REASONS TO BUY
Cheap
Lightweight
Includes handtools
REASONS TO AVOID
Requires extra passes
Sprayfest on hardwood
Poor filtration
Dirt Devil Endura Lite Review
Lightweight and inexpensive, the overall functionality is only moderately effective, at best
Credit: Natalie Kafader
By Rachael Lamore ⋅ Senior Review Analyst ⋅ July 21, 2025
Contributions From: Chris Maxcer
RELATED: The Best Upright Vacuums of 2025
Our Verdict
The Dirt Devil Endura Lite is a lightweight, budget-friendly upright, but its poor performance across key tests makes it a better concept than a recommended vacuum. It sucked up the least amount of material in our carpet tests, making it the least effective upright vacuum we tested. The vacuum felt more like a toy at times when we were cleaning around the house; we never felt any substantial power. On hardwood, it sprayed more than it sucked, scattering debris everywhere and causing more of a mess than an actual cleaner. Its track record continued as it sucked up the least amount of pet hair while making the most noise (84 decibels) and smelled of burning plastic in our high-pile carpet test. Weighing in at 9.4 pounds, its only benefit is its lightweight and small size, which makes it easy to move around the house. While the compact size and cheap price can seem alluring to some, it simply won't clean up much.
Our Analysis and Test Results
The best feature of the Dirt Devil Endura Lite is that it comes in a lightweight, trim form factor with the handheld attachments stored near the top of the vacuum.
In addition to testing vacuums for their ability to collect debris and maneuver around obstacles in a home, we also test filtration in a closed, clean room environment.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Carpet Performance
Regardless of your budget, we appreciate great values that make vacuuming easier and faster. While this vacuum did suck up material, it showed us that we'd have to work harder with more passes to collect acceptable amounts of dirt in a home.
We usually experience spraying with inexpensive vacuums on hardwood, but we were surprised to see this vacuum spray material on low-pile carpet as well. It also felt surprisingly difficult to push, as if it were creating decent suction, but in reality it rolled right over rice and sand. Additionally, it had a tendency to plow Cheerios into little piles.
The brush roller uses deep, stiff bristles to agitate the carpet, while the head gate just has one taller opening at the front middle to allow tall debris to slip under.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
This model collected just 27% of our test debris on hile pile, far below average and the lowest amount we've ever recorded for this test. We do not recommend this vacuum for thick carpets, as it tends to push material farther into the carpet.
Before Testing After Testing
High pile carpets often look cleaner after vacuuming, but when we weigh the materials collected, the true results are revealed: The Dirt Devil Endura Lite left 73% of our test material in the shaggy carpet — or pushed it off the carpet entirely!
Hardwood Performance
Wow. A near total sprayfest. It picked up some debris but made more of a mess by spreading the remaining material around. This vacuum was not designed for cleaning hardwood floors, and we recommend using a broom instead.
The Endura Lite sprayed, plowed, and struggled to suck up debris during our hard floor test.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The spray fest continued, flinging the coffee grounds all over when we tried to vacuum against the baseboards, and making an even bigger mess when approached head-on. On the parallel pass, it seemed to ignore the coffee grounds, completely unable to get any messes that usually tend to accumulate close to corners and edges of the house.
Before Testing After Testing
After vacuuming, this model sucked up 32% of the debris and spread the remaining 68% over a wider area than it started in.
Pet Hair
This machine collected just 56% of the hair on low-pile carpet and 34% on high-pile carpet, ranking last in our tests.
Before Testing After Testing
We smear a lot of pet hair in our side-by-side carpet tests! The Dirt Devil is shown in the top left, compared to the Eureka Airspeed, a budget model, in the top right. The Bissel Multiclean in the bottom left and Eureka Omnivers in the bottom right cost slightly more but might be a good investment for pet owners.
Upon visually inspecting the collected fur and hair, it appeared that nearly all the long hair extensions were wrapped around the brush roller.
Filtration
Testing revealed a definite spike from the room's baseline, and we observed that the outside of the dustbin became floury, visually indicating a leak. This increase in flour particles means that we would not recommend this vacuum to loved ones who have allergies.
Filtration
| Dirt Devil Endura Lite | |
|---|---|
| Small (2.4-0.5) | 521 |
| Dylos Air Quality Designation | Fair |
| HEPA | ✖ |
Pretest During Test
In addition to visually seeing flour accumulate around the seal of the dustbin, our Dylos air quality monitors recorded immediate increases in tiny airborne particulates in the room while vacuuming flour from the floor.
Ease of Use
Despite a relatively light overall weight of 9.4 measured pounds (a bit more than the manufacturer reported), the Endura Lite was difficult to navigate around cones because it lacks a multi-angle swivel head feature, which is commonly found on vacuums that cost just a bit more. Because it has no lift-away canister feature, the dustbin/canister prevents it from reaching far under furniture. Transitioning onto our bamboo test mat required us to angle the vacuum so that its head could prop up and rise over the lip.
As part of our maneuverability evaluations, we test transitions to and from hard floors to rugs.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The primary maintenance required will be cleaning the non-removable brush roller of long hair, assuming you have long-haired family members. This is a difficult and annoying process, made inexplicably more challenging by the inclusion of plastic crossbars over the brush roller. Lightweight modern cordless stick vacuums don't need these support struts, so we have a hard time imagining why so many upright vacuums still use them.
The brush roller is difficult to clean when it wraps long hair.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
Dirt Devil includes two hand-tool attachments, a crevice tool, and a duster. They're simple and effective.
Credit: Natalie Kafader
The crevice tool and brush felt thin and weak. The crevice tool was able to suck up the coffee grounds on the pillow, but anything more stubborn, like fur, was impossible to clean up.
Should You Buy the Dirt Devil Endura Lite?
Compared to other vacuums, the Endura Lite is a mediocre product that tends to make vacuuming a tedious task. It's too weak to pick up most messes and poorly designed, where it rather flicks material than suck it up. We don't think this product is worth the money, even with its cheap sticker price.
What Other Upright Vacuums Should You Consider?
The Eureka PowerSpeed costs just a bit more than the Endura Lite, being the lowest-priced product we would suggest without seeing significant drawbacks, except maybe for the hardwood performance. For a better all-around product, the Shark Navigator Lift Away Deluxe NV360 is worth a good investment and can often be found on sale.
Side-by-Side Comparison
Compare Dirt Devil Endura Lite versus top competing products:
—Rachael Lamore and Chris Maxcer
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