Cleaning your pool requires frequent maintenance. Of course you need to pay attention to chemicals, but that’s not the extent of the job. You also need vacuum your pool to remove debris like leaves and branches that may fall into your pool. Otherwise, your pool can have permanent staining. One option is a robot pool vacuum, but those are expensive. Sometimes if you have a small pool or aren’t near trees, these pool cleaners are overkill. As a more affordable and controllable option, you could get one of these best handheld pool vacuum options.
A handheld pool vacuum is extremely effective for cleaning specific areas of your pool. They often have more suction than robotic pool cleaners and you can control where you apply them. If your pool has a spot where debris frequently gathers, these are great options.
Best Handheld Pool Vacuum: Pool Blaster Max
In this article, we reviewed the best handheld pool vacuums. To save you some time, the Pool Blaster Max is the best vacuum we tested.
- INCREASED POWER: The Max offers increased vacuum suction with the Water Tech P30 Motor design engineered for quick & efficient debris pick-up.
- WHOLE POOL CLEANER: Clean entire pool or Spot-Clean in seconds. Includes a removeable 10.5” vacuum head for general cleaning or simple remove to…
- CAPTURE MORE DIRT: The Max features a large debris capture chamber and strong suction for a variety of cleaning; acorns, twigs, leaves dirt and sand.
How Much Does A Handheld Pool Vacuum Cost?
A handheld pool vacuum is far more economical than even the cheapest pool robot vacuums. One of the best handheld pool vacuum models will cost between $100 and $200. In comparison, most pool robot vacuums start around $300 and many exceed $1,000.
How To Use A Handheld Pool Vacuum
If you have a handheld vacuum for inside your home, you’ll be amazed at the similarities. For example, you need to charge both a handheld pool vacuum and a handheld home vacuum. However, the parallels don’t stop there, even the applications are similar. If you want to vacuum your whole house, you’d buy a Roomba or a larger push vacuum. In a pool, if you want to vacuum the whole pool, you’d probably buy one of the Dolphin pool cleaners. A handheld pool vacuum is great for concentrated parts of your pool that need extra detail.
A handheld pool vacuum is comprised of a few components. First, there’s the vacuum head that will suck up the debris in your pool. Next, there’s the filter bag which will collect the debris. This bag can be easily removed for disposing on whatever your vacuum catches. Lastly, there’s the pole which is sold separately. See our pool skimmer pole reviews to find a quality pole. This comes in very handy when applying the vacuum. Otherwise, you’d have to jump in a manually to reach the pool floor.
Best Handheld Pool Vacuum Models
What To Look For In A Handheld Pool Vacuum
Run Time: With a handheld pool vacuum, you’ll find that 60 minutes is the maximum and best run time. Many lower quality models will offer 30 – 45 minutes of run time. This may or may not be enough time depending on the size of your pool. However, all of the best handheld pool vacuum devices, especially for inground pools, will carry charge for an hour.
Above Ground Vs Inground: This might seem obvious but consider whether your pool is inground or above ground. Above ground handheld pool vacuums are often a little less expensive. They may come with a little less charge time as a result. However, most above ground pools are also smaller than inground ones. Therefore, you might be able to save $100 or so by getting the Intex handheld pool vacuum recommended above.
Suction Strength: Handheld pool vacuums are really good at applying tremendous amounts of suction in one area. Based on how they’re used, you should seek the vacuum with the highest suction strength. Unfortunately, there isn’t a metric to test the maximum suction power very easily. Luckily, you won’t have to buy each one, test them out and then return the inferior ones. Instead, we tested the suction for you and the Pool Blaster Max has the most impressive strength.
Best Handheld Pool Vacuum Summary
There is no shortage of handheld pool vacuums on the market. We found that the Pool Blaster, Efurden, Intex and U.S. Pool Supply devices performed the best. Ultimately, the Pool Blaster Max is the most impressive overall. Whether you’re considering one of these or a different handheld pool vacuum, you should evaluate them on run time, inground vs. above ground and suction strength. These are the most important attributes to find the best handheld pool vacuum.
