Shark Corded Stick Vacuum Cleaner [HZ400UKT] Anti-Hair Wrap Technology, Electric Blue & Shark Grey

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Despite having a HEPA filter, we still don’t think this Shark is the best choice for people with allergies. As it’s a bagless vacuum, dust and dirt can still escape when you empty the bin. Even so, the HEPA filter makes it a decent choice if you want to keep your air clean when using a bagless vac. Emptying & Cleaning

So, if you’re looking for the best carpet vacuum cleaner, the HZ500UK isn’t the one to choose. But if you’re happy to accept average cleaning performance in return for great hard floor cleaning (see next section) and advanced features, then it’s an option to consider. Hard Floors It’s not the most powerful vac on the market, although raw suction strength isn’t everything when it comes to cleaning performance. The Shark still manages to provide decent all-round cleaning performance – particularly on hard floors. Let’s take a closer look at common cleaning tasks. CarpetsThis 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.

In practice, we’ve found this isn’t 100% effective, as some hair still gets caught. The technology certainly reduces tangled hair by a lot, however, making it a useful bonus if you have pets or family members with long hair. An interesting feature of the HZ500UK is that it comes with Shark’s Anti Hair-Wrap technology. Shark claims this actively removes hair and deposits it into the dust canister, meaning you shouldn’t need to remove tangled hair from the brush bar. So, who should buy the Shark HZ500UK? If you’re looking for a lightweight upright that’s easy to manoeuvre, then it’s a great choice – particularly if your home has hard flooring or laminate. It’s also an excellent option if you struggle with heavy uprights, but don’t want to switch to a cordless vacuum.

The HZ500UK comes with Shark’s excellent DuoClean floorhead that allows you to move between carpets and hard floors without changing heads. A small 0.3-litre capacity to reduce weight (although this means it needs to be emptied regularly.)

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. Another useful feature is the LED headlights in the floorhead. Most Shark vacuums include headlights, which make it much easier to spot dirt and dust that might otherwise be missed. The lights are particularly useful for cleaning under furniture, which is a much easier task with the Flexology design. Other Design Features This performance even beats the Dyson Gen5detect, which left more Cheerios behind on a single pass across hard floor, although it, too, didn’t struggle to collect the remainder on a second pass. If you don’t want the bother of having to charge batteries, but want the flexibility that a cordless vacuum cleaner can bring, the HZ400UKT could be just the cleaner for you. It offers all of the advantages of an upright vacuum, the power of a corded model, and the flexibility of handheld operation, too. Note that the HZ400UKT can be a touch unwieldy to use for some jobs, though, as a result of much of its weight sitting towards the rear of the unit.

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But before we go any further, it’s worth repeating that this is a corded vacuum cleaner – despite having a design that’s similar to most modern cordless vacs. The 10-metre cord means you can vacuum for as long as necessary without recharging, although it also reduces the convenience of the vac. In general, we think corded vacs make more sense for larger homes or extended cleaning sessions, although cordless vacuums are more convenient. 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.

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The Shark Stratos IZ400UKT is a brilliant performer at a very attractive price

We think the Shark is one of the best upright corded vacs when it comes to ease-of-use. It’s lightweight (3.9kg,) easy to push around the floor, has swivel steering, and the handheld mode is great for stairs or cars. You can also still attach the wand when in handheld mode, making cleaning cobwebs and other high locations easier. The Shark HZ500UK is an average carpet cleaner. While it isn’t terrible on carpets, we don’t think it can match the cleaning performance of more powerful upright vacuums.