The Levoit VortexIQ Pro Review – This Versatile Cordless Vacuum Cleaner's Bright Green Light Is a Game-Changer for Pet Owners

On June 2, Levoit dropped two new vacuums – the Levoit VortexIQ and the VortexIQ Pro. Both vacuums boast Levoit’s new LED system called NeoSight, a 150-degree green LED light that better illuminates dust, pet hair, and debris that you wouldn’t be able to see by sight or with a regular light.

I’ve been testing cordless vacuums for five years, witnessing the evolution of vacuum technology from the introduction of auto-empty docks to smart features. So, I know that Levoit is not the first brand to employ a green light. Other vacuums like the Dyson V16 Piston Anima and the Ultenic U16 Flex boast it too. However, I’d never used a vacuum with this technology, which is why I was so excited to test the Levoit VortexIQ Pro for two weeks in my 1,600-square-foot home on historic hardwood and laminate floors and short- and high-pile rugs.

After running a variety of tests with the VortexIQ Pro, I understood the hype and got a better sense for its other features, like its impressive suction capabilities and attachments. Keep reading to learn more about this vacuum before checking out our best cordless vacuums guide to see how the Levoit VortexIQ Pro compares.

Levoit VortexIQ Pro: Specifications

Unboxing & setup

The Levoit VortexIQ Pro arrived in a lightweight compact box with two attachments, a charger, and a charging holder that can be affixed to the wall.

The vacuum was broken down into four parts, and it took me less than a minute to assemble it. The Levoit VortexIQ Pro arrived with a 77% battery life and took less than an hour to fully charge.

Levoit VortexIQ Pro: Design and Features

LED lights on vacuums aren’t anything new. They allow you to see dirt and debris in dark spaces. However, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro sports a NeoSight Dust Detection Light, or a 150-degree high-contrast green LED Light, which magnifies microscopic items on your floor like dust and hair.

According to Levoit, the green light makes particles appear 12 times larger than regular lighting. Unfortunately, the green LED light is only present when the regular vacuum head is in use and isn't employed with any of the attachments.

NeoSight light aside, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro is a standard cordless stick vacuum with a 180-degree lay-flat design and a single floorhead with an anti-tangle brush design that works on different floor types.

The handle features a power button and three power mode buttons – eco, mid, and turbo. Unfortunately, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro lacks smart features, which means the vacuum doesn’t increase the suction power if it recognizes dirt or debris or a different floor type.

Like other stick vacuums, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro can be broken down into a handheld device with or without the stick. Two attachments are provided. The 2-in-1 crevice tool is perfect for cleaning along baseboards, in corners, or blinds, while the mini motorized brush is perfect for removing pet hair from a couch or vacuuming in tight spaces, like next to your toilet.

The dustbin is 0.85 liters and features five-stage HEPA filtration that captures 99.99% of particles (like pet dander, pollen, etc.) as small as 0.3 microns.

Even though the vacuum can stand upright on its own, Levoit provided a charging dock that can be fastened to your wall (with screws provided). You can then plug the charger into the dock and set the vacuum to charge. If you don’t want to affix the charger to your wall, you can plug the charger into the battery when it's on or off the vacuum.

What is the Levoit VortexIQ Pro Like To Use?

At 3.5 lbs., the Levoit VortexIQ Pro is a considerably lightweight vacuum. As I vacuumed my house, it glided across my floors and didn’t scratch my historic hardwood. The vacuum head fit in tight spaces and maneuvered easily, so I didn’t have to move as much furniture around to clean in tight spaces.

With its 180-degree lay-flat design, I could reach under my bed and cabinets, pulling dirt and debris from hidden spots with ease. The vacuum head is also short enough to fit under my cabinet overhangs without issue.

The most prominent feature of the Levoit VortexIQ Pro is its NeoSight Dust Detection Light. I was astounded by the difference that a green LED light makes. It highlighted dirt, dust, and microscopic materials that I could not see with my naked eye or even a regular LED light. Tiny scratches on my historic wooden floor were even visible.

Although I wish the Levoit VortexIQ Pro had smart features – like the ability to recognize dirt and debris and automatically increase the suction power – I can see how the green LED light is meant to offset that lack of technology. I hope other vacuum brands adopt the green light. because I’m now convinced that I've been missing a lot of dirt, debris, and allergens in my home that I couldn't see before.

In general, I thought the Levoit VortexIQ Pro cleaned my house well, no matter the floor type. It suctioned up day-to-day dirt and debris that I tracked in from the mudroom, food waste that fell to the floor in my kitchen, and all the dust that comes with having a historic house. I tested the Levoit Aero last year, and I felt like the Levoit VortexIQ Pro did a better job at cleaning my floors of different-sized materials.

