Tried and Tested: Does a Shark Vacuum Live up to Its High Expectations?

Over the past few years, we haven’t had much luck with vacuum cleaners. We’ve spent several hundreds of pounds and I can’t say that I’ve been overly impressed with the two we’ve owned. The first was very bulky and difficult to navigate and use.

Although it did perform well, it made vacuuming a real dreaded chore. The second model we owned was a cordless, which did make vacuuming a little more pleasurable, but its performance was sadly lacking. So much so, in the end it stopped picking up anything!

Surely there had to be something out there that combined the performance of our first vacuum with the ease of use of the second?! Luckily, I think we’ve found that in the Shark.

I decided to use my old vacuum in our bedroom (the room that probably gets the most footfall upstairs). When I’d finished it looked clean, but when looking closer I could see that there were still strands of my hair and a few odd crumbs. My old, corded model makes the room quite awkward to vacuum as the cord does tend to get in the way as you go around the bed. It’s also difficult to vacuum under my dressing table because it won’t reach all the way underneath.

I then had a lightbulb moment to really put the Shark to the test. I decided to give the same room a once-over with the Shark vacuum to see if it happened to pick up any dirt from what I deemed a now-spotless room. Having gone back over it, it certainly picked up more than I thought it would. I was actually quite embarrassed to know I’ve been thinking my floors were clean for all this time and there was still so much dirt to be picked up.

I then headed to my son’s room. In the past, my old corded model was a nightmare to use in there due to the placement of the plug sockets.

The cordless Shark meant I could get all round the room in one go. The carpet in this room is generally spotless, but the suction power on the Shark was very impressive and the dirt container picked up so much more than I was expecting.

We have three dogs and whilst they generally don’t malt too much, dog hair can get everywhere. And if it’s not dog hairs, it’s my own! I swear, I malt worse than they do. Hair is a definite issue in our house and our old vacuum tended to wrap all the hair around the bristles, as you can see in the picture. I have long hair, so it was always getting caught. I didn’t even know that Anti-Hair Wrap technology was a thing ,but I can tell you that IT WORKS, not a hair to be seen on the Shark vacuum head.

As well as having amazing suction the ease of mobility of the Shark vacuum is fabulous. The ability to flex the handle makes cleaning under tables a breeze. No more moving all the chairs to be able to get underneath. And for the first time I can reach the back of my dressing table!

One of my biggest bugbears with vacuuming has always been the cord and moving the plug around to go from room to room.

This cordless vacuum takes all of that away and really does change the whole experience of vacuuming your home. Having two small boys and three dogs in the house means there’s often the need to whip the vacuum out for a quick clean up, and the cordless feature makes this so much easier. The ability to turn it easily into a handheld cordless vacuum also meant any quick messes could be cleaned up quickly. I was glad that the Shark came with two batteries, as between them both, they share an 80-minute run time which is impressive. On the odd occasion, I did need the second battery for the last room when doing a thorough clean.

I’d previously heard a lot of great things about Shark vacuums, so my expectations were high, but it certainly lived up to them. It was shocking to see how much it picked up from what I thought was an already clean room. This model has so many great features that really suit a family home. I loved the ability to be able to change the angle of the vacuum, which made it really easy to clean under the dining table, but my favourite feature was being able to also use it as a handheld vacuum.

With one press of a button the top half splits off meaning I can vacuum my car or underneath the sofa cushions without having to use a different vacuum. It also comes with a range of attachments making it extremely multi-functional.

The only slight negative is that it can’t stand up on its own as it is top heavy. If I had to pause vacuuming, I did need to fold it down, but this takes seconds and is just something to get used to. I did love that it came with stickers highlighting what each part did and was for. As a new user it was invaluable.

In all honesty I couldn’t recommend this enough. I’d heard the Shark hype and I can definitely see what all the fuss is about. It’s already a firm favourite in our house.

This product was gifted free of charge in exchange for @joatnumber26's honest opinion.

Images provided by @joatnumber26.