I'm impressed with my Shark

What is it they say about age and getting excited about household appliances? Well, whatever it is I’ve a feeling it could be true…

Since we moved here - to a house with mainly carpets - it’s been clear that our well used and much loved little vacuum was struggling. It’s still great on the Karndean flooring but with the majority of our new house carpeted, it really was hard work to vacuum, so much so that instead of blitzing the job as we would previously, it made more sense to tackle a room at a time.

In the end though I had to agree with MOH - we needed a new vacuum.

Though a quick search of prices left my eyes wide open, as did all the options and permeations available. So nothing happened for quite a while as it was just too tricky. However we were in Nottingham a month or so ago and actually looked at vacuum cleaners, in person. Unsurprisingly this helped narrow the field a lot, but we still left without one thinking that we could probably pick one up a bit cheaper online, or at least have it delivered and avoid carrying it home.

But that didn’t work out so well, or not immediately anyway - as our ‘chosen one’ was out of stock everywhere I looked, even on the maker’s website. I signed up for the ‘tell me when it’s back in stock emails’ but nothing ever arrived, so I took this to mean that the model was being retired and hopefully replaced.

It wasn’t all bad news though as we’d identified we wanted a Shark. We’ve had good vacuums in the past - a Dyson (which has been retired to the garage) and a Hoover, which had been promoted to our first choice. Both have served us well, but it was time for something new. And the Shark cleaners were new to us.

Our must haves were:

1. Be able to remove the battery and charge this independently of the vacuum cleaner.

2. Be able to deal with a lot of carpet, but also hard flooring.

3. Two batteries.

4. Store compactly.

5. Noise - nothing too high pitched and screechy.

6. Not cost the earth.

For me number 1 and number 5 were really important. One because I like our current arrangement of storing the cleaner in our plant room, and being able to charge the batteries separately. This ruled out a Dyson as I didn’t want the vacuum on show in our utility room, where we have a spare power socket (or to have the faff of getting a socket put in where we store the cleaner). And five because, our Dyson hurts my ears; the Hoover is better noise-wise but the Shark we tested in the shop was at a much lower pitch, so that worked in its favour too.

I’d expect all vacuums to manage my second and fourth requirements, but it’s worth making sure isn’t it - some claim to, and are, better than others. Having two batteries means that if the battery does run out on you, you can still carry on - maybe not a blessing every time, but useful if you want to finish off cleaning a room.

And number six, well - we can’t have everything can we?

It was definitely worth signing up to the ‘tell me when it’s back in stock emails’ as while I’d already clocked that Black Friday (which seems to last at least a week now) was approaching and was hoping that I might be lucky with that final option on our wish list. And it turned out to be a good choice, as one of the emails that arrived promised ‘early access to Black Friday deals’.

I was right when I’d assumed the model we looked at no longer existed, but I found one - the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum [Double Battery] IZ420UKT - that had similar details to the photo of the tag from the shop. And so, around 7.30pm I ordered that, which was also £150 cheaper than we’d seen in person.

What I wasn’t expecting was for it to be delivered by 11am the next day. But it was. That was impressive.

I set about unboxing it, putting it together and trying it out. I was still impressed.

Over the next day or so we vacuumed the whole house. We were still impressed.

Although I’m both impressed and slightly depressed about how much dirt it’s picked up - oops! And it’s worth noting that it’s heavier than either of our previous vacuums.

So back to my list of must haves - we’ve achieved all of these, which is great news. I know it’s only a fortnight or so since it arrived but I have no regrets, and I’ve a few learnings too:

1. The delivery experience from Shark (we bought directly from their website) was exceptional.

2. This doesn’t come with a manual, which was ok - and there’s enough information printed on the box, but if you like all the details it’s worth checking what’s included. I’ve ended up cutting out and keeping part of the box - and storing with the accessories, so I remember what they’re all for.

   So far for me it’s been a bout straight up vacuuming, I haven’t branched out into the accessories yet - but it comes with a multi-surface tool, anti-allergen brush, 12” crevice tool and a motorised pet tool with a handy storage bag.

3. The ‘flexology bends’ means it gets under the furniture much more easily than I anticipated, and retains its full power while doing so.

4. It senses and automatically adjusts when there’s more dirt to pick up from where you’re cleaning, and shows this on the floorhead, the noise intensity also changes - but even better, it reverts when the dirt has gone.

   We had the ideal opportunity to test this when MOH wanted to see how it opened and hadn’t quite made it to the bin in time! It was like one of those 1970s ads, but for real!

5. One thing I wasn’t prepared for, and I’m still not sure about is the suction pads on the bottom of the battery charger. They have good suction, and I guess it means it will stay where you put it - but mine is currently on a paper bag while I work out exactly where it will live.

   I’ve a feeling it may get an upgrade to something fancier than a paper bag at some point, as I’m not sure I want it stuck in place if I’m honest.

We chose the Shark Stratos Anti Hair Wrap Plus Pet Pro Cordless Vacuum [Double Battery] IZ420UKT

So all in all, it’s been a great experience - and one that has made keeping our house clean slightly easier, and quicker too. And we remain impressed.

FYI: This isn’t an ad, but I shared some pictures on Instagram Stories and had so many questions that I’m sharing everything on my blog, as a quick and easy way to provide answers.

And yes, we are now a three vacuum household - which is something I’m still coming to terms with…

Giving the HF500 a dusty test drive

This post contains items gifted by HooverDirect.co.uk for the purposes of this review.  All views and opinions are my own.

I’m very much a fan of household items that are functional, fulfil their purpose and which don’t dominate your living space.  So, it shouldn’t be a surprise that when I was offered a H-FREE 500 Twin Battery 3 in 1 Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner (this is the top of the range from this series) to review I was keen to see if a compact hoover could deliver great performance (spoiler – it can).  When it arrived, I was surprised at just how compact it was.

As you can see from the picture below, it’s not a usual sized vacuum cleaner box – it’s just a bit more than half way over the height of the radiator.  And in that box, there’s a lot of vacuum cleaner.

It’s also really well packaged.  The items are separated by cardboard with each piece in its place, getting so much into the space available is a pretty mean feat.  Add to that, that for my area, all bar two bits of the packaging are recyclable in our kerbside bin, and that’s also good news.

In the box, along with the unassembled cordless H-Free 500 is a crevice tool, pet brush, additional filter, two battery packs, a dusting and upholstery tool (which is stored on the handheld), a bag for the accessories and the quick start guide and manuals, as well as a wall mount and screws (not shown). 

The instruction manual shows clearly how to assemble the cleaner, but it’s really intuitive and so you’ll not be surprised that I went ahead without referring to the manual, looking at it to check that I was on track.  When it’s fully assembled (see the picture below) it’s a fully sized cordless vacuum cleaner, which I was keen to put to the test. 

I expected to need to charge it though before I could get started, so it was a pleasant surprise to discover it already had some power, but more on that in a moment.  First let me show you the cordless hoover in its compacted form – it was easy to switch into this mode – and you can see it’s clearly reduced in height, which will make it easy to store.  It’s also pretty sturdy standing alone in both set-ups, another plus in my view.

What’s equally impressive is the dual battery – that allows you to have the second battery charged and ready to go, I can see that being a real advantage.  On the Hoover Direct website, it says that ‘each battery pack gives up to 40 minutes of power in auto mode, 25 minutes in standard mode, or 8 minutes in turbo mode’.  The other thing to note about charging the HF500 is that it can be plugged in anywhere, so there’s none of this ‘returning to base’ for a charge which gives it even more flexibility which would have come in really useful for my MIL’s house move at the start of the year.

But back to giving it a test drive. 

As you know I’ve been working from home in my ‘top’ office for a while now, it’s a room that I’m using so much more than in all the time we’ve lived here.  That’s true for MOH and our spare room too though to be fair.  What we’re finding is that our house gets way more dusty than we noticed when we were out at the office each day (or maybe it doesn’t and we’re just noticing it more, who knows!)

My ‘top’ office also doubles as my yoga space, and recently it was when I was supposed to be emptying my mind that I noticed just how dusty part of the floor was.  Embarrassingly so, but in my defence it’s where our washing dries and at this time of year it’s put to good use  – yet another use for my ‘top’ office, which despite the picture I’m painting really is a nice spot to work in.  For a start it’s not the kitchen table and it gets the warmth of the sun from being at the front of the house – but back to the dust.

What the HF500 does really well is switch easily between carpet and non-carpet.  The LED lights really do help you find the hidden – or in my case, not so hidden – dust.  And reassuringly it’s definitely much cleaner now – my yoga sessions can go back to being much more relaxing.

I also want to share more about the dusting tool – and once again my home office set-up provided the perfect place to test the handheld mode.  Removing the pink tube – I forgot to mention how much that made me smile when I opened the box – and fixing the dusting tool in place, I was off – there was no stopping me – skirting boards, radiator pipes and my ‘borrowed from the office during lockdown’ footrest.  It’s amazing how much the HF500 picked up from these areas alone – and clearly I’m going to claim that it was my plan all along to have somewhere where the difference is obvious… ahem.  But I’ve also tested its pick-up power in much higher traffic areas – and therefore more often cleaned areas - of our home, and even there it’s making our space much cleaner, and that’s no bad thing, especially when it’s easy to achieve too.

So it’s a big thumbs up from me, and I know MOH is itching to get his hands on it too to give it his own test drive, and well, who am I to argue with that? 

View this product on Hoover Direct.

*  With thanks to Hoover Direct for providing the Hoover H-FREE 500 Twin Battery 3 in 1 Cordless Stick Vacuum Cleaner for the purposes of this review.

Let's talk rentals

* This is a paid collaborative post

It was only after that brief conversation with our new neighbour over the garden fence, on what is already a long-forgotten Spring weekend that I thought about what it’s like to rent a property.  It’s not something I’ve experienced first-hand, ever, which thinking back is also quite odd.  I think that’s mostly because I grew up in London, started work in central London soon after leaving school rather than going away to study and well, haven’t moved very far.  I’m still in London, I’ve had a brief foray over to Essex but came back to South London, which is home for me.  

But considering what it’s like to rent a property from a renter’s point of view is an interesting one.  I’m sure that the overriding priority, is like the rest of us, having somewhere to live that works for work, is affordable, doesn’t need too much work and additionally is managed well and has a landlord that’s professional and fair.  It’s actually not too much to ask is it, but I’m sure it’s not that straightforward.

Then once you’re in your new place, there’s the requirements in the lease to uphold to ensure your tenancy is not only not interrupted but if you want it, extended at the appropriate points.  

And that’s where our over the garden fence conversation comes in.  I’m sure that it came from a place where they were keen to ensure their new garden was kept manageable and under control.  And that’s admirable.  I also know, through experience, that once you start trimming and pruning and cutting back, it’s quite addictive and that’s where I was keen to save (actually that’s rather stronger than I mean, protect is better), protect the new growth on our highly scented and many years-trained Jasmine.

While renters rightly have legal protection, finding a new home you like then jeopardising that by not completing your undertaking, however unintentionally, must be galling.  

Equally when you move in to your new home you have an expectation that it is fit for purpose, and that the previous end of tenancy cleaning has been done, and to a high standard.  As a landlord the quality and thoroughness reflects on you too, and you’ll want to present your property in its best light.

Photo by The Creative Exchange on Unsplash

In some ways this is a better, and I’m sure more consistent way of approaching cleaning a house following a house sale.  In all the houses we’ve moved into - which is just five, but seems a lot to me - we’ve had some positive and negative experiences, I guess we all do.  But wouldn’t it be great all round if we didn’t?

I’m sure there’s many horror stories out there, but let’s focus on the positive.  Let me know your best experience of when you’ve moved into a new home, either rental or mortgaged in the comments below.

Mine was moving into this house, we discovered a bottle of wine (which is always welcome) and then rather randomly some duck breasts in the freezer.  It turns out we quite like duck, and it’s relatively easy to cook too…

* While this is a collaborative post, all views and opinions remain my own.