One of the biggest drawbacks to this vacuum was the front edge cleaning. When I used the vacuum head to clean straight at a wall, there was about an inch and a half strip of floor between the wall and the vacuum head that wasn’t cleaned. Thankfully, the edge cleaning was much better, reaching within a centimeter of the wall.

Whenever I turned on the vacuum, it automatically started in eco mode, but I preferred using the mid option as it offered better suction on hard floors and high-pile rugs, as well as 40 minutes of battery life. I was able to clean my entire house on the mid setting and still have 45% battery life left.

When I conducted cleaning tests (which you can see below), the eco mode performed better than expected. I was hoping that the battery would last longer than 48 minutes on eco mode, especially since the mid setting lasts 40 minutes. An eight-minute difference was disappointing.

The turbo setting was necessary to pick up larger debris, though with only a 13-minute battery life, I did not use that setting often because it then took 3 hours and 45 minutes for the vacuum to fully recharge. In terms of sound, Levoit VortexIQ Pro had a 75 dB rating on eco mode and a 79 dB rating on turbo mode – which is pretty standard, if not a bit on the low end.

It felt so good to use the VortexIQ Pro as a handheld vacuum, especially since I've been using a vacuum -- the Shark Freestyle Max cordless vacuum -- that can't be broken down. With the VortexIQ Pro, I utilized the 2-in-1 crevice tool to clean cobwebs from my 10-foot ceilings, dead bugs on my windowsills (I have over 20 windows), and dust around my tall baseboards (which cover the entire house). Not to mention, I used the mini motorized brush to clean tight spaces and my furniture, which is again something I can’t do with the Shark Freestyle Max.

Overall, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro is a solid vacuum for cleaning up daily messes, especially with the green LED light. The battery life is average, and the front edge cleaning is shockingly poor, but perhaps the attachment, side edge cleaning, and suction capabilities make up for that.

Test 1: Flour and Sugar

When it comes to vacuums, we always want to see how well it can pick up fine materials, especially things like dust, dead skin, and allergens. That’s why I sprinkled flour and sugar on my high-pile rug, hardwood floor, and laminate floor then used the vacuum on the eco and standard modes to suction up the fine materials. The white coloring makes it easy to see what’s left on the floor or the vacuum during the test.

When it came to the carpet test, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro suctioned 100% of the flour and sugar on mid mode. On eco mode, it picked up 95% of the material and left a light dusting of flour and sugar behind that only required one more pass to completely suction up. Bonus -- the Levoit VortexIQ Pro did a great job vacuuming fine materials in reverse on my rugs.

Although I expected to have similar results on hardwood and laminate, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro performed slightly differently for each. It suctioned all the flour and sugar from my laminate floors on eco and mid power modes. However, if I tried to vacuum in reverse, the flour-sugar mixture got stuck behind the wheels.

As for the hardwood floors, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro appeared to pick up all the flour and sugar in a single pass. That is, until I noticed that some of the mixture had stuck to the wheels and created lines on the floor that I then had to vacuum over. At least, no flour or sugar remained in the grooves of the hardwood.

Test 2: Pantry

Whether it’s dried mud, cereal, or rice, there will come a time when you need to vacuum medium and large items from your floors. To see if the Levoit VortexIQ Pro could handle larger debris, I laid out a row of Cheerios and dried green split peas on my hard floors and high-pile rugs.

No matter the floor type, the vacuum did a great job with suctioning the green split peas on eco and mid mode.

However, it pushed the Cheerios forward when I tried to vacuum them on all three floor types, which made it much more difficult to suction them up. I had to go very slowly over them and/or use the turbo mode, and even then, some of the Cheerios and split peas were flung about.

Between the historic hardwood floor test (which came after the rug test) and the laminate floor test, I got an error message on the vacuum, and it powered off. A little investigation revealed that the Cheerios had gotten stuck at the top of the vacuum, right before making their way into the dustbin. I had to remove them with a butter knife before I could complete the final test.

The Levoit Vortex IQ Pro may do a great job with fine and medium materials, but its capabilities with suctioning large materials are subpar and could result in a blockage issue.

Test 3: Hair

In my 20s, I developed a slight allergy to pet hair, which is why I don’t have pets. However, to give you the best insight on how well the Levoit VortexIQ Pro does with pet hair, I went to my neighbor’s house and procured cat hair to test on my hard floors, high-pile rugs, and an armchair.

When it came to my hard floors and high-pile rug, the vacuum suctioned up the cat hair quickly and efficiently on eco mode alone.

I used the mini motorized brush on eco mode to clean cat hair from a cream-colored armchair – and was amazed to see that it picked up nearly all the hair in a single pass. Two small hairs weren’t picked up on the first pass, but if I’d been using the mid or turbo mode, I have no doubt the results would’ve been perfect.

I even went the extra step of grabbing some hair from my hairbrush and putting it on the same chair. The results were practically the same, with one long piece of hair needing to be suctioned up on a second pass.

Test 4: Attachments

The Levoit VortexIQ Pro has two attachments – a mini motorized brush and a 2-in-1 crevice tool – that are easy to swap out. I found myself using the mini motorized brush quite a bit, and not just to clean my furniture.

There are plenty of spaces in my home, like between the oven and my wall, and alongside the toilet where the vacuum head can't fit. Yet, the green light shone bright in those tight areas, showing me just how much dust and dirt needed to be picked up. It’s a little awkward to use the mini motorized brush on my hard floors because it doesn’t bend like the robot vacuum head, but I got used to it because I'd rather use the attachment than pull out a broom.

The 2-in-1 crevice tool was excellent at cleaning the top and bottom of my baseboards and grabbing spider webs from the corners of windowsills and the ceiling. It even suctioned sugar in a single go on eco mode when I sprinkled it along the edge of a wall. The brush tool cleaned dust from my blinds decently on eco mode, but I had better results on mid and turbo modes.

Levoit VortexIQ Pro: Cleaning and Maintenance

The Levoit Vortex IQ Pro doesn’t come with an auto-empty dock, so whenever the dustbin became full, I had to turn it into a handheld vacuum and place it over the trash. From there, I pushed a button, and the lid swung open, emptying the dust and debris. The process is simple, but if you’re very sensitive to allergens and dust, there’s really no way to prevent the fine particles from escaping into the air. Cordless stick vacuums with sealable dust bags aren't common, but there are a few on the market.

I should note that when I emptied the dustbin, clumps of dirt and debris got stuck on the metal filter. I had to rotate the metal filter counterclockwise and remove it so that I could empty all the materials into the trash.

The dustbin can be removed from the vacuum and washed by hand with water. Same with the metal filter. The felt and foam filters should also be removed and washed by hand at least once a month and replaced every three months. As for the HEPA filter, it can be washed once a year.

How Does the Levoit VortexIQ Pro Compare?

Levoit has plenty of great cordless vacuum options that are comparable to the VortexIQ Pro. I recently tested the Levoit Aero, which performed similarly in suction tests, edge cleaning, and battery power to the VortexIQ Pro. The Aero has a headlight, but it’s not a green LED headlight. If you dislike maintenance, you may want to go with the Aero, which has an auto-empty charging base.

The Dreame R20 has a similar price point to the Levoit VortexIQ Pro but boasts smart features like adjusting the suction based on dust volume and floor type. The Dreame R20 may not be ideal for those with pets, but an up to 90-minute runtime and a weight of only 3.88 lbs. is impressive. Interestingly, it has a blue light that emits from the bristled floorhead (there are two floorheads), which does better than a regular light at revealing dust, though it's not up to par with Vortex IQ Pro's green light. Oddly, the soft floorhead – which is better on hardwood floors and tile – doesn’t have a light.

The Ultenic U16 Flex is probably the most similar cordless vacuum to the Levoit VortexIQ Pro, because it lacks auto-suction capability and has a floorhead outfitted with a green LED headlight. The two vacuums differ slightly in their cleaning capabilities, with the Ultenic U16 Flex performing better with large debris and the Levoit VortexIQ Pro better suited to suctioning pet hair and fine materials like flour and sugar from carpet.

Should You Buy It?

Thanks to the green LED light on the Levoit VortexIQ Pro, I was able to see a lot more dirt and debris on my floors, which resulted in cleaner floors.

Its lightweight nature, 180-degree lay-flat design, and compact floor head meant I could access tight and hard-to-reach spaces without having to move a lot of furniture. The suction power isn’t the highest I’ve tested, but it performed above average suctioning fine materials like flour from carpet and pet hair from furniture. It may struggle with larger materials like Cheerios and have poor front edge cleaning, but at least its side edge cleaning is efficient.

The battery dropped to about 50% once I cleaned my entire 1,600-square-foot home on a single charge on eco and mid modes. Those with decent-sized homes and apartments will likely have the same experience. Larger homes should consider a vacuum with a higher battery life.

All in all, the Levoit VortexIQ Pro is a great mid-range option for pet owners and those who hate the idea of missing any dirt, dust, and debris on their floors.

How We Test

At Homes & Gardens, we have a dedicated and thorough procedure of how we test vacuums that involves noting everything from unboxing to maintenance and using the vacuum around the house. I tested the Levoit VortexIQ Pro for two weeks on my high-pile rugs and hardwood and linoleum floors. This included sprinkling various substances on the three floor types to recreate real-life cleaning scenarios.

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