Homeika LED 8-in-1 Review

Aesthetically speaking, the Homeika LED 8-in-1 will look great in just about any home, and the swivel head is highly maneuverable, which we enjoyed. Still, our lab tests reveal how hard it is for low-budget models to compete with vacs that cost 2-3 times as much. For minor surface cleaning with low expectations, you could be happy with this vacuum — right up until you need it for a big mess.

Performance Comparison

Carpet Performance

We had high hopes for this popular, colorful, cordless vacuum, but it struggled on carpets. For our lab test, we spread 1.5 cups of sand, rice, and Cheerios over 9' x 3' sections of carpet and tried to vacuum up as much of the debris as possible in 24 seconds. To be fair, this is a very difficult test. Unlike other reviewers who conduct simple single-item forward passes, we get real with our test. It requires a vacuum to not only suck up small heavy particles (sand), but it also has to consume lightweight big debris (Cheerios) while dealing with the medium-sized rice swirling around.

Low Pile

When we drill down into the data, we can see that it performed below average, collecting 72% of our mix of sand, rice, and Cheerios in our timed test.

Considering its rock-bottom price point, this performance is closer to average for budget-priced cordless vacuums.

High Pile

This Homeika struggled to handle our test on high pile carpet.

“This model definitely has a spraying effect with rice and Cheerios, blowing both types of debris away from the cleaner head,” noted Rachael, our lead tester. “It even seemed to sometimes drive sand farther down into the fibers.”

While this Homeika's on-carpet performance is not fantastic compared to vacuums that cost twice as much, for simple needs, it's competitive in its price range. For comparison, the Black+Decker Powerseries+ sucked up just 1% more debris on low pile carpet and 3% less on high pile carpet.

Hardwood Performance

When we do our hardwood test, we set it up as if a young child flipped a bowl of cereal off of a high chair after kicking playbox sand off his or her shoes while Dad rips open a bag of rice with too much gusto, spraying grains everywhere. Of course, these specific actions are unlikely to occur in very close proximity to one another, but they do represent typical mixed-debris cleanup scenarios. We set up our test by spreading 1.5 total cups of sand, rice, and Cheerios over a 9' x 3' section of hardwood, then giving each vacuum just 24 seconds to suck up as much as possible.

Our rice, sand, and Cheerios test debris seemed too much for the Homeika LED to handle. It did better with lightweight Cheerios but disappointed our testers with sand and rice, often rolling right over the debris as if it weren't even turned on.

Cleaning Performance

As you'll see in our suction test results below, this vacuum simply has too little suction power to suck up heavier sand and even rice.

“I did not see it coming how poorly this popular vacuum would perform on hardwood,” noted one tester. “It seemed to mow the lawn, just taking the topmost layer and leaving behind large patches of sand and rice. I would not recommend this vacuum to anyone I know and love.” Neat freaks will likely get upset if they try to vacuum anything but the smallest of messes.

Crevice

To test for crevice performance, we spread sand between the slats of a bamboo mat and then recorded how much of the sand each vacuum could pick up in 4 passes. Because the slats are relatively deep, the brush rolls on the vacuums can't reach all the sand to whisk it away, forcing the vacuum's suction power to do the work.

“It did a pretty abysmal job, barely getting any of the sand up in our test,” Rachael said. If you have crevices, you'll definitely need to use the included hand crevice tool attachment rather than the primary cleaner head.

Edges

In our test to reveal how well a vacuum sucks up debris close to a wall, we spread coffee grounds next to baseboards on hardwood and hit it head-on and in a parallel run.

If you look at the tangled pet hair photo of the brush roll below, be sure to check out the wide distance between the brush roll and the edges of the cleaner head — these thick designs tend to reduce a vacuum's ability to suck close to walls while running parallel to the wall. Consequently, if you have long hallways with walls next to hard floors, you'll likely need to break out the crevice tools to suck up traffic debris near walls adequately.

Pet Hair

Our pet hair test is more difficult than any we've seen from other vacuum reviewers. We start by taking a huge fistful of mixed pet hair, measuring it to ensure that it weighs a consistent 4 grams, and then we playfully wipe it all over a 4.5' x 3' test section of carpet. To replicate long hair, we add 1 gram of hair extensions, then mash it all down with a weighted wheel roller. We give each vacuum just 12 seconds to suck up as much hair as possible, then weigh the results. We run this test on both low pile and high pile carpets to help you better understand how each vacuum might perform in your own home.

Again, this budget vacuum struggled with our rigorous testing protocol, scoring well below the average of all the vacuums we tested. “This vacuum's lack of suction makes it a really poor performer when it comes to pet hair,” noted our lead tester. At times, it just rolled over clumps of pet hair and left them behind."

Filtration & Suction

Sometimes vacuums with very high suction power sacrifice filtration, which can exacerbate air quality issues in your home. We test both to help you choose the vacuum that gives you the filtration and performance characteristics you need.

Filtration

If you thought our flooring tests were intense, our filtration tests illustrate a whole new level of rigor in our commitment to testing performance. We start by creating a clean room in our lab by running room air filters overnight to regulate air particles to very low levels. Once we establish a clean baseline for the room by using two Dylos air quality monitors, we spread 1/3 cup of flour on the flour and vacuum it up, watching for increases in tiny particles that the vacuum either seeped or leaked.

Surprisingly, this Homeika can filter out fine particles effectively. While it did increase the fine particulates in our test room, the spike was very small, earning a good rating. This may be due to its seven-layer sealing filter system with an incorporated HEPA filter amongst the layers of protection. This performance implies that anyone who is sensitive to allergens or pet dander will unlikely experience worse effects due to the vacuum.

Suction

The suction power of this product is perhaps its weakest characteristic, as it doesn't provide much suction.

We measured a paltry 75 pascals in our lab at the cleaner head, far below the 834 pascals our 15 test vacs averaged.

Ease of Use

The Homeika shines when it's in motion. Its highly maneuverable head, combined with the lightweight nature of this vacuum, provides a pleasant user experience.

Maneuverability

It can seamlessly transition off and on various surfaces in the home, like hardwood or an area rug. In fact, we were delighted at how easily this vacuum glided up onto a bamboo mat, zoomed around cones in our obstacle course, and swiveled its head like a hungry praying mantis eyeing dinner.

Maintenance

The two filters and the dustbin of the Homeika can be accessed and cleaned, although we couldn't find any directions on how to do this. It would have been helpful to have instructions, especially for removing the second filter. However, the brush roller has a dedicated button release, making it easy to access, which is a convenient feature that we appreciate. If you have long-haired humans in your home, you'll use this button to remove the brushroll to free up wrapped hair.

Uphostery & Attachments

The package deal comes with two additional attachments: a crevice tool and a combination tool.

This model comes with a wall mount, which you'll need to install since it can't stand up independently and easily falls over when leaned against a wall.

Battery

The Homeika ran for 29 minutes on low and 21 minutes on its highest power.

Before you get too excited about the impressive 21-minute high-power runtime, let's put this in perspective. We noted from our suction testing that it's not significantly more powerful than the lowest setting, and you'll likely need to use it often, giving you a relatively short runtime compared to other cordless vacumms we tested.

Should You Buy the Homeika LED 8-in-1?

Unless aesthetics are your primary concern or you prioritize highly maneuverable vacuums, this vacuum likely won't get the job done on most surfaces. While affordable, it comes at the sacrifice of tangible cleaning power.

What Other Stick Vacuums Should You Consider?