how much runtime is left, and it automatically adjusts when you change suction levels.

Levoit Aero: Emptying and maintenance

One of the key features of this new cordless vacuum is its self-emptying base, and I have to admit: It is really quite convenient. Instead of having to manually remove and empty the vacuum’s dust bin after each cleaning session, you just pop it back on the base and hit the self-empty button on the vacuum’s handle. The base uses strong suction to suck all the debris out of the vacuum, and it’s stored in the base’s 3.5-liter dust bag.

The self-empty feature works really well as long as you don’t overfill the on-board dustbin, and I really like that it only empties when you press the button. I’ve tested other self-emptying models that automatically empty any time you place the vacuum on the dock, and sometimes it’s unnecessary and just makes extra noise in your home. The only downside is that it doesn’t automatically close the dustbin after, so you will have to manually close it when you go to use the vacuum again.

The brand recommends replacing the dust bag every two months or when the display indicates that it's full. The front of the base pops off easily, and you simply slide the full bag out and replace it with a new one.

In terms of other maintenance, this vacuum does have several filters that need to be periodically cleaned. The brand recommends cleaning the felt, foam, and station filters once a month, as well as replacing the vacuum’s HEPA filter every six months.

Levoit Aero: Competition

There are several other self-emptying cordless vacuums out there today, such as the Shark Cordless PowerDetect Clean & Empty Vacuum. I’ve also tested this vacuum, and it delivers a comparable performance to the Levoit Aero but costs a bit less at $500. The Shark PowerDetect has the added benefit of a folding wand, which makes it easier to clean under low-profile furniture, and it also has storage slots of its accessories on the base. However, the dust bin in the Shark’s base doesn’t use bags to collect debris, so it’s messier to clean out.

Another self-emptying model that I personally like is the LG CordZero All-in-One. While it is more expensive, retailing for around $800, it addresses several of the pain points I experienced with the Levoit. For instance, it has a well-balanced and ergonomic design, complete with a telescoping wand, and it has hidden storage compartments on the base for all its attachments. It also offers 210 air watts of suction power, making it more effective for cleaning carpeting.

Levoit Aero: Verdict

Considering that Levoit is a relative newcomer to the vacuum world, the Aero Cordless Vacuum is a solid cleaning tool. It works well for everyday cleaning, tackling debris like dust, dirt, and pet hair, and I found that it’s particularly effective for hard floors. This model also comes with a convenient self-emptying base that helps to minimize daily maintenance, and the vacuum’s freestanding design makes it easy to pause when cleaning.

That said, there are a few features of this vacuum that I didn’t like. The design is a bit bulky and unbalanced, especially when used as a handheld vacuum, and I don’t like that the accessories are stored on the vacuum itself — not the base. It’s also a bit pricey, and there are other comparable self-emptying cordless models that you can get for less.

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