I Tested the Levoit Aero Cordless Vacuum and Loved Its Bagged Cleaning Station, Powerful Hard-Floor Cleaning, and Compact Storage Design

For a brand famous for its market-leading air purification, it makes sense that Levoit's vacuum cleaner range would have the same focus: To combat allergies at home.

The Levoit AERO, aptly named, is a shining example, with a cleaning station that traps the dust and hair that your vacuum picks up, and stores them in a disposable vacuum bag, meaning you're almost never exposed to allergens at home.

But while it's one of the best vacuums for allergy sufferers, it isn't perfect for every home. I put it through its paces in our test center and in a local pet shelter to find out who it's best suited to.

The One-Minute Summary

The Levoit AERO is one of the strongest cordless vacuums out there for allergy sufferers. The cleaning station can store dust, hair, and all household mess for up to 60 days at a time, but instead of having to then empty it yourself, you simply dispose of the vacuum bag. With its five-stage filtration, which includes a HEPA filter, you have almost zero exposure to allergens.

It's great for homes with mostly hard floors, as the suction is strong enough to pick up everything from fine material to hair to large debris. It's also easy to use, lying completely flat to reach under furniture and with LED headlights to illuminate the floor.

But the suction on carpets leaves a lot to be desired, especially on pet hair. On low-pile carpet, medium-pile carpet, and thick rugs, there was always some fur left behind. I would recommend the Shark Cordless PowerDetect or the Dyson V11 if you want stronger suction on carpets that doesn't disappoint.

Levoit AERO: Specifications

Levoit AERO: Design and Features

The Levoit AERO takes the design of the Levoit LVAC-300 and LVAC-200 cordless vacuums, but adds stronger suction, a longer runtime, and a self-cleaning station.

Levoit has listed the suction power as 180 air watts, meaning it is more powerful than the Dyson V12 Detect Slim, and only five air watts away from the Dyson V11. These Dysons are two of the most powerful cordless vacuums we have ever tested, but they cost $100s more, so this could be a huge win for those looking for the best Dyson alternatives.

But I tested the airflow myself using an anemometer and found that the Dyson V11 reaches 19.6mph, while the Levoit AERO only reaches 13.8mph, so there is still a notable difference in the force of air generated by each vacuum.

Like most modern cordless vacuums, the AERO has different suction levels: MIN, MED, MAX, and TURBO. It doesn't, however, switch between these modes automatically by sensing what's on your floors, as you'll find in other premium cordless vacuums such as the Dyson V15 Detect and Shark PowerDetect Cordless.

It can vacuum for up to 70 minutes – but only in handheld mode. Levoit has helpfully listed the runtimes for every suction mode on the Levoit AERO product page (most brands don't do this), so you can see that, with the floorhead attached, you'll get 40 minutes on MIN, 30 minutes on MED, 15 minutes on MAX, and only six minutes on TURBO. This is standard across almost every cordless vacuum we've tested (which is at 40 and counting).

The cleaning station is a major upgrade compared to previous Levoit vacuums. This dock is a handy spot to store your vacuum between uses – avoiding you having to lean it against a wall or find a place in a closet – but it also empties the vacuum's contents into its larger, 0.92gal dustbin, meaning you don't have to empty it yourself for up to 60 days.

The cleaning station uses vacuum bags that you dispose of once full, which means you are never exposed to household allergens like dust and pet dander – a huge win for anyone who suffers from allergies – but it also means this vacuum comes with recurring costs. A pack of six bags costs $24.99 from Levoit or Amazon, which should last around a year. Two bags come included with the vacuum, lasting up to 120 days.

The station also means that your vacuum cleaner is kept in better shape, as the station's strong suction pulls out the dirt and dust that can quietly erode a vacuum's internal parts over time. This is more effective at keeping the vacuum clean than emptying it yourself.

The floorhead has two brush types: One bristled and one with a rubber-style material. These allow the vacuum to pick up different debris types while also preventing hair from wrapping around the brushroll.

It comes with the full set of attachments: A 2-in-1 combination tool (dusting brush and fabric tool), a 2-in-1 crevice tool (crevice tool and narrow dusting brush), an extension hose, and a mini motorized tool. A mini motorized tool is one of the best vacuum attachments, especially if you live with shedding pets.

What Is the Levoit AERO Like to Use?

I enjoyed cleaning with the Levoit AERO. It's easy to use, doesn't wrap with hair, and the cleaning station meant I didn't have to empty it or do any maintenance myself. As an asthma and allergy sufferer myself, this was important.

But while it cleans well for the price, there are certainly more powerful vacuums out there, as it struggled to clean certain messes and stubborn pet hair (more on that below).

The Levoit AERO is a convenient vacuum cleaner. It's light – it weighs just 4.4lbs without attachments, which is lighter than most – and the floorhead has LED headlights that help illuminate the dirt hiding on your floor. However, these lights reveal any dust that you can't normally see, as the best Dyson vacuums do – they just illuminate the floor.

It lies completely flat (as you can see in the video above), meaning you can get quite far under sofas and furniture without having to move things around. And while it glides smoothly across floors, I did find that on carpet, the floorhead can wobble a bit, which shows somewhat of a lack of suction to the surface.

It'd be great if the suction modes changed automatically, but floor sensors are an expensive addition, so it makes sense that the Levoit AERO is more affordable than those that have this feature.

I like that you can attach two attachments to the wand, but it's a shame that the motorized attachment doesn't fit in the slot, as that tends to be the most used. On the cleaning station, I appreciate how organized everything looks:

Test 1: Flour and Sugar

I tested the Levoit AERO using a half cup of flour and sugar to assess its ability to vacuum fine material, such as dust, dander, and microscopic household allergens.

On hard floors, after just one forward pass, pretty much everything was vacuumed except for a little bit of flour between the cracks, but this remaining residue was able to be sucked up in a couple more passes using max mode. This is average performance for a cordless vacuum, not as powerful as the Shark PowerDetect Cordless, but a step-up from the Levoit LVAC-300.

On carpeted floors, most of the same mess was cleared after a forward-and-backward pass, but it took two to four more passes to completely vacuum the stuck-on bits. This isn't uncommon for a cordless stick, but I've certainly seen stronger performance with less effort, like with the Dyson V11 (although it typically costs $100-200 more).

Test 2: Pantry

I tested the Levoit AERO using a cup of cereal and lentils to see how well it can pick up medium and large debris, which act like common household spillages, including pet kibble, litter, tracked-in mud, and food crumbs.

The cereal poses the biggest challenge as it is sometimes too large to fit into a floorhead, meaning it can be flung around if not crushed down. We do not fail vacuums on the floorhead being big enough during testing, but we knock points off if larger debris and pieces are flung across the floor. This helps us find out how to get the most out of every vacuum.

On hard floors, the Levoit Aero easily vacuumed the lentils, but couldn’t really vacuum the cereal pieces. But after taking off the floorhead, the suction was strong enough for me to vacuum them up one by one using the wand. It didn't pick them up as quickly as more powerful vacuums, like the Miele Guard L1 Cat & Dog, but it wasn't difficult.

On carpet, the AERO easily crushed down most of the cereal, meaning it was able to vacuum up most of the mess in one forward pass on mid and max modes. The cereal was bunched up towards the end, but it got crushed when there was less of it, owing to the increased friction on the soft surface. Solid performance for a cordless vacuum at this price.

Test 3: Pet Hair

I also tested the Levoit AERO in a local cat and dog shelter (Bristol ARC) to see if it makes the list of the best vacuums for pet hair, while assessing its ability to handle the large volume of mess that you can find in an environment with high foot traffic.

The Levoit AERO had mixed results on fur. On hard floors, it vacuumed up all the pet hair in one sweep on MED but needed two to three more passes to get the hair at the edges – which can prove frustrating over time, as otherwise you may need to swap out the attachments do so more quickly.

On low pile carpet (as seen in the video above), the performance was OK. It got a lot of hair after five passes, but a fair few remained. On average, vacuums around this price point take around two to three passes to vacuum per hair, so the Levoit AERO disappointed here.

The pet shelter I test at for real-world vacuuming results has an entrance mat that is the most challenging surface to vacuum pet hair from – and not many hairs were vacuumed at all, even after 10 passes on MAX mode. Most vacuums struggle here, but this performance was a let-down.

On a thick rug, most of the hairs were picked up, especially once I started using MAX mode, but it couldn't get them all. However, it was able to pick up every visible strand of fur from sofas and upholstery using the mini motorized tool.

I would only recommend this as a pet hair vacuum if your home has hard floors and soft furnishings – and no carpets. Otherwise, hair and pet dander will start accumulating on your floors over time.

Levoit AERO: Setup and Maintenance

Even with the cleaning station, the setup for the Levoit AERO took a few minutes. The station is comprised of only two parts, so you simply insert the main dust container onto the base. Then, connect the wand and floorhead to the vacuum, and it's assembled. Easy.

It took just under three hours to charge the vacuum to full before using it (it is always recommended to do this before the first use to preserve your battery health). From 0%, it can take up to four hours.

Maintenance is made easier by the fact that you rarely have to empty this vacuum, and when you do, all that's involved is disposing of a vacuum bag. Emptying and replacing the bag isn't fiddly whatsoever, and it means you're never exposed to dust.

You'll still need to clean the vacuum's brushroll, dustbin, and filter regularly, though (once every one to three months), to keep the vacuum at its best. But as the station uses powerful suction to remove all contents from the vacuum, these internal parts will stay cleaner for much longer compared to cordless vacuums that you have to empty yourself.

How Does the Levoit AERO Compare?

The Levoit AERO costs $499.99 at Levoit and Amazon, but is often discounted to around $399.99. This comfortably puts it in the mid-range for cordless vacuums – spend more, and you'll get stronger suction, spend les,s and you may struggle to clean your floors.

The most like-for-like vacuum we've tested is the Shark PowerDetect Cordless. It costs $549.99 at SharkNinja with the cleaning station, but during the sales, it can cost around $349.99 to $499.99. The Shark has stronger suction than the Levoit, automatically adjusts to your floors thanks to floor sensors, and can bend at the wand for easier cleaning, so in most ways, it's better. It doesn't use vacuum bags, however, so the Levoit is a stronger choice for allergy sufferers.

You can also buy the Shark PowerDetect Cordless without the cleaning station for $449.99 at SharkNinja, and it's often discounted to around $299.99 to $349.99.

If you want more powerful cleaning, particularly on carpets, I would recommend the Dyson V11. It costs $659.99 at Dyson at full price, but is regularly on offer for around $469.99 (as it is at the time of writing). It doesn't have a cleaning station, but this is easily one of the most powerful vacuum cleaners we've tested, and can banish dust and pet hair in virtually one pass, even on thick rugs.

Next, see which vacuums take the top spot after rigorously testing the best vacuums for pet hair, the best Dyson alternatives, and the best robot vacuums.