In 1993, Dyson launched DC01, the first mass-produced vacuum from a man who had spent four years and 5,127 prototypes getting there. James Dyson had been frustrated by a bag that clogged with dust, so he built a rough cyclone out of cardboard and strapped it to his own upright in place of the bag. The company's own history says DC01 had a clear bin, so you could see the dirt it picked up. That small window is still the look people know.

The cordless stick came later, and Dyson describes its first one as a completely new format, with a long wand that reaches up high and down low. Bagless, cyclonic, a wand that turns into a handheld, a clear bin and a floor head with a light on it: that is the shape most of us picture when we say stick vacuum. So a Dyson vacuum dupe, in my book, is a stick vacuum from another maker that shares those defining details, and it is useful if you want a different weight, a different color, or simply what is in stock.

This first set is the cordless sticks. The Levoit VortexIQ in white has a clear bin and a green LED floor head, and the Dreame U20 in white pairs its clear bin with a blue LED head. The Tineco GO PureCyclone Flex in black has a cyclonic clear bin and a flexible wand, which I would like for getting under a bed frame. The Shark PowerPro Pet converts to a hand vacuum, and so does the Hoover ONEPWR Emerge in gray and red.

My tip for October, when the dust comes back with the heating: look at the bin first. A clear cup you can pop off and rinse tells you more than any spec line.

Good Housekeeping points out that makers report run time without any attachments, which is not how anyone really cleans. So a dock that charges the vacuum and empties the cup is less a luxury than a way to keep the thing ready. Every vacuum in this set shares the stick shape with a charging base, and several empty themselves.

The Shark PowerDetect Speed in Sagewood stands on a tall auto-empty base and converts to a hand vacuum. The Shark PowerLite in light blue and gold does the same trick in a smaller footprint. The Tineco GO Station in gray docks into a self-emptying station, and the Levoit AERO in white has an all-in-one charging and emptying station. I would put any of these where a dining chair would be, because they stand up on their own.

Not every dock has to empty. The Eureka RapidClean Pro in blue and the Bissell PowerClean in white and blue come with a wall-mount bracket, and both keep a clear bin. That is the quieter version of the idea: hang it by the door and grab it.

Before you commit, check the wand clicks off the body without a fuss, and that the bin release is a single button. Consumer Reports suggests looking for a cordless stick that comes with an extra battery or lets you buy one, which is worth a glance at the box.

What I would skip: a self-emptying base in a one-bedroom with no spare floor. A wall mount does the same job and takes no room.

Here the Dyson look gets stretched. These are cordless or corded cleaners that wash and dry in one pass, so they borrow the clear tank and the upright wand rather than the cyclone. They suit hard floors, and that is what I would use them on.

The Shark VacMop Reveal in blue pairs a vacuum and spray mop with a reveal light, which echoes the lit floor head people like on a stick. The Tineco GO Max Complete has a clear tank and vacuums and mops in one smooth motion. The Dreame FloorX120 in white has dual water tanks, a self-cleaning brushroll and a spare roller. The Bissell CrossWave Omniforce Edge in black is cordless, with separate clean and dirty water tanks.

Check the tanks before anything else. Two tanks, one for clean water and one for dirty, mean the water you are mopping with never touches the dirt you have picked up. Then look at the roller: a brushroll that rinses itself is easier to live with than one you wipe by hand. The Roborock F25 and the Tineco FloorWasher 5 Series both add a self-clean step.

Picture her on a Sunday morning, music on, kitchen tiles dry before the coffee is cold. That is the kind of hard-floor chore these were made for.

What I would skip: a washer on unsealed wood or thick rugs. Read the floor care label first, and use the dry mode where it applies.

Every cordless stick that matters can split into a handheld, and Consumer Reports notes that most stick vacuums convert into handhelds. If you already have a stick, a standalone handheld is the second tool, for the car, the stairs and the sofa cushions. Consumer Reports says the best of these weigh under 3 pounds, which is a good number to hold in your head.

The Shark WandVac in its slim body and charging dock stores like a phone. The Shark WandVac Power Pet Max in blue adds a pet hair tool. The Hoover ONEPWR handheld in gray and red has a washable filter and weighs 3 pounds. The Bissell Pet Hair Eraser in purple has a motorized brush roll and a clear bin, with crevice and upholstery tools.

For the clear bin look, the Black+Decker Dustbuster AdvancedClean has a clear cyclonic dust bowl, and the Dustbuster Reveal in black carries an LED headlight to light up debris. That is the stick vacuum look in miniature.

In the fitting room for vacuums, so to speak, hold it at arm's length for ten seconds. If your wrist complains, it is the wrong one. Then check the filter pulls out and rinses, and that the crevice tool clips on the body.

What I would skip: a handheld with no tool storage. You will lose the crevice tool by Christmas.

Dyson's own history includes a robot vacuum prototype that it did not launch at the time, so this is a part of the brand's world too. The robots here do not share a cyclone, but they share the idea of a vacuum that stays out of sight until the job needs doing. The details that matter are the dock and the mapping.

The Shark Matrix Self-Empty in black and silver has a bagless self-empty base with a 45-day capacity, and the Shark Navigator uses row-by-row SmartPath navigation. The Roborock Q10 PF Plus in black vacuums and mops and comes with an auto-empty dock. The Roborock Qrevo is an all-in-one dock with auto drying, mop self-washing and auto emptying. The Dreame GoVac 300 and the Dreame GoVac 200 are both three-in-one machines, vacuum, mop and auto-empty.

The iRobot Roomba 106 in round form has a self-emptying dock that holds up to 75 days of debris, and the eufy Omni C20 has an all-in-one station with auto mop washing and drying. These suit someone who wants floors done while she is out, with a stick for the stairs.

Test the dock before you buy: it needs clear floor space at both sides and a wall socket. Then check the brushroll cleans itself, since hair is the number one chore on a robot.

What I would skip: a mopping robot in a home full of thick rugs. Keep it to flat, hard floors.

I would start with the shape of the home. Stairs and an upstairs bedroom say stick vacuum with a handheld mode, and a small apartment says a stick on the wall. A big open floor of tile says a washer or a robot.

Then I would check the four details that sell the look: a clear bin, a wand that becomes a handheld, a lit floor head, and a cyclonic bin. If a model has three of four, it reads like the vacuum most of us picture.

Dyson put a clear bin on DC01 in 1993 so you could see what it picked up. I like that the idea outlasted the bag.