Amazon Basics Upright Vacuum Review: 5 Weeks in a Small Apartment

A small apartment does not need much vacuum. It needs something light enough to pull out of a hall closet with one hand, run for four minutes, and put back before the coffee finishes. The Amazon Basics upright bagless vacuum is built for that job, and it is one of the cheapest upright vacuums you can buy new. We ran it for five weeks across apartment carpet, sealed oak, and a cat's favorite armchair, following our standard testing process.

Verdict: Real suction and a genuinely light body for very little money, held back by a hose too short to reach anything above the floor. 7.5/10.
Best for: Small apartments with carpet and a shedding pet, where quick daily passes matter more than deep-cleaning a whole house.
Skip if: Your home is large, your floors are covered in throw rugs, or you clean curtains, vents, and upholstery every week.

At a glance

What we liked

The suction is not the compromise you expect

We assumed the suction would be the part that gave away the price. It is not. On sealed oak, dog hair lifted off the boards from a few inches ahead of the nozzle, which is the sort of thing you notice once and then keep watching for. On low-pile bedroom carpet it pulled a dense gray layer out of a room that had been vacuumed two days earlier.

That matters more than any spec sheet line for a household with a shedding animal. Fine undercoat works its way down toward the carpet backing where a weak machine skates over it, and this one reaches it. If ground-in pet hair is the reason you are shopping at all, the cheapest part of this vacuum is not the suction.

8.4 pounds changes how often you use it

A vacuum you dread hauling out is a vacuum that runs once a week. This one weighs about as much as a full gallon of milk, and we picked it up with one hand every single time, including up a flight of stairs. Nothing about that is glamorous and all of it is the reason the floors stayed clean during testing.

The detachable handle helps with storage too. In a hall closet already holding a drying rack and a mop, the difference between a machine that stands in a narrow slot and one that has to lie down is the difference between using it and resenting it. Anyone specifically shopping for something lightweight in a full-size upright should put this near the top of the list.

The 25-foot cord covers an apartment on two outlets

Cord length sounds like a footnote until you are crawling behind a sofa for the third time in one session. Twenty-five feet got us through a one-bedroom apartment, hallway included, on two plug changes. In a studio it is one.

There is no rewind, so you wrap it yourself on the two hooks. That takes twenty seconds and costs nothing, which is a fair trade at this price. The practical result is that a four-minute pass through the living room stays a four-minute job instead of turning into a hunt for the nearest outlet.

Emptying and maintenance cost you nothing but time

The 1.7-liter cup is large for a machine this light, and the release button drops the contents straight into a bin without you touching anything. Like any bagless vacuum it wants to be emptied outside or over a lined can, slowly, because fine dust puffs back if you rush it.

The filter washes under the tap. No cartridges, no subscription, no slow decline over six months where the vacuum feels tired and you cannot say why. Let it dry all the way through before it goes back in, because a damp filter chokes airflow and starts to smell. In a pet home the filter loads up faster than any manual assumes, so a part you rinse instead of replace is worth real money over a couple of years.

Where it falls short

The hose is too short to leave the machine behind

This is the limitation that decides whether the vacuum belongs in your home. The hose gives you a foot or two of slack, not the run of a room. To reach a curtain header, a ceiling corner, or the top of a bookcase, you pick up the entire vacuum in one hand and aim the wand with the other.

It works. It is also a two-handed job every time, and it turns a quick cobweb pass into a small production. Stairs are the same story: the body has to sit on a tread below you and get moved every few steps. If above-floor cleaning is part of your weekly routine rather than something you do twice a year, a lift-away design will save you real frustration.

No pile height adjustment, and throw rugs get eaten

There is one setting, and the suction runs at it on every surface. On fitted carpet that is fine and mostly good. On a lightweight entryway rug it is not: the head grabs the edge and the whole rug comes up with it, so you end up standing on a corner with one foot to hold it down.

Anything with rubber backing or a bit of weight behaves normally. Flat woven cotton, bath mats, and cheap accent rugs do not. Small apartments tend to be full of exactly those, so count yours before you buy.

The narrow head means more passes in a real room

The cleaning path is narrower than a mid-range upright's, which you do not notice in a bedroom and do notice in anything past roughly 200 square feet. An open-plan living and dining area took noticeably longer than it should have, purely because each pass covers less ground.

For an apartment that is a non-issue. For a three-bedroom house it compounds every week, and the time you save on the purchase price gets spent walking the same floor twice.

It feels and sounds like what it costs

The plastics are thin, the seams creak when you carry it by the handle, and the motor has a harder edge to it than a Bissell or Hoover upright at a similar price. It is not loud enough to be a problem in the middle of the afternoon. It is loud enough that we would not run it at seven in the morning in a building with thin walls, and the cat left the room every session.

None of this predicts failure and five weeks is not a durability test. But there is no sense pretending the machine feels sturdier than it does. You are buying suction and light weight, and the budget went into those two things.

Real-world performance

Bedroom carpet, two days after the last clean. Low-pile, one shedding cat, no visible hair on the surface. The cup came back with a packed gray mat anyway. This is the test that separates machines that clean carpet from machines that groom it, and this one cleans.

The oak hallway. Hair lifted toward the nozzle from a few inches out rather than getting pushed along in front of it, which is unusual at this price and made hard floors faster than expected. Dust and crumbs went in without complaint.

The litter mat by the kitchen. The failure, and a predictable one. Dry litter granules skated ahead of the head and had to be chased into a corner before they went in. We started sweeping the litter area first, then vacuuming, which is a workflow nobody wants but takes thirty seconds.

The entryway rug. A flat woven runner with no backing. It came off the floor on the first pass and stayed stuck to the head until we killed the power. Every session after that, we either stood on one end or picked the rug up and shook it outside instead.

The armchair the cat sleeps in. The upholstery tool works well and clips onto the body so it is never missing. The problem is the hose. Cleaning one chair meant holding an 8.4-pound vacuum in the air for two minutes, which is manageable, and cleaning a whole sofa plus two chairs in a row was the point where we put it down and wished for a canister that detaches.

Week five, filter check. Suction had dropped enough to notice on carpet. A rinse of the filter, a full dry overnight, and it was back to where it started. Ten minutes of work and no parts, which is the quiet advantage of a washable filter in a home with an animal.

How it compares to alternatives

The Shark ZU561 Navigator Lift-Away costs more and answers the biggest complaint here directly. The canister detaches, so upholstery, stairs, and curtains stop involving a whole machine held at shoulder height, and its brushroll resists hair wrap. Its own catch is a short cord, which is an easy trade if above-floor cleaning is a weekly habit.

Spend more again and the Shark LA702 Rotator Pet Lift-Away ADV adds better manners on hard floors, a wider path, and a 25-foot cord of its own, at the cost of real weight. That is the honest pick for a house rather than an apartment, because it does not make you choose which surface you clean well.

If your floors are mostly hard surfaces with a rug or two, a cordless vacuum suits the same small apartment better. The mohomo cordless stick handles bare floors without scattering litter and reaches under low furniture, which no full-size upright manages. And if noise is your real constraint, because of a baby's nap schedule or a nervous dog, read the Soniclean WhisperJet C2 review before you decide. It sits at the opposite end of the price range for exactly that reason.

Who should buy it

Buy it if you rent a small place with carpet, live with a shedding animal, and want deep pickup without spending real money. It suits the household that vacuums often and briefly, has a closet too full for a big machine, and would rather rinse a filter than reorder anything. First apartments, dorm-adjacent living, a second vacuum for an upstairs floor: this is that vacuum.

Look elsewhere if your home is bigger than about 1,000 square feet, if the floors are covered in unbacked throw rugs, or if you regularly clean curtains, vents, and furniture. The short hose and the single suction setting are structural, and no technique works around them. Anyone sensitive to noise should also know it is not a quiet machine.

What you get for the money is suction that competes with uprights costing several times more, a body light enough that it never becomes a chore to fetch, a cord long enough to skip outlet-hopping, and maintenance that costs nothing. What you give up is reach, surface flexibility, and the reassuring solidity of better plastics.

Frequently asked questions

Is it light enough to carry easily?

Yes. At 8.4 pounds it goes up in one hand, including up a staircase, and the handle detaches for storage. It is one of the lightest full-size uprights you can buy, and that weight is the main reason it gets used on a weeknight instead of waiting for the weekend.

How long is the cord?

Twenty-five feet, which covered a one-bedroom apartment on two plug changes during testing. There is no automatic rewind, so you wrap it on the hooks yourself. For anything larger than a small apartment, expect to move outlets more often than the length suggests, because furniture eats into the useful radius.

Can it actually pick up pet hair?

It can, and this is its strongest quality. On carpet it pulls fine undercoat up from near the backing rather than lifting the surface layer. On hard floors, hair moves toward the nozzle from a few inches away. The upholstery tool handles a chair or a car seat, though the short hose makes long upholstery sessions tiring.

Is it loud?

Moderately. It is not a shriek, but it has a harder edge than better-built uprights at the same price, and our cat left the room every time. In an apartment with shared walls we would avoid running it early in the morning or late at night.

Does it work on hard floors?

Mostly yes, with one exception. Hair, dust, and crumbs go in cleanly. Cat litter and similar dry granules scatter ahead of the head instead, so litter areas are faster with a broom first. There is no brush roll off switch and no pile height setting to help with this.

Is the filter washable, and how often should I clean it?

The filter rinses under the tap and the dust cup washes out with it. In a home with a shedding pet, plan on rinsing the filter about once a month, or sooner if suction on carpet starts feeling soft. Let it dry completely before reinstalling, because a damp filter blocks airflow and holds odor.

Bottom line

This vacuum spends its entire budget on the two things that matter most in a small apartment: it pulls hair out of carpet properly, and it weighs little enough that you will actually use it. Then it asks you to hold the whole machine in the air to clean a chair, flings cat litter across the kitchen, and swallows the entryway rug. In one bedroom with a cat and mostly carpet, that trade is easy and this is a strong buy for the money. If you have stairs, a sofa that needs weekly attention, or more than 1,000 square feet, read the ZU561 review first and spend the extra.