HoLIFE Portable Vacuum Cleaner HLHM036BWUS Review

The HoLIFE finished a bit behind the Bissell Pet Hair Eraser and tied with the Homasy Handheld Vacuum Cleaner. To be honest, we are pretty much convinced that the HoLife and the Homasy are actually identical products with different brands, as they both performed identically and the parts are actually interchangeable. However, we did find that the Homasy usually retails for about $10 less, making it a better option. The Bissell cleans far better than the HoLIFE, though it doesn't have as long of a battery life, it also retails for about $15-20 less than the HoLIFE and we vastly preferred it.

Performance Comparison

To find out which handheld vacuum truly has what it takes to claim the top spot, we compared a bunch of different products, then bought all the ones that showed the most promise to test out side-by-side. We split our tests into six groups, with the HoLIFE's results in each of them outlined below.

Dust & Dirt

Our first round of tests — and the one that captures how most people will end up using these products — ranked and compared the performance of each vacuum at picking up light household messes. We used the bristle attachment and cleaned up dust and dried on mud with the HoLIFE, noting how well it cleaned and how easily the bristles got into small areas and in corners. It did fairly well in this first round of tests, which are responsible for 20% of its final score, earning a 6 out of 10.

The bristles are a little stiff, so it didn't do amazingly well at cleaning up the flour from our statically charged sheet.

However, they were excellent at getting off caked-on dirt and mud from a section of linoleum.

The bristles did a good job of cleaning wider surfaces, like window sill or shelf, even getting into the corners, but weren't the best at smaller edges, like the top of trim or baseboards.

Tough Messes

We upped the difficulty in our second metric, tasking each vacuum with cleaning up flour and oats from upholstered cushions and carpet, as well as sucking up larger particles. These tests also account for 20% of the overall score, with the performance of the HoLIFE earning it a 6 out of 10.

The HoLIFE got off to a good start in our first test, doing surprisingly well at removing flour from the carpet. It cleaned up a lot of the mess, but it couldn't match the performance of the vacuums that have a rotating brush.

It didn't do quite as well with the oats on the carpet and on the cushions, leaving a fair amount of dust behind on both surfaces.

This handheld vacuum was also able to clean up mini-wheats without becoming clogged if you didn't use an attachment. Finally, we measured the air flow each vacuum caused using an anemometer mounted in a makeshift wind tunnel. The HoLIFE caused it to read 1338 FPM — approximately standard for these products.

Hard-to-Reach Areas

Our third metric compared how effective each one of these mobile vacuums is at cleaning difficult to access areas of your home. We used the HoLIFE to clean out the grooves of a sliding window track and measured how far it could reach under our simulated nightstand and appliance to determine scores for this category, which is also responsible for 20% of its final tally. The HoLIFE gave an overall lackluster performance, earning it a 5 out of 10.

The HoLIFE's nozzle is a little wider than some of the top products, making it a little more time consuming to clean out the window track, but you could eventually get it just as clean if you were willing to take the necessary time.

Unfortunately, this wider nozzle means that it can't clean as far under a nightstand or appliance. It only was able to clean 8.5" into the 3" gap — representing a nightstand or sofa — and about 5" into a 1.25" gap, similar to the space under a dishwasher or stove.

Battery Life

Now that we covered where and how well you can clean, we looked at how long you can clean for. For this metric, worth 15% of the overall score, we timed how long each vacuum lasted on a completely full battery, awarding points accordingly. The HoLIFE did quite well, receiving an 8 out of 10. This vacuum lasted for a little over 26 minutes — one of the longest times of the groups — and takes 3-5 hours to recharge, according to the manufacturer. However, it did charge a little faster in our tests, only taking 2 hours, 40 minutes.

Convenience

Next, our convenience and ease of operation tests are also responsible for 15% of the HoLIFE's score. We looked and scored the ease of emptying the collection bin and how much it could store, as well as the weight, noise, and ease of storing attachments for each product. The HoLIFE again did about average, earning a 5 out of 10 for its middle-of-the-road result.

This vacuum is right in the middle of the group when it comes to size, weighing in at 2.4 lbs. without any tools and its heaviest tool only adding 0.1 lbs. However, this vacuum did stand out by being one of the quietest models of the group, only registering at 68 dBA on our sound meter.

It can be a bit of a pain to empty the bin, which can hold up to 0.6 L of dry mess and up to 0.1 L of liquid.

The attachments for this vacuum are not integrated and there isn't really a convenient way to keep them organized with what is included in the box.

Pet Hair

For the leftover 10% of the total score, we ranked and scored how well each vacuum did at removing pet hair from both carpeted floors and cushions. The HoLIFE finished with a rather abysmal performance, earning a 2 out of 10.

It got about 85% of the hair off the cushion, but almost none of it actually made it into the collection bin, with most remaining trapped on the brush. It was the same story with the carpet, but at least half of the hair we spread out was still on the carpet after the HoLIFE cleaned.

Value

This vacuum is a bad value option, as there are less expensive products that significantly outperformed it.

Conclusion