Shark Stratos Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner Pet Pro with Anti Hair Wrap Plus, 120 Mins Run-Time (2 Batteries), Clean Sense IQ & Anti-Odour, Pet, Crevice & Multi-Surface Tools, Charcoal/Silver IZ420UKT

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All 3 of Gtech’s vacuum cleaners are cordless with no cables attached and run off a battery that you can expect about 40 minutes of life from on one charge. Importantly, Lift-Away mode is easy to activate, with the cylinder lifting off effortlessly. With a total weight of 6.7kg, the NZ860UKT isn’t light, but Lift-Away does make it more nimble.

Those days are gone with a Shark anti-hair wrap vacuum cleaner. Most of their hoovers now come with a cleverly designed brush head that totally stops all hair form ever becoming wrapped around the brush every again. There's a suite of onboard tools which can be used with this vac too, Molly's favourite being the Anti Hair Wrap Power Tool which is great for upholstery and smaller jobs. How we test Shark vacuums If you want a vacuum cleaner that offers the ability to clean above-floor surfaces such as stairs and sofas then you may have to look to Shark as the Gtech AirRam doesn’t come with any accessories and is only suitable for cleaning the floor.Controls are placed on top of the handle, with an on/off button and a slider to select the mode: hard floor, carpet, and deep pile. The slider adjusts the speed of the floor head but also opens a vent to help the vacuum cleaner move around more easily. It works, and this is one of the most nimble upright vacuum cleaners I have tested.

Most vacuum cleaners have a brush roller because they do a good job on both hard floor and carpets but to get the best results you should switch between the two.The second was the wealth of new technologies that Shark boasted about with this vacuum when we got a first glimpse of it at IFA 2023. This vacuum has four detection technologies so that cleaning your home is more thorough than ever. When we were testing, we found dealing with high-traffic areas much easier thanks the the amped up suction and the FloorDetect technology makes transitioning into different rooms across your home much easier too. This corded model provides suction power the same as the top-end premium models from both Shark and Dyson but its an awful lot cheaper. Another success story from Shark as they never rest on their laurels and continue to innovate year after year. See my full review of this hoove rin the Stratos range after using this vacuum cleaner on a daily basis here: I reviewed the Shark Stratos NZ860UKT, although there’s also the NZ860UK available, which is identical but doesn’t ship with the mini pet tool. Design and features It performed excellently in our at-home tests, and the new detection features go a long way to improve day-to-day vacuuming sessions. I'm a huge fan of the stand system too, even though it comes at an additional price, and would be keen to try out the self-emptying bin system next, which seems like a lifesaver.

And if you would like to do some further comparisons at the premium end of the market then this article compares Dyson with Shark: The Stratos did leave a line of flour behind the motor head, where the fins on the roller seemed to funnel the flour without offering enough agitation or suction to lift it all up. This amounted to 4% of the flour on that first pass, although that’s still way above average. It was happily collected by subsequent passes made at a different angle. These are the best Shark vacuum cleaners in the UK: Shark IZ400UK / IZ400UKT & IZ420UKT Cordless Vacuum Cleaner In their bid for constant improvement they have also introduced “powerfins” which are plastic fins that scoop up dirt form deep within carpets and across hard floors for Sharks best ever cleaning performance. The compromise you have to make is a cable which actually isn’t as bad as it sounds. Until recent years all hoovers were corded and was it really that much of an inconvenience?

These are all the Gtech vacuum cleaners with a breakdown of the differences between them: Gtech Mk2 AirRam Cordless Upright Vacuum Cleaner The relatively new innovation to Shark's portfolio is Flexology which allows the wand to go from straight to angled, is a feature which we highly rate. It means that you can get your vac under the beds and various items of furniture that are raised up on legs. What we found, however, is that the floorhead wasn’t as easy to direct accurately as is the case when it’s used with the rigid wand. DuoCleanis Shark's self-adjusting brush roll that automatically adapts to carpet and hard floor without you having to switch over.

There is only one power level on this vacuum cleaner and that is high. It has very strong suction power that more than capable of digging down to the bottom of your carpet fibres and easily scoops all dust and debris from any hard floor surface. It delivered pretty consistent results on the flooring, leaving carpet – including on the stairs – tiles, and parquet clean. The DuoClean floorhead had a big part to play in this as it can easily transition across the various floor types, on which its twin bristle brushes work their magic. Anti Hair Wrap – a feature designed to stop hair accumulating around the brush roll – had some impressive results, too. This meant that neither human hair nor the hair of small furry housemates lodged itself around the brushes of the floorhead or the motorised pet tool. Below we go through all of the Gtech vacuum cleaners and a small selection of the best Shark vacuums that you may wish to consider as an alternative to the Shark.Hard floors are cleaned best when you use a soft roller and carpets are cleaned best with a brush roller. We will break down each of Gtech’s vacuum cleaners so that you can understand what each one is capable of and also the difference between them so that you can make a judgement on which one may be most appropriate for your needs and whether it is worth paying extra for the more expensive model or not. When using it to clean her car, Helen was very impressed with the overall performance, with the vac effectively removing dirt from her car. It did struggle a little more to collect hairs from the carpet, but overall the suction was strong.