Shark Upright Vacuum Cleaner [NV681UKT] Pet Hair, Powered Lift-Away, Powerful, Red, Bordeaux, TruePet

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Tech giant Samsung and Tineco, part of the Eco Vac robotics group, are starting to challenge the big brands with a handful of premium cordless vacuum launches. 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 Lift-away canister, dual brush floorhead, LED headlights, anti-hair-wrap floorhead, claims around allergen filtration Automatic cleaning mode This means you don’t need to worry about switching settings when you move from carpet to hard floor. Most impressively, this model boasts Shark’s most advanced anti hair wrap technology to date, removing strands from the rollers as it goes along. Unlike previous Shark models it’s almost 100 per cent effective, and that’s coming from someone with four long-haired cats (and two Labradors).

To ensure we can properly compare the performance of all the vacuum cleaners we test, we put them through a barrage of challenging tests. We measure suction to get an idea of how powerful each vacuum is. If they use batteries, we time how long it takes for them to run down. Where the device has more than one power setting, we repeat the tests on them all. Flexology means your vacuum can be pivoted under furniture using an elbow hinge at the centre of the tube. It saves you from bending and reaching, but it's only available on cordless vacuums.LiftAwayoffers a removable central canister that can be lifted around to clean stairs and upholstery. This makes is easier to access tough spots, even cars. Around the same time as Dyson launched its V15 collection, Shark released a new addition to its popular Anti Hair Wrap cordless vacuum range. We were very excited to test the brand new Shark Detect Pro for a few reasons. The first is that it's unbelievably lightweight, at just 2.76kg, so your days of lugging around a heavy vacuum are behind you. 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.

Lift Away: Some of Shark’s upright vacuums can be lifted off the motorised floor head and carried around, which is good for cleaning stairs and high places. The handle is removed from the extension pole and attachments can be added, adding greater flexibility to what are otherwise large and heavy vacuums. They also have a dust-ejection system designed to minimise dust-clouds, and a larger capacity, which means fewer trips to the bin. Cordless vacuums are on their way to being the only game in town: people love how light and portable they are compared to corded vacuums, especially in flats and small houses. Your mind might automatically cast to Dyson. But cheaper and more widely available, American challengers Shark now rival them in popularity.

The best Shark vacuums you can buy in 2023

A handheld vacuum won’t replace either of the other types but is a very useful device to have around as a secondary option. These smaller units are easier to get out and use, particularly if you only need to gather up a small spill. They’re ideal for cleaning in places that are problematic for bigger vacuums, such as your car boot, and are useful to have close to hand in the kitchen, garage or utility room. Other Shark features to look out for: I have a few small gripes with the carpet cleaner. Firstly, it leaked dirty water if I left it stood upright for a few minutes (though this was easy to clean up). Secondly, despite repeated passes, some stains were too deep-rooted to lift - although the SpinScrub hand tool attachment was the most effective. It didn’t struggle with the more recent stains, so I suppose I shouldn’t expect miracles. Thirdly, I found if I sprayed too much from the pre-treatment wand, then ran the floor head over the same spot, it became extremely soapy and hard to rinse.

A good filter is absolutely key. The ‘pet smell’ in houses comes from dander: microscopic particles of skin, saliva, sweat and other proteins which can be as small as two microns (two thousandths of a millimetre) and can hang in the air for long periods of time, before settling into every fibre of your carpet and upholstery. You want to make sure that when you vacuum the dander up, it stays vacuumed.

Shark produces some of the best vacuum cleaners around, but which one is best for you?

The USP here is a flexible wand that bends in the middle, with a light on the end to allow you to clean under furniture more easily. It also means the cleaner folds in half for convenient storage. Another unique feature is Shark’s “DuoClean” floorhead which contains two motorised brush rolls – one of stiff bristles, the other of rubber fins that dig deep into carpets to release more pet dirt. Even lower-priced Shark cordless models come with various features, such as LED headlights to show up stray dirt, a hinged cleaning tube, swappable batteries and the new anti-hair wrap that detangles the brush bar for you. They have a longer warranty, too. Shark claims that it has all the power of a corded vacuum cleaner but in cordless form, and after testing we couldn't agree more. It's got DuoClean which makes switching modes immensely straightforward, and the controls make it easy to see how much battery you have left. To charge, simply lift out the battery on the side of the dust tank and pop it into its charging port. We’ve also tested models from brands such as AEG and Beko that are better known for their big kitchen appliances.