Shark Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner with Anti Hair Wrap, 120 Minute Run Time (2 Batteries), Flexible DuoClean Vacuum Cleaner with Motorised Pet, Multi-Surface & Crevice Tools, Black & Blue. IZ320UKT

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The Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro IZ400UKT comes heartily recommended. It’s a terrific cleaner at a good price. Its performance in our tests rivals that of vastly more expensive models, and I love the fact that you don’t need to switch the floor head over when moving from one surface to another. If money is no object then the Dyson Gen5detect remains a superior option, but not to the extent that it’s worth paying almost twice the price. Its battery lasts a bit longer and it comes with a few more bells and whistles, but you’re definitely not getting twice the vacuum. In the box, Shark provides a crevice tool, pet tool, dusting brush and upholstery tool. That’s all that you’ll need, although it’s a shame that there’s no onboard tool storage with this model. Shark does provide a tote bag to put everything in, though. The Shark makes a lot of noise, so it's not a good choice if you tend to vacuum while others are asleep or working from home - even if they're on the other side of the house.

At 4.1kg it’s fairly weighty for a cordless vacuum, with the weight split more or less evenly between the floor head and the vacuum engine, which is located up near the handle. For this model, Shark has redesigned the controls. There’s now an LCD screen that shows battery life as a percentage. This is far better than the old display, where you’d get a set of lights to indicate the rough level of charge remaining; but it isn’t as good as the Dyson V15 Detect, which shows you battery life in minutes. 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.

I’ve reviewed the top-of-the-range model with dual batteries and the pet tool, but there are three other versions that have the same basic features: IZ320UK (dual batteries, no pet tool), IZ300UKT (single battery and pet tool) and the IZ300UK (single battery and no pet tool). Design and features With cordless vacuum cleaners, in particular, the raw figures give an idea of performance, but it’s only by testing them for real that you can see how good suction really is, as it’s a combination of power and tool efficiency that’s important. Emptying the bin is easy, as it can be completely removed from the vacuum’s body Performance – One of the most powerful cordless vacuum cleaners around This vacuum cleaner comes in about average for noise, at 67.5dB on Eco, 72.6dB on Standard and 75.6dB on Turbo. You can clearly hear the Shark ICZ300UKT and can’t really hold conversations over it, but it isn’t so loud as to be annoying.

READ NEXT: The best cordless vacuum cleaners to buy today Shark Anti Hair Wrap with Flexology IZ201UKC review: How well does it clean?I then combed cat hair into the carpet and ran over it using the standard power setting. Again, everything was collected with ease.

There’s a 0.7-litre bin, which is a good size for a cordless vacuum cleaner. You can empty it in-situ, pointing the vacuum’s bin down and opening the ejection flap. Or you can remove the bin from the body completely, which lets you pull out the rear filter for cleaning and thoroughly clean out the bin. The device has a couple of main controls. A thumb switch on the top is used to turn the vacuum on and off and swap between hard floor and carpet modes. With carpet mode selected, the rollers spin faster to agitate the fibres more and clean deeper into the carpet. This doesn’t alter the suction, but you can give it a boost by pulling the trigger that sits just in front of your forefinger as you hold the handle. The other recent innovation that Shark has brought to this model is the screen and control panel on the top of the handle, which debuted on the Shark IZ300UKT. This is mostly to display how much battery capacity you have left, shown as a percentage that decreases in increments of 10%. It isn’t as accurate as the battery gauge on the Dyson V15 Detect or V11 Outsize, but you get more information than on most cordless models.If manoeuvrability is key for you, the Eufy HomeVac S11 Infinityand Dyson Micro 1.5kgare both much easier to handle. I put the Shark IZ320UKT through my raw performance tests, measuring suction power in airwatts (AW), which uses a combination of airflow and suction. On Eco power, the vacuum runs at a basic 37.33AW, moving to 61.40AW on standard, which is about average for cordless cleaners. On Boost mode, the vacuum manages a huge 199.79AW; few cordless vacuum cleaners are this powerful, bar the Dyson V15 Detect, which manages an even higher 280.93AW. Shark has included its DuoClean head, which has a soft roller for hard floors and a brush for carpets. For this model, Shark has included its PowerFins tech, which adds fins to the roller to really get into carpet fibres and agitate dirt. It’s also got Anti Hair Wrap tech, which really works to prevent hair from wrapping around the rollers. However, you can get extra tools if you're willing to spend more. The pet variant (the Shark IZ300UKT) comes with a mini turbo brush, while the IZ320UKT comes with the same turbo brush plus an extra battery, letting you clean for twice as long without recharging.

It’s definitely easier to waft about on hard floors, but if anything, the resistance you feel on carpet is a testament to how deep it’s cleaning. I ran my carpet test to start with, placing a teaspoon of flour on the ground. Running the Shark IZ320UKT through the middle I got a clean collection of the dust on Standard power. Next, I ran the vacuum through the top on Eco mode and the bottom on Boost. There’s little to tell between the two, and it’s impressive that the Shark IZ320UKT can clean so well on its lowest setting. And unlike the Dyson, the display doesn't work while the vacuum is charging. So you have to rely on three less precise indicator lights on the battery to know when it's fully charged.Like many of Shark's corded and cordless models, the IZ300UK is fitted with a flexible cleaning tube called Flexology. This means the vacuum conveniently slots underneath coffee tables and sofas, helping you clean those hard-to-reach areas. This wand has an articulating elbow that allows the vacuum to be folded up and stored upright, and it also allows you to more easily vacuum under low furniture. There’s a large display on top of the handle that shows the battery level and the power mode you’re using. You get two batteries in the box, plus a charger that can take both batteries, so you can keep them both topped up all of the time. If you prefer, you can just charge the battery in the vacuum’s body by plugging in the power cable at the rear. Once you’ve released the bin, though, emptying is simple. There’s a handle on the top and a button on the front to release a trap door in the bottom, which allows the dirt to fall out with minimal further encouragement. Shark’s anti-tangle floor head works wonders at keeping the rollers free of hair, too